Merry Christmas!

Left to Right- Uncle Tom, Dad, Gma Lake, Gpa Lake, Brayden, Chelsea, Abby, Maggie, Greg, Brooke, Me, and Nathan. (Ryan was taking the pic) :)

Greg and my new neice Maggie :)

Rough picture of me, but everyone else looks cuute! :)

Brayden opening his BATMAN!

Brayden and Brooke LOVED their kitchen :)

Today we had a wonderful Christmas! The kids woke up to see that Santa had visted. He brought them a play kitchen that they LOVED as well as some other small presents. After we got cleaned up, we went over to Pappa Lake's house to visit with Uncle Ryan, Great Gma and Gpa Lake, Uncle Tom, Unlce Greg and Aunt Chelsea, and cousins Abby and Maggie. We enjoyed a yummy ham dinner with some delicous sides. The kids had a blast opening their MANY fun presents! (Thank you so much to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts :)) Then the kids spent a few hours playing together with all their cool new stuff. It was so fun to see everyone. Some of which, we had not seen for about a year!! We hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful Christmas!

Santa Hats

Hand Puppets!

Today the kids and I made some hand puppets thanks to the awesome present that Auntie Aimee and Uncle Jason gave the kids for Christmas!! Brayden made the frog and Brooke the bird :) It was great because the kids could help a lot. They used the glue stick and I just told them where to put everything. Brayden has been bouncing his frog all around "RIBBIT!" and Brooke goes running after him with her birdie going "CACACACACA" haha

My little Mommy

I walked into Brooke's room today to check on her and this is what I found :) She had her baby dolls lined up on diapers getting ready to change them. She is so funny! I love how she wants to be such a big girl and do all of these things!

So I need some advice! Nap-time has been a NIGHTMARE! Every day I swear it takes us at least an hour, if not 2 for the kids to FINALLY lay down and stop getting into their toys. I have tried laying them down a little later, seperate rooms, taking all the toys away? But they refuse to take a nap!! They need one becuase if they dont take one, they are trying to go to bed at 6:00 and are up at 4:00 am. That just doesnt work! Any ideas?? Anyone else have this problem? I honestly am at a loss. Let me know if you have any advice :) Thanks!!!

Feelin' the Holiday Spirit!

Yesterday a few of Nate's buddies came over and helped us Jazz up our Holiday decorations a little more. We found out that our apartment complex is having a contest for the best holiday decorations. 1st place gets $100 of next months rent! We had a lot of decorations from when we lived in a house, so we decided to hang a little more up. We also put "spray snow" and a snow man on our sliding glass door. :) I think it looks kind of cool.

Today we made some sugar cookies and Brayden helped me decorate them. He was so proud :) They arent the prettiest, but they taste pretty good!!

You know how every child is mischevious around the holidays and most "hunt" to try and find their Christmas presents? Well, I think yesterday Brayden topped what any child has ever done! I had wrapped all of the kids presents along with some for our family and hid them behind a rocking chair in our room. Brayden was taking a nap in our room yesterday and when Nathan went to check on him, he had unwrapped EVERY present including taking some of his presents out of the packaging!!! I was really upset at first because now Christmas isnt going to be so much a surprise for him, but now I just laugh! I really should have taken a picture!! :) Luckily, I really enjoy wrapping presents, so I wont mind re-wrapping them, but I COULD NOT believe what he had done! To say the least, he now knows the importance of waiting until Christmas (I hope!)

Santa & Reindeer

The kids and I made these hats today. They weren't smiling for the camera very well, but we had a blast making them!! :) They basically just put stickers on them... I of course helped them spell out their names, but Brayden was good about telling me what each letter was. Now they are running around and Bray is pretending he is Santa. So cute! :)

Minnesota Fun

The kids and I went up to Minnesota with their Pappa Bakke on Tuesday last week for Thanksgiving. Nathan, unfortunately, had to work so he was not able to come with us. Suprisingly, the kids were VERY good on the flights to and from! This was SUCH a relief! In the past it has been somewhat of an ordeal for us. The weather was actually very nice there. The sun was out shining and most days there was not much wind either. I believe the high while we were there was 35 degrees. No snow unfortunately. I would have really loved for the kids to get to play in the snow, but no worries. I am sure we will plan a trip to northern AZ this winter to check out the snow.

We got to visit with all of Nathan's family. His brothers and their families made the trip down to the farm so we got to visit with them and Brayden and Brooke got to play with their cousins Kate and Annika! :) It was so fun to watch them play together. They especially loved to play dress-up with them! Brooke would put on dresses, play high heels, flower headbands, and purses. It was very cute! Kate and Annika have grown and learned so much since our trip out there in June. It was so fun getting to see them.

We also went and saw a bunch of animals. Grandma Great had sheep on her farm that the kids enjoyed, and we went to their aunt Jenny's farm to see horses, goats, cows, a pony, and even some cats and dogs! They had a blast!!

And of course there was A LOT of yummy food! Nathans grandma (Grandma Great) spends much time in the kitchen! We had ribs, porkchops, chicken, scones, pancakes, and of course Turkey dinner!!! (with a lot of yummy sides of course) Also, Nanna Bakke (Nates mom) made some sugar cookies and the kids got to decorate them with icing and sprinkles. They had so much fun! :) It was a great trip. Brayden is already asking when we are going back. He says he misses Nanna and wants to go to see her tomorrow. hehe