It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Though it's mostly been raining, and melting all of the snow and doesn't look much like Christmas outdoors, it looks a lot like Christmas at our house! The day after Thanksgiving, we put up all of our Christmas decorations, like always. Emma was so sad to take down the Halloween decorations, but I told her we’d replace them with Thanksgiving ones for a few weeks, and then Christmas. “Well, that’s even better!” she replied. It’s always fun to pull everything out, and I loved how Emma remembered a lot of the decorations and would say “I remember this one!” Her favorite thing was probably her Chicken Dance ornament. Cal loves the Christmas lights, and whenever he sees them in our house, or when we’re out and about, he loves to look at them on the houses and say “Christmas!” He also likes Santa Claus and likes to say “Ho ho”. My favorite thing is my nativity that Dave gave me as a gift the first year we were married. That will probably always be my favorite decoration. I love it! And don’t forget, our leg lamp light string. One of my friends was over last week, and had never seen the movie. She kept looking at our little tree all funny, so I explained and made her borrow the movie.

The kids decorating the house...

Or, decorating themselves!

My Nativity. I love it!

It’s Christmas baking time! We’ve made gingerbread men, I made basketballs and the Jazz team. I didn’t take any pictures, but they turned out pretty cute. We also made sugar cookies. Here are some reindeer ones we did. The kids love helping in the kitchen! Emma is actually getting good at cracking the eggs, and Cal loves dumping dry ingredients in the bowl. Then, I got together with my friend Lori to make homemade Christmas candy. She’s never made anything like that and really wanted to, so we had a baking day. We made peanut brittle, fudge, pretzel bark, peanut butter balls, candy cane popcorn. We had a blast, and took the goodies around to some neighbors, who were excited to receive it.

It was so cute! One night, Dave and I heard Emma go into the living room after we tucked her in and then she went back in her room. Dave went in to check on her, and this is what he saw. Emma put a little Santa hat we have on, and went right to sleep! She slept in that all night.

Christmas lights, we love ‘em! We have driven around to go look at Christmas lights, we really like the house in South Weber that sets their lights to music. We say we’re only going to stay for a few songs, but end up staying a lot longer, because it’s so enchanting! We went to the Bountiful City Electric Light Parade. It was pretty short, but a lot of fun. The kids thought it was great! They threw out lots of candy because there weren’t many there, and the floats were fun. Here's a burn out. That was Cal's favorite things.

Watching and waiting for the next float.

Emma got a kick out of the "parade in the dark"!

I thought this tractor/carriage was cool!

Our crowd. We went with my parents, Dave's parents & Aunt Julie. It was a fun night!

Bountiful City Power float.

Cal keeping warm.

The Jolly Man himself!

And nothing starts the holiday off right like the First Presidency Christmas devotional! We made some popcorn and watched it together. I loved their messages of focusing on the Savior and the simplicity of his story. Truly, he is the only reason for the season. And the music was gorgeous, like always. If you weren't able to watch it, follow this link, and you can watch individual talks or songs, or the entire thing:

http://lds.org/broadcasts/archive/christmas-devotional/2010/12?lang=eng

We were also lucky enough to be able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert this year. We always sign up for tickets the first day, but are never selected...we always joke maybe we're the wrong blood type or perhaps belong to the wrong tribe? It's been five years since we were able to go! But Randy, Dave's brother, got some tickets, and so we doubled with him and his date, Amy. Yahoo! Thank you for letting us come with you! It was wonderful! This year, David Archuletta and Michael York were headlining with the choir. Everything was amazing! The choir, special effects, performers, dancers, special stage decorations, it was all perfect!

Last week, we went to downtown Ogden to see the Ogden Christmas Village with the Miller’s. This is the third year we’ve gone together, and it’s always so much fun! I used to go as a kid, we’d go with my mom’s friend Ann and their family. The only thing I remember that’s still the same is a group of caroler statues. It was so cute, Emma and Tavin were holding each other’s hands nearly the entire time, on their own accord. And the little boys, Alec and Cal were actually into it this year! Cal loved all of the “Christmas lights”! The best part for the kids though was riding Jupiter, the train that runs through downtown Ogden. They got a kick out of that. There was a Santa Claus walking around, and much to my surprise, Emma walked right up to him and said “Hi, Santa!” Santa asked if she had been good for her mom and dad, and Emma said she had, which is right! Hopefully the big guy brings her (and Cal) something good this year! (: I'll get some pictures up soon from that. The pictures we took at Christmas Village weren't great, since we forgot our real camera, so these are pics from the phones. But they give you an idea, right?

