New Year's Eve 2010/2011

New Year's Eve was once again spent with Annie and Jason. We have done this for the last three years now and it has been a very fun experience each year. The kids play in their fantastic basement playroom and the adults get to chat, eat lots of yummy food, and play games. We really love doing it.

This year for the actual event Annie had bought a bunch of bubble wrap as well as some of the confetti poppers that they let the kids use.

Trevor loved the Bubble Wrap. He was bound and determined to make sure that every last bubble had been burst. You could just see how much he was loving it on his face, pure joy!

This is the only picture we got of me that night. It isn't a good one, but at least it proves I was there.

A big thanks to our fabulous hosts! Happy New Year everyone. May 2011 bring you joy and happiness!

Sledding with the Dixons

In between Christmas and New Years we got invited to an impromptu day of sledding with the Dixon clan. Just down the road from Annie and Jason's house they have some drainage areas that are perfect for sledding with kids. So, we packed up in the middle of the day and headed for a fun day of sledding.

All of my kids were so excited to be out sledding. None of them were afraid of going and each found a sled that they enjoyed using. Levi was even excited to go down the hill. We would go and then he would beg someone else to take him down the hill.

Aunt Annie even came out and enjoyed a few runs herself. Here she is sporting that fantastic baby belly of hers.

Everything was going fantastically when Trevor decided he had had enough. He started crying and told me that his feet were cold. He was the first to start whining so I felt kind of bad, but once he had mentioned it, everyone started to admit that they were a little cold as well. We decided it was time to pack up and head back to Annie and Jason's for some hot chocolate and chili.

To get to and from the hill Uncle Jason hooked up a sled behind his four wheeler and the kids took turns getting to ride down the street. My kids giggled and squealed the whole way! It was one of my favorite sledding trips to date.

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was one of the most enjoyable Christmas' our little family has ever had. It was filled with a lot of focus on our little family, but plenty of extended Ladwig family as well.

This year it was Ladwig Christmas, so Marty and Diane came from Colorado Springs to spend the holiday with all of us still in Idaho. It was so enjoyable to have them here and we did a lot of dinners and just plain old time with Grandma and Grandpa. It was also nice for me to have the doctor in town to help treat me with a random woman issue that I had been dealing with for the entire month of December. (All I can say is it was the most painful experience of my life and I love that my father-in-law is such a fantastic OBGYN who was willing to help me figure out what was wrong with me.)

For Christmas Eve we had dinner at our house with Grandma and Grandpa and Renee and Steve and their family. We had a very yummy Cafe Rio Salad meal and then read the Christmas Story out of the Bible with the kids. They each got to open one present, which of course was pajamas, and then we let them watch Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. Just as Rudolph was ending I looked out our back window and saw Rudolph's red nose and heard Santa's jingle bells on his sleigh. The kids came running out to see it and got really motivated to get to bed. Ellen began yelling at everyone to get to their beds, so Braiden quickly went and jumped in Trevor's bed. We had to convince him that Santa needed him to go to bed at his house. While they went to their rooms easily, getting them to calm down to go to sleep was a little different, but eventually they were able to stop looking out their window and drift into sweet dreams.

In the morning we woke up and lined them up to come down the hall and see what Santa had left them.

Ellen got a bunch of dress up clothes.

Trevor got a bunch of Toy Story figurines and puzzles.

Levi got Toy Story 3 as well as a really cool Little People go-kart crash toy.

Trevor also got another Thomas the Train engine, Percy.

Kind of like with the gingerbread house. Levi liked his toys, but he was much more interested in the candy in his stocking.

Grandma and Grandpa were able to stop by just as we were finishing looking at what Santa got us and were getting ready to open our family presents.

Levi's first present was his favorite. We got him a box of fruit snacks that were his very own. He wanted to have one immediately.

Trevor got a couple of Toy Story Puzzles.

The boys also both got new hooded towels. Trevor was a frog and Levi was a bee. Of course Levi is still eating fruit snacks.

Grandma got Trevor a Marble Works toy from Discovery Kids. The great thing about his one is that it doesn't use marbles, it uses little balls instead. (No worrying about what Levi's got in his mouth.) Grandma of course is the master Marble Work player as well.

Grandma's gift for Levi was a boat that he could hammer the balls in. He enjoyed pounding away!

We didn't overlook pictures of Landon and I opening presents, the fact is, we had already given each other our gifts. Landon got me a new pair of running shoes (that I picked out) and he got a bunch of new hunting stuff (that he picked out.)

Shortly after opening gifts we headed over to Eric and Audra's house for the traditional Ladwig family Christmas morning Steak and Eggs breakfast. As well as breakfast we were able to exchange cousin gifts.

