I'll be home for Christmas...

Our Christmas Eve started with the kids opening one present. It's tradition that we get PJ's to sleep in the night before.

They tore into them...well most of them did. Mason was so mad at me every time I tried to help him rip is his paper. I suppose all these weeks of telling him not to touch the presents really did work.

Kena got pretty princess pj's.

We were lucky to even get Mason's on him. He kept hugging them and saying "oh, oh OH". It was darn cute!

New PJ's

Next we read Christmas books. Some were ours and some were ones that we'd checked out at the library (including an illustrated King James version of Luke 2 which I think we may be trying to find for ourselves for next year). Book reading also included eggnog, because let's face it, what's Christmas without eggnog.

After the kids were all tucked away "Santa" got to work. He brought pillow pets and books for all, including a new How Do Dinosaurs...book, Skippy Jon Jones, and Pink and Purplicious. Does he know our kids or does he know our kids?!

We have no chimney, so the stockings were laid by the tv with care!

Christmas morning was great! Everyone took turns opening presents and I thought I'd show you a few. This was Jax's gift from Kenadee.

A Kung Zhu hamster! Jax also go a new set of puzzles, a Lightening McQueen car, and Toy Story 3.

Trace was really excited for his present from Mason...

A You Build Connect 4 game. You get to assemble your own board out of Lego. Trace also got a new puzzle with 50 pieces, a Nerf gun, and How to Train Your Dragon.

Kenadee picked a present from Mom and Dad to unwrap...

A new princess puzzle! Not to mention her new "lip sticks" (lip gloss to the rest of us), Beauty and the Beast, and a new kitty that moves when you pet its tummy.

Mason's present from Jaxson...

A telephone. I don't know how we made it through so many kids without one of these. Mason also got a ball tower that he can hammer the balls down into, and several new balls (which are his favorite things ever)

And that was our Christmas in a nutshell. It was wonderful and great and everything that we'd hoped it would be. I'm so grateful to my Savior for the blessings that I have in my life. Without his birth and sacrifice I wouldn't have the things that mean the most to me today. We love you all so much! Merry Christmas!!

Snowball fight!!!!

All ready for the snow!

Kena put herself against the fence and then taunted Cory with a bunch of "you can't hit me's" and "You missed". It was hilarious to watch her squeal every time he almost got her.

The good parent, ie: the one willing to brave the cold and wet to play with our kiddos.

The snow that came in the window while I took pictures. Notice the big blob at the bottom. That's the snow on my baby belly that I just couldn't get out of the way enough for the picture.

Poor Jax kept falling down and couldn't get himself back up.

Trying to roll snowballs for snowmen, but it just wasn't happening.

Today my little crew decided to make a snowman in the "virgin snow" as Cory calls it. To bad that the top layer had sort of hardened and after several minutes of rolling, most of their snowballs had shrunk instead of grown. So what else is there to do in the snow? Snowball fight of course. It was fun to watch them run around with their Daddy and play. What a good time!

In case I hadn't mentioned it lately I want you all to know how much I love you. This time of year we naturally reflect on family and friends that we can't be near, but I've been doing it so much more so this year. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, full of your families and the love of our Savior. Here's a little update on us (I promise the next one will have pictures!)

We are doing wonderfully here in Wyoming. Cory has made huge leaps at work and we're hoping that in just a couple of months he will be the new Accounting Supervisor at work. That would put him only one step below the Chief Financial Officer, which is the highest accounting position you can hold in the private sector. I'm so proud of him. He works so hard for our family and I couldn't have asked for a better eternal companion.

Trace started Kindergarten this year and has learned to read. He's trying bigger books all the time and can't wait until he can read Skippy John Jones all by himself. He's so ready for Christmas to be here. He'd like a pillow pet and I think he'll be pleasantly surprised by Santa this year. He's a peacemaker in our home and I'm can't imagine our family without his gentle spirit.

Kenadee is in Preschool and loves it. She's always making me bracelets out of beads and pictures for her wall, and she loves that she's figuring out what letters do and say. She's very observant and has been watching Trace as he learns to read. As a result she's starting to pick up a few words herself. What a smart girl.

Jaxson is in Kenadee's preschool class as well getting help with his speech. He's made great progress and we can understand almost all of what he says here at home. He's mommy's little spitfire and he loves to play with his brothers and sisters. He keeps us on our toes and says some of the silliest things. We sure love having him in our home!

Mason has become very active and wants nothing more then to be with his brothers and sister causing all sorts of trouble. He refuses to sit in his high chair and wants to be a big kid at the table. He's starting to talk and his two favorite words are "Santa" and "Daddy". Did I mention that he's a cuddler (my first actually) and nothing melts my heart more then to have him wander over and just lay his head on my shoulder. It just makes me smile.

