Flowers & Love, Flowers & Love, Flowers & Love

On Thursday after work & School the kids were playing outside. They both came in with hands full of flowers they had picked for Mommy. It was so sweet of them.

Latter when Ryan got home I said I needed to run to the store to get some hamburger buns for dinner and pick up some pictures. Ryan & Ethan offered to go for me. When they got home Ethan handed me bouquet of Yellow Roses (My favorite).

On Friday while I was at work we were just finishing lunch with my class when the office buzzed my room and asked me to come to the office. When I got to the office I found a box with my name on it. When I opened it up it was a bouquet of Red Roses & Baby's Breath (the vase was laying behind it). Ryan sent me these beautiful flowers with a very sweet message. It was the first time he has every had flowers delivered to me and it made me tear up. I love my husband. He is so thoughtful and I think it was very sweet of him to get me flowers 2 days in a row.

Cousin Gabe's 5th B-Day

In January we celebrated Gabe's 5th Birthday. This was lots of fun but also a little sad. This was about 2 weeks before Gabe and his family were leaving for another overseas journey for about 2-3 years.

Madalyn Lost Her 1st Tooth

The last week of December Madalyn discoverd her first "wiggily tooth". She was so excited to have a "wiggily tooth". She also made sure everyone knew about her tooth. On Sunday January 25th we were driving home from Papa's & Meme's house ,where we had dinner. Madalyn tells me in the car to look how loose her tooth has gotten. I turned around to look at her & she uses her tounge to move her tooth. She pushed it so far over that her lip hid the tooth and it looked like the tooth was already gone. I said she would probably loose her tooth before she went to bed. When we got home I asked her to get ready for bed and then I wanted to take apicture of her VERY LOOSE tooth. I went to change into my PJ's and then grabbed my camera. When I got in Madalyns room her tooth was laying on her bed and she had alittle blood in her mouth. I guess she just couldn't help playing with her loose tooth. We got her baby tooth into the little pouch on the special Tooth Fairy pillow that Meme made. Then we took lots of pictures. She also had to call both sets of grandparents , Uncle Travis , Aunt Amy & her Smith cousins. Was she excited or what?

Madalyn with her Tooth Fairy Pillow

Ethan's Geo Trax

Ethan has been collecting Geo Trax since he was 2. Since he got a few new trains for Christmas. Daddy & Ethan decided to set up the train set in Ethan's room. Before now we have never really had a good place that was out of the way to set it up. We were able to leave it up for the whole month of January. Ethan and Madalyn played with it nearly everyday.

Ethan gives Daddy a thumbs up on his building skills

Aren't they cute!!

Marshmellow Kids

One night in early January the kids were getting ready for bed. When I heard them giggling I went to see what was so funny. This is what I found "Marshmellow kids".

Marshmellow Kids

Ethan laughing

Madalyn dancing

Ethan dancing

They had put the small travel pillows in there PJ pants and were dancing around. They laughed even more when Mommy wanted to take pictures. They were so funny!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we gave the kids one present each to open. They were so excited to open even one gift. They each got a new pair of Pj's and modeled them for pictures.

Madalyn & Ethan open their presents.

Yeah!! New PJ's.

Madalyn

Madalyn posing.

Madalyn the ballerina.

Ethan

Ethan uses his spidey webs.

Ethan shows us his Hulk muscles.

Treats for Santa and his reindeer.

Then we put the kids in bed and read some Christmas stories.

Trip to Canada

Ryan's Grandmother passed away in December. At the last minute we figured out that you can still drive across the Canadian border without a passport. So Ryan booked flights for the two of us to fly to Great Falls, Montana and from there we would drive in to Canada. My parents agreed to keep Madalyn and Ethan while we were gone. Which was really sweet of them to keep the kids for the week.

We drove to Dallas Wednesday afternoon and went to Travis' house. He took us to the airport that evening. When we were boarding the plane a lady that worked for the airline told a few people in front of us that the overhead bins were full everyone else would have to check the luggage in that would not fit under your seat. We were not very happy about this but what choice did we have. Ryan knew we would lose our luggage once it was checked in.

