christmas service get-up

northridge church doesn't have a christmas eve service so we dressed the boys in their christmas outfits yesterday for church.
hayden actually wore his tie all day long and didn't complain once.
for the first time in months talan didn't cry at all when we put him in the nursery. he let the man take him from us and he just sat in his arms waving goodbye to us. he must have known how cool he looked.
matching ties. this may be the closest you ever see me to "matching" my children's clothing.
merry christmas everyone!







hayden is all business when it comes to the xbox:
no more pictures!!!!:




talan loves playing hayden's video game:

perhaps our last sledding trip EVER

on saturday, mom was kind enough to watch the boys while dad and i went into ledco to help them get some work done. while eating lunch i asked bobby when he wanted to go tobogganing and a plan was set in to action to go that day.
in the end, we decided to just go sledding after work and save the tobogganing for another day. we had the best intentions to get out while there was still some daylight, but that didn't happen. we ended up not getting to the hill until probably about 6pm. and hayden couldn't wait!
we got probably about 8 inches of snow on friday which meant a snow day and an extra day for christmas vacation. and all weekend long hayden has been asking to go outside.
jessica and justin had been over at mike and nancy gregg's house and they all decided to join us as well.
when we first showed up to the hill an ambulance was just arriving.
we all ignored it and piled out of our cars and got ready to head down the hill. apparently all of farmington had been to that hill the day before as it was like a mogul hill. not fun. for the most part, we all ended up wiping out on every ride down.
talan and isaac were not so fond of being sprayed with snow but hayden was having a blast. whenever we'd get to the bottom, hayden would jump up with snow covering his hat and face just laughing away yelling "let's do it again!!!"
it was cold, the hill was shot, the walk up was rough and talan kept losing his mittens and his snow pants kept riding up. in the end he and isaac had some meltdowns and we put them in the cars to get them warmed up as hayden took one more trip down the hill.
talan kept holding his hand and crying really hard which didn't stop the whole ride home. he had fallen and his mitten had come off right before the screaming fit and for awhile we thought he might have really hurt his hand or wrist. he seemed to be doing just fine later on in the evening so we think the cold and snow just burned his hand after he had fallen and lost his mitten for the 51st time.
so it was an adventure to say the least. i think the tobogganing experience will be a much better one as you aren't falling in snow. but we may have to leave talan behind. babies and snow just don't mix.

talan was right to be apprehensive:
hayden can't wait!:
not even out of the car and jessica is hating it:

why yes, talan was wearing borrowed purple boots:



justin. baby whisperer:
bobby, dave and hayden having no idea what they are in for:
dave and hayden:
talan taking his very first sled ride with justin:
jessica helping justin and talan along:
talan not loving it:
mike, nancy and isaac gregg:
talan realizing what we all already know about michigan winters. they suck:
justin and his red bull:
nancy and jessica:
mike, nancy, jessica, brianna's friend, brianna, mallory, hayden, dave, justin and bobby (talan and isaac were in the cars screaming at this point):
nancy supervising dinner:
isaac and nancy:


talan loved brianna and he didn't want her to put him down:

cookie time

jenn was still in town after our visit with santa on monday, so on tuesday we all decided to get together and make cookies. mom made the dough for sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies the day before so that we could just go over and cut them out and decorate them.
mom ended up waking up tuesday morning with the same stomach virus i had a week earlier so we all decided to get the job done so she had one less thing to worry about. justin was out shopping for jessica while jessica joined in the fun as well. dave had stayed home from work so he was able to keep talan at home with him.
hayden has always loved decorating the sugar cookies with sprinkles and this year he had fun decorating a few with icing as well.
rainah also got in on some of the fun with the sprinkles, although i believe more sprinkles ended up on the floor than the cookies due to her. but she had fun.
the cookies turned out great and we can't wait for christmas eve so we can dive into them!

the gingerbread cookies made a terrible sticky mess. good thing i let jess and jenn handle it:



and the gingerbread cookies are finally done:
sugar cookie time:



mmmmm, sprinkles:


ewww. nobody eat those cookies!:
the first batch of sugar cookies. this was hayden and rainah's pan, obviously:



jessica was finally able to stop rolling and cutting and actually decorate a few cookies:

frosting fun: