Joyful January

January began with these -50 degree temps... This is pretty much the description of our polar vortex of a winter.  

It was so dang cold even our snowman had a hole in his heart.

After a long Christmas break, school was canceled a bunch more days just because of the cold temps, so we tried to make the best of it. 

Greyson made the best of it by "helping out" with house work.  Yes, he is INSIDE the dishwasher there.  He pulled out the bottom rack and made his way back in there.  Silly boy!

We went out in the winters WORST ice storm to head to the IceHog's Hockey game.  We scored some free tickets and didn't realize how bad the roads were until we were half way to the game.   During the game we kept getting notifications on our news apps about all the roadway slide offs.  One station was broadcasting that every single emergency vehicle was out working on slide offs and that they didn't have enough resources to help everyone right away.... thankfully we had fun at the game and more importantly made it home safely!

At the end of the month we headed out in yet another snow storm to celebrate Uncle Jeff's birthday at Chicago's Medieval Times.  Its a dinner show with mid evil themes and fighting.  It was such a fun time and the boys loved it too!

We also found out the gender of #4.  HE sure wasn't hiding it.  No denying it... my uterus is blue and probably has a mustache.  Good thing I love my boys so much!

Greyson's ONE year old birthday

 **Yes, this is my attempt to get caught up for the year**

Greyson celebrated his one year old birthday on January 8th.  He's pretty much the cutest little one year old on the planet!

We opened up presents and then did a cake smash... he may have liked it a little too much.  Why is it that all my kids have their mom's incredibly strong sweet tooth?? 

Snowman cake had a runny nose... literally!

Exploring....

Tasting....

Face diving.....

Yup, he liked it! :)

And a spoiled one year old thanks to his loving Grandparents and Great Grandparents!  We sure had a happy one year old!

Christmas 2013

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things!  I love all the soft lights and the magical, cozy feeling it gives the house.  Here we are decorating the tree--my favorite!

Mr. Muggins (our family elf) came and caused all sorts of giggles and shenanigans.  

He even stayed up late one night and made some yummy christmas treats for us to enjoy and give to neighbors/friends.  

Visiting Santa at the Mall.  I was curious to see how Greyson would react.  After pulling on his beard for a while (just making sure he was the real deal) at the last minute he turned around and gave us a big smile!

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Christmas Morning the boys came in to wake us up and read the story of Christ's birth in the scriptures.  We then went down to see the spoilage from Santa.  

G&G and Jordan came over to play with our toys and gifts and spend a few hours with us.  Later, we went back to the Johnson's house and had dinner with everyone.  

Oh, I also designed this Christmas card to announce our pregnancy to family and friends.  It was fun to hear peoples reactions after getting their card in the mail! :)

11 months = trouble

This little one being able to crawl and pull himself onto everything makes him one busy boy!  We used our chairs as a makeshift gate at the bottom of the stairs for about a month, until that smart boy learned how to move them out of his way and make the climb up.  

This says it all:  He's so proud of himself!  

One day I noticed it had been a too quite for a while and I couldn't hear his little pitter patter sounds as he crawled around.  As I went around the corner I discovered what was the culprit of his silence. A mouth full of powdered sugar-- yummm!! :)