Christmas this year was so much fun and as you will read in the posted below my family did a lot of fun thing to start some new family traditions. My whole family was together and healthy and I feel like I couldn't have asked for more.
Kason loved his Tribot (a fancy robot) and his K'nex Roller coaster and Ferris Wheel.
Kenzie.. well read on for that experince.
I hope everyone had a Happy & Safe New Years.

I know that you all thought that come Christmas morning when Kenzie saw the jeep she would forget about the traumatizing experience with Santa. You were ALL WRONG!!
Kason came into the room around 7:00 and had already made the trip upstairs to make sure Santa had made it to our house. I had him go into the living room and nicely wake up his sister and let her know that Santa had come.
Ben ended up trying to get Kenzie to wake up and he said the fatal words "Santa came" this was the beginning of the end. Kenzie sat straight up and began to whale and scream. She was terrified!! I got the whole thing on tape if there are not believers. She probably screamed for a good 10 minutes before she calmed down and realized she was staring right at her Barbie Jeep.
The crying stopped and .........

I was unable to remove Kenzie for the Jeep for the rest of the day. It was a success. Thank heavens.

On Christmas Eve my Grandma Sparks gives all the Great Grandkids new pajamis. The kids love to get in their jamies and wait for Santa.
These are all the Great Grandkids short 4 kids.

This was a much easier task for my Grandma when there was only her 7 Grandchildren. Boy has our family grown.

My little Kenzie and my cousins little Skylie with their matching PJ's. Too CUTE! As you can see they have on their princess shoes to match there pajamas.

My dad is the greatest! When I was a little girl our family tradition was to make the trip up to Banida (a little town in Idaho) and stay the night Christmas Eve at my Great Grandma Gregersens house. This is where both my parents grew up. My uncle Miles has a farm and we would go his barn and see Joesph and Mary and little Baby Jesus. This was something I still remember today and when I think of my Christmas' I always remember taking a trip to the barn to see Baby Jesus.
This year my Dad wanted to recreate this for his Grandchildren. He went to alot of work and I was so happy to see that my kids loved it as much I did.
Thanks Dad for making memories for my Kids.

Kenzie taking a closer look at baby Jesus. This is so preious.

Kason finally got to try out his new snowmobile. It worked great on the roads and the sidewalks but, it was not tough enough to barrel through all the new powder. Kason was content to just ride it around the streets. (by the way I did make him put his helmet on to ride the snowmobile)

Can you believe all the SNOW we got hammered with on Christmas night?! I thought for sure I was going to be snowed in at Grandmas house. The next day after all the snow blowing and shoveling it made a perfect day to play in the snow. All the hills of snow were perfect for sledding. Kenzie is definitely my outside girl. She was frozen solid but, insisted on staying outside sledding.

I may have ruined Christmas for Kenzie...FOREVER

I will try to make this a short post but, this is a must read!
Ben and I thought we had it all together and on top of things when we had our entire Christmas done the day after Thanksgiving. How WRONG we were.
The first week of December I have the kids sit down and write their letter to Santa. Kason's letter went something like this.

Dear Santa
I would like and Ipod, a WII, and a laptop oh... and SNOW.

Nothing on this list was bought for him for Christmas.

Kenzie's asked Santa for a Jammin Jeep.....a what??
Ben and I struggled with this for at least a week before we figured out what she was trying to say. She wants a Barbie Jeep.

These Christmas lists are tall orders. Ben & and I tried to talk ourselfs into beliving that come Christmas morning that the kids would love and be so excited about the gifts we bought them that they would forget about their Christmas list.

For the next week or so all Kenzie talked about was her Jammin Jeep that Santa was going to bring her. When you would asked if there was anything else she would like, she would say "No. Just my Jammin Jeep!"

Long story short Ben and I decided to purchase the Barbie Jeep but, it was not an easy task. Apparently these Barbie Jeeps are a HOT item. I looked all over the internet and checked every store I could think of and on line these Jeeps were SOLD OUT! We were in Wal Mart last weekend and spotted the one and only Barbie Jeep in Wal Mart. We made the purchase and felt like we were good parents again. I did tell Ben that Kenzie better wake up Christmas morning and see the Jeep and I expect Cartwheels.

