Christmas Time

We had a really great Christmas it started early with a very special visitor! 

Grandma Pfeil!!!

Unfortunately I only took one picture of the whole event.  I am very very sad about this, but I guess I can't really do anything about it now.  But it is a very cute picture.  We have a similar picture of the two of them two years ago.  Noelle loves listening to Grandma Pfeil play and sing to the piano. I thought it was such a precious moment.

I was sick off and on while she was here.  The kids got sick and unfortunately Becky and Grandma Pfeil got sick as well.  We had a lot planned too, but it just couldn't happen.  Right when she got here everyone besides me (cause I was sick) headed to Jungle Jims Playground.  Noelle couldn't stop talking about it.  Grandma played and played and played with the kiddos.  Even when she wasn't feeling the greatest.  It was exactly what Noelle and Mikey needed.  What a great visit it was for us! 

Tanner (my brother), Nina, and Eric were also able to come for Christmas.  We had such a great time with them.  And Mikey and Noelle loved playing with their cousin Eric.  Especially Noelle.  She couldn't stop talking about him and how she loved that he was here.  She would always say to him, "oh I love you cousin."  And give him a great big hug.  Mostly we just hung out at my parent's house so the kids could play together.  But it was so much fun.  We sure miss them!

Some of these pictures may hurt your eye to look at them.  Sorry about that.

Going to the mall to sit on Santa's lap.  So lame but we couldn't take a picture of Santa and the kids where we were.  But Noelle sure loved it.  This is where I learned she wanted an easy bake oven on top of the dream lite.  Thanks to my parents that wish came true.

Christmas Noelle.  dress from Grandma Pfeil.  She sure loves that her name means Christmas.

This was the best pose I got out of Mikey but it totally describes how he is.  Outfit from Grandma Pfeil.  I cannot get him to sit still for anything.  It's still super cute.

Noelle made this for our tree.  I love it!

Christmas Eve we decorated sugar cookies.  Noelle really got into it.

Mikey's Christmas Even pjs from Grandma Fullmer

Noelle LOVES her rapunzel pjs she got from Grandma.

Looks like Santa, and Mom and Dad delivered!

Opening the coveted unicorn dream lite.  (p.s.-it was a really worth it)

She got a Princess Bell dress up for Christmas.  Which I think is perfect because we call her Noelle Bell all the time.

We went sledding with my side of the family and Noelle had a blast!  She wanted to ride down with everyone and she did!  I have even more pictures from sledding but I just included a few.

 

Mikey liked the sledding but hated the cold.

Riding with Nina

Nina and Eric.  Eric also liked the sledding I think but hated the cold as well.

Fun Uncle Tanner

She even got Grandma to go.  Very rare indeed.  She kept telling her "It's not scary damin." 

Did I mention that Michael really enjoyed himself too!  He was like a kid in a candy store.  He had so much fun with the kids.

The best picture I could get of Grandma with her grandkids.  We took a lot too.

ahhh, Aunt Nina and Mikey

 

 

 

 

 

Right before we had to say goodbye.  They were leaving for Wisconsin the next day. It was so sad to say goodbye.  But it was so wonderful seeing them and spending time with them.  Wish we could see them more often.

We also got our pictures taken as a whole Fullmer family so here is a preview of them.  I never love how I look but I really like how these turned out.  She did an excellent job I think.  We're just missing big Eric.  But I'm pretty sure he was there somehow laughing at how dumb we were for taking pictures in the bitter cold.

And because we were so busy for like 3 weeks straight with Christmas activities and visiting with family, there was a lot of this during odd times of the day and in the car:

They are such good huggers :).  I love my sweethearts so much.  Having them be so happy is the best Christmas present I could ask for.

Just the other day it was like 30 something degrees and we decided to take a walk.  It was desperately needed.  It's been so cold, like in the negatives and we haven't gone outside very much.  It was nice to get fresh air.  But of course the path still had lots of snow on it.  I need a stroller with better traction.

 We had a great Christmas with each other and family.  We hope everyone else did too!

Some homemade Christmas things

I really enjoy doing crafts I just have to find time to do it.  Christmas is a perfect time to do crafts because I think they mean a lot and generally are less expensive than buying gifts.  So I wanted to record some of the crafts I did for Christmas 2012. 

Michael's parents were married in the Manti, Utah temple so I made this little 8 x 10 wooden block with a picture of it for them.

For Michael's mom I also made this wooden block with pictures of Mikey and Noelle.

For my mom I made a block for each grandchild with pictures and also with their name and birthday.  We thought we would start doing one for each grandchild when they hit a year old.

For Mikey I made this Captain America cape out of an old t-shirt and felt.  The mask is made out of felt as well as the shield.  Ideas from friends and pinterest.  I also made one for my nephew Eric!  Mikey doesn't play with it yet the way I thought he would.  But he is only 18 months and everything is big enough to fit him for another few years at least.

