December 25, 2009

Christmas is here!

I woke up to Jack and Nixin rummaging around in the front room this morning. Chad and I slowly came out of our deep sleeps and then Jack so adorably woke Cohen up. The missing cookies, carrots, and milk could only mean one thing- Santa had been here!


The boys got exactly what they had asked for. Jack got a Didj, Nixin a Leapster (although he later decided to trade in his Leapster for a Didj), and Cohen an activity center jumper thing. Chad got a watch that I'm not 100% convinced that he loves and I got a watch too, which I do love.



After the present opening, I headed into the kitchen to get the breakfast together. The craziest thing happened. All of the sudden the front door slammed! We went into the front room and there were a couple of new presents under the tree addressed to me from Santa! I got a new camera!!!


It was not something that I had asked for, but something that I am super excited to learn how to use. The pictures that I have taken so far are awesome! Here are a few of them from our Christmas Day:





Our day was full of company, good food, and fun. We could not have asked for a better Christmas. Merry Christmas from the Williams family! We hope your holiday was a wonderful one.

December 24, 2009

It's Christmas Eve!!!

I remember as a kid how exciting Christmas Eve was. How I couldn't sleep, how I'd have that nervous/sugar filled belly ache, and how happy I felt. Then you get older, secrets are let out of the bag, it becomes more important to sleep in on Christmas morning than to get up and see what Santa brought... Then you have kids. The cycle starts again and it is so fun! Christmas is every bit as exciting for me now as it was then, probably even more so, and I can hardly stand it!

We spent all morning in our pajamas today. We cleaned, I got all of the food ready for tomorrow, the boys played games, and we had a good time.

Every Christmas Eve we go to Bountiful and spend time with Chad's dad and his lovely wife, Becky, and Chad's brother, Chris. It has become a tradition that we are all very fond of. They order pizzas and pastas from Robintino's, we hang out, usually watch a movie, and exchange our gifts.* It is great and I LOVE that they do this. Thanks for having us over Ken and Becky!

Cohen and Uncle Chris (He's single, handsome, educated, employed, and obviously great with kids. If you have someone amazing to set him up with, let me know!):


Cohen's very first present opening experience:


Is he not so cute? Nixin on Christmas Eve:


Say Cheese! Jack on Christmas Eve:


Jack and Nixin's all time favorite thing to do with Grandma Becky, play games!


Growing up in my family, we always got to open "Christmas Jammies" on Christmas Eve. It is a tradition that I love to do with my own family too. We open them in Bountiful, change into them there, and then all we need to do when we get home is set out the cookies and milk and go to bed. The boys were exhausted and fell asleep with no problem at all.

The boys in their new jammies:


Santa's treats:


Peaceful and ready to go:



We can't wait to see what Santa brought!

Today's Activity: Christmas Eve in Bountiful

*This year we drove home from Ken and Becky's house remembering that we had left out a few of our "traditions". I wanted to make note of them so that we remember for next year. We can't forget to do the chimes, they are so fun! Also, I was a little disappointed that Ken did not read the Christmas story from the scriptures. And, I know that we watched Ken's special Christmas movie, but "The Christmas Story" was not ever even insterted into the DVD player. It should have at least been background noise :) Love you guys!

December 23, 2009

Today is the first day of Chad's two week Christmas vacation! It is going to be so nice to have him around. I can't wait!

Today was full of last minute Christmas preparations. We had a couple of stores to hit for those last minute gifts, groceries to pick up for the holiday meals, presents to wrap, and a house to clean. Before the day was over, we were also treated to a visit from my cousin Hollee and her family.

Christmas is practically here! Yay!

Today's Activity: Hmmm...I made it this far, and then I blew it. Can we count wrapping presents?

December 22, 2009

Jack had a "Polar Express" party at school today. He was so excited to have Nixin, Cohen and I come help in his class. We made candy trains, they were awesome! He has such a wonderful, organized teacher this year. I am so grateful for that.

Nixin got up the other morning and we had this conversation:
Nixin: "Guess what mom. Jack doesn't think that girls are gross any more".
Erica: "What? He doesn't like girls."
Nixin: "He has a girlfriend now."
Erica: "Huh? How do you know that?!"
Nixin: "We talked about it last night before we fell asleep in our bedroom."

