Christmas Picture

This is our Christmas picture for the year. We were just too crazy doing practices for the musical on the weekends and Scott gets home after dark so we never got a chance to take a real family picture. We will soon though! I decided to just have our cute boys pose for our Christmas card. Here they are...

Just for fun, here are some outtakes...




We wish all our friends and family a VERY Merry Christmas!

Noah's Ark

A friend invited us to go to an amazing place called the Skirball Center. They have a Noah's Ark room for the kids. They have tons of animals made out of random things-rope, purses, keys, etc., as well as puppets, science activities, a craft and a ropey climbing area. The ark has lots of parts. They can make all the sounds of a storm- watch leaves blow, lightning strike and rain fall. Then they can build and load animals onto the arc. Inside there are lots of stuffed animals to play with and an area to climb around. The kids had loads of fun. The best part was, it was FREE. You can't beat a free fun activity for your kids on a rainy afternoon.

A Christmas Walk to Rodeo Drive

We took a little walk last week to go see the lights on Rodeo Dr. It's so close that we just had to. On the way we passed a McLaren dealership that has a real race car (an F1?) on display. We pass it all the time and just had to get a better look!

The tree and decor were beautiful of course! It's cool to be near all these posh places you only hear about. I'll probably NEVER shop there. It was a fun family outing though.

The Toy Shop Musical

Our new ward did an interesting activity for our Christmas party this year. They put on a musical production called "The Toy Shop". Primary kids were invited to be in it. Connor and Haydn both wanted to so we started rehearsals. They had about a month to prepare. Connor was a school child and had to learn 7 lines and 2 songs for the play. Haydn was a teddy bear and had to learn 1 line and 3 songs for the play. It was super cute!!! They both were awesome. Haydn kinda stole the show at one moment when the bears were a little confused about were to be on the stage. My camera died but we got a video of the whole thing. If you want a copy I can send one, let me know. I did manage to take some pics of Haydn's costume. Connor was just dressed to look like it was cold outside(hat and scarf). There was dessert afterwards and Santa came to visit.

Setting up for Christmas!

I'm trying to get caught up on our blog and this happened almost a month ago but we did set up our house for Christmas. We had fun building our tree and stringing lights and hanging ornaments. Connor was very helpful this year with the tree and lights. Haydn was sure it was Christmas the next day and has been impatiently waiting ever since. Tristan is just in awe of everything this year. Santa visited our ward Christmas party and brought all the kids popcorn balls. So if you ask Tristan what he wants Santa to bring him the answer is popcorn. So cute. I love the holidays with little ones!

Dentist Visit

I took the boys to the dentist recently. Most of them had never been before. It was a superb experience. They explained everything they were doing, showed them videos of what would happen and how and why you need to keep your teeth clean and even let the boys help with the instruments (the water shooter and spit sucker). It really fun for them! In the end they got new toothbrushes and timers and got to choose a prize from their treasure chest.




Tristan got a little boredwaiting for his turn and by the end he was done being confined to a small area. The funny thing is we found a magazine that kept him riveted...Motor Trends. He looked through that thing for a good half hour! That boy LOVES cars!

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went to visit Scott's aunt and uncle, their kids and their kids kids. It was a full house with yummy food and lots of playing! It's fun that we live so close to cousins (even if they are second cousins). Of course, I forgot my camera but we'll be seeing them again on Christmas Eve. I brought all the fixings for making these cute turkey cupcakes for the kids. We made more later at home...



I couldn't feel more blessed this holiday to just be together again as a family and be settled in our new place. Three beautiful, smart boys and a wonderful hardworking husband. What more could I ask for? Oh ya, another sweet boy to join the clan, of course!

You might be wondering where we are since we've been crazy busy the past few weeks! We made it to Cali and we are pretty settled in our new place! We had to do a Home Depot run and we got a nice picture of the kids with a great view...check out the word in the background.

So far we are just loving it here. The weather has been wonderful, Tristan won't go outside without sunglasses because it's to bright for his little eyes. We made it here just in time for our new ward's trunk-or-treat and that was a fun way to introduce ourselves and let the kids play games. We had a fun Halloween with a little monkey, and 2 Harry Potters! Haydn was actually superman at the trunk-or-treat but Nana sent him a Harry Potter costume too which arrived on Halloween so he switched costumes. Here's some fun pics of the kids trick or treating. I think this is the first year they were really into it and didn't want to stop. Connor did have a run in at a house that had a haunted house display in part of the yard. He decided to go in, without asking and without a grown-up. I was getting nervous because I couldn't find him in the chaos of this overly decorated house and finally he came out but he was a little shaken up (must have gotten a good scare!) and was ready to head home. Poor kid! I felt bad for him but I was just so happy that I'd found him that we had a hard time not laughing at how shaken up he was.




Anyways, we are doing great in Cali. Connor is in school and already has some good friends. We have friends in the ward just 2 houses down so that is fun to be so close to them. I can walk to everything I need-the school, my doctor, even the hospital (no wonder we hear ambulances way too often, I'm just realizing this). I've even started potty training Tristan and we are having a little success here and there. I'll definitely post more soon now that we are more settled.

Pumpkins and Packing

The boys didn't have school Monday so, despite the BIG packing project going on at home, I decided that we needed to get out of the house and do a fun Fall New England activity. We went to our favorite farm and went pumpkin picking! We had a wonderful time and I even managed not to lose anyone despite my lack of extra hands. The boys got their face painted, played croquet, played at the playground, went on hayride, ran through a corn maze and picked a pumpkin.











When we got home I got a text from one of my friends that she and another friend were coming to help me pack. They swept through my kitchen and packed most of it. YEAH! I'm that much closer to being done. Thanks for your help ladies!

New Baby...

So, we are expecting another baby in our family! We found out today what we are having too. I decided to make it special for the boys and tell them in a fun way. I made a cake and dyed the inside pink or blue to tell if it's a boy or girl. The frosting covered the color so they wouldn't know until we cut the cake. Anyway, I videoed it so we could have their reactions...WATCH and find out what we are having...

California Here We Come...

I've been playing single mom for about 3 weeks now. Scott started a job out in CA about 2 weeks ago and is loving it. Today we finalized plans to move into a townhouse in Beverly Hills. I'm here in CT still hoping to find someone to rent or buy our house before we leave. Crazy huh! We are all so excited to go and it makes it even more real to actually have a place to move into. YEAH! The funniest part is Bolton, CT and Beverly Hills, CA are about as polar opposites and you can get! We are so excited to have a winter without piles of snow. Haydn wasn't so sure about that idea. I had to reassure him that Santa will know it's Christmas there even if it doesn't snow.

Here's a little catch-up of what we've been up to in these past crazy weeks...

We went at the end of summer to a celebration at the library for the summer reading challenge. The kids got their face painted and snacks. It was really fun.



While the big boys are in school Tristan and I like to play outside. He LOVES to be outdoors. He pushes his little car around everywhere. He also likes to ride on the back of my bike He even tells me which direction to go and if I turn toward home he starts saying, "NO, NO, NO! That way!" This is one morning when he found a caterpillar.

Connor started playing soccer this fall. He loves it. His favorite position is to be goalie or defense.


Tristan likes to bring a ball and kick it around while we watch practice.