Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, spending time with both of our families and being blessed with three beautiful, healthy children. On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house and Santa even came to visit! Jayden and Peyton just loved him - they both sat on his lap and Peyton even gave him a high five. Jayden gave him a couple hugs and also had to to keep the tradition alive and do "ring-around-the-rosie" with Santa and Grandpa, and this year Natalie even joined in! Landon was a little scared of Santa and wouldn't sit on his lap or even go near him (he clung on to Grandma's shirt very tight! Then on Christmas Day we went over to Corey's parents house and enjoyed a day with all the Smith boys home (Luke lives in Virginia) and all the grandchildren together. Jayden got a lot of new games for Christmas (Candyland, Bingo, Connect Four, and even a Leapster!) and the boys got some new cars/trucks, clothes and a big bounce bit from Santa! All three kids love it! It takes up half of our living room - but it's well worth it! Here are some pictures that were taken over Christmas.








The boys got shovels for Christmas and wouldn't let them leave their sight the rest of the night!



Papa showing Peyton to put blocks on his head....


Landon is trying to decide which ornament to take down first..... (notice the ornaments don't even start until about 4 feet high!)

Jayden and Ava

The day before Christmas, Corey decided to take Jayden out sledding and he picked up Ava on the way (Jayden's friend). They had a great time, but it only lasted about an hour, because we learned that Jayden's gloves wouldn't stay on and her hands were freezing and wet from the snow. Poor girl! She cried the whole way home and Ava would lean over and tell Jayden to put her hands in between hers to help warm them up! How sweet is that?? Anyways, we realized we needed to get Jayden different gloves before going sledding again. After sledding, Jayden and Ava came back to our house and played for awhile - here are some pictures of them playing dress up. Don't worry - this time I didn't get the boys involved! ;)

Hair cuts!!

Finally, we got the boys' hair cut! Peyton hardly could see anymore, because his hair was in his eyes and Landon was starting to sport the rat tail that was cool back in the '80s. My parents actually put their hair in pony tails just a few days before, which we took as a hint that they needed a hair cut! So, Uncle Jared came over and cut their hair. Here are some pictures:

Peyton before (not too happy at first):


Peyton after:


Landon before (he only cut the back, the front and sides are so short already!)


Landon after:

Jayden dancing to Frosty the Snowman

Here is a video of Jayden and her friend Ava dancing to Frosty the Snowman at dance class last Monday night. It's so cute! Jayden is watching Ava the entire time and just doing whatever Ava does! :)

Jayden's Christmas Pageant

This past Sunday was our Christmas Pageant at church. Jayden and her cousin Natalie both sang "Away in the Manger" during it with the other preschoolers. Jayden has been singing it all the time at home and in the car, but when it comes to singing in front of a lot of people, she gets VERY shy! She started out singing, but then started watching the boy next to her instead. Here are some pictures of her singing and also of our attempt at taking pictures of the kids all dressed up before church.






See what happens when we try getting a picture of all the kids together? Almost everyone is crying, except for Daddy!

Christmas Card

We tried taking a picture of the 3 kids for our Christmas card, but there was no way we could get them all to sit still and look at the camera at the same time. Landon and Jayden did great! But Peyton was not cooperating! Anyhow, we decided to just take 3 individual pictures instead, and I think they turned out great! I especially LOVE the one of Peyton!! (He doesn't need a haircut, does he?) :)

Pictures with Santa

Every year we bring the kids to visit Santa at the mall and so far they haven't ever been scared of him! Jayden went right up to Santa and sat on his lap and started telling him what she wanted for Christmas and we put Peyton on the other side and he was great! Landon sat on the reindeer rocker right in front of Santa and loved it! The boys didn't want to leave because they were having so much fun on that reindeer rocking chair! Here is the picture we got (I scanned a copy of the picture we bought, so it might be a little fuzzy). :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with both our families. On Thursday, we drove over to Wausau and spent the day with both sides of my family. It was great to see my Grandpa and Grandma Olson and a lot of my uncles, aunts and cousins that I don't see very often. The kids had a great time and were so good all day! Within 10 minutes of the drive back to Chippewa, all 3 kids were sound asleep. Then on Friday, we went out to dinner with Corey's parents and brother Jared to celebrate with them. I have been off of work since Wednesday and have had such a relaxing, fun time with the kids. It definitely has gone way too fast! :)

Here are some pictures of the boys at Thanksgiving with some of my family.

Great Grandpa Olson and Landon


Great Grandpa Olson and Peyton



Uncle Andy with Landon


Uncle Andy with Peyton


Aunt Sue with Peyton


Uncle Bob with Landon (or better known as "Big Bad Bob" according to Jayden)

Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We actually celebrated 2 days this year. On Friday Corey dressed the kids in their costumes and brought them into my work, and then we went trick-or-treating downtown Chippewa Falls and got TONS of candy! Then we went to my parents house and Corey's aunt Joanne's house to see both our families. Then on Saturday, Liz, Jesse, and Natalie came over to our house and we brought the girls out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We don't have a lot of little kids around our neighborhood, so we actually only got ONE trick-or-treater at our house! :( Guess I won't be buying as much candy next year!

Landon - giraffe


Peyton - Winnie the Pooh dressed up as a bumble bee


Jayden - pink care bear



Peyton didn't want to cooperate for the picture......



Natalie and Jayden

Corey the artist

This is the 3rd year that Corey has shown his artistic ability through carving pumpkins. The first year - he carved "Go Bucs" with the Buccaneers logo (which has a lot of details). The second year - he carved Sandy, which is Spongebob's friend. Now this year he carved Spongebob - which is Jayden's favorite cartoon. And we finally remembered to take a picture this year too! Here you go!

Go Packers!

It's been a long time since I have posted anything, but this month has just been flying by! I can't believe it's going to be November already! My birthday is only a week away - the big 28! Last Sunday, we actually had a very nice relaxing day with the kids - no errands to run, no parties to attend, just some nice family time. And we had a great time watching football, napping and playing with the kids. Here are some new pictures we took of the kids last weekend. Enjoy!