Christmas birthday girl

I just couldn't neglect our poor Halle any longer...she had her birthday on Christmas and I have still not posted anything about our sweet girl. Halle Kay is our little 2 year old who is such a fun little person to have around. She is constantly going around the house singing her "ABCDEFG's" and I am a child of God in a high pitched voice. She loves pickles so much (just like her dad) and usually just yanks open the fridge with all her strength and shouts "peekle, peekle!" She LOVES to change her shoes/clothes on a regular basis making sure that she has at least 3 shirts on (usually a onesie, followed by a longsleeved shirt, and finishing with a short sleeved shirt on top). For pants it is usually pretty funny, she'll wear whatever pants but then she'll want either a pair of shorts or the little underwear things that she wears under dresses over her pants. She is always wanting to wear her snowboots, slippers, sandals, church shoes...and she wants to change about every five minutes. I only let her have her "options" on days I know we won't be going anywhere. She loves to play with her "chichin"(kitchen) and her babies, she enjoys getting horsey rides from her brother, "helping" with the dishes - or rather splashing water and bubbles everywhere, and she gets giddy everytime she heres Chase come in the door from school. She is so precious to us and we love her so much!

Christmas outfits with the cousins

Well, it has definatly been way too long since I have posted anything, so I thought I should at least do this Christmas pic until I can sift through the 500 pics my dad took during the Christmas break! We had a fabulous time in MT and were able to spend 3 weeks there, I know, that's a long time, it's one of the few perks of still being in school! We got to go to Fairfield where Chase is from and spend some time watching Tate play a few b ball games. He is quite the little player, as all of his brothers were:) The kids were yelling his name and I'm pretty sure they were probably a distraction. Halle kept yelling "Go Tape, Go Tape!" which was pretty funny. Since we have been home she has been wondering where uncle tape is? Janis showed me how to knit little hats with the "knifty knitter" looms, I have made several now for people who have had babies recently and they have been a hit, thanks Janis! The kids got to get gumballs from grandma pearsons gumball machine using pennies, I think we at least spent a dollar on gum:) We went to the community choir christmas concert at the highschool which was really good, Chase has several cousins with amazing voices. Best of all was just spending time with them visiting and catching up, we are so sad that we will miss McKay coming home:(

In Billings the kids strung fruit loops on yarn and made little cinnamon ornaments to hang on the tree. We celebrated Halle's 2nd birthday on Christmas Eve this year, she had a wonderful day and it was fun to be with family (I will do a special post just for her later) We did our famous re enactment of the nativity with costumes, we never fail to get excited about this:) We just did so many things it's hard to post it all, but I promise more pictures are to come, so get excited!

Thanks Grandma!

Thanks mom for such a fun package from Disney land! Tyler knew it was going to come today, and his preschool was cancelled due to a plumbing problem, so he kept checking the door about every 15 min. He kept saying, "I can't wait to see the toy grandma sent me, but if theres no toy, that's okay, maybe it's just candy or somethin!" He was thrilled to dump out all of that styrofoam to find a Transformer!! I wish you could have seen how excited he was, and to top it off there were mickey mouse ears for both of them with their names on them, the mickey mouse lollipops, and sweet bennion orthodontic backpacks with chapstick and floss!! Halle was down for a nap supposedly when we got the package, but woke up when she heard the commotion and started yelling "my suc!" (translation- my succer) from her crib:) She freaked out when she saw her disney princess phone:) She walked around with that the rest of the night talking to the princesses! I think you can see how thrilled they were in the picture with their loot! Thanks so much you guys are the best, I think they feel like they've actually been to disney land!!!

Life is good

Our Thanksgiving break has been awesome! Chase has had the entire week off from school! He had his finals the week before the break, and then will go back for two more weeks after the break to do work on kids in elementary schools (just doing sealants on them, nothing too intense), so he has been stress and study free, hooray! Chase has been so great to me and the kids, he has done so many extra things this week to make it fun. As you can see from the picture, dad has given the kids popcorn and hot chocolate about every other night this week, they have so loved this, being a dad can be so much fun, because afterwards the mean mom has to make sure they clean up the million pieces of popcorn all over the place:) Chase watched the kids while I did christmas cards with a friend one afternoon, and did the famous after thanksgiving day sales another. Both times I came home to a sparkling clean house, I so so so love that so so much:) He took the kids to the park and to the mall to get chicken nuggets, again why wouldn't dad be the fav? We went to the childrens museum, which we go to every Mon., but the kids loved showing dad all of the fun things to do there. We have had time to just hang out together and be a family, hooray for the best husband ever!

the dress

This ones for you mom:) Here is the dress I sewed for Halle for next summer. I had a good time making it for her with a little frustration mixed in. I really have enjoyed having little projects here and there to work on while Chase studies.

Cook like me???

Awhile back I believe I was tagged and have yet to post a recipe for the "Cook like me" tagging round started by cute Chelsea. I have not forgotten about this, in fact I have thought of it several times and have just the recipe for all of you. The recipe is called "Head 'em off at the pass white chilli" I know, random name, and white chilli? Are you thinking ...gross, that is what I thought everytime I was at a ward chilli cook off and I would see the random pot of the white stuff, but this is so yum. I got it from my mom who got it from her sister, my Aunt Peggy!

1/2 c. chopped onion
1Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 (12oz.) bottle green taco sauce (LaVictoria brand)
2 (15oz) cans great northern beans (undrained)
1 1/2 c. shredded mozerella cheese, divided
1 tsp. dried cilantro
1/4 tsp. ground celery seed
1/4 tsp. celery salt

Saute onion and oil. Add chicken mixing thoroughly. Add broth, stir in beans, seasonings, and green taco sauce. Simmer over medium heat for 10 min. Just before serving add 1 c. moz. cheese. Add 1/2 c. remaining cheese on top of individual bowls. I usually double the recipe:)

I now get to tag two of my favorite people, Andrea and Kenna, give us some good ones!

Happy Halloween

Strike a pose Batman! Tyler seriously loves this costume! He was batman last year (notice how his shoes don't quite get covered by the costume anymore) he wore it almost everyday for a year, now he is batman again! Maybe he'll be batman next year! What do you think? That was the best $7 I have ever spent!

What is this costume thing I am wearing and why am I wearing it again? Halle was our sweet little ladybug this year:)

Batman with his trick or treating bag he decorated, and his little sister sidekick:) Notice how much happier she is without the costume on:)

Batman and the ladybug before heading out for a full street of trick or treating (both sides of the street woo hoo, Tyler was in heaven)! After that, we went to some friends house for hot apple cider and donuts, it was a fun night:)