December Festivities

December was full of fun! We took a ton of pictures, enjoy!

We made and frosted sugar cookies.

This is his "cheesy" smile.

He also covers his eyes when the flash is bright.

We decorated the Christmas tree.

We went to a Christmas party. And the boys wore matching bow ties.

Graham made a Christmas tree (ice cream cone) with his Gma and Gpa Smith.

We put together a ginger bread house, while watching "Elf".

Ryan had a birthday!

We went downtown and caught the last day of the street market until Spring.

Graham enjoyed donuts from the market while listening to some street performers.

We took a ton of pictures in matching Christmas jammies.

Apparently the hug got a little long for Penny.

Penny in her Christmas dress.

All ready for church.

Penny Santa on Christmas Eve.

Graham got basketball and baseball cards.

And a "high" hoop.

Graham was a happy boy Christmas morning.

December was a great month. Sorry for the picture over load.

Pablo, our mariachi boy

Mariachi for hire! Ryan, being the cool cat that he is, had the foresight to have a toddler sized mariachi suit made while he was on his mission in Nicaragua. Well, actually he had it made for our nephew but he is now almost 10, so the suit has been passed to Graham. We had no idea it fit until the other night. The good news is it will fit him for awhile and the double good news is that we have an additional matching jacket that is a size smaller so in about a year Penny will be able to join his mariachi band.

In case you are thinking "Oh, I didn't know Ryan or Tess played the violin," we don't. But maybe Graham will, he was really in to it. I say we send him down to the streets of Boise to serenade the city folk and earn some basketball card money.

Penny in jammies

I seriously haven't blogged since Halloween?! Come on Tess, get it together. Not that I am an avid blogger or anything but at least once a month is manageable. Moving on to the good stuff...

If you don't know Penny, know this, she is funny! And I mean a goofball. We can already tell she and Graham are going to work us over big time in the silly department. She loves Graham and Lars, as in she lights up like Christmas morning when she sees them. Now before you scroll through these pictures and say "what's up Tess? You posted essentially one picture, Penny in purple cupcake jammies." I say to you this, No, I posted six pictures of Penny in purple cupcake jammies. They all capture her silliness and cuteness and sweetness. And just seeing them makes me want to go wake her up and give her a squench right now!

Big smiles, even from the baller in the background.

Getting comfy with her favorite pup.

Side note, Penny has awesome ears. They are one of my favorite things about her.

Sweetest face ever!

And one more of a happy girl with her puppy foot rest.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Sometimes I long for the days of cameras with film. I know, I'm an old soul. Tonight I started to think about childhood pictures and how they are so special to me because they show so much "in the moment" type stuff. So tonight I decided I wanted to take one picture of the kids in their Halloween get up and call it good. I knew I wouldn't be able to take just one, but I wanted to try.

Here is our one shot. Classic, no one is looking at the camera.

Graham was Michael Jordan

I justified taking a few more pictures since trick or treaters came to the door during our "one shot".

Penny was a penny.

Graham and his friend Ashlyn hitting up the houses.

Graham got super nervous when someone opened the door wearing a mask. He lost it, and ran and buried his face in my friend's legs. But getting more candy is apparently worth possibly getting scared again.

Last Friday they had trick or treating in Ryan's office. This year Ryan didn't dress up. Instead he made his work area into a hobo living space and was "Occupy Scentsy". This was great trick or treating practice for Graham. He would just say "Candy!" really loud, as if he were saying "Cheese" for a picture.

We love Halloween! Here is to hoping I don't eat all the candy tonight.

Graham and Ryan make a mean pizza twist

On Graham's Birthday he had a pretty terrible cough so he didn't get to go to church. But he still had a great time helping his dad make pizza twists. I figured as long as the pizza twists were staying in the family I'd let him bake while he was a little under the weather. Hence, we all got sick. But alas, he loved it.