{it was jolly}

Christmas came and went and now we are already into the new year! But I still wanted to document our Christmas...better late than never!

Here's my lovely Mylie on Christmas Eve, just waiting until the festivities began! We went to my parents' on Christmas Eve and had a yummy dinner and then the cousins exchanged gifts.



Before we left for the party, I wanted some pics with my kiddos. Coy and I were wearing matching clothes...I didn't do it on purpose, but it was kinda cute.





I didn't take my camera to the party, so I don't have any from there. Too bad! We were taking some goofy pictures with my siblings. It was fun laughing and hanging out with them. I love my family!When we got home the kids got to open their jammies (a Christmas tradition!) I just love the matching jammies.


I love how much Mylie and Bennett love each other. They do these poses all on their own!


And here's my cutie, Coy. I just love him so much! I think I kiss him about a 1000 times a day!It was so fun having 3 kids at Christmas this year!


We decided for scripture study before bed, to forgo the Book of Mormon and read about the birth of Jesus. Totally unplanned (which made it all the better) Bennett and Mylie decided to use their blankies to pretend to be Joseph and Mary. Coy, of course, was the baby Jesus. They acted it all out as we read the verses.


CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!The kids still slept until about 8:00 AM. Well, Mylie probably would have kept sleeping, but Bennett woke her up.The goods:


Mylie was all about the dress ups this year. And Santa couldn't have gotten it better than the microphone for our little singer. This girl loves to sing at the top of her lungs all day, so she was in heaven.





Bennett loves his superhero costumes as well. One of the only things he asked Santa for was an X-man costume. Santa did not disappoint!


And Coy just hung out. He actually was more into Christmas than we expected. He is learning how to take toys with his hands and didn't miss out on any of the excitement.


This is what Santa brought him!


I am all about the new Christmas outfits. I always got one growing up, so we definitely have to keep that going. I love dressing the family up in new clothes on Christmas.The kids posed in their outfits on the popcorn tin.




And then Mylie had to eat some of the popcorn from the tin.





Of course I wanted a picture of all three of them together. It is nearly impossible getting a picture of all three of them.






So we got a great one of just two of them.

And Coy was kinda happy to just have Daddy hold him.


More dressing up...Mylie got even more dress-ups when we went to Grandma Harkness's. She was in heaven all day!

After Grandma and Grandpa Harkness's, we went to my Grandma's for the yummiest soup and pie of the year. We stop there at the end of Christmas every year. It is fun to visit there and finish off the day with her best-in-the-world Clam Chowder.And last, but not least, Coy loves his Sock Monkey Santa brought him. He is so sweet, especially when he is sleeping.



Merry Chrismas!

I am excited for tomorrow...

...because my sweet little nephew is being baptized. He is the son of my sister, Amber. I am excited because I know she will be there tomorrow in spirit.



See the rest of his pictures HERE.

just can't get enough...

...of this cute little face. They just change so fast! It is exciting and sad all at the same time.

A "Wizard-a-Boz" Halloween

I knew I'd get around to "blogging" Halloween eventually... Months and months ago, Bennett came up with the idea of us all being Wizard of Oz (or as my kids say it "Wizard-a-Boz") characters for Halloween. He even wrote it down. It was before Coy was even here. He wanted to be the Tin Man, Mylie be Dorothy (of course!), and Coy Toto. When I came across the cute Lion Hat and realized it was one less costume to make, with major convincing (begging) I eventually got my stubborn Bennett to comply, and Toto would be a little dog in Mylie's basket. I was to be the wicked witch (he didn't want me to be the good witch...imagine that!) and Daddy was to be the scarecrow...If you want to see it, you have to scroll to the bottom! This is another huge post!

My three little darlings!

introducing....{dorothy}

Mylie's costume was relatively easy to make. The french braids were new for me, and the lipstick and mascara were a must! A little red spray paint and some glitter spray for the shoes and she made a perfect little Dorothy! (She wore here costume almost every day for a week prior to Halloween!)








introducing....
{the Tin Man}

Couldn't have done this without the silver spray paint! In fact I even spray painted a turtleneck and pants, but realized they were way too stinky to wear! Why didn't I just think of the gray shirt and the $3 pair of pants from Walmart in the first place! Russ made the axe, and did a great job of picking out bottle caps candy for me to use as the buttons.Cutest little Tin Man ever!




and my cute and cuddly little{lion}

I wish I could say I made the hat, but it was way too cute to pass up..and made my life a lot easier! Coy was the most darling little lion (although we also thought the hat looked a little napolean bonaparte...well at least Russ thought that.)














