The Labrum's: 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Sledding

The kids have been begging to go sledding. We knew Pine Valley had some good snow, and there are some great hills up there to go on. So yesterday we decided to drive up to and try it out. The main hill was packed! We couldn't even find a spot to park. So we drove over to another hill, and still had to park clear at the bottom of the street, but it worked out.

I'm kind of a bum sledder. I hate being cold, and honestly, I would rather stay warm and dry and get a hundred pictures of my kids having a blast :) So that's what I did...at first.

I forgot my other lens, so I couldn't even see them to get a picture. Once I got up there, I kinda really wanted a try :)

We only had one sled, and there was another family there that had a couple of extra and shared. Their kids only wanted a certain one that they had. And we weren't going to be picky ;)

I got a couple of the boys going down, and catching some air. Poor Cutler kept going off the road into the pile of snow, and for whatever reason neither of the boys wore their waterproof boots, and Noah has grown so much, his snow bibs wouldn't even zip up. oops!

They didn't care AT ALL! They were having a blast!

Colby went down first with Colby, and slid off at the end. Which obviously scared her, and she didn't want to go again, unless it was with me.

I was ok with it :)

But every time we went down, we spun around. It was fun, but kinda scary.

You can see she's holding on for dear life!

And then she was done.

Colby found these gigantic icicles hanging from a house and got one for Lexie.

She enjoyed it!

As a kid, I loved those things.

As an adult...they're disgusting!!

She dropped it a couple of times, but wanted it back.

Once it broke, I made her leave it.

Mean, I know :)

After a bit, Colby and I were done.

We took them down the street and pulled them behind the truck.

I'm sure that's totally illegal, but they loved it!!

At first Colby was driving and I was trying to take pictures through the mirror so I didn't have to go outside. It really was a nice day, but outside driving around was cold.

Cutler was having a hard time figuring out how to steer,

we were stopping every 15 seconds because he would wreck.

So Colby got out there with him, and I got to drive.

Since I was driving for Noah's turn, I didn't get any good pictures.

Finally I got smart and handed the camera over to Colby.

Once again, Cutler kept wrecking, so we put both boys on together.

Noah likes being in charge, so he liked it :)

You can't see them very good, but I did manage to get one with all of them together ;)

They tried this for a minute...it was a little hard for all three of them to stay on.

I love family moments like this! Even in the cold!!

Elf on a Shelf

Our Elf, Scooby, showed up a few days after Thanksgiving, and was kind of silly this year. Most nights he would find a normal place to hang out and watch the kids. But he did have a few nights with a little bit of excitement. The kids thought he was a naughty elf this year. I had to remind them that he was probably just bored and trying to find things to do ;)

Here are a couple of the ways we found him this year:

He also: read Frosty the Snowman to Lexie's stuffed animals

tried to hang from the light but got tangled up

sat in the candy bowl

and the rest of the spots were good ol' usual spots.

Can't wait to see what he does next year :)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Lexie's birthday

Poor girl. The last 3 years, I just haven't had it in me to throw a party on her birthday. We've celebrated, but it's never been a full out birthday party. Not the way I would really like it to be anyway :) Last year was the closest I've come to it. Two days after Christmas is not ideal for a birthday party.

Earlier in the year I had decided that we will from now on throw her a 1/2 birthday party, hopefully around June 27th. Her half birthday ;) So, that's the plan for this next year.

So for this year, just grandma's & grandpa's came for cake and ice cream & presents.

And honestly, it couldn't have been better!

She chose Pizza Factory for dinner - it seems to be the family favorite right now!

After dinner, we went home to wait for her cake to be delivered and the family to show up!

Side story on the cake:

Since I wasn't doing a party, I wanted her to have a super cute cake. She said she wanted a Rapunzel cake with all the people on it. Her words ;)

So, I found a cake decorator to make it, and made a special trip to Vegas to get the people.

She told me she would figure out the design because that's what she does!

So I left it up to her.

3 days before her birthday I took the figurines to her and told her a couple of ideas that I'd had. We had talked on the phone and she told me she hadn't really come up with anything yet.

Honestly, I didn't care really what it looked like. It just had to be cute, and Lexie wanted all the figurines on it. Those were my only criteria!

But for the amount she told me it would cost, at the least, my expectations were pretty high.

So...fast forward to her birthday.

We went to eat, and she was going to deliver the cake @ 5:30. Then she text and had to push it back to 6:00. Which I was fine with.

It was about 6:30 by the time she actually showed up with the cake.

Which was very cute, but not what I expected...at all.

So, because I'm not about to tell how much it cost, you won't understand my disappointment.

Besides the fact that I made it a point to get all the figurines for it, when I already had a Rapunzel one.

But it still is a darling cake and Lexie LOVED it.

That's all that matters :) right??

Once the cake was here, we started the party.

The amount of presents was perfect!

The pictures don't look like she was very excited, but she loved every one of them!!

*Update: we found a spot for the table to go when it's not being used. But it doesn't end up there very often. She sits at it daily. For breakfast, lunch, to do homework, to color, or just to look out back. I'm glad she loves it :)