Oh! They have brother talks before they fall asleep! I LOVE that! It has always been one of my very favorite things to walk past their bedroom at night and listen to them talking and giggling.

Anyways, Jack did end up telling me that he had a girlfriend. Her name is Aspen and he thinks she is cute! For the past couple of years Jack has thought that girls are just the most horrible creatures on the planet, but he likes them now! This is huge news at our house.

The point of my rambling is that it was fun for me to meet all of Jack's school friends. I hear about them all of the time but didn't have faces to go with the names. It was especially great to see this darling (she is darling) girl who broke Jack of his "girls are gross" phase.

Today's Activity: Polar Express Party

December 21, 2009

Today we were able to attend a beautiful funeral service for John Miles. The speakers were amazing and the musical numbers were absolutely beautiful. Nancy was so thoughtful and put Jack and Nixin on the program as Honorary Pall Bearers. She asked that they follow behind the Pall Bearers as they carried the casket. It was so sweet! I know that they boys thought that it was a really neat too.

Our drive from the cemetery back to the church for lunch was full of questions. Jack and Nixin have really been pretty quiet about his death. I think the trip to the cemetery got them thinking a little bit though. They were asking a lot about the second coming. Jack likes to come back to the thought that "Angel Moroni will blow his horn and then Jesus will come to earth. That is when Grandpa Miles and Grandpa Henry and Grandma Coral will come back to life." I love that.

Nixin has a little Magna Doodle thing that we keep in the car. On that drive he drew a picture of Grandpa Miles with his hands on Jack and Nixin's shoulders. It was so sweet! Jack said that he wants to draw a picture of him and Grandpa Miles so that he doesn't forget him. I love that too.

It was a wonderful and yet exhausting day. We have been absolutely blessed that John and Nancy have let us be a part of their lives. Our family loves them so much.

Last week Jack came home from school with a Dreidel and instructions on how to play the game. They have been learning about different traditions this month at school and it is so fun for him. He has really been into this game and we have played it numerous times since he brought it home. We didn't really get around to a "Christmas Activity" today, but I think that I will count the Dreidel game :)

Today's Activity: Grandpa's Funeral and The Dreidel Game

December 20, 2009

We had the oppertunity of listening to the beautiful music of our ward choir today at church. Music truly brings the Christmas spirit near. I always admire the people who have been blessed with musical talent.

This evening was John Miles viewing. He looked good and it was nice to see his family. They had a slide show put together and in it were a few darling pictures of the boys with their grandpa. It was nice that they made them be a part of it.

Today's Activity: Christmas Sacrament Meeting

December 19, 2009

This morning we met my brother, Luke, at the mall for a little Christmas shopping. Being with Luke is always and adventure. He totally freaked Nixin out by pushing the yellow "bell" button on the elevator. I wish I would have had a video camera to show you all the reaction that Nixin had to this. He had the maddest, scared, teary eyed look on his face as he was trying with all of his might to push Luke away from the button before he pushed it. Then after he pushed it...well, for some reason Nixin had it in his head that the police were going to come find us and take us to jail because we had pushed that button. Hours after we left the mall, Nixin was still keeping his eyes out for those police! The mall was crowded, but we found what we had gone there for and that was great.

Next, lunch at Burger King. If people were not at the mall, they were at Burger King. That place was packed! But, it gave us time with Luke and that is what mattered.

Our evening plans got tossed around a bit, but we ended up having a great time. We ate a nice Italian Roast Beef Sandwich dinner and then headed down to Thanksgiving Point to drive through their light display. Hundreds of other people had the same idea (seemed to be the theme for the day!), but as soon as it was our turn to enter the lights and Jack realized what this was all about, he said "This is my favorite Christmas activity so far!". It made the wait worth it.

After that, we picked up Peppermint shakes and came home and watched one of our very favorite movies, Elf. It was a fun, Christmas packed day.

Today's Activity: Christmas Lights at Thanksgiving Point

December 18, 2009

Our day started off in a whirl wind when nobody woke up until 8:00 am. Jack leaves for school around 8:15. But, thank goodness I am awesome. I had him fed, dressed, teeth brushed, and lunch made with no time to spare! He was on time and our day was off to a speedy start.

