Nutcracker Tea Party

There is a neat organization in Yerington called 'Through the Eyes of a Child.' Last Spring they put on an amazing tea party for a Cinderella ballet that was coming to town. When we heard that they were going to do the Nutcracker tea and ballet, we jumped on it. The organization does a seriously unbelievable job on these teas. I decided that The Nutcracker was boyish enough for Liam to go, and even though he was the only boy, he thought nothing of it. He just had so much fun dancing with the ballerinas and ate up the attention he got from all the little girls as the only boy. Santa Claus came and Liam was very first in line. He told him that he'd like "Rumbling Gold Mine" and "Flynn the Fire Engine." (Thomas things). Santa then gave every child a Nutcracker ornament. The decorations and food were just unbelievable. It was hard to believe we were in Yerington. What a fun and special day!





Maddy Klaich joined us for the fun! She has a bit of a crush on Liam. :) She had a lot of fun dancing with him.


I don't think the pictures really capture how beautiful this all was. It was a dance studio transformed into a winter wonderland!






Liam practically guzzled his sparkling cider from his tea cup- very boy of him. ;) The girls drank so politely with their pinkies up and this is how he drank. lol.










Each table had their own served. Ardy Schact (an old family friend) was ours. It was fun having someone we knew be our server. They are all volunteers to make it possible. Pretty amazing.


Dancing like crazy!




They even had one of the dancers from the ballet in a couple of weeks come and sing Christmas songs live. It was amazing. He was very talented.

Walk... Walk... Walking!

A few weeks ago, Addy decided she was big enough to start walking on her own. She took her first steps at 11 months old, but never felt comfortable walking. She's very cautious and I can tell she didn't want to walk because she didn't want to fall. Well, a few weeks ago, she got her confidence and just took off. She's now a full time walker and is pretty pleased with herself, dontcha think?



I also had to post this adorable photo of the kids playing outside one day after school. Liam loves to push his sister in the swing and she loves it, too.

Happy Halloween!

Liam was very excited to go trick-or-treating. We started off the night with our annual trip to GG and Grandpa-Great's house. We then stopped by Brent and Elise's house and then it was off to Hidden Valley for the hayride. The kids had so much fun.  Izzy was Rapunzel and Peyton was Bam-Bam. They had fun running to all the houses for the candy.  By the end of the night, everyone was pretty tuckered out, but in the words of Liam, "Whew! This was quite a day!"  :) I'd say they had fun.

Trunk-or-Treat

We attended our ward's annual trunk-or-treat the Wednesday before Halloween.  At the last minute, Wes and I decided that we wanted to dress up, too.  Wes dressed up as a pirate with Addy as "owlie want a cracker?" and I dressed as a Christmas Wrapping Elf (see the wrapping paper on my back) as opposition to our Jack Frost.  We had a lot of fun playing games, trunk-or-treating, and Addy enjoyed her first donut. 



Jack freezing me:


The kids are the trunk-or-treat thought Wes's sword was super cool.








Liam had a blast doing the chicken dance

Carving Pumpkins

After the littles were in bed one evening, Wes and I sat down and carved our pumpkins.  2 were from my parents' garden and one from the Darringtons' garden.  I don't have pics uploaded from my phone of the lit products, but we did an angry bird one for Liam, Ariel for me, and Jack Skellington for Wes. They turned out awesome and Liam just LOVED his. He thought it was the best ever.





When I do my next "What's on Your Phone?" post, I will post the lit pictures. :D

Pumpkin Art

The kids had so much fun painting pumpkins. Addy wanted to eat the paint, but still had fun. :) We used masking tape to make their letters on the pumpkins and then peeled it off after the paint dried. They turned out super cute and were very fun.

Part 2: First Birthday Bash

We had a fun little BBQ with hot dogs, homemade chili(with most things out of Papa's garden), and yummy salad.

Love this picture of Liam and Izzy. They had so, so, so much fun together.



Then it was present time. The kids love that Addy's not old enough to care if they 'help' her open her gifts. Next year she may object a bit, but they had a lot of fun. :)


She got her own swing for the swingset from Mommy, Daddy and Liam.

After that was the big cake smash! Addy was very neat initially, then she discovered the real frosting and she loved it. She took her time and really enjoyed herself. Toward the end, she started clapping and laughing and showing us that she is "ONE!" What a sweetheart



I love this sneezy picture. :D



It's amazing how fun it is to watch a one-year-old destroy her birthday cake. Everyone enjoys that.

I decided not to do cake for dessert and instead do caramel apples. This was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed dipping their apples and adding their own topppings. It was definitely a hit.




The kids had so much fun. Little Scott chased them around and they laughed and laughed. Addy LOVED her swing and was all smiles just swinging the evening away. It was a perfect evening and we're so thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our life to celebrate with us.


After all the fun, we threw all the kiddos in the bath and let Addy try out her adorable new towel from Titi and Uncle Shaawn:


Happy birthday, sweet angel. We love you!