Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Oh, this bunch. Love them.

Elvis' elf mischief. Of course the kids loved it.  

It'll be a sad day when I can't get away with 

these kinds of shennanigans.

Checking out the lights. We picked a perfect night. It was warm.

The kids found these tickets when the got in bed one night just after watching The Polar Express.
The thrill in their eyes was more than thrilling for me.
They got in the car with hot chocolate and popcorn waiting and a ride to see lights. 

It. was. awesome.

My cousin, Michelle's, "I Love Lucy" tree at The Festival of Trees.

Can you tell which one Megan decorated?

Aw, cuuuuute.

Our lovely, half burned out tree.

Daddy's birthday celebrated with homemade icecream cake.

 Of course, Christmas isn't Christmas with making a visit to see Santa Cow!

Gingerbread Graham cracker houses. 

I always dread doing it but always end up having a good time and the kids most definitely do.  

{And looking at Megan's snowman, you can see Daddy had a hand in helping...}

Christmas Eve jammies.

Before the tornado and after the tornado.

December

<3... Going to see Christmas lights and hearing Noah exclaim "It's so beautiful!" Noah loves the word beautiful and I find that beautiful.

<3... Watching Music and the Spoken Word and Megan getting excited to see pictures of baby Jesus and recognizing him.  When I showed her a picture Santa she didn't know who he was.  Yes, Adam and I gave ourselves a few humble pats on the back.  We had accomplished  one of our goals for the Christmas season.

<3... The first thing Kyle said Christmas morning, "I will remember Jesus first even before all my presents." What a kid.

<3... Gingerbread houses with the kids and Megan eating all the candy off the floor.

<3...Santa accidentally left one of the boys gifts in his sleigh Christmas Eve so it turned up on our door step a couple days after Christmas. I totally wanted to put off getting a Wii but I guess Santa felt it was about time. Kyle was very pleased but Noah on the other hand was pretty indifferent. He just really isn't in to electronics.
Both the kids did say it was the best Christmas ever though. :)

<3...We had a new elf come and visit us this season. What a pest he was! One day he even hung the boys underwear on our chandelier. I promptly forgot about this so when my visiting teachers come by that day I didn't even notice it was all still there until about 20 minutes into our visit. They had a pretty good laugh. I had a pretty good cry. ;) So why is "Elvis" (Kyle chose the name. Get it? As in Elf?) under the things I love? Well because my boys delight comes even before my embarrassment, I guess...sometimes. Elvis did do some cute things too like paint the boys noses red while they were sleeping.

<3...Nerf gun wars.

<3...Noah's preschool Christmas concert. They sang at the assisted living place where Grandma Hind lives. She was able to come down and watch Noah sing which made it more special.

Noah and his friend, James.

<3...New baby!!

This was my in laws Christmas present and also how we announced the new baby.

The fourth frame says, 

Shiflett

Part IV

Coming to a frame near you

August 25, 2012

 <3...We also went to the Candlelight Christmas up at This Is The Place park. It was a really fun Christmas activity. Kyle was convinced that this Santa is the real one (vs. the Valley Fair Mall Santa) because his reinderr were there along with his sled.

Christmas 2010

Our Christmas

{in no particular order...cuz I'm lazy.}

It was fun to buy girly toys for once; especially the doll.

Adam and I cracked up when we saw this Kyle creation made from Daddy's weights, scraps of paper and a fuzzy blanket. So cute.

Love them.

Kyle posing in front of Christmas chaos.

Now Noah owns approximately 5 Buzz Lightyears...

We hit GOLD!

The long awaited and often asked for Christmas gift.

Iron Man RC car

Both Noah and Kyle received a Battleforce 5 car. It has ended up being more of a favorite than the Iron Man car.

We had a lovely Christmas this year.

We saw lots of family,

participated in the annual deaf center party,

saw David Archuleta sing with the MoTab (amazing),

did a few gingerbread houses,

drank lots of hot chocolate,

had our annual Christmas Eve breakfast with friends,

used lots of gas looking at Christmas lights (or as the boys always yelled out "Christmas decorations!"),

passed out store bought cookie dough to our neighbors with a nice little poem reading "Poinsettias are red, cookies are sweet, here is some dough, now make your own dang treat!" (Nice, eh?),

made a concerted effort to convince the boys that Jesus is the real reason for the season NOT the white haired, fat dude (I think some of it got through...),

We truly are grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior during this beautiful time of year.

Bah! Humbug!

The loser.

In case you haven't already noticed, we got killed in our gingerbread house {graham cracker house for you picky ones} competition. We got 28% of the vote...

I'd like to thank those of you that were willing to break out of the box and vote for something truly original. I'd also like to thank the White's for allowing us the privilege of horning in on their 8 year long tradition. It was seriously fun even if we didn't get to bed until 1:30am and had 9am church...

And lest you think I am too bummed by this blow out know that I have already licked my wounds {not sure Adam has though} and decided that it is better that we didn't win. I mean, beating a pastry chef would have been truly and utterly sad.

Please vote!

Please pick your favorite masterpiece by using the poll on the right--->. Some serious egos are on the line here so please vote carefully! :)

(This poll is anonymous.)

GINGERBREAD HOUSE #1

GINGERBREAD HOUSE #2

One last look...

Christmas

As usual, Christmas came with much anticipation this year. With Kyle taking in every detail and Noah still trying to figure it all out. Kyle loved all the decorations including the lights on the house. Whenever we drove by a house that didn't have much if any decoration, Kyle would always show concern and say they must not be very excited for Christmas. And was therefore always insistent that our outside lights were on without fail.

We tried something new and went sledding on Christmas Eve. It was really fun especially since we didn't have to go far- just a near by elementary. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and warm. The boys were very excited to go so we expected the same reaction we got last year- from Kyle "Evil Kenevil Jr." in particular. No crazy, catching-air Kyle this year. He was pretty cautious and would only do the smaller hill.

This was the Year of the Bat at the Shiflett home. Santa made sure the boys were all set with Batman paraphernalia. This was Kyle's ultimate wish and so it was Noah's as well. Noah couldn't stop playing with the Bat Cave to open his other presents. When ever we brought him a present to open it he would pull one hand away from the bat cave to open it, never taking his other hand or eyes off the cave. (Like I said, he's still getting Christmas figured out.)

Christmas Day was spent, as usual, going to Nana and Papa's and then Grandma and Grandpa's. They both got very nice gifts from their Grandparents and the cousins that drew their names. Adam and I had decided that were NOT going to buy for each other this year and of course, ONE of us had to break the rules and it wasn't me. Adam spoiled me not having spent a dime. He used his AMEX points to buy my gifts, a Kitchen Aid mixer (to replace the one he blew up) and a Melting Pot gift card to name a few. He is really in trouble for one gift though (because he spent money on it). He got me InDesign, an Adobe design program so I can print my blog book (thanks Paul for the discount). I guess I can forgive him just this once.

Misc. Christmas Fun

Deaf Center Christmas Party

Gingerbread house including scary red-eyed snowman

Popcorn stringing with our new, exciting air popper. I had to post this pic because of the utter joy on Noah's face.