December 2016

We decided to start the month off and do the #lighttheworld campaign as a family.  The Church asked us to do service each day during December.  So the first Monday in December I did this nice FHE about being a light, how Jesus shared his light, how we can share our light, showed a cute video, read a little story.  It was all going great until I started talking about how we were going to do service each day...my kids did a 180 and started yelling Noooooo at me.  What??  They were so against this idea.  I tried and nothing else would get through to them....ruined/failed FHE.  The next day my sister Lori sent a Facebook link showing this family in Africa they were raising money for with a family in their ward to send them money so they could get electricity and running water.  The pictures were pretty eye opening.  So the next night we had a FHE re-do with a little lecturing on my part.  That weekend I paid them a dollar for each chore they did around the house and then they donated it to this family. They still weren't totally on board but I think they got the point a little bit.  I made them a tree and they got to color an ornament for their tree each time they did a service.  They were much more into the making cookies for our primary teacher and fun service things like that.  I can't say we consistently did something each day but they got the point because now whenever I ask Jaron to go do something he says 'ok mom, does this count for my service today?'  haha.



We made our trek downtown to see the Temple square lights.  We thought we were going on an ok temperature night but it turned out to be so freezing cold.  We didn't last long but was still a fun night. We took Trax downtown which is always the highlight for the kids.



December 08 was our 10 year anniversary from our first date.  I had no clue this was coming up but Shane walked in from work that day with flowers and told me to make some Mac N Cheese because Jennifer was coming over to babysit and we were going to dinner.  I was so surprised it was fun to just go out to dinner last minute and spend time together.



We made our annual gingerbread house.  This year the kids were old enough they could squeeze the frosting through the tube so it was fun cuz we could just let me have at it and it entertained them for the entire evening.



We also went to the annual Draper candy cane hunt.  Only Jaron got a special 'prize' this time but he was so cute cuz when he could choose any toy on the table, he chose a package of chocolate Santa's because there were 3 of them and he could share them with his sisters.  We stood in line to see Santa as well and had a good time even though it was super cold.



The girls had a fun holiday party at preschool and actually allowed someone to paint on their face. I'm pretty sure this was the first time their face had been painted.



We had a Goold Family FHE the Monday before Christmas when everyone could make it.  We had a nice dinner and then acted out the nativity.  Always a hit with everyone.  It's cute to see how the grand kids are getting older and some are more into it than others.



Jaron graduated from nursery.  His nursery teachers did a cute little program and invited the parents in to talk about each child.  Jaron also got to practice going into Sunbeams and he loved it.  He was very ready for primary and has done a great job participating and not being shy at all.



Grandma Glover came to town which is always a fun time.  The kids love having her stay at our house and Shane and I love all the help she is around the house and letting us go out on some dates. The kids always love for her to read to them and snuggle up to her so she'll scratch their arms and backs.



Christmas Eve we made gingerbread men.  The kids had been begging me all December so Christmas eve was the perfect day for it.  They love the gingerbread men.  We all went over to my parents for dinner.  Only Jennifer and us came so it was quiet but a nice evening.  VaLois also joined us there for dinner and a short program.



Christmas Day was so nice. We started with Santa gifts and opening presents.  The kids all got their flip a zoo stuffed animals they had been asking for all month.  The girls got new bikes and Jaron got a car loader truck and lots of hot wheel cars.  I still think it's cute how excited they get to watch their sibling open the presents they got for each other.  Cutest part of Christmas hands down.  We then had to hurry and get to 9am Sacrament Meeting but made for a nice way to spend Christmas morning. That afternoon we went back to my parents for dinner.  The kids opened their presents and the girls were sooo excited that grandma and grandpa had given them pony surprise.  They were shocked that grandma would know how much they wanted that present.  They were squealing so excited opening it up.






Jaron got sick a few days before Christmas.  He got a really bad sore throat and croup.  He had a super hoarse throat with a fever as well.  Luckily he felt ok on Christmas, not great but ok.



Shad called up one afternoon and invited the girls to go to Airborne with Darienne.  The girls were in heaven.  They had only been to Airborne one other time and they were super little so this was definitely a treat for them.

November 2016

November...it went from nice and warm to snow and cold this month...boo.

One morning we had an animal party...all stuffed animals in the house were invited.  It was to celebrate Jaron's bear's birthday (Frankie).  They played duck duck goose and you should've heard the laughter this brought.  I guess it was just enough of a change from just them playing duck duck goose.  Also, Jaron's coloring has made a huge improvement this month.  I swear in a just a week or 2 he has gone from scribbling in one color to using multiple colors and staying in the lines.  Even his preschool teacher commented on how well he colored his cornucopia for Thanksgiving.



