Celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Hays

We decided not to travel much this year, as Elise does not enjoy riding in the car very much. Stan and Donna decided to come down here for a few days to celebrate Christmas. Our niece Rachael rode down with them too so it was fun having visitors. The boys always love the extra attention. We had our leader Christmas party for the high school ministry on Sun evening so it was a treat to leave the boys with Grandma, Grandpa, and Rachael! It was great for Dan having extra hands on Mon while I was at work too.
We are so grateful that our kids have such wonderful grandparents to grow up with. We treasure all the moments we can spend with them.

Isaac showing off his new slippers from Grandma and Grandpa

Rachael, Levi, Elise, Isaac

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa

Mommy and Levi

Reading the Advent book

Dad's birthday

My parents came up to see the kids and give them a couple early Christmas gifts last week, so we also celebrated my dad's birthday, which is December 16th. We enjoyed a cookie cake. The boys received bean bag chairs and Elise got a music player (maybe it will help her sleep better!) The kids had fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa!


Yummy cake!

The boys giving Grandpa his present.

Dad and me

The kiddos

What's in those big boxes?!

It's a football!

and a soccer ball!

Grandma and Elise.

The kids by the Christmas tree.

Grandma and Grandpa with Isaac, Levi, and Elise

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice this year. It has become a tradition to have my parents come here on Thanksgiving Day. We enjoy having a quiet and relaxing day. This year, one of the ladies in my MOMS group joined us along with her mother.
Dan has been doing the Turkey Bowl on the Friday after Thanksgiving since we moved here. It is a football gave between the high school and returning college students. The anticipation of the day is a lot of fun. The kids and I went over there to hang out and joined them for a chili lunch afterwards. It was a fun morning.
We went down to my parents' house on Friday afternoon. We got together with my brothers on Saturday. There are 18 of us now, with one more on the way in December! My parents also invited a couple other friends to join us. It was a full house but the cousins had a great time being together.
We have so much to be thankful for and are looking forward to celebrating Jesus' birthday next month.

Getting ready to go outside to burn off some energy!

Jenny and Mom

The whole Larson clan

Happy 41st Anniversary!

Elise Dedication

Today we had Elise dedicated to the Lord. We have chosen to publicly declare that we will raise Elise in a Christian home and teach her about Jesus. We pray that someday she will make a decision to accept Christ as her personal Savior. At that point, she will follow the commands of the Bible to be baptized.
My parents came yesterday and were able to spend some time with us. The boys enjoyed doing puzzles, coloring, and reading books. My brother Paul and his family also surprised us and were able to come today for the dedication. After the service, we had lunch and the kids got to hang out. Isaac and Levi always enjoy when they get to see their cousins!



The Family!

Pastor Todd prayed with us during the service.

Grandpa Les and Grandma Connie

Aunt Amy and Uncle Paul

Big brothers

Elise is at an age where the boys like to interact with her. Levi will ask to hold her. Both boys are so sweet to her. She is blessed to have two wonderful big brothers.
We brought out the bumbo seat the other day and tried Elise in it. She seemed to like it for a short bit. It doesn't give the best posture but it's nice to use occasionally for something different.

Elise 3 months old

Elise turned 3 months old last week. Time flies!! She is starting to sleep better, although she's still not real consistent. She likes to smile when people smile at her and she's fun to make laugh. She's getting strong and acts like she wants to roll over...we'll see how long until she figures that out :) She's still not a big fan of her car seat which is surprising because Isaac and Levi used to love to sleep in the car. It will be interesting when we take her on her first road trip!! She still loves to be in her bouncy and is much more observant of things around her. She has found her hand/fist...not sure if she'll find her thumb.

My Jump Place

The guys in our couples small group did a service project on Saturday, which meant that Dan was gone. Three of the ladies and our children got together at My Jump Place. It's basically a place with lots of huge inflatables. The boys had a lot of fun jumping around and climbing up the stairs and going down the slides. There was a little girl there who was 9 years old who was a total God-send. She helped Levi go up the stairs and watched him as he ran around. I wasn't able to go with him since I needed to stay with Elise. By the end, Levi had figured out how to do the stairs all by himself. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

Levi

Isaac

Levi climbing up the stairs with the little girl

Levi getting ready to go down the slide

Isaac getting ready to go down the slide

Successful landing!

Isaac, Levi and the girl!

Elise slept most of the time and woke up to eat so that was helpful!

Kristin and Trent

Isaac and Levi at the top of the big slide

Grandma and Grandpa Larson visit

My parents came to visit last week for a night. It's always fun when they are here and I enjoy the company. The boys had fun doing puzzles and playing with their trains. Grandpa treated the boys to popcorn...yum! We look forward to them coming again.

Costume fun for Halloween

The boys had a lot of fun dressing up this year for Halloween. Isaac was Handy Manny and Levi was a zebra. Levi LOVED his zebra costume. He was so excited to wear it. He did look pretty cute in it although he was mistaken for a girl a couple times (must be those long eyelashes and big eyes). Elise wore the pumpkin costume that Levi wore 2 years ago. I must say they look quite similar :)
We were able to get two free kids meals out of their costumes yesterday at Chili's. For every adult entree purchased, we received one free kids meal. Dan had received a gift certificate from a couple at church for Pastor's Appreciation so it was a nice night "out". We actually did carry out and enjoyed our yummy food at home :) It was a great way to do it with 3 young kids!

We had a Harvest Party with our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) group from church last weekend. They had an outdoor scavenger hunt for the kids and then a potluck supper.
Isaac was able to dress up for pre-school. Because of the "toileting issues" as they put it, we decided not to have Isaac wear his one piece Handy Manny outfit. Instead, he wore a Lightning McQueen car that was easy to take on and off :)

The "parade" in Isaac's classroom.

Getting ready for trick-or-treating. The boys were very excited to get lots of yummy treats. They were both troopers and walked the whole way and carried their pumpkins. I think they were worried that Dan and I might confiscate the candy!!

Our three little blessings!

Elise as a pumpkin

Levi 2 years ago as a pumpkin!!