Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Lovely Valentines

Rachel got one of her first Valentines from her brother.
James and Rachel woke up to balloons and heart shaped Valentines Chocolate Boxes right outside their doors. 

Then came the Valentines gifts and cheesy poems......

Then a LOVELY breakfast for the ones I love.


 ......followed with kisses.
 We even made Valentines Cookies.
 James was a great helper in the kitchen and Rachel helped out with eating the majority of what she touched. 
 Rachel got a dolly......
 and James got a bike! 
Yah!
He was jumping for joy to get a big boy bike with training wheels.  And boy, did he ever learn fast. 
He is super speedy on it and can keep up very well.
 Then that evening Josh and I went out for a romantic dinner and home for some snuggles.
The following night we had James and Rachel's friends over, Rocky and Grace for a candle light dinner with heart shaped pepperoni's. Cheers to Love that's in the air and friends.

 Ending the night off with a fun game of Valentines Bingo
 And of course I had to show you just how stinkin cute this little love bug is. 
She's awfully sweet and full of spice.
She's our Spice of Life!

XOXOXO
I love my family so much and feel so blessed to have them as mine. As each day passes, I find myself more and more in love with them than the last. 
 Just an add on to this.......
Here is James supporting a Hulk Smash Smoothie Mustache. Ever since we bought the Blend Tec we drink lots of these and the kids like them so much, they ask for more.
And of course James enjoying the snow like he does every winter. When it's super cold outside, we just bring it into the tub and play with it there. Keeps him entertained for hours.

Canada Christmas 2011

 For Christmas we (or should I say I) always make treats for friends and family. So this is what went out to the ones we love. It is always the kids favorite to deliver it to their house and be the ones to hand over the plate. They feel pretty special.
This year we felt so blessed to be given an awesome Christmas tree. I guess this is one of the perks of working at the Storage units. It is just super full and has so much character. We love it. 
Here's Rach with her special friends just taking it all in. We spent so much time in the living room reading, watching movies, hanging out and just loving the moments and feelings that come during Christmas time. 


 Every year we go to Canada, Josh has just made it a no brainer, since we live around is family. I'm so lucky for that. It is so nice just being around my siblings and their kids. Plus mom and dad always make it super special and so much fun.
There were presents everywhere......... We spent our few days in preparation for the big day, cooking, wrapping, shopping and doing our traditional "Find and Family and Doorbell Ditch" boxes and boxes of needed food and products. Then we always go caroling and delivering goodies to friends.
 Of course on Christmas Eve we did our traditional Birth of Baby Jesus Play. Rachel lasted as a shepherd for about 30 seconds. The Nehrings basically took on the whole play.
 Then we heard the reindeer outside delivering our one gift. Each year they deliver us Christmas PJ's. James was so into it, he kept on asking "The Reindeer gave this to me?"
 We all took turns opening out PJ's.  Then we all put them on and hung out eating yummy food , playing crazy Leavitt games and just having a good time. The game Settlers has been taken over our family till early hours into the morning. And trust me when it becomes early we become kinda loopy.




 The morning came early at 7:00 (but I guess not too early) and Santa did visit us. 
The kids were so excited! Rachel had no idea what was going on, but she did want to be the first. James on the other hand couldn't wait.
 The only thing James kept on asking for over and over again was dinosaurs. He is obsess and just thinks they are the coolest things. I swear he sleeps and dreams dino's. So when he saw his big set up of every kind of dinosaur and the sweet barn that Grandpa had made him he was overwhelmed and so so excited. I don't think he took a break from playing with them for the whole day. 


 As for Rachel all she cared about was the candy of course. She is our big eater and anything she can put in her mouth makes her happy. So more than the gifts and trinkets, she loved the candy canes and oranges the best. 
 Opening our Christmas Stockings...........

 What is looks like in Nana and Papa's living room the day of Christmas morning. Presents everywhere, you can't even see the floor. 


 James of course got even more dinosaur things from his cousins, aunt, uncles and grandparents. We all got new winter hats and Josh even got Pirates Gold. It was a little joke between brother Brad. They have insiders all the time and you just never know what they are going to come up with next. But we liked the Dollar Coins that came out to a few hundred dollars. 





 And Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a tear from mom. I made mom and dad a memory book from everyone in the family. I had everyones picture and a special note to mom and a note to dad on each page. I must admit, it turned out pretty neat.


That evening we had a delish full on Turkey Dinner. James is one who just loves helping out in the kitchen. Nana always makes the best stuffing. And we are always stuffed and just veg afterwards. 
The rest of the week was full of fun events and activities. Every year we make ginger bread houses. I will have to say James' was the most creative. We made it a dinosaur house of course, to feed his obsession. 



Then another evening after attending the big Sugar Bowl of Raymond we played silly games (found on pintrist). But we were all rolling with laughter. And also included was strength competitions too, which included arm  wrestles and planks.  



James just loves going outside and playing in the snow, even if he just had his pj's on. It was warm but there was snow. That's my kind of Christmas. Not freezing like most years.

Christmas Sunday right before church.
A few of us went out in the cold and just had fun slipping and sliding with Papa. 


It wouldn't be fun cousin time, with out warm baths and bubbles.