Chad has every other Friday off, awesome! I love that about his job, among many other things. So, we got ourselves ready and took off to complete our list of errands. We finished that and got home for a little rest just as Jack got home from school.

Later we realized that we had skipped lunch and decided to go out for early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Fortune Cookie. What happens when your baby has a poop that shoots straight out of his diaper and down his leg at the restaurant? You rush into the nearest bathroom hoping that you have a properly stocked diaper bag. But, what happens when that diaper bag is not stocked as well as it should be? You bundle your baby in a blanket until you can get him in his car seat, and then bring him home like this:


What can I say? Our day started off with a bang and ended with one. We had plans of being out and about for the evening, but obviously that wasn't was supposed to happen, so we came home and enjoyed a little "Christmas Vacation" as a family.

Today's Activity: Family Dinner and Christmas Vacation

December 17, 2009

I am an Activity Days Leader in our ward. It is fun to spend time every other week with the 10 year old girls in our neighborhood. They are so cute. Also, GREAT calling for me right now. It is so easy! With a little baby, easy is what I need :)

Today our activity with the girls was to go Christmas Caroling. I brought the kids with me and both Jack and Nixin were really excited to come along. I loved watching them. Jack had a paper that he was holding with the words to the songs on it. He can read well enough to keep up. Nixin kept looking at the paper as if he was reading it, but if you got down close enough to him, you could hear him mumbling a bunch of nonsense to the tune of the song. It was so cute! Both of the boys commented on how much fun they had caroling, and I will admit that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would too.

To top off a wonderful day, it was Bunko night! Once a month I get together with some girlfriends to play a dice game. The host provides dinner, which is always awesome, and then the crazy fun begins.

I am not a very lucky person, but luck was with me tonight! I won the top prize- a massage!!! I can't wait! I also came home with the best book ever as my white elephant present, The Hunger Games. It was a good time. I am grateful that my wonderful husband supports my once a month girl's night...even if the baby won't take the bottle and screams the whole three hours. I love you Chad!

Today's Activity: Christmas Caroling

December 16, 2009

Hair, hair, hair, 5 Buck Pizza, and holiday baking.


Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.
2.Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.
3.Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*Bread can also be baked in mini loaf pans for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
** To add just a little something extra, I made a simple frosting recipe, adding a few drops of Orange Extract, and piped it onto the loaves. Delicious!

Today's Activity: Holiday Baking

December 15, 2009

It was probably about three and a half years ago, when Nixin was just old enough to mumble out his first words, that we came in contact with a family whom we would quickly come to love.

It was just before Sacrament meeting when Nixin started shouting "Papa! Papa!". He was pointing his finger at John Miles. For some reason or another, he was so excited to see this "Papa" who he had never before had any contact with. Nixin ran to him. John picked Nixin up and sat him on his lap. Nixin didn't move the entire meeting, which was huge! We had been having a rough time making it through church with him. I remember watching him sitting there so content, I was in disbelief.

Well, this very quickly became routine. John and Nancy would walk into the chapel and off Nixin went to sit with his "Papa". Soon enough, Jack decided that there was something great about these people too and he would leave Chad and I behind to sit with them. The Miles were so cute. They started sitting on the bench right across from us and would bring a scripture case full of toys and goodies for my boys. Before we knew it, our children had adopted new grandparents. They really feel that way too. They honestly know no difference between John and Nancy and their "real" grandparents.

It was a very short time ago that John was diagnosed with cancer. His decline was very quick, despite his every attempt to rid his body of the horrible disease. We knew that his time on earth was coming to an end and decided that we should take our children to see their Grandpa Miles one last time.

When we walked into his room last night, we were all surprised at John's condition. We knew that his time of passing was near, but what we didn't realize before is just how close it really was. It was very emotional for me to watch my kids say "Goodbye Grandpa. I love you." to this man who is very much a part of their lives.

Last night at 11:45 John passed away. I could never express just how much he has meant to our family. We will truly miss his caring heart, happy smile, playfulness and kindness. We will never forget you John! Thank you for all that you have done for our family.

