Blessing our Blessing
Last Sunday we blessed Madison and then had our families over for a brunch. We had such a nice time celebrating our newest addition with those we love.
Family Fun
Dallas’s Birthday
Dallas had a birthday! The girls got it in their head that we needed to play musical chairs to celebrate, so we did. Good thing too since Spencer looks like he’s having the time of his life:
After our rousing game of musical chairs, Dallas opened his presents:
A movie and candy. We really go all out for birthdays around here:
Then we had a little Oreo pie to end the party:
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Animated Gif Time!
May animated gifs never die as long as we find it as entertaining as this. Note: It’s a large file so give it a moment.
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Very Merry
After ten years of marriage, we finally decided to get into the Christmas spirit and actually buy a full-sized tree. 
Dallas worked some magic:
And before long we had our first (sparsely-ornamented) Christmas tree!
We went to our ward party and saw Santa. Brooke actually sat on Santa’s lap this time and asked for seven pillows (???) and ponies.
Caroline asked for a doll:
Spencer was a total ham for the camera. He asked for cars:
Family picture time:
We made some salt-dough ornaments:
We went to Brittany’s studio for our annual Stadelbauer get-together:
On Christmas Eve we went to Dallas’s mom’s house. The kids found their favorite toys:
We can’t escape Oma’s house without taking lots of pictures. Here’s Dallas with his siblings (minus Stratton – we missed you!):
And one with Dallas’s mom:
A family picture that Brooke wasn’t too thrilled to be in:
The little boys had fun playing with Oma’s mail slot. One boy was outside and he’d stick his hand through the slot making the boys on the inside shriek and scream in terror and delight:
We fulfilled tradition by ending the evening at Dallas’s grandparents’ grave, lighting luminaries, and singing “Silent Night.”
That brings us to Christmas morning! Santa brought a fairy treehouse for Caroline:
A pony set for Brooke:
And a car racetrack for Spencer:
Brooke noticed I didn’t have any presents under the tree so she made me one. She was very excited to have me open it. Adorable:
Grandma and Grandpa Thomas may not realize this, but they gave Spencer blocks:
And they got Caroline a baby:
And Brooke got more ponies, of course:
Brooke’s Primary teachers gave her a Christmas book that has stencils in it. So nice of them:
Dallas got Batman Begins:
Here are the kids trying out the block sorter.
Brooke: “Wow. This is more fun than I ever could have imagined!”
The aftermath:
I think this was our first time staying home on Christmas day and not visiting family. The kids had a wonderful time trying out all their new toys and were happy and occupied all day. We had a great holiday as a family!
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Obligatory Halloween Post
Oh my. Apparently blogging about Disneyland took everything out of me because I just haven’t been able to bring myself to blog since. Good thing Dallas snuck a couple of posts up.
Where to begin? How about here:
‘Tis the season to look like you swallowed a baby pumpkin.
Not looking forward to when I appear to have swallowed a full-grown watermelon.
But yes! It’s true! Baby #4 is on its way! It’s been about four weeks since the above photo was taken, and we found out we are having….another girl!
Dallas and I were convinced I was gestating a boy and I still can’t keep it straight in my head that baby he is actually a she. Coming up with yet another girl name is proving beyond impossible. Our best options so far have been Caroline’s suggestions: Dora or Rapunzel. Baby girl is doomed.
I feel really good now. The first trimester was probably my worst yet (even though I never actually threw up). I was really nauseous though and had no energy at all. It’s nice to feel more like myself now. The baby is due March 7th.
Now to continue onto some Halloween pictures. My extended family didn’t know I was pregnant, so I decided to let my costume do the announcing.
Here I am – a pregnant Minnie Mouse with my baby Minnie. Brooke is a peacock. There was another Minnie in the house and a cute little Alice:
My aunt and uncle’s family:
My mom and her sister:
Another aunt and uncle’s family:
The patient costume was best when viewed from the back:
My grandparents:
We grew pumpkins in our garden. We got exactly one pumpkin that was large enough for carving. Dallas carved that one while the kids just drew faces on theirs. Less work and mess. Works for me!
We went to Brooke’s school to watch the costume parade. We killed time taking pictures:
The best picture I got of my little peacock in the parade:
Here are the kids on Halloween. We still had Disneyland on the brain and decided our family costume theme would be Disney. Brooke is the peacock from Sophia the First (I guess there are peacocks on that show?), Caroline is Rapunzel, and Spencer is Lightning McQueen (or “Lightmeen a Queen” as he says):
You’ll recall I was Minnie. Dallas was going to go as a tourist. He was going to wear one of our matching Disney shirts and a camera around his neck. It would have been so cute had he been able to make it to the family costume party. Oh well.
The kids trick-or-treated and then came home to raid their loot:
Brooke loved to use the candy bones to make skeletons:
I probably should have skipped asking Spencer to say “cheese”:
And there you have it! The Golden Family 2013 Halloween post is now a wrap!
