Chistmas Eve we went over to my parents for a party. Miriam and Saralynn gave my mom a felt board with the nativity scene for the kids. It was super cute, but the kids were Way to wound-up to sit and listen to a long nativity story no matter how many times we insisted.

We had tonnes of food, games, and visiting!

Christmas morning. I still can't believe how many presents there were. In my defence, I even wrapped up dollar store crayons for them to open. I love this picture especially because 'grandpa' is just as excited as the kids (though his excitement is for them)

And let the present opening begin:

Peter got a 'tickle-me-elmo' and clothes (sorry buddy, there's already too many baby toys in the house from the other kids)

I love this one of the pink paper reflecting on her face. Though I'm sure she would have been happy to get the cereal for her gift, I did have to explain several times while wrapping gifts that once they opened the paper, they would almost always have to open a different box before they could see their real present. I have far to many memories of tearing off the wrapping paper and thinking I got a toaster and being so sad. Tanner and Hattie did awesome though! They were happy all day this year! YA!

Then the fun really began. I got the kids tonnes of costumes because they live in the few they already had at home. They were so thrilled with each costume and would try them on and play with them for a while before we would call them back for more.

Love this pose of Superman!

The 'Backyardigans' gave them this dino dress-up because they love listening to their songs about knights and dragons. Hattie Loved this costumes and tiptoed all over in it for a long time.

Peter didn't get a costume, per say, but he did get some superhero shirts:)

Larry, the best gift giver ever, got me a video camera!! and tonnes of jewelry! Thanks babe!

Okay, this gift caused a little thought. It is a Beauty and Beast/Prince barbie set. I was going to get it for Hattie, but Tanner saw the Beast doll separately while shopping for a gift for Hattie, and he wanted it so, so bad. He reminded me for weeks that he really, really wanted Hattie to buy it for him. And so, here it is, and they were both so excited that they got what they wanted and that the other got what would go perfect with it.

Grandma and Grandpa Palmer! Love so much that they continue to make Christmas morning at the Wendorff's a part of their Christmas tradition. Christmas morning wouldn't be the same without them!

Yah to the aunties that helped make it such a fun morning!

Then to top it off, we went to Hillspring later that day and opened more gifts and had an awesome turkey dinner. Did I mention I love Christmas!

Bester family Christmas!

December 23rd we went out Hillspring for the Bester Christmas party! It started off with quadding and snowmobiling at Jim and Carolyn's on minimal snow. Kids still loved it though!

Tanner and Hattie refused to admit they were cold because they were having so much fun sledding behind the snowmobile.
Then off to the school gym for fun and food. We played all sorts of games and had tonnes of fun! The highlight game for our family was human curling on these rolling thingys.

Susan organized some "minute to win it" games. Larry was the only one who managed to place all three golf balls on top of each other. Pretty impressive!

Other games included wiggling a cookie into your mouth with no hand - which Larry also won.

Kids got to swat at a pinnata. It was fun (besides that Tanner got really mad at not being able to see where he was swinging), and there was awesome prizes inside!

Even Granny took a couple swings, but in the end, all the adult men had to swing really hard at it to break it open.

Santa Clause a swear word???

This year we had to be careful who we said the word Santa Clause to because each kid had such polar reactions to it - as visible by the picture from the mall.
Tanner, at age 4, naturally LOVES Santa and anything to do with him. He loved the stories about Santa and was curious about every aspect of him from the Christmas Eve visit, if he gets burned by fire, where he lives, and how many Santas there are. We even went to the mall the day Santa arrived to see him and the reigndeer. Luck had it that Tanner got a front row seat to see the arrival and Santa even stopped to say hi. Tanner was THRILLED for days!
Hattie, at age 2 1/2, is TERRIFIED of Santa. If she was in the room we didn't get to mention Santa. If we forgot or did anyways, she would start bawling and would say she didn't want Santa to come no matter how much candy or presents he would bring. I have to admit, sometimes we would mention Santa just to get a reaction out of her. The notion that you had to be good or Santa wouldn't come didn't really work with her this year, obviously:)
Peter, at 8 months, didn't know and didn't care.
Leaving the mall after the picture Tanner was so hyper and struck a pose with the biggest smile ever and said, "This is what I looked like on Santa." My mom asked Hattie what she looked like on Santa. She gave a really big smile that melted into a look of terror. It was so funny to watch as she remembered how she really felt.

Santa also came to our ward breakfast. Larry and I set our kids down at the table and went to practise a quick song with the choir. Santa came while we were coming down the hall, and along with ringing bells I could hear the sound of the scream of death. Some lady from the ward had to quickly gather Hattie up and bring her to us fast. Poor girl.

When Santa asked Tanner what he wanted for Christmas he said, "It's a secret. I can't tell. I'll write a letter."

Our tree - start to finish

Ya, here we are at the beginning of our annual Christmas tree hunt! Everyone warm and happy! We went up with my family the beginning of December to the mountains to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree. Of course we brought all the sleds and spent the entire day sledding and eating.

Problem with that is that it gets dark fast and then you are forced to find a tree in the dark. We opted in getting a tree right next to the road by our truck (thanks Bradyn & Nikki for leaving it for us)Cut it down, and haul it to the truck. Tanner and Hattie thought it was so neat that Larry cut it down and then they got to ride on it.This is the face of a successful Christmas tree hunt. Still warm, still happy, and full of cookies!

Now on to decorating the tree. I decided it was too ugly for upstairs, so we set it up in the basement, and we made our own decorations for it!

Peter, seems like he is always alone in his photos. Guess I'll work on that. Problem during the holiday was that he started moving. He started scooting around on his bum, which looks super funny, but it gets him where he wants to go. He destroyed the tree decorations, ate the candy canes and gingerbread men off the trees, and ripped wrapping paper and whatever else he could get his hands on. At least his scooting is slow.

A mess is in the eye of the beholder - possibly

Sometimes I look around my house and want to freak because it is always so messy. Seriously, I don't think it can stay clean for an hour.

This was just one of those days : dishes on the counter to return to my mom, unfilled ice trays, movies to return, thank you card to send, and library books to take back were just a few things this picture happened to capture. I remember looking around about to fall into my all-to-frequent dispair, when I started to laugh. There, hanging on the dishwasher and door, were two Buzz Lightyears. I remembered Hattie and Tanner running through on a breeze playing their usual make-believe games, and in their wake were two toys stratigically placed for future play.

I left things as they were and went to play with my kids knowing that it wasn't worth getting upset about a few things left out, and that maybe today, my time could be better spent playing than cleaning.

What fun is an orange if you can't play with the peels after. Tanner is "Wall-E" and Hattie is 'wearing my glasses'. Peter, well, he just thinks those two are always funny.

First Snowfalls of a New Winter

Ya, the first snow of the new season is often the most fun, and we sure got a lot of it this year. Tanner and Hattie would ask every day if they could go play in the snow. Most every day when Larry and I would go shovel the walks, Tanner would come outside to play and would always be sad when it was time to go in, even if we were out there playing for hours.
This particular day, Tanner was Superman all morning, so naturally he needed to wear his cape outside in the snow overtop of his coat.
He especially loves throwing snowballs. If I'm inside, I am expected to stay at the window and move mine and Peter's faces around until Tanner has thrown a snowball and covered every inch of the window, then he can move on to tunneling, snow angels, and superhero snow business.

Hattie is content to sit on a pile of snow and eat it while occasionally engaging in some game that Tanner makes look fun.

This day, Larry pulled the kids around the front yard for the longest time. They would go up the little hill, tip over, and laugh hysterically.