We boarded the plane and made it to Denver, Co were we met up with Ryan's parents and his sister Elissa. We were all on the the next fight to Great Falls. When we arrived in Great Falls Ryan and I had NO luggage. The fastest way for us to get our luggage was for us to come back across the border the next day and meet up with the delivery guy. So we made to Aunt Nola's house in Canada at 3am. We did get our clothes the next evening and all was well. We had a wonderful time visiting with all of Ryan's family that was in the area. Friday we drove to Cardston for the viewing and then Saturday was the Funeral. It was a very nice funeral service but the bitter cold made the grave side service short. After the Funeral we had a nice luncheon with the family.

We had a wonderful visit but we were worn out from all the driving. Sunday we went to church which happens to be just behind the back fence at Aunt Nola's house it was nice to walk through the back yard out the gate and be in the church parking lot. After church we rested and the had another great evening visiting with the family. We had great meal and learned a new game called "werewolves". They said it is just like "Mafia" but we had never played that either. Although it was hard to be away from Madalyn & Ethan we definitely enjoyed the visit.

Monday afternoon we packed the car and headed to the airport. We checked in and saw that our plane was delayed for and hour. Ryan decided to go check with the airline to see what was going on. They figured out we would miss our connecting flight in Denver so they gave us vouchers for food and lodging in Great Falls. After we got to the Hotel, Ryans parents called because the plane was still delayed and they were going to miss there connecting flight too. So we all ended up in the Hotel across the Highway from the airport. We walked through the snow filled parking lot to the Flying J and ate dinner. The next morning we caught our flight and made it to Denver. We sat in the airport for an hour and then boarded our next plane. We finally made it to Dallas. The nice thing about the flights home were: in Great Falls they checked our luggage on for free due to our delays. When we boarded our plane in Denver we realized that the guy in Great Falls upgraded us on our flight so we more space to be comfortable.

Streets in Cardston.

Standing in front of Aunt Lois's house.

Me in front of Aunt Lois's house.

The temperature on Friday in Cardston (-22 F).

Grandma Bennett's Children and some of the spouses.

A few of the girl cousins. Hillary, Isabeile and Jennyin the front row. Myself and Elissa in the back.

Elissa and myself talking with Aunt Jeannette and her daughter Hillary.

Cousins Dallin & Bradley

Ryan clearing the snow off the car.

Aunt Nola's house where we stayed.

The snow plow in Taber.

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree..."

We put up our Christmas tree on Dec. 6th and decorated it on the 7th. This was so much fun putting up a tree in our new home. The kids enjoyed putting on ornaments and did a really great job. I was very pleased and didn't feel the need to move ornaments around to make it look more balanced.

Me putting on the bead trim while the kids enjoy a Christmas movie (Santa Clause 3). They actually watch it year round.

Madalyn & Ethan

Madalyn decorating the tree.

Dad puts the hooks on the ornaments ant the kids hang them on the tree.

Here is the finished tree.

NATIVITIES

I have acquired a few nativities over the years.

This is one that Meme made for the kids. They love playing with it.

This one is a music box.

This one is the kids "Little Peoples" Nativity. They keep this one out all year.

This was my first. The Mrs. Clause on the end was made by my Grandma Eyers. It is very delicate so I had to put it out of reach from the kids.

Christmas on 5th Street

We have had a wonderful month full of Christmas cheer!

We kicked off our celebrating with "Christmas on 5th Street" (at Baylor) the first week in December. They had a live nativity, petting zoo, pony rides, carriage rides, cookie decorating, free hot chocolate, pictures with Santa and a concert. It was a very cold evening, so we had the kids all bundled up ready for some outdoor fun.

Madalyn enjoyed seeing a real camel, but Ethan was a little scared.

They both enjoyed the petting zoo. They had baby goats and baby sheep.

If you are not aware Madalyn absolutely loves horses. She thought the pony ride was the best thing ever. She picked the pony that had glitter on it and said "Mom, I think she is beautiful" with the cutest smile.

Ethan enjoyed the pony ride too. He said "I think the pony likes me".

We had hot chocolate and decorated cookies before calling it a night. It was a nice evening of family and fun.