We had Holland and Tagg over one afternoon.  And in typical fashion, the girls were running around catching butterflies (or grasshoppers because those are easier) and of course the boys stood around digging in the dirt.  Cute friends.



Just a few pictures of things Jaron does while the girls are at preschool.  He loves to lay on my bed while I shower and play his tablet.  We also do a lot of alphabet games and this was him lining up and counting his cheerios (he can count to about 19)  The other thing he loves to play with these days are all his hot wheel cars.



Shane's sister Margene sold her house here and bought an 8-plex in South Dakota.  So Shane helped her drive the truck out and unpack one weekend.  So while he was gone I planned a few fun things to do.  My kids rarely (ok never) get to get into bed with us.  Since Shane works late at night I always get up before the kids do so they come downstairs and don't bug him.  So we snuggle on the couch each morning.  So the kids were sooo excited when I told them to come snuggle in our bed while dad was away each morning.  The girls had a birthday party and I took Jaron to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel.  Then we went to see the move Trolls (which was soo cute I thought) and then to McDonalds for their Trolls happy meals.  As we were driving home Siena said to me 'Mom, we are having so much fun with dad being gone.'  When I asked her what her favorite part was she said the party.  I thought she meant the birthday party she had been to that day.  She quickly corrected me and said 'no, the party in your bed this morning.'  haha...cute!  Sunday my parents had us over for dinner and my kids thought it was crazy that we were the only ones there that night (they're used to having all their cousins there and rarely do we go over where no one else is there.)  We all survived the weekend but I was happy when Shane made it home safely.



We had our first snowfall in November.  The kids were soooo excited to go out and play.  They love to shovel snow, it's their favorite snow activity right now  The snow was really soft so our snowman was pretty weak.  I've got to get some better snowman making skills going.



I have to show off a few of Jaron's preschool pictures.  The girls will never pose with the cute hats and things they make in pre-school so I have to post Jaron's at least.  They all made a Thanksgiving book but I got the cutest video of Jaron 'reading' his.  His little voice saying each line was the cutest!



We had a great Thanksgiving.  We went to my parents.  Only us and Jennifer and her kids came this year.  It was fun though because we all got to sit at the table together.  My kids even ate on my mom's china!  Earlier that day we all went and saw Moana. It was cute and I loved the music in it.  This was the only picture we took on Thanksgiving.  Oh, and I took a picture of Ashlee who spent a lot of time making a yummy berry pie.



Our pass of all passes we got have been a big hit this summer.  And we continue to use them a lot.  We went to the North Pole Express at Seven Peaks in Provo.  They had some slides to go down (which my kids did not want to do)  But we went on a boat ride around the lazy river, a train ride around some light displays and a bike ride through The Nutcracker story book.  And of course we had to visit Santa.  I was happy to get rid of the 'lists' my kids kept writing to Santa, they were getting longer and longer each time they thought of something they wanted.  It was a pretty cold night because it was windy but we had a lot of fun and the kids keep talking about how much fun it was.




The other day I was asked to conduct reindeer school.  The kids are obsessed with these antlers and noses Jennifer gave them last year.  They started asking to get them out well before Thanksgiving.  And every day they play reindeer running around the house.  So this day I conducted reindeer school. We sang Christmas songs, learned to prance, had jumping/flying practice and played follow the leader.



Siena is obsessed with doing crafts. I can't tell you how many times she asks me to think up a craft for her to do.  She loves it.  It's a good time of year for it because there are a lot of ideas out there. And while Margene was moving she stayed with us for 5 days and did lots of crafts with her. Unfortunately it causes a lot of strife with Aria.  She likes to do the craft, but if one little thing with her craft goes wrong or doesn't turn out exactly how she wanted it to, she breaks down into tears.  So it takes a little talking into before I take on a craft with them each day.

Aria though is all about print off pages.  This girl will color a coloring page I print out for her all day long. Usually it's of a horse or unicorn.  She always adds to the pictures and has some story about the picture she has made up while she has been coloring.  I love to see her creativity come out.



This probably isn't a big deal to most people but this was huge for me this week.  I took the kids to the library for a puppet show and at the beginning they always ask for a few volunteers to do something before the real show starts.  This was the first time that not only did my girls go sit front and center in the room while I sat in the back (I always have to sit right with them) but they both raised their hands to volunteer.  Siena got picked and did a great job being up there.  They both get nervous at things like this and in primary when one of them gets called up they always bring their sister along for moral support.  So I was proud of them both.  Aria was sad she didn't get called up but stayed sitting so that was great for them both!