Christmas Rocked!

The kids were so fun this year! So happy and grateful for everything....makes all the work worth it, doesn't it? We were excited to finally have Madison for Christmas morning. We have never had her for that, so it was fun! She was so cute with the little boys...sharing in their excitement. We missed the older boys though.

Merry Christmas 2009

Dear Santa...

Cooper is finally starting to grasp the whole Santa Clause thing...so when I told him to write Santa a letter to let him know what he would like for Christmas he was all over it.

Here it is...the final product. In case you need help "reading" it, it says he would like a MOTORCYCLE. Where did he come up with that one...and why can't he get it out of his head???

Julander Christmas Party

Christmas would not be Christmas without a party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is one of my favorite traditions! I felt bad I didn't get very many pictures...it was a little chaotic with my 2 little ones.
The candy bar game....looks like Cade was a winner.

Grandma made the little ones vests and chaps....They LOVE them!

What some cute cowboys!

What is it with my kids and Santa?

They ALWAYS cry.
He doesn't even have to do anything. Just being in his presence makes them scream in terror.

Poor little guys.

These two smiled...for the picture at least. Talk about embarrassing....right Maddie?? I know secretly they loved it though HAHA....(even if it was just for the bag of candy). I'm glad they were such good sports. I needed one picture with Santa of a child not acting like the world was ending.

After the kids sat on Santa's lap at our Ward Christmas Party, we sat down to eat breakfast. We were sitting pretty close to Santa Clause and Cooper kept staring him down. Finally, he asked me where Santa's reindeer were. I told him we should go ask him...so we walked over to Santa. Cooper wouldn't get very close, but he got closer than I thought he would. He very timidly asked Santa where his reindeer were. I was so proud of him! Silly I know, but he is so scared of him...that was a huge step! Santa explained that he had left his reindeer on the mountain in the snow because they liked it there. Cooper thought that was pretty cool and ran back to tell his dad. Maybe next year we won't have tears!

King For The Day

Cade got to be the boss for a few days....we were completly at his command. He broke his collarbone wresling in PE and it really put him down for a few days. Not the funnest way to spend Christmas Vacation!

Deck The Halls

We finally got out the Christmas Decorations...and boy did I have alot of help!
Tanner knew right away that socks go on your feet, so he decided to get dressed. He put on his hat and a couple socks.....it didn't work out very good for him after he tried to walk on the hardwood floor and fell a few times.
Cooper found a tree just his size and decorated it all by himself for his bedroom.

Cade and Hagen were in charge of the pickle this year. It's a tradition in my family to hide a pickle in the Christmas tree....whoever finds it first gets all the good luck that year. They must have hidden it really good, because no one has found it yet....

Kyler is so good to help the little ones participate.....even at the expense of his face. He was scratched and dug letting Tanner hang some ornaments. lol

After a whole lotta chasing the little boys up and down the ladder, they were sent off to bed so we could actually get some decorating done....I do love my little helpers, but sometimes they make things a little too crazy!

Birthday Wishes

Hagen got a camera for his birthday. He has been asking us for one for a while...so he was pretty excited to get one finally. He spent all weekend taking pictures. Every time I would pull out my camera, he would get his out too. He took pictures of Madison during her whole basketball game, trying to get a good shot of her. He would try all diffrent positions and angles. He told me he wants to open a studio for kids and take lots of pictures...sounds like fun to me! I laughed pretty hard when he told me the one thing he has learned so far....it is to always wipe Tanner's nose before you take his picture. (Good thing to remember since that is something I can't quite seem to do!)

The Countdown....

has begun!

We are baking.....

We are crafting.......

We are celebrating the season!!!

O' Christmas Tree

Can you believe it's this time of year again? Seriously, where does the time go.....it seems like we just did this!

I have to be honest....hunting the perfect Christmas tree kinda makes me crazy. I am sooo not picky about a tree....just cut one down and lets go! It's cold!! Mike on the other hand....is very picky. It has to be just right. Lucky for me this year, we found the perfect one right off the side of the road. Yay! I was excited this year to be able to get a really big tree....and it is huge!

The kids had a ball playing in the snow. There is nothing like watching your babies do something for the first time. Tanner kept saying "OH! OH! BRRRR! OH! OH!" He didn't really know what to think of the snow. And Cooper couldn't for the life of him figure out what in the heck we were doing with that tree. He thinks it's hillarious that we took it home and put it in our house. He can't figure out what is going on. It makes this time of year so much fun! I love seeing life through my kids eyes....it makes everything magical.

We had to stop and roast up some hot dogs for lunch. By this time we were all pretty much soaking wet.....so that fire felt mighty fine!