Hunter got this Pirate Ship Lego Set from Santa. He worked on it a little on Saturday and then finished it up before Church. He did it all by himself! Hunter just LOVES Legos. He is really good and patient while working through all the steps.
This was the biggest Legos set Hunter has ever done. He was so proud of himself!
What a guy! He wants to have a Legos Birthday when he turns 7! I probably need to start thinking about that one now!
Every year we do something for Doyle's sock, in honor of Justin's brother who committed suicide. This year we really involved the kids. We found a family in need and the kids went with me to Walmart to get stuff for the kids, three girls. Our kids had been saving their chore money to buy each other Christmas gifts. I picked out toys for each kid then let them decide which of the toys I got that they wanted to "buy" from me to give to each other. This way the kids don't end up with three cheap little toys that just break. 
Another tradition is making cookies for Santa. This year some good friends of ours, the Saline's, brought by cookie dough and cookie cutters, so we used that to make Santa his cookies.
The kids love putting on their aprons and using the rolling pin to flatter their cookie dough. Mr. Grant over saw everything from his Bumbo.
By the time we were done Logan had flour everywhere, but I knew that would happen.
Hard at work!
They had fun making the cookies and decorating them for Santa. They made sure that each cookie had as many sprinkles on it as it could hold. Hunter said, "We need to do it this way so Santa will have enough sugar in his body to make it to every one's house!"
One of our family traditions is having Santa Pancakes. The kids remind me every year asking, "Is it time yet to start having Santa pancakes?"
This year instead of using cherry filling as the hat I used strawberry and the kids loved it. Kiersten and Hunter were so funny having their fork and knife up ready to dig in they said.
Yummy!
I have many LOVES OF CHRISTMAS! I love this time of year, people seem more friendly, you have something in common with every stranger that you see it seems, I actually enjoy the hustle and bustle. One of my favorite things is our stockings! Justin Grandma Bennion has made use each a stocking. I just love them and get TONS of complements about them.
This is the one she just did for Grant. It is absolutely gorgeous! The details are phenomenal, every one of these small decorations are sewn on my hand. Thank you so much Grandma B for the stockings. I have truly enjoyed them over the years and look forward to putting them up each and every year!
These Gallery Wraps that I had made last year of the kids are still one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I actually leave them up all threw January because I hate taking them down!
Decorating the house is one of my favorite things to do. I have been collecting snowman decorations for years and now have a beautiful collection to decorate my home with. I leave the decorations I have above my kitchen cabinets up through January as well, because they are just snowman and very fitting for winter time, even though we don't see snow here in Pima!
Each one of these snowmen make me smile.
I took this picture two years ago as a gift for my mother-in-law. I just LOVE it! It is a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas!
Our Tree. Justin and I actually decorated it together this year. We had a lot of fun doing it!
Well Kiersten got to run errands with Christi and I told Hunter that we could do something fun while Kiersten was gone. He wanted to shoot a BB Gun, but we don't have one. So I called my Dad and of course he had a couple to choose from. My Dad said Hunter could just take it home and use it all he wanted. Hunter was in HEAVEN!!!
We had just watched the movie, "The Christmas Story" about the Red Rider BB Gun. Hunter kept saying, "Yes Mom I know YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!!!"
Logan wanted to join in the fun so Hunter let him use his air socket gun.
Hunter was shooting at these cans. The little plastic cans to the right are empty sprinkles containers, so pretty small. Hunter's very first shot knocked one of those small cans over. Hunter does a great job taking his time and concentrating on his target.
I use to love shooting my brothers BB guns! I was such a Tom Boy back in the day! The great thing is that Hunter can cock the gun all my himself! Hunter is learning responsibility and gun safety. Every time he talks about BB guns he says , "yeah and remember that Uncle Brian shot Aunt Amy with his BB gun when they were kids!"
Kiersten looked beautiful for her dance recital. For the Christmas recital the girls all use costumes that they don't get to keep so I don't have a close up picture of Kiersten in her costumes.
