New House and James' Birthday

So, we were FINALLY able to close on our house on Jan 6th!  We didn't waste any time, and were able to start moving in the same day!  Now, just over a month later, we are all organized and unpacked. Well, I do still have 2 boxes left, but they are pictures and I have not decided how/where to put them all up yet! 

Well, another year has past, and James had ANOTHER birthday!  Cant these kids just slow down for me?  Its all to fast.  He turned 7 this year!!  He loves when we do breakfast in bed for him, so I made him a homemade McMuffin, with some cut up fruit.  He got to have his balloons and presents.  The girls each got him little dollar store toys, and Grammy and Papa Hoskins pitched in with us to get him a dinosaur pillow pet. Then, we invited a couple of his friends over to play.  He has always wanted to do a pinata on his birthday, and we finally have enough room to do one!  Unfortunately, I don't know what happened to the pics of the awesome dinosaur pinata, but the boys sure had a lot of fun beating it open!  Rob had that Monday off for MLK Day, so we thought it would be fun to head to Utah and go to the museum at Thanksgiving Point.  We met up with my brothers and their families for dinner the night before, which is always a good time.  Then we went out to the museum, and had a great time exploring there.  I think he had a pretty great birthday weekend! 

Happy New Year

We had our good friends over to ring in the new year with us!!  It was a lot of fun.  We ate, played lots of games, the kids had a dance party (which was SO funny!), and just had a good time together.  Most of the kids didn't last to see midnight except James, and we woke up Evelyn, since I knew she would be sad if she missed the fun.  Here's the proof:

the boys playing kinect

 dance party!!

 the kids found every blanket and pillow in the house and made a 'nest' to watch their movie. 

 aaaand we're starting the lose them. haha

 getting ready to go out and do the poppers and noisemakers!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Looking forward to all the wonderful things this year will bring!  Happy 2012!

Christmas 2011

*I'm not able to get my videos to upload, but still wanted to get these pics posted today.  I'll keep trying to get those videos up*

Merry Christmas!!  We had a great day.  The kids were SO excited.....they got up SO early too.  But we were all excited for the day, and we all got naps later, so it worked out.  Rob and I attempted the annual trap again.  We didnt really plan anything, just threw together some ideas we'd both been thinking about.  I think it turned out pretty good, though!  The kids LOVED it and cant wait for next years trap already! Here are some pics of the trap:

First, they had to punch through the wrapping paper covering the top of the stairs, then go through the mine field

We put some empty boxes and pillows to be obstacles they had to jump over.  The blanket is covering the trip wire that leads to the fan

Rigged the fan to turn on when they trip the wire.  We filled the cups with confetti so that it would fall out and 'snow'

Here is the video (its really dark and poor quality, but you get the idea):

The kids got 2 big family gifts this year, as well as a few smaller items.  The big gifts were and XBox 360 Kinect video game system.  We also got them a trampoline, that we will set up after we get to the new house.  They had a great Christmas, and we are so grateful to our family who helped make it great with their generosity!  Here are some pics from the day:

Here are a couple videos of them opening their gifts from Santa:

Random Good Times

Some fun random pics/video's we've taken over the Christmas break:

James lost his first top tooth (he's already lost 2 bottom teeth).  he looks SO different to me with that big hole in his grin!  My boy is growing up too fast! 
 

He has also been entertaining himself by creating 'scenes' with his jumbo legos and kinex toys.  He is such an imaginative kid!  Here are couple of his creations:

Brachiosaurus eating from a tree

Centaur fighting a person

The girls pretty much just dress up  and dance all day long.  Elise loves to sing, and one of her favorite songs is the Bruno Mars song "Marry You"  She always finds it in my ipod to listen to.  She also loves the Muppet or a Man song from the new Muppet movie, as well as LOTS of others. She always has a song to sing!  Here she is performing a bit of "Marry You":  (choreography by Evelyn!)

part of the lyrics she is singing: Is it that look in your eyes? Or is it this dancing juice?  Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you.  Don't say No No No No No, just say Ya ya ya ya ya and we'll go go go go go, if your ready, like I'm ready

Winter Fun!

It has only really snowed once so far this season (which is totally fine with me!) So, we took advantage and played in it as long as we could.  There were snowball fights, snow angels, and sled pulling!

Immediately afterward, we warmed up inside with some hot cocoa, then got Evelyn ready for her last recital this winter.  She did awesome!


 

James had his 1st grade Christmas program as well. 

We also did lots of baking to give out treats for our friends, neighbors, and of course Santa!  The kids really love doing this every year, it is so much fun, even if it is a huge mess to clean!

Our House

So we were finally able to go see the house, and this time I brought my camera!  It was getting dark, so the lighting in some of the pics aren't the greatest, and I wasn't able to get the backyard, but I assure you, there is one, and its great!  So, here we go:

Front porch:

Front door into entryway.  You turn right into the living room.  The french doors lead into the master bedroom:

 

Into the living area (this is the view as you are turning from the entryway. those curtains will be coming down as soon as I can get rid of them! yikes..):

 

Living/dining room:

Kitchen:

 

View looking out from the kitchen:

 

Master bedroom (with walk in closet! woo!):

 Main floor bathroom:

 Girls room:

 James room:

 Stairs to the basement (that door is open, it goes to the extra room/playroom)

 Extra room/playroom (cant wait to get my hands on this room! love the built in shelves!):
.

 *And yes, that is a WORKING sink ??? Its strange, but I think we'll be capping the pipes off and make it part of a play kitchen.  The panel in front of it is actually supposed to be covering the sink, then drops down to make a little table.  Cute idea

Downstairs bathroom:
There is a nice sized storage room just off this bathroom.  Love storage space!

 Laundry area, with stairs to outside access:

 Not sure what we'll be doing with this space, but *I* think it is where the big TV should go, so Rob can watch college football without me getting annoyed at his yelling. lol:

 

So there is your 'tour'!  We'll be accepting visitors anytime you wanna visit!