Temple Square

Tate has loved driving around looking at Christmas lights this year, so we thought he would really love seeing Temple Square now. So.....these things are always much more fun in my head than in reality. We parked at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and inside had to pass this little cafe to get out to the lights. Well, all Tate cared about from that second on was getting freaking hot chocolate. He was so obsessed that he didn't even care about the lights anymore. Grrrr...so irritating. Oh well, at least we tried.

Holiday this and that

Last week was the Torgerson family party and Santa comes every year and brings the kids a small present. Tate was so excited to see him again...we had already gone to the mall to see him, but I think Tate thinks the more times we go and tell him what we want, maybe the more presents we'll get. Smart kid.

Marley on the other hand was ticked I made her sit on this creepy guy's lap again...don't you remember I cried the last time mother?

I don't know what this face is she's doing, frankly it's a little scary

Yesterday we did our gingerbread house and Tate was totally absorbed in it for a good half hour, it was awesome

His finished product, he was so proud of it!

My explorer...

Marley is at that stage where you literally turn your back for 5 seconds and they're into something. I feel alot more relaxed this time around though, with Tate I'd hurry and grab him; with Mar I.....grab the camera. Well, except when I found her LICKING the toilet the other day.



On a completely different note, I am obsessed these days with finding fun new family traditions for the holidays. I want my kids to look back on their childhood like I do and think of all the awesome things we did together. So one of the new traditions I'm excited about is one I think everybody now knows about called The Elf on the Shelf. On November 30th Santa dropped off a present at the doorstep to Tate and Marley. Tate opened it and there was our elf and a book. We read the story about Buddy the Elf (that's the name Tate gave him) and every day he "hides" somewhere new and watches the kids so he can report back to Santa each night if they're being good. Tate has loved every morning so far trying to find him; if it starts helping his behavior knowing Santa is watching maybe Buddy will stick around all year long...