A few cuties

Jesse was having a hard time during FHE last night. He can put on some very sour faces!
Smiling Saul
I could enlarge this and put it on the wall. And, no, his ear is not pierced. He has a mole in just the right spot.
Our serious child, not!
Two cute little kids
Eva racing around on her new bike.
Saul racing around on his new bike.
One of the best pictures of the kids in a while.
One evening, I told Jesse he couldn't have his snack downstairs, so he stomped back upstairs. A few minutes later, I went to check on him and see if he was finished, and this is what I found.

Christmas Morning-Jesse style

Jesse was just so cute this year about everything. The kids informed us that they don't believe in Santa Claus so we just put all the presents under the tree.

Jesse was just a ham for the camera. Enjoy!







He loves his new Book of Mormon.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning dawned early here. The kids were excited about what may lay under the tree. Here is a little peek into our morning.


Chad got a new robe.
Eva loves to write and draw.
Elias now has a little baby for his bigger lizard.
Saul was loving his LARGE iguana.
Eva's frog was much larger than I thought it would be.
More guns?
Little animals to play with.
M&M's can't be missed.

Christmas Eve fun

We all gather at Grandma and Grandpa Maple's house for Christmas Eve fun. The kids had a good time opening and watching others open presents, along with the food and play that was available.

Here are some pictures of the evening.


Saul sure is happy about his new PJ's.
Boy, she looks a little tired out!
Elias loves to yoyo.
Jesse opening his little fun!
Eva received new jammies as well.
Chad looking a little bored......
Most of the kids awaiting the handing out of presents.

The gingerbread house fiasco

Elias needed a gingerbread house for Scouts. I made him a great one, well, I baked the pieces and he put it together and decorated it. I made pieces for the other kids on another day, and they just didn't turn out as I would have liked. The pieces broke easily and wouldn't stand up. So, they just decorated them as cookies and had a great time doing it.

While they decorated, I read "The Nutcracker" to them. They enjoyed hearing the story and I enjoyed having their attention.

Here they are working and with their lovely creations.










Some of you may be wondering why there are so many suckers? Well, we used mostly leftover Halloween candy for the decorations. I only purchased two new things. I knew they would just make a mess of it all and didn't want to spend extra money on their mess.