Kiersten's hair was so glittery, even though the picture doesn't show it. She was asked what she used on her hair by several people. Kiersten just loves to dance. This she is doing jazz, tap and clogging classes. She did a fabulous job on all her dances! It was interesting because Hunter was suppose to have a party for karate on the same night and when I asked him which he would rather go to he said, "To watch Kiersten dance.............she's really good!" What a sweet thing to say and I knew I better record that one because he isn't always so sweet when he is talking about his sister!
Mr. Grant LOVES his Bumbo! We never had one of these with our other kids................probably because until now we never had a baby that would be happy! These things are genius! Grant usually helps me make dinner..................from his Bumbo! He weighed 13 lbs. 8 oz. at 2 1/2 months. So nice to finally have a baby boy that gains weight!
Mr. Grant was worn out from the kids friends Christmas Party! So sweet!
The kids wanted to have a Christmas Party with friends, so they each got to invite one friend over for a night of creativity and fun! It was funny because they each invited the same friend as our "UP PARTY".
We started with decorating sugar cookies. My moms recipe for sugar cookies is the best! The kids had a great time dumping sprinkles on their cookies!
Kendall and Hunter are good friends!
Kiersten and her buddy Maranda..............aren't they adorable!
Then after pizza, they each got to decorate their own graham cracker gingerbread house. This was the first time I have ever made these houses. We always buy the kit from the store but this was so much nicer. Each kid got their own and it was so easy to make them. The trick is in the frosting, but I found a good one that was sweet to taste and worked just like glue!
Oh these boys............they ate as much candy as they put on their houses!
The girls were quite a bit more serious about decorating their houses. They did a great job!
Kendall and Hunter took it serious as well. They were all every creative!
Kiersten in progress.............she even made a yard with grass!
Kendall put gummy bears circling his Christmas tree, very clever!
Logan had fun.............eating the candy and laughing with Brenner.
Silly Brenner, we just love this little guy! He and Logan are hilarious together!
Maranda and Kiersten got the giggles while decorating their houses. I just love it when kids get in that silly giggly mood! It reminds me of being a kid!
All the kids hard at work..............Logan is scoping out which candy he should eat off his house!
Kiersten's final house.......complete with snowman and everything! She decorated the roof to look like it had candy canes on it. Way to go Sweetheart!
Logan's completed project. The best part about Logan and Brenner's houses was that they both had chewed up pieces of gum stuck in various places on their house. Some of their candy's were licked before used as decorations for their houses. What can you do with a couple of four year old boys huh?
Brenner's house.............I love the way he dumped a ton of red sprinkles on his plate. It was fun to see how random Logan and Brenner were with their decorating while the older kids were using patterns, looking for specific colored gumdrops.
Maranda did a great job! Each kid was very creative and used their imaginations!
Hunter spent the most time on his. He stayed up to the table while the other kids went down stairs to play tag in the dark with flash lights. Hunter just kept adding more and more details to his house.
Hunter created a great fence out of gumdrops and fruit loops! He was so clever!
Can't you see the magic of Christmas in his eyes? I love it when you are able to capture that twinkle in a kids eye and this picture definitely does!
Ah I see Hunter making sure that the candy he's putting on his house is taste worthy! One for me..........One for the house!
Hunter was just so happy with the way his house turned out! It looks amazing!
Hunter asked me to "take a close up shot so I could post it on my blog" I love it when the kids say I need to post something on my blog. They love the book I made from last years blogs and so I am committed to keeping up with this blogging thing! It is a great feeling to have a year of family history all photographed and journaled about! Now if I can only keep it up!
The backside of Hunter's Masterpiece!
After the decorating and the game of tag in the dark with flash lights, it was time for Santa Claus III the movie. The kids were so excited to change into their p.j.'s, grab a blanket and pillow, find a spot on the couch and get cozy for the movie.
They were all so good to amuse me for a ton of pictures. Hey I might as well train the neighborhood kids about the importance of pictures as well huh? 