Today's Activity: Saying Goodbye to Grandpa Miles

December14, 2009

A high school friend of Chad's, named Brent Morley, held a Christmas music concert at the South Jordan Community Center tonight. Brent is a very talented pianist! It was a fun and different thing for our family to do and I think Chad enjoyed seeing his old friend. To top it all off, Dunford donuts for dessert!

Today's Activity: Brent Morley's "The Not Forgotten Carols"

December 13, 2009

It has been snowing like crazy all day today! Earlier this morning, the snow flakes were so big that Jack and Nixin just couldn't help but get out there and catch a few. It is pretty to look out the window and see it during this Christmas season.

Tonight was the annual Woolsey family Christmas party. We have attended our friend's party for about ten years now, and even longer for me. I bet that I have gone for the past twelve years. There is always lots of yummy food and great company. We had a nice time. It just wouldn't feel like Christmas without it.

Today's Activity: The Woolsey Family Christmas Party

December 12, 2009

Today was filled with holiday joy! Our morning started bright and early with our ward's Christmas breakfast. The food was good and the boys had a great time running around with their friends.

We came home to reset for a few minutes before heading out with the intention of helping our boys learn a little bit about selflessness. After much explaining about how Santa does not know where every boy and girl are and that some moms and dads don't have money to buy their kids Christmas presents we finally talked them in to handing over a few of their hard earned dollars to buy a Christmas gift for the less fortunate. It was a hard task, but the thing that seemed to work the best was to just simply ask them if they would like to make a stranger smile on Christmas morning. They both finally agreed that they would like to help with their money.

So, with that, we picked out a couple of gifts from the store. The boys helped us pay at the cash register and then we headed over to Deseret Industries. Our bishop had mentioned to Chad that there is a little "Christmas Store" in the DI where people can (with special permission) shop for their gifts at no cost. This is where we chose to make our donation and the boys were very happy to drop their items into the big box. I am happy for the choices that they made. Some one's Christmas morning will be brighter because they chose to share.

And last, but not least, Chad and I dropped the older boys off at home with a babysitter and took off for a little Christmas shopping of our own. It was fun to spend time together, as it always is. The stores are getting crowded! Our shopping is very close to being done. I can't wait to see my boys faces on Christmas morning. They are dying already! I was reminded all day that there are only thirteen days left.

Today's Activity: Charitable Christmas Donations

December 11, 2009

The boys worked on a little Christmas ornament craft today. They loved painting! They are both so creative and it was fun for me to watch their little minds work to bring their designs to life.
Later tonight we went over to our friends, the Prescott's, house. Aimee and I worked on a few projects of our own. It was just a creative kind of day!

Today's Activity: Christmas Ornaments

December 10, 2009

I let Chad be in charge of our daily Christmas activity today. He came up with his own little "Mad Libs" version of Twas The Night Before Christmas. The kids laughed as they added in their own silly words to parts of the poem. It was a very clever last minute activity. Then the boys sang a couple of holiday songs around the Christmas tree.

Today's Activity: Christmas Mad Libs

December 9, 2009

My boys have a favorite friend from our old neighborhood whose name is Zachary. We had Zachary over for the evening and the kids had a great time. They played their little hearts out, we ate a mini turkey dinner and then played Christmas Bingo. They sure are a bunch of crazy boys!

You can print off your own bingo cards, or look for other educational ideas on www.dltk-kids.com.

Today's Activity: Christmas Bingo

December 8, 2009

Tonight we gathered all of the Christmas themed books that we could find at our house and sat together around the Christmas tree for story time. My boys love books, which I am thankful for, and this was the perfect time to look through those books that only get used once a year.

Today's Activity: Christmas Stories

December 7, 20009

Today's Activity: Paper Bag Reindeer Puppets

December 6, 2009

Chad grew up celebrating "St. Nick's" at his house. It is a tradition that we try to keep going at ours as well. I'm pretty sure that we don't do it exactly the right way, but we have our own mini version and our boys think it's great.

We start by reading a little story about St. Nicholas. Then the kids each get out a shoe and put a treat in it for St. Nicholas's horse.



When the kids wake in the morning they find a small gift in their shoe. A few years back Jack had mentioned that he would like to start a nutcracker collection. So, every year since he has found a nutcracker in his shoe on the morning of St. Nick's.