Recent Major Milestones...

Emma did it! She is now a “big girl” and has stopped sucking her thumb. We’ve been working with her for a long time, and now she is finally over it (and we hope this is permanent). She was sucking her thumb in the womb, and from the time she was first born, that was the way she calmed herself down. She never took to binkies much, and has always been a thumb sucker. The doctors always just said not to worry about it, not to make it a big deal and she’d grow out of it, but it didn’t seem like she was going to. So we started trying lots of different techniques we heard about, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, we went with bribery. We made a chart for Emma, and said when she went a whole day and night without sucking her thumb (we even checked her during the night), she would get a sticker. When she sucked her thumb, we’d take a sticker off. When she filled out her chart, we would get her a bike. So after months and months of this, Emma just barely finished up and decided she was done sucking her thumb! It was hard for her. We even checked her during the night a few times and if she was sucking, we wouldn’t give her a sticker. She always said “But I didn’t try to suck my thumb, I didn’t know I was doing it!” She just did it automatically. But we had to make sure she got out of that habit. We’re so proud of her! She did it! I hope it stays that way. Go girl, go! She was so excited about her bike! We ordered it online and had it shipped to Walmart, and it actually arrived the day she finished up her chart. So we told her there was a special delivery, and went to pick it up, but didn’t tell her what was in the box. When we got home, she was so excited when we opened it up! She loved the “sweet orange” (her words) and said “We picked the right one!” It is a 16” Mongoose bike, and it should be great! Unfortunately, one of the parts was made wrong, so we couldn’t assemble it all and have to go exchange it. But she wants the same one. We’ll post some pictures here when she gets the entire bike.

Emma's chart we kept on her door. She just woke up when we took the picture, and so she was a little drowsy.

Emma was so excited when we pulled the bike out of the box!Ready to try the bike out!
And Cal is now going in the potty…at least #2 consistently. It has been several months since he’s pooped in his diaper. He always says “Go, go, go!” and starts running to the potty. It’s pretty funny. We never started being proactive with the potty training thing, I wasn’t planning on doing that until he was 2 ½ to 3, but he initiated things, so now we’re getting the ball rolling. He once in a while will go #1 on the potty, but usually he just poops, so we’ve got to work on that one a little more. Emma was so excited and wanted to make him a potty chart, like she had when we were training her. She made one for him, and the next few times he’d go potty, she’d say “Yeah Cal! Let’s get you a sticker for going potty!” to which Cal replied “No!” He doesn’t really care about incentives or rewards, but we do encourage him when he wants to go. We just bought him his first big boy underoos (or briefs, or underwear, whatever you call them…we’re used to calling them panties), which had trucks on them. So we’re going to start here with the potty training thing.

Move over Michael Jordan…he looks like a little underwear model, don’t you think? (:

As for Mom and Dad, we’re moving right along as well!

I won! I won, I won, I won! A major prize! No, not a leg lamp (tee hee hee)but a case of canned fruits and pie fillings, marzipan, marshmallow crème, and almond paste. A few months ago, my mom told me about a cooking photo contest Solo Foods was doing. For this contest, you make one of their recipes listed on their website, take a picture of the culinary creation any way you wanted, submit it, and to my surprise, they chose our photo and contacted me this week. Not to say that my cooking skills are the reason, or my photography skills either, I think it had a little to do with the kids being in the picture that made it so cute! Here’s the picture I submitted, soon it will be featured on their website, solofoods.com.

Dave finished his last final last night for his medical coding classes this semester. He has done such a great job and worked so hard! He only had 6 credit hours this semester, but he was spending more time with these two classes than when he had a full load. So he was always studying, doing assignments or taking tests. He told me this was the longest semester of his life, and we’re all glad it’s over. Good job, hon!

Cal is Two!

It’s hard to believe that Callahan was born two years ago! How fast time goes by! He’s getting so big and cute, learning to talk and do new things each day. It’s so fun to see him grow, as it is with Emma, too. His birthday party was a hit! Cal chose a pumpkin birthday cake. He looked through the cake decorating books and kept going back to the Pumpkin cakes. Emma would try to show him other ones, but he knew what he wanted! So we did a pumpkin theme for our little pumpkin. Cal looking through the cake decorating book.

