Ninja Cookies

While shopping at Target one day in early December I came across a Ninja Gingerbread Man cookie set. I snatched it up, knowing that the kids would get a kick (ha ha) out of decorating them. Combined with some mugs of hot cocoa, it was the perfect FHE activity.

I was impressed with the great job all the kids did in decorating their ninjas!

And of course there was a little tasting going on as well.

Almost too cute to eat!

Getting Our Tree

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to the local Home Depot to pick out our Christmas tree. Ahhh, Noah found a little friend!

What has become a tradition in itself, Noah pretended to be a Christmas tree. I wonder how long this tradition will stick around? It's going on at least 3 years now...

And here comes Savannah, saying she thinks this "tree" is the perfect one!

This was a new spin - carrying the "tree" out to the car to tie on the roof. That would have been interesting!

With all the funny business done, we got down to the serious business of choosing a real tree. Last year I had ended up being so disappointed in the dinky little tree we got that I made sure this year it was nice and tall. We definitely found a winner this time!

The kids love pulling out the ornaments and reminiscing about each one. The boys love their nutcrackers but every time I look at those little guys I remember the battles over which one belongs to who. Yeah, they are completely identical. Go figure, ha ha!

But this year there were no battles, no tears, just a lot of decorating fun!

The cutest Christmas tree decorators ever!

This year it was Xander's turn to put the reindeer angel on the top. This is definitely his last year doing it from the top of David's shoulders!

When we were all done Noah immediately dressed up as Santa and got in his sleigh. The Christmas spirit has arrived!!

Cousin Fun!

Hangin' with cousins is always the best!

It always involves lots of eating! (I bet the olives on the fingers goes back to ancient times.)

Drawing pictures is always a nice way to wile away an afternoon.

Noah taught Ashy how to draw knights; she picked up on that easy enough!

Although most of cousin time is smiles and laughter, there are a few moments, as is to be expected, that aren't quite so jovial. Kellan was crying profusely one afternoon, saying Noah told him not to sit on his seat at the table even though Noah was nowhere near the table. I assured Kellan he could sit there with no worries but he just kept sobbing and sobbing, saying Noah had forbidden it. Ryan came up to me a few minutes later to show me this sign Noah had written and put on his chair:

Honestly, whose kid is that? What a nerd! But these moments were quickly gotten over and more good times prevailed.
We saw the new Penguins movie...

and stopped at the Flavor Cupcakery for some tasty cupcake yumminess. (We won't mention who it was that ordered the Bananas Foster cupcake!)

Manicures...

games...

and toys!

All this fun had us worn out!

Our fun Thanksgiving holiday was over too quickly and it was time for the Clarks to head home. We can't wait to see them again for more fun times and memories!

Strike!

With the cold weather outside but no snow to play in, what is there to do with 7 kids? Well, we decided to give bowling a try. We're ready to get this party started!

Attractive bowling shoes and the right size bowling ball - Noah is ready to go!

Checking out all the cool bowling machines.

Ciara is the first niece ever to allow David to hold her.

I'm always the one taking pictures so it's nice to come across one of me every once in awhile.

Savannah had a hard time at first. One time she even had the ball go flying up in the air and land in the gutter of the lane next to us. Ha ha! But eventually she got the hang of it and started to enjoy herself a bit more.

Ciara took a few turns herself, with the help of her parents, but mostly she just hung out looking as cute as can be.

Go Aunt Heidi!

Love those smiles!

David has a killer throw...those pins go flying!

Noah struggled the most. Even with the bumpers up, he put some weird spin on the ball that had it falling into the gutter without hitting a single pin. He got more and more upset as the game went on.

Thank goodness for a good daddy who gave him lots of "it's ok" hugs.

Kellan, on the other hand, did a great job and was clearly excited when he got a strike!

Xander was a quick learner as well...

pure excitement!!! STRIKE!!!

By the end even little No was getting better. Check out that great bowling form!

But with 2 semesters of bowling classes at BYU way back when there was no one beating me! (Okay, maybe Heidi and Ryan had lower scores because Ciara bowled some of their turns...maybe.)

The bowling gang!! (Yeah, Noah was still bummed.)

Have to have a silly pose!

Such a fun afternoon!