Friday, I was at the Mall with my mom helping her do some last minute shopping and I spotted Santa!. I asked Kenzie if she would like to sit on Santas lap and ask him to bring her the Barbie Jeep. Of course to no surprise she was terrified of Santa. She wouldn't even let me get within 10 feet of Santa. I said to her "You have to tell Santa that you want your Jeep or he won't bring it for you Christmas morning."

This is where I made the fatal mistake. I forced Kenzie to sit on Santas lap and she was forever traumatized. Kenzie now tells us that she does NOT want Santa to come to our house and she doesn't want her Jeep anymore. (I guess the cartwheels are out of the question now!)

Now we have tried to talk to her about Santa and I even tried to read some Christmas book to her to try to show her that Santa is a NICE person. Nothing so far has worked and she still is terrified that Santa will be coming to our house in a few days.

I may have ruined Christmas For Kenzie!!!

Once a month my friends and I get together and have a Girls night out. This has been every month for the past year or so. When we started it I didn't think it would be such a hit. I look forward to that time each month when I can get together with my best friends and catch up and just talk to each other.
This was our Christmas party and we went to CooperMill. It was so much fun and I had a great time.
Laura, Emily, Traci, Michelle, Julie and Melissa. Thanks so much for being such Great friends. I love that we can still get together and talk about our kids, husbands and our problems. I hope this tradition goes on for many years.
Merry Christmas

What Great friends I have. Julie, me and Melissa.

The first Snow day. Of Course my little Kenzie girl had to be out in the snow. She woke up and saw the snow and the first thing she said was "Now Dad can take me snowmobiling." It took quite awhile to convince her that there was not enough snow to snowmobile.
I let her get all dressed up in her snow gear and play in the little snow we had. By the time she was ready to come in the house the snow was melted.
I can't wait till she can go outside and build a snowman. She loves to be outside.

Okay just a quick post on my sons crazy teeth. As you can see he has lost a few teeth. It all started with one of his bottom teeth. One day I was talking to him and noticed that his perment tooth was coming in behind his baby tooth. I called the dentist and got him an appointment. The ended up having to pull the tooth because the baby tooth wasen't even the slightest bit loose. So that dentist trip Kason had two bottom teeth pulled. So I thought this was a little weird but, then thought nothing more about it.
Just a few weeks ago I notice Kasons front top right tooth was moving to the left. I tried to wiggle it and it wasen't loose. I waited a couple more days and I looked again. The tooth looked more to the left and it still was not loose. This time I saw yet again his perment tooth coming in and pushing the baby tooth out of the way. Mind you that the baby tooth is NOT loose. I called the dentist again and there was not an appointment until the first of the year.
The dentist suggested that we wiggle it daily and remind Kason to wiggle throughout the day. He thought for sure it was become loose and just fall out.
This was two weeks ago and the tooth is still fimly in place with the perment tooth making quite the apperance.
The dentist called a couple days ago and said they had a cancellation and would we like to take it? Of course I would!! This tooth is creepying me out. So this Monday Hopefully it will be OUT!

Creepy Right?

Christmas at my house starts on Thanksgiving day. Personally I have always thought this was a little early. This year we put up the tree the night before Thanksgiving, I have to admit this was partially my fault. Kenzie was so excited about the tree, she kept saying "I am so excited!" I thought it was so cute to see her little face so happy.
Ben put up the tree the night before but, I made them wait to decorate the tree until Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving morning Kenzie woke up and immediately remembered that it was time to decorate the tree. Kason was still asleep so she ran to his room and yelled "Kason wake up we can decorate the tree, I am so excited!"
So the decorating began and to this day has not stopped. Kenzie likes to rearrange the bulbs and the candycanes on the tree. Everyday is a new look for the tree.
Our tree this year is really pretty and I love that my family did it together.

Sorry for the naked shot of Kenzie. When she is at home she loves to just run around in her undies.

All decorated. What a pretty Tree.

Fixing my BLOG

Excuse my blog I am in the middle of remodeling. Having some problems!!