We had his family party on Saturday, though his real birthday was Sunday. Everyone in the family was able to make it, except for Randy, who had to work. So it was fun to have the fam all there! Cal would not take a nap that day, until right before six, and slept through the first thirty minutes of his party. First, we ate pizza and salads for dinner, Cal had his without cheese, of course.

The birthday boy!

Kids dancing away!

I made pumpkin pie playdough that looked and smelled like pumpkin pie for the kids to play with, it was kind of fun. Then we played some “Minute to Win It” games, which turned out to be really fun. Even the kids liked trying them. Here's Cal trying it out...

Don't blow it!

Marko doing the bubble Minute to Win It Game!

Kolby was the winner of the Face the Cookie game.

Stacy trying to get the cookie down to her mouth.

And then it was present time. Cal got a bunch of fun things – a “real” kitty that he can pet and bother all he wants from Grandma and Grandpa Ryerse and Julie, Randy and Brian, a dump truck and drums from Grandma and Grandpa Stoddard and Uncle Marko, books from Amy and Kolby, puppets and boots from Mom and Daddy, a train from Jerry & Stacy, a truck from Jeff & Shirley. He’s having a great time playing with all of his presents.

After that, it was cake and ice-cream time. Since Cal has so many allergies, it isn’t easy. But I found a recipe that used a cake mix that didn’t contain milk or egg products, and mixed it with a can of pumpkin. That was it. It was pretty good, but the frosting, made of just shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla, and soymilk, didn’t taste too great, but at least I could decorate with it. The cake cracked while transporting it to Grandma & Grandpa Stoddard’s house, where we had the party. Cal loved the pumpkin cake, he kept wanting to look at it, and loved eating it too. He had some sorbet with it, instead of ice-cream, since that’s what we get him for birthday parties.

Singing "Happy Birthday"!

Eating his "cake" and "ice-cream"!

Having a fun birthday party.

Callahan wanted to wear bows in his hair the rest of the night! On his real birthday, he was in denial that it was his birthday. He kept saying “no, it’s Emma’s!” or "Emma's birthday." It was funny. We took some treats to his nursery class and they sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He is still learning how to put up two fingers, but when asked how old he is he will say “Two!” Happy birthday to our two-year-old little guy!

Gobble gobble!

It’s already been a fabulous Thanksgiving day! It started early, as I woke up to make rolls for two Thanksgivings. I made crescent rolls, turkey bread (bread shaped like a turkey), and orange rolls. It was busy. The kids and Dave watched the Macy’s Thanksgiivng Day Parade. At 11, we were off to Grammie’s to join the family for food and fun. Dave and Suz were down from Washington, and everyone was there, except Adam and Meghan (and they’ll be coming in a few weeks!! Yea!) . It was so nice. I love my family. I sat by Aunt Christie, I love her, and Dave. Great conversation around the table, everyone in our family is so cool. I’ve heard so much complaining from my friends lately about their family drama, and we just don’t have that in our family much. Everyone is so great! Emma and Cal had so much fun playing with all of my young cousins, they love them!

The turkey bread turned out pretty cute! Emma had a blast helping me make it!

The orange rolls, those always go fast!

Is your mouth watering yet?

Emma and Cal sit up to eat. Emma is a turkey girl, and Cal loves jello and mashed potatoes (minus the butter and milk)!

Our family at Grammie's house for Thanksgiving!

Playing with the cousins on the stairs. They're all really my cousins, but Emma calls them "her cousins". She loves them, they're so cute with her!

Emma with her (second) cousin Morgan!

Cal - I love his shirt that says "Feed Me!" Perfect for Thanksgiving!

Emma and Uncle Marko, Emma and Cal have the best Aunts and Uncles!

And then it was time for Thanksgiving with the Ryerse's...we had fun playing with the kids, doing some Rock Band, looking through Black Friday ads, visiting, eating, celebrating Randy's birthday, and watching Christmas Carol. Cal, Kaison, and Emma jumping on their Aunt Julie!

Playing Rock Band. The kids love it!
Cal, our little nature boy.
The prego picture! Stacy is due mid-March, about three weeks after me!

We thought it would be funny to have the Ryerse men line up and take a picture to document who really has the most hair, since they're always trying to figure it out. The picture is youngest (Brian on the left) to oldest (Dan on the right). I think Dave is in the lead - go babe!

Here are the men from the front!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for all of the abundant blessings I've been given! I have SO much!