The most wonderful time of the year...

It really is..  despite the business, and stress, at the end of the day, when I still can't believe that Christmas is really almost here, I am thankful for this time of the year.
We have been keeping busy with a lot of projects, a lot of baking,

and just life in general.
Friday, we had some visitors who definitely helped to brighten our day...

I am sure Santa is pleased with his little elves.
There continue to be those silly moments provided by the kiddos in this house.
Just a few examples:

This is (sadly) my cleavege.
It also happens to be the safest, and best place for Peyton to keep her binky.  It is always exciting when she wants to put it there say, during church..
It is also fun to see Merrill's expression when I tried to take this picture.
Here is Ashley with some of her latest art projects:
"Planet of Fruit"
(And some vegetables, I might add..  she ran out of subjects quickly.)
Notice "Upside Down Face Lettuce Man" and I think they are cannibals..  there is some kind of green fruit eating a berry of sorts...
Sacrament meeting was her main muse for this project.

But this project...
It is a perpetual project.
I am unable to tell you how many times she drew this one today.
The high number is partly due to Peyton, and her love of erasing...  the other part due to Ashley and her affections for a certain little boy.
(Whose name I did not tire of writing...)

No matter how rottent hey can be during the day, they are always so sweet when they are asleep...

What is it?

Ummm.. Lynn brought this home from Kindergarten the other day..
Yes, it is an elephant..
Complete with poo.. dropping..
After all, that is how it was when we saw it at the zoo..
I must have been rainbow then too.

New Developments...

This is my new pic... as much as I loved the one Brookers took of me when I was prego, I wanted to update, just like I want to on my template, but don't dare... I felt a little cheeky...
Peyton has started playing this game today while she nurses. She stops nursing to smile at me, and then goes back at it, then stops, and gives me another smile. It makes for a little longer meal-time, but I can't complain, I love it!
Meanwhile, my three year-old Picasso has been updating our couch... about every other week, there is a new addition... she started the masterpiece about a month before Peyton arrived, what a stinker... notice the technique on her circle though... very impressive!
Yeah, that will be fun to clean... but I'm hoping to not do it tonight. I am hoping to go have fun scrapping with the RS sisters. Just me and Peyton... maybe not too much scrapping, but some much needed "girl time"... and not the kind that you get hanging-out all day with a tired and hormonal 3 year old and a sheriff of a 5 year old...

A story from 2006...

Here's a layout of a story from 2005... Jenny, you might remember it, you know, the Sunday I showed up at Primary with mostly black hair? Yeah, "My BIG Black Mistake..." If you wanna know the details... call, we'll chat... It's about time I get it done, that happened almost two years ago... I spent the afternoon updating and filling my albums. My display rod was full, and my drawer of completed layouts was full... so I did it. I had 2 nearly full boxes of 25 sheet protectors, each, and now I think I have 5 or 6 left... I looked at everything that I have left, planned, to create for 2005... 7 layouts. Then 2005 will finally be done!!! I feel like such an "ijuit" (that's Merrill speak for idiot, we don't want the girls to use it... as well as stubbid=stupid) I found 3 pages, 2 dated the year behind, and one dated the year ahead. See... ijuit...
Here is Ashley art form today's "crafting" session:
She is starting to draw people. I know, it's a little faint. The tall red one is Mer and I think the yellow one is Peyton. The small, and most faint one in the left corner is "Eban" or Evan, as people who can say their "v's" would say... she described every feature as she drew it... "Here is Eban's eyes, and his eyebrows... Here is his smile... and his hair... Here are his pajamas..."

While I am posting kids work, here's one Lynn drew Sunday during Sacrament meeting....
I was very impressed. She said it was me, and Doctor Bierer, squirting the "jam" on my belly so we can see Peyton inside. She even included her own version of the transducer and the cord... so cute!
So on the topic of the girls, the "wee ones" as Clint would say... As I listened to them play Barbies, their girls were getting a little sassy with one another. Ashley's Barbie said to Lynn's, "Do you wanna piece of me? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
While driving home from the warehouse tonight, after doing donuts in the parking lot... Ash was really confused why we still couldn't see the house that caught on fire down there in JULY... we were trying to explain to her that the fire was put out a long time ago... She got so frustrated with us. She sighed and said, "You guys are giving me a headache..."
I also got the "explanation of benefits" statement from IHC, from the "Kernel Incident"... Guess how much it costs just for the removal of the foreign object from the nose...
$350.00...
I know, outrageous. The least they could have done was send me home with all the tools they used for that price. It was even more on top of that to see the doctor, and that's after the co-pay... The nice thing is, when you try to call them about it, their "new and extended office hours for my convenience" end at 4 pm... I got it around 4:30 pm. I know they're closed for the weekend. Maybe I'll just wait to see how much they try to milk me for when they send "the real bill".
We ate at El Matador tonight. I have been having constant Braxton Hicks ever since the drive to get there... I guess I should probably pack the hospital bag now, just in case...