Ellen and Trevor both got pajamas for their gifts. Ella loved that hers were a nightgown and Trevor was excited about his having a mask.

Levi got new church clothes that he looks totally cute in.

After cousin gifts we did our sibling exchange as well as a very fun gift exchange set up by Marty and Diane. It was really fun and enjoyable, plus we got some really great gifts! Thanks everyone!!

After relaxing and chilling most of the day we headed back to our house. Santa had brought us a Wii so we decided to play. Eric and Brenen and Grandma and Grandpa came to play with us as well.

Christmas 2010 brought plenty of good family time with lots of merriment. I could not have imagined a more enjoyable holiday. Here's to more of them to come!

Our Christmas Tree

We decided to do a real first for our family this year and go cut down our own Christmas Tree. We have cut down a tree at my grandparent's in Oregon before, but Landon wasn't there, I was two weeks from delivering Trevor, so my Grandpa just cut down the closest tree that looked okay. We wanted to go all out this year.

We got a permit from the BLM and found out the closest place to go. The only problem was with all the early snow we had this year they said that you couldn't get all the way back in with your truck. They suggested snow machines, which we don't own. So, we decided to drive as far as we could and then walk in from there. We knew we might not make it very far and have to settle for whatever we could get, but it was worth it.

When we finally stopped the truck to get ready to walk the kids were so excited to play in the snow they could hardly contain themselves. Ellen immediately found this little bit of tree and decided she would take it home to be her very own tree.

So that Levi could enjoy the trip we brought the hiking backpack and he got to ride on my back. He actually really enjoys the backpack and was more than happy to participate that way.

We only made it about a half mile in before Landon and I realized that walking the kids in would be a slow process, so we started looking up the side of the hill for good trees. We knew that since we hadn't gone very far we might have to climb up a bit to get a good tree. We did see a good one up the side of the hill about 100 yards. It was a pretty steep climb so we sent Landon up and the kids and I stayed and played by the road.

The kids were having a blast sliding on their bums in this little ravine right next to the road. We laid on the ground and watched Daddy and called our encouragement to him as he sawed off our Christmas Tree. Our kids had been watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakqual" recently so the entire thing was also sound tracked with our kids singing, "All the Single Ladies." Levi usually got to sing the "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" part. He is pretty good at it.

When Landon finally got the tree cut and brought down the mountain to us we tied a rope on the end to drag it back. Trevor really wanted to help pull and tried soooo hard to get the tree to move. In the end he had to settle for helping Daddy pull or carrying the branches at the top of the tree.

On the way down the side of the mountain Landon broke the top off of the tree. It actually turned out okay because the tree would have been too tall of our front room anyway. Ellen was once again happy to find a small Christmas tree just the size for her.

Levi again happily road in the backpack on the way back to the truck. The whole time singing Chipmunk songs in my ear.

And there he is. My hunk of a husband with his Christmas Tree he worked so hard to get. It turned out fabulous and we are sure glad we have him around to scale mountain sides for us. Yeah for Christmas!

Meeting Santa

The kids were able to see Santa this year at our ward party. Ellen and Trevor were jumping out of their skin excited. Ellen tried to decide what she was going to ask for the whole time we waited in line, even though she had already written a letter to Santa. In the end, Trevor didn't ask Santa for anything on his list. Instead, he asked him for a Rock. I don't know?!

Ellen ended up asking for what she had on her list, a pretend kitty that wouldn't make Daddy fat and something Tinkerbell. Then she surprised us by asking for roller skates as well. Another huh moment.

Levi wasn't so sure he wanted to sit on Santa's lap until they gave him a candy cane. Then, he didn't care about talking to Santa he just wanted to eat his candy cane. Very cute!

Gingerbread House

This year was the first year that I have attempted making the gingerbread house on my own. It has been a tradition of my family to do one every year, but either my Mom or Annie makes the gingerbread and then we all get together to put it all together. This year Annie and my family got together to make the gingerbread and then decorated separately. It was a really good learning experience for me to help cut out and bake all of the gingerbread so that I can feel more confident doing it by myself in years to come.I was a little nervous about decorating the house with our kids. I knew that they would love it, but I also didn’t know if they would demolish it while putting the candy on. They actually did great with it. Ellen and Trevor each worked on their own side and were very precise with where they wanted to put the candy. Levi, didn’t really care about decorating it, he just liked eating the candy and watching what was going on. It worked out perfect!

Our masterpiece turned out well if I don’t say so myself and it was a really fun family evening together. It also was really yummy eating. This is the first year that we ate the entire gingerbread house and it only took us about a week. The kids loved not only the candy but the gingerbread itself. A very successful activity.