I'm doing well too. I've got 3 terms left and I'll have my bachelors degree. I look forward to being able to spend my evening vegetating on the couch and not doing homework, but I also know how important it will be to our family for me to have a degree should anything ever happen to Cory. It's been a good experience and it will be easier for me to be able to encourage our children to get degree's of their own if I've got one. I'm also anxiously waiting for our second little girl! Kenadee is so excited for a sister and I must admit that the thought of cute, tiny, pink things just makes me smile.

May the spirit of the season warm your homes and families and may our Saviors love be present for the continuing year! We love you all so much and can't wait until we get to be with you again!

Love,

The Hadley Handful

December fun!

Mommy's Christmas elf!
What an angel!!

Trace got to do his very first Christmas concert this year and boy was he excited. This a picture of him just before we left. He was giving me his "best performers" stance!+

Trace on stage with all his friends. He was trying very hard to be professional. He did an awesome job and if you want to see a video of him singing, you can visit my Facebook page.
We wrapped presents this week and this is Mason's new favorite part of Christmas....wrapping paper balls! He was in Heaven when Cory made them for him. He loves a good ball.

Mason also loves a good present, especially if it comes with curly ribbon on top!

Big news at our house!

So I realized today that I haven't mentioned this here, but Cory and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby number 5. We had an ultra sound today and Doctor is 85% sure that she's a girl! I'm really excited for Kena to have a new sister, and it'll be a nice way to round out our family. Bless her heart she's modest though, when he first started looking she not only had her ankles crossed, but she had a hand in the way too! Cory and I both feel pretty strongly that she is a girl and we're beyond happy!

Random happenings

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy here and our little handful has had lots of new adventures, so we thought we'd share!

My sweet Mason Moo has been growing up so quickly. He recently learned how to get on our bench at the table. Along with this he's decided that he's to big for his high chair (which is fine with me because it can no leave the corner of my kitchen!). I just think it's so darn cute how little he looks at our big table. But if he's happy, I'm happy!We finally made Trace's Birthday cake, and only a month late! Things were wild around here with sick people over the last 6 weeks, but we got our act together and made a rockin' dinosaur cake, complete with a nest and eggs. It was awesome, and look at that face...he loved it!
This is the story of before the icing went on. We'd sent Trace and Jax to the bedroom to find dino toys for us use on said Dino cake. While I had my back turned, Jax decided to do some decorating of his own...so helpful!

Carving pumpkins was a blast this year! We printed simple patterns but they came out so good!
Did I mention that Mason is growing up. He loves to help where ever he can, and on this night he'd been helping me make Kool-aid for dinner. He's an amazing little boy and I'm grateful he's part of our family.
And now for the only pictures I got of my kids in their costumes because I'm just that good. Jax was Superman and this is him trying to throw Candy corn's into a bucket at the libraries story time.
Kenadee was a "fairy kitty". In this picture she is minus her wings because they were bugging her, but she looked stinkin' cute, and I mean a fairy kitty, does it get any more creative then that!
Trace's class performed the itsy bitsy spider for their all school meeting this last month, and hence the spider hat, and he was Darth Vader for Halloween, hence the costume that you can't see very well...did I mention I was on top of things this year!

You may have noticed the lack of Mason in costume pictures. He's opposed to just about all of it, so this year we put a fireman's hat on him and he tolerated it pretty well...although it did blow off the entire time we were trick or treating, and did I mention that that was only about 15 minutes since it was freezing and raining. Sigh, but it was a good time and the kids enjoyed it. And on the bright side we got a lot LESS candy then in years past...HURRAY!!!

This month was such a special one...

This month was crazy! Between sick people and doctors visits it feels like we barely had time to breathe. That probably why we missed Cory's birthday post (oops!) But we did manage to get a few good times in too, and so today as I sit amongst pink eye and colds, I thought a jaunt through the happier times in our month would be appropriate. So here they are, in no particular order.