Today's Activity: St. Nick's

December 5, 2009

Chad comes home today!!! I have kept myself and my children very busy and the time has passed quickly, but it is time for Chad to come home. We miss him. Day before yesterday when we walked in the front door, Jack said "Wow Nixin. We can't even say "Hi" to dad. That is so sad." And yesterday when I was talking to Nixin he thought that I said something about Vegas. He said to me "Mom, you just said a swear! Vegas is a swear word because that is where they made dad go." I think they miss their daddy.


My cute cousin Hollee came by this morning with her sweet kids, Mickey and Dahlia. We decided to have a candy making morning and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We made a variety of Fudge, Oreo Truffles, and Pretzel Turtles. Everything is SO YUMMY! I need to watch myself so I don't eat it all! I loved everything that we made, so I want to share the recipes. Here they go!

Foolproof Fudge


2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or other extracts as desired
Chopped nuts, chopped candies, extracts, or other additions as desired*

1.In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt. Remove from heat; stir in additions and extracts as desired.
2.Spread evenly into wax-paper-lined square pans. Chill 2 hours or until firm.
3.Lift fudge out of pan and place onto cutting board; peel off paper and cut into squares. Store covered in refrigerator.

* We divided our fudge into 5 different portions. In the first we added 1/4 tsp. orange extract to make orange fudge. We added vanilla to the rest of the batch and then added different candies/nuts. To the first, chopped almonds. Then chopped snickers, chopped SKOR bar, and finally chopped Twix. Keep a small portion of each candy out of the fudge and then sprinkle on the top after spreading it into the containers. They all turned out amazing, I still can't decide which is my favorite!

Easy Oreo Truffles


1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
1 (8 ounce) package Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

1.Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
2.Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3.Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Pretzel Turtles


20 small mini pretzels
20 chocolate covered caramel candies
20 pecan halves

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2.Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place one chocolate covered caramel candy on each pretzel.
3.Bake for 4 minutes. While the candy is warm, press a pecan half onto each candy covered pretzel. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

There you have it, three easy holiday recipes.

Today's Activity: Candy Making

December 4, 2009

We have sure been keeping ourselves busy while Chad is away. After a full day of hair, the boys and I headed up to Bountiful to spend time with Ken and Becky. They invited us to go to a Christmas Parade there. It was as small town as a small town parade could be and we all loved it! It was complete with Christmas lights, inflatables, a car shooting fire, candy and Santa. The boys are still talking about it, so I guess it was a hit. The parade lasted all of 15 minutes (perfect because it was FREEZING) and then we headed back to Ken and Becky's house for chili and chicken nugget kid's meals and cookies. It was a great time and I am SO lucky to have such great in-laws who want to hang out with me even when Chad is not around :)





Today's Activity: Christmas Parade

December 3, 2009

When I was growing up, it was tradition to make an annual visit to what we called "Christmas Circle". It is a residential circle in Taylorsville where every home is decked out in Christmas lights and each house has a big sign outside of it with a piece of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" printed on it. You turn off your headlights, drive slowly, enjoy the crazy lights, and read the story. I have always loved "Christmas Circle" and so I have made it tradition in my family to take our own trip there every December. Chad is not a fan. Since he was out of town tonight, I took the boys for our annual drive through Taylorsville and it was as ghetto-fabulous as it always is! (Sorry about the blurry picture...turns out it's hard to get a good picture while you're driving, but you get the idea.)

Today's activity: Christmas Circle

December 2, 2009

Chad left for Las Vegas today. He is there until Saturday for work. We will miss him! It was easier to let him go when we didn't have a baby in our home. Hopefully we'll survive!

Today's Christmas activity: Watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It just wouldn't be Christmas time without it!

December 1, 2009

Yay! December is here and I am so excited, I love Christmas time! We have been busy getting out the Christmas decorations. The tree is up, lights are on the house, and this year is the first in many that I put up my Christmas village. Having a new addition in our house left us short a Christmas stocking. I have been feeling adventurous, so I mad each of us a new stocking. They turned out great. Everything is ready and our house is full of Christmas spirit!

Each day this month, I have plans to do some sort of Christmas activitiy to continue to bring that Christmas spirit into our home. Today's activity: Avent Calendars. The boys were excited to pop out the chocolate behind door number one. We loved these as children and my kids think they are great too!