I also made Noelle a cape and mask.  I call her "lightning girl."  She loves it!  She'll also wear Mikey's once in a while.  By the stocking are these little felt "stove-tops" I made her.  I really wanted to get her a kitchen to go with her cupboard we got her last year but we have no room whatsoever with it.  This way she can pull out the little stove-tops whenever she wants to and put them back when she's done.

My little lightning girl looks so tough in this picture.

Freddy the Elf

In my last post we mentioned that we had a new little visitor at the beginning of December.  Well our elf, Freddy, continued to play hide and seek, being mischievous, and leaving notes for Mikey and Noelle until Christmas Eve.  Noelle was heartbroken when she knew that Freddy wasn't going to come back until next Christmas.  We really had to prepare her for it.  She gets so attached to certain stuffed toys of hers.  Just the other day she drew a picture for Freddy and left it on the spot where he sat all December.  It kind of makes me tear up when I think how much she misses him.

We didn't get the book for the elf of the shelf.  Santa just sent his own letter describing the magic elf.  As you can see we also didn't keep to the "rule" of no touching your elf.  Noelle is too much of a hugger.  So the letter from Freddy said "The more you hug me, the more my magic grows."  It was perfect.

One morning we found Freddy in the candy jar and he made a little bit of a mess.

Freddy knew that Noelle and Mikey's favorite breakfast is muffins so he brought them some one morning, along with hot chocolate.

Freddy thought he could lift my 2lb weights.

Noelle and I made Freddy a scarf out of felt for his Christmas present.  She was so excited for him to get it.

November and a little December

It is crazy to me that it is already December.  I think time passes by a lot faster with two kids.  Well we've had lots of fun together and are excited for the rest of our December festivities.

And now for some pictures :)

This is Mikey first real time in snow.  He didn't really know what to think about it.  And he looked like the little boy from Christmas Story with his puffy coat on :)

Noelle was so excited for the snow

My parent's neighbors built a Rapunzel tower.  How cool!

Noelle went to the dentist a little while ago and was so brave.  This was her third visit but the first time she let them do everything: xray, clean teeth, etc.  This is the best children's dentist office ever.  Well they unfortunately found 3 cavities.  This day she was getting them filled and she did so good.  She is holding one of her favorite little doggies, Ruff.  I got a little teary eyed taking this picture.  She was a little out of it afterward.

Noelle was sick and sleeping and Mikey decided to give her kisses.

One of Noelle's favorite things to do is play dress up.  Mikey likes it too, but we don't have any boy dress ups yet and dad does not like that. 

Noelle likes to dig in the snow as much as she likes to dig in the sand

Mikey in the snow again.  He liked it a little better this time.

At the mall one day.  The tv was a great distraction while I tried to hurry and shop around.

Noelle is always begging to take a ride on these toys at the mall.  This day I gave in.  She looks so cute!

My happy Mikey

My not so happy Mikey when he got sick after Thanksgiving.  He is always running around and when he was sick he would just lay down and cuddle.  He really like Noelle's little Lambie (doc mcstuffins) toy for a little cuddling :).  Around Thanksgiving time we all got sick.  Then just recently Noelle, Mikey and I got a little (awful) stomach bug.  Hopefully it's done going around cause it was so not fun.  Mikey was sure concerned when I was sick though and would keep kissing, hugging and cuddling with me as if to make sure I was okay.  And Noelle has included the phrase "Please help (fill in any of our names) feel better" in her prayers.  I sure have some sweet kids.

My ornament wreath I made.  Made with dollar store ornaments and a wire hanger. Pretty proud of it.

a craft that I made.  I like this one a lot too.

Freddy the elf joined our Christmas celebrating this year.  But in his letter it said that the more you hug him the more his magic grows.  Which is perfect because Noelle is such a hugger.  We asked Noelle what we should name him and in about 2 seconds Noelle yelled out the name "Freddy!"  She loves this little elf and is excited every morning to see what he's been up to.  It's also helped a little in her behavior knowing that Freddy reports to Santa each night.

One of our favorite things we caught Freddy doing.  Looks like he does belong to this family if he wanted to watch Harry Potter.  Noelle got a kick out of it!

We went to the festival of trees here in Salt Lake and had so much fun. Noelle asked the balloon guy to make Rudolph for her.  He hadn't made him in over a year so he had to think really hard how to do it.  But he did great and Rudolph is bigger than she is.  I was really surprised that she had come up with this all on her own.  It was either between Rudolph or a unicorn.  Rudolph won.  I think she wanted a unicorn because she has asked for a unicorn dream lite for Christmas.  On a side note, she has not dropped this dream lite idea.  Hopefully Santa delivers!

This past Friday we were really looking forward to visiting some friends. However the kids hadn't felt well all week and I just didn't have a good feeling to go visit them.  We were really bummed but we went to my mom's house instead.  We decorated sugar cones with green frosting and candy decorations to make trees.  It was way fun and Noelle totally got in to it.  This is her tree!

My tree

Mikey's tree.  Grandma helped him a little but he was actually a little bit interested.  But it didn't last very long.

My cute kiddos in their cute hats aunt Nina made for them. I just love this picture so much! They sure love each other and I am always catching them playing together and laughing a lot.  I love love love these two!