Giving Thanks

I am following in the lead of many of you and taking the time to write down how thankful I am this time of year.
Of course I am very grateful for my husband and kids and I hope that I express that to them not only this time of year but all year long. I truly have a Great husband who is also a great friend and father. My two kids are my life and I couldn't image one day without them. I am so grateful that they picked me to be their mom.
Second I am Thankful for My mother who is my best friend she is one of the greatest mothers I know. She is so patient and loving to each one of her girls and her 8 grandchildren. How lucky I am to have her as my mother.
Last but, certainly not least I am so grateful for my sister Holly and her strength that she has shown me throughout this last year and half. I don't know where her strength comes from, only that I know she relies on her faith. This time last year my little nephew Easten was once again fighting for his little life down at Primary Childrens. We were not able to spend or share Thanksgiving or Christmas with Holly, Rusty, Stetsen and Little "E". It was a season full of hope and prayer that Easten would be well enough to come home and share Christmas with his family. On Christmas Eve he was released and able to come home with strict no visitors allowed.
I want to Thank my heavenly Father for bringing this special little boy into our family. He has brought so much happiness and love.
I can't imagine what his little body has been through in this short time he had been with us, but I do know that Easten is a FIGHTER and he wants to be here and be apart of this world.
I am so Thankful that my family is healthy and we will all get to spend the Holidays together.
Happy Thanksgiving.

A night in the life.... this is what my kitchen usually looks like come dinner time. Kenzie as you all well know by know is a huge mamma'a girl and when I can't hold her in my arm (say when I am cooking) she brings in her favorite blanket and her pillow and camps out right at my feet.
There is never a moment of seperation :)

My new Projects.

It's been awhile since my last post and to be honest there really hasen't been to much going on right now in my little family.
I have however tried to be become a little more crafty. I made these two little things in a couple of days and I really like how they turned out.
I was thinking.... would these make good Christmas gifts?? If I gave YOU one would you approve? Let me know what you think.

Happy Halloween From the Flaherty's

Halloween was fun but, I may have the only two children on earth that were not intrested in Trick -or- Treating. Kason wouldn't even put on his costum until it was time to go to our first family party. I wanted to take them around to my work and to a couple of neighbors and Kason was so not into it.
I bet between the two of them they maybe hit 10 houses and this was because Ben made them go out with him.
This is why I did't get to many pictures of them this year. I had to hurry and snap the couple I have before they ripped there costumes off to play with their cousins.
I hope everyone had a great Halloween.

Kason as Darth Vader

Kenzie "The BumbleBee"

The family went to the famous Pumkin Walk. It was really fun. I think my kids really enjoyed it this year. I didn't get any pictures of the actual pumkins because, there were so many people and I couldn't get a shot without someones head in the way.
The kids loved the end of the pumkin walk where they could put their heads in the bodies of there favorite characters.
Kenzie as the little Mermaid.

Kason as Yoda.

Some of my family at the Pumkin Walk. The couple we could get to hold still.

Sunday afternoon we went to my moms house and made Halloween cookies. My mother is so patient and loves to cook with the grandkids. She has alot of grandkids (8) but, she makes every single one of them feel importent.
Kenzie & Hunter were up first and they helped Grandma make the batter. They thought this was awesome!

My little Kenzie girl cutting out her cookies. As you can see I have to strip her right down to the undies.

The older boys getting their turn to make their cookies. Kason, Hayden & Colton

The cookies pre oven.

We are all here. Ben & I, Holly & Rusty, Michelle & Shawn and Tiffany

Michelle & Holly got in on the fun making their own cookies. Who said that the big kids can't have fun too?

Tiffany & Dylan checking on the cookies. Are they done yet?

And of course you have to have the FROSTING. This was the best part for the kids, I think beacause they could get messy.

Our finished product.

My Aunt Nicole works for S&S sport and sometimes when they are testing new rides they need certain age groups to ride the ride. Nicole called yeaterday to see if Kason was intrested in trying out a new ride. They needed some kids from 5-7 years of age. Of course Kason was up for the excitment. Nicole did warn me that the ride was no complete and fully put together. It was totally safe, it was just a portion of the ride. When we got there I was informed that Kason had to ride a crane to the top of the roller coaster where then he would be loaded into the seat of the ride. I wasen't to scared because Stan (the owner) had two of his own grandchilden on the ride with Kason. TheY video taped the ride and are going to post it on you tube. Kason Loved the ride and it was really a neat ride to watch.

Aunt Nicole putting Kason in a harnest. Once they get up to the roller coaster they attach a seatbelt through the harnest and this is how they stay safe for right now.

The riders had to take a ride in the crane to get to the roller coaster. It was a little scary for mom to watch but, they were very safe.

Taking the crane ride to the top of the roller coaster.

Here is Kason loaded in the ride. There is two sides to the ride and they loaded both sides. They had two adults and two childen in each side for a total of 8 riders.