This weekend Kena and I got go on a girls night out and have dinner with my roommates from college and some of their daughters. It was so much fun to see everyone and my only regret is that we didn't get to see my cousin Britt, but there will be time for that soon I'm sure. But before the evening began, Kena and I got some mommy and me time (which unfortunately doesn't happen very often). We went to the salon at Gardner village and had our fingers painted and it was great. Kena had that grin on her face through the whole thing, and I love that she picked hot pink! We had so much fun together just the two of us.
We got to meet the twins (and the were only 2 months old!) We wen to see them blessed at the beginning of the month and Mason was the only one I could get to sit still long enough to have a picture with them. They're darn cute though and it was fun to get to see them.
Gardner Village again! This time we were there so mommy could buy some super cute pink things for a gift basket, but we got to meet up with Aunt Kira and Ko and hang out. They had their witches out for the season and the kids loved it. This witch was trying to break a hula hoop record and had her hips going pretty well (hence Mason not looking at the camera!). It was a good time though and for any of you who haven't been to Gardner Village before I highly recommend it. Lots of little shops and goodies. It's pretty much my heaven!
So here we sit on this cold and snowy morning, cuddled up and remembering how much fun we had this October...cross your fingers that we don't freeze to death here in the snowy end to our month!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I love love love everything about the end of a year! From October til December there is nothing but happy, warm, wonderful memories made and I love it! What is so great you ask, well there's changing Autumn colors. Who doesn't love to look out their window and see all the wonderful colors. It's a daily reminder of how much our Father in Heaven loves us. What a beautiful world!
Then there's Halloween. I know so many people who look at it as a made up holiday thats full of greed, but I love opening my door to all those little faces, dressed up with eyes full of anticipation. It's so much fun and I love it.
And following Halloween is Thanksgiving. What a glorious holiday when I can take the time to be thankful and let those I love know how much I appreciate them. I've been accused of rolling Thanksgiving and Christmas together, and it's true I do. I put up my Christmas tree before the Turkey is out of the oven, and I even play Christmas music during dinner, but the two holidays just compliment each other so well. Everything I celebrate and love about Christmas are everything that I'm so thankful for!
And speaking of Christmas, who doesn't love Christmas. Family and remembering the birth of our Savior. Sigh...it doesn't get any better. And so I'm excited because it is officially the most wonderful time of the year!!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

Look at all that hair...what a cute kid!

Still such a sweet kid!

Today Trace turns 6...can you believe it!? He's such a sweet helpful boy and I'm so grateful he's a part of our family. And now with out further ado, the 6 things we love most about Trace...

1. I love that Trace is adventurous. He's always happy to try new things, from eating daddy's seafood boil to his first day of kindergarten, nothing holds him back.

2. Kenadee loves that Trace is learning to read. This means that he comes home every night and reads his homework books to her. It's her favorite part of the day.

3. Jax loves that Trace plays with him. It's rare that we have to ask Trace to include Jax in his activities and those two genuinely enjoy each others company.

4. Mommy loves that Trace is such an awesome helper. It doesn't matter what it is, Trace is always the first and most willing to help at our house.

5. We love that Trace is thoughtful. He's very in tune with others and their feelings and is always the first to try to diffuse and argument. He's our own little peace keeper and I'm grateful for him!

6. And last but not least I love that Trace is a great friend. He makes friends so easily and can be friends with anyone. It's a great trait that I hope he never losses!

Just because I love you!

Yesterday at church, Kena's class learned about loving others. It was all she talked about all afternoon. She loves being a sunbeam and loves Sister Walker even more! Last night before bed Cory and I were talking about how cute it was that she was so excited, and as I rolled over and put my arm under my pillow this is what I found! When I asked her this morning if she'd put them there, this was her answer..."Yup, just because I love you!" What a doll!

First day of school...round 2!

School Buddies!

Jax's first day of Preschool

A cake to celebrate the first day. You can't really see but it had stars and flowers so everyone was happy!

Kena's first day of school.

Kenadee started preschool last week...and when I picked her up on Wednesday, her teacher told me that even though we won't be having an IEP meeting until the end of the month, they are positive Jax will need some speech help. So today he gets to go with her! They go in the afternoons, so it'll be during Mason's nap time and I'm not sure what I'll do with myself, but I'm so darn excited for my two little "buddies" to be able to experience school together. These two have a special something between them and it'll be fun for them to get to be together!

First Day of School!

Today my buddy is starting Kindergarten. He was up at 6 and dressed by 6:15. He had breakfast done by 7 and didn't have to be there until 8:15! We did pictures and waited...packed his bag and waited...and then just plain waited. I don't think he could have been more excited. He was also very upset that I insisted on walking him to his room. The whole way there he kept telling me "Mom, I know where it is" or "I can get there myself" and I had to assure him that I was walking him for me, not for him.

I have mixed feelings today. I'm so excited that my monkey is such a big kid, and that he's so darn independent. I'm sure it would be much harder if he'd cried and clung. But at the same time I can't help but feeling like it's the beginning of the end. School leads to more school, then college and missions and marriage! (crazy right but it's exactly what's got me hyperventilating today!) But the good feelings win out over the bad today and I'm super excited for my little guy! Happy first day of school Trace!