It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I do love the Holidays and the simple traditional events that we have started doing as a family. The Ward Christmas party was especially sweet this year with homemade sticky buns and Grandpa Lowe as the Santa! Levi was not a fan of his big beard, although we knew it was Gpa Lowe under neath. My boys were not fooled by it either, "Hi Grandpa Lowe" they said as he approached. Jared went home with a migraine, but it still was a great morning.
    We later met up with Chris and Trisha Mariner for our 2nd annual Gingerbread House/ Chili night. Wesley always gets too much frosting all over his hands and face, slops it all over himself and his board. He later indulged and ate it all with his friend Cade, while smashing it all over his face! Good times. Austin, my builder, had a hard time designing and creating. Jared helped out and it looked nice. Isaac sat back while Jared did most of the work (I took pics and tried to keep Levi away from all the candies on the floor). He shoved 7 jellybeans into his mouth at one point! Good thing he didn't choke. Just sayin'  Love that boy! I also ate too many s'mores bars.

Setting up for the holidays

Annual Christmas tree set up by Wesley and Austin (Isaac was a bit more involved this year, but needs to learn how to read so he can follow instructions). What will I do when my boys no longer want to put up the tree or are excited? It's hard enough to get Jared to string some lights on outside, while we do the rest of the set up inside. Our Christmas is simple. The tree has a few ornaments, we have our Santas lined up on the piano, our humble nativity scene, some adorable "Cowboy Socks" (which we've been doing since 2007 from El Paso), and of course Mr Marshall the elf comes back out on Dec 1st to fool the boys!
    It's getting a little colder too, so we are snuggling up more with blankets and wearing long socks. Austin and Isaac came home from school one day with really cute head pieces! I really liked how Austin then shared his gingerbread cookie "head" with Isaac that he had saved from school.  We made our homemade cards for friends and family and goodie plates of cookies and treats. Austin created a cute phrase, "Merry Christmas from the Wilson's. Hope you're on the good list." Also made it to Wesley's school to decorate cookies and overeat the frosting.
     Portable Santa also showed up via email to tell the boys to be on the nice list (dad was once again on the naughty list for picking his nose! And mom is trying hard not to fart in front of others). They love hearing their names called out by Santa, finding their homes in AZ and then figuring out which toy he might bring them (Wesley: drawing books/ant farm, Austin: scooter, Isaac: popcorn popper, Levi: ball, mom and dad: bedroom lamps).

Can't keep up

 Having a hard time getting anything done. I have had to let go of my piano students because of this little monster! Add that to dinner group, babysitting CJ full time and being the homework/housework Nazi I am... I have had more than one rough day. You can see Mr. Levi thinks he is in charge at the piano. He crawls himself over, pulls himself up and onto the piano where he plays! I throw food at him so he will stay entertained for a minute (popcorn, cookies, cereal), but that only lasts for moments before he starts making a new mess or whining for "mom!" All of my "junk" drawers that were once organized are now looking like true junk; my bathroom cabinets, kitchen tupperware, linen closets, dishwasher (sometimes starting it), wheat grinder (what a flour mess!), canned goods...he finds them all and destroys anything in his path! Good thing his older brothers help clean up his messes.  He will take off his diaper and crawl around free, especially when I am busy with dinner or homework. He doesn't even play with toys! Just mom and her house. Love him.
   

Thanksgiving

No chaos. No family get togethers. No stress. No turkey. Just us. The Wilson's. Simple. Nice.
Jared made me a heart jell-o shape, so cute! We worked hard and had a delicious spread of milanesas, pure de papa, veggies, homemade rolls (that did not turn out), rasp pretzel jell-o and stuffing. Gpa Lowe came for dinner and Monica showed up later for some s'mores dessert and pumpkin crumb cake. Wesley helped set the table. We said some things we were grateful for during FHE. I love the leftovers, but more importantly, I love my family, my gospel life, my health and my routine. Simple it is. But it's good.