Okay, it is easy to get pictures of just two kids, but I couldn't figure out the three kid thing...and Coy wasn't liking things much. Gotta love the outtakes (2nd pic below)!Once we took it inside, and Coy fell asleep, I got some cute litte pics. (The first two at the very top.)



Oh, and another cute little one of the three of them...


And introducing...{the whole gang}


Just follow the yellow brick road!




Making Russell's costume was a blast. We stayed up until 2 AM one night to get it done in time for our Ward party. We had some great laughs, and of course a last minute trip to Walmart in the middle of the night because of mess-ups (I guess I thought my hubby was smaller than he is!) Needless to say, Bennett was very happy with the scarecrow costume (which was a relief, because he is tough to please...my costume was something to be desired...I just plain ran out of time.){the scarecrow}





The wicked witch likes this scarecrow!


Heading out to trick-or-treat in the rain!





Coy and I hung out at home to pass out the candy! He was such a happy little lion.


And a little self-timer picture of the two of us.

{HAPPY HALLOWEEN!}

It's Official...He's 5 (and he tells me all the time!)

Oh, how I love this little guy! He turned 5 on Friday, and I think the day was a success! But before the pics, here are some things about Bennett these days:

• He loves learning and is an absolute sponge!
• He loves reading and amazes me everyday how easily he is picking it up...I wish I could take more credit, but he really is a self-motivated learner!
• He loves his sister, Mylie, and tells me he wants to marry her. I tell him he will change his mind, but he doesn't believe me. "I just love Mylie, Mom. I won't change my mind." We'll see, buddy.
• He is obsessed with time and numbers. He loves to tell time and thinks it is awesome when he stays up past 8 o'clock (I don't think it is so awesome).
• He loves music and songs...he memorizes all of the track numbers to every CD he listens to. He can tell you what number any song is on any given CD (that he has listened to).
• He has an amazing memory. He can tell you how old anyone is in our entire family...both sides, even most of his great-grand parents. The other day he was telling Russ that he knows who the oldest person in our family is. "Well, kind of in our family. It's Grandpa Laughter's sister. She's 85. Her name is Venice. I have a good 'remembery', huh." Yes he does have a good "remembery." Venice introduced herself almost a month ago at my grandpa's 80th birthday party.

Anyhow, you get the picture...now on to the pictures...

Bennett has been asking for Jesse and Bullseye ever since he got Woody and Buzz last year for his birthday {see here}. He also wanted costumes (another current fav of his right now!)

We headed on over to Color Me Mine for his cousin party. He wanted to do something fun with his 3 cousins (and Mylie, of course). Bennett is among 4 boys in our family (my side) that were all born within 10 months. They are the best of friends.

The ceramic studio was WAY FUN! The kids had fun picking their figures, and painting away!

Mylie was all seriousness! I had this great plan of "helping" her paint a beautiful Snow White that looked like the real thing. I even picked the correct colors. Mylie had her own idea. I think Snow White had about 40 layers of paint on top of her head. I think I will love her version much better than what I had in mind! I can't wait to see it when I pick it up on Friday.

My wonderful mother came to help out...good thing! It was nice to have an extra pair of hands. Coy wasn't the happiest guy this day, but luckily ended up sleeping a lot of the time! Check out his face...see, not happy.

Oh, Mylie again...so cute.


Bennett chose a robot to paint (eventually). I am so excited to see the final product! His red cheeks (as well as Mylie's) are a great indicator that it is too warm! That place was heating up that day from the south-facing windows. It, really was a pleasant day outside.


The gang:


Oh, here they all are, the 4 musketeers! They are so cute, and such great friends!


Afterward, my little fam took a walk down the street to go out to eat. We were planning on going to Olive Garden (Bennett's favorite), but we ran out of time. I wish we had stuck with Olive Garden, the place we chose was kind of a disappointment. Oh well...




The next party of the day. I was sCrAmBliNg to get this cake done and the food and decor ready. I essentially ran out of time. But, things turned out OK. I swear, cake-making is so stressful! Things never turn out as planned, and you always have to adjust things last minute!



Bennett chose a race track cake, so we kind of went with the whole race track theme. The cake (or should I say cupcakes) looks good, as long as you don't see the original picture I was going from!


Five Candles!


Happy Birthday, Bennett! I love, love, LOVE you!!