Christmas Morning

Organized chaos? HA!

The loot

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve this year we had a delicious Ham Dinner followed by some fun events. We acted out the nativity story, watched Claymation Christmas, played some games, had dessert, and opened 1 present. The kids set out cookies and milk for Santa, of course. We enjoyed a nice evening at home.

The girls received a new pair of pajamas, Jordan received PJ Bottoms (the shirt is old), and Mason received new slippers (which he LOVES).

December Updates

I haven't taken the time to blog the past few weeks, so I thought I would give you all an update.

1. If you haven't heard yet...we're having a boy! We can't wait. We're trying to pick out a name and hopefully we will have one chosen by April.

2. We had a good time at our Ward Christmas party. We ate food, saw Santa, sang karaoke (well Kaylee and Lexi did anyways), and went room to room while being told the story of Christ's birth. Mason was a little tired and ornery that night, but we still had a good time.

Mason isn't in the picture because he was terrified of Santa and refused to go near him. The ironic thing is that he talked about seeing Santa all day long and even told us he was going to ask him for a little computer for Christmas.

3. Recently, Mason has decided that he is done with naps. Some days he'll take them and some days he doesn't even seem remotely tired. Some days he'll just crash wherever he is, especially after an emotional 2 year old tantrum. Here are a couple of places I have found him: He fell asleep to the lull of the vacuum.

This second one is at the second to top stair. He threw a tantrum because we didn't go into the library to exchange his books (I used the drop box outside of the building). He was really tired that day. Obviously, for safety reasons, I had to move him.

4. Our ward family surprised us the other night with a gift on our doorstep. It was a gingerbread house kit. The younger three kids had a great time putting it together (Jordan was too busy doing something on the computer).

The kit only included the house itself. Luckily, I rummaged through the pantry and found frosting, pretzels, marshmallows, and chocolate chips to add. Mmmmmm... Thanks Peak View Ward!

5. Unfortunately, all 4 kids have been sick. It wouldn't be a Farr Family Christmas without someone sick. I think Jordan and Mason are the only ones who will have lingering symptoms for Christmas. Doug and I are crossing our fingers that we don't get sick ourselves.

6. It snowed and snowed today. We are all excited to have a white Christmas. :) I don't know if I'm just being lazy or if it's because I'm pregnant (we'll opt for that), but I didn't get Christmas Cards out this year. Happy Holidays to all and I have enjoyed reading the cards that we have received. If you want to know what we've been up to this year....just read our blog. :) Merry Christmas!

Child's joy

Last night we put up Christmas decorations and the kids were soooo excited. When I turned on the lights to the Christmas tree, Mason said, "Oh my gosh, beautiful". I've never heard him use the word beautiful before, so it was hilarious. This morning, this is how I found Mason....It is going to be such a fun Christmas this year!

Fun give-a-ways

My cousin Heather is completely awesome. She just published her first book and is an extremely motivating and inspiring person. This week she is giving a ton of fun things away. Check out this blog article to find out how to enter to win some really cool stuff.

Parade of Lights

Last night Greeley Central High School Marching Band marched in the parade of lights in downtown Greeley. We all bundled up and went to see this fun event. I have to say that parades in the dark with lots of lights to oooh and ahhh at are so much more fun than the traditional parade. I tried to get a picture of the band as they passed by, but we were really close to them and I forgot to switch my camera to motion mode. I did get a really cool picture though:

I promise....this is the band. Next weekend the band gets to go to Denver and march in the Parade of Lights there. This was a great practice run for this even bigger event. The kids had a great time listening to Christmas Music, seeing Santa and his reindeer, and even getting a little bit of candy.

Help

So after several weeks of scrutiny, I have decided to print the following pictures to hang on my wall.... What I can't decide is which of the following to print along with it:


So I am asking for your vote. Which one do you like best? The one in the tree, in front of the tree, or bird eye shot?

3rd Grade Thanksgiving Program

The third graders had a Thanksgiving Program that was so much fun to see. Mr. Beckman (the music teacher) did a wonderful job of putting this together. Kaylee did an excellent job at knowing all of the songs and her part in the program. I won't put all of the songs on, but I did choose a few that I thought were very entertaining.

Turkey Tango-Kaylee from Kristi Farr on Vimeo.

Bert the Turkey from Kristi Farr on Vimeo.

14 Years

Today Doug and I have been Married for 14 years. Happy Anniversary Doug. I love you!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Today we carved pumpkins and baked pumpkin seeds. The kids are out trick-or-treating and we have a scary movie to watch later. It is definitely a fun day for kids and parents alike. Here's the costumes my kids chose this year:

Jordan-Lego Block

Kaylee-Kitty Cat

Lexi-Pumpkin

Mason-Spongebob
It's been a crazy weather week. On Wednesday and Thursday it snowed all day dumping nearly a foot on us and cancelling school. Then, yesterday and today it's been really warm and most of the snow is melted. I'm glad it turned out warmer for trick-or treating. I hope all of you are enjoying your Halloween!

Fall pictures

Today we went to the park to try and capture some good photos of the kids. I downloaded all of the photos in the slide show...good or bad. Sorry if it is too long. I had a lot of fun taking the pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we let the kids go pick out their pumpkins at a pumpkin patch. They all had a great time. We'll decorate them when it gets closer to Halloween. So exciting!

First Snow

Last Saturday the kids woke up to snow. Living in the desert the past 5 1/2 years has only enhanced their excitement for the upcoming winter season. I, on the other hand, can certainly wait a little longer for winter. The snow has melted and it is feeling much more like fall. The weather is a perfect 70 degrees, the fall colors are beautiful, and the crisp air makes me happy.

Not again!

Okay...so here goes....

Doug and I are expecting our 5th child in April. Our first four were planned, this one is a little bit of a surprise. The emotions that I have felt the last few months have been so incredible. First, it didn't feel real. I thought, NO WAY. I had prayed about it earlier and felt like...yes, we are done. I didn't feel physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially ready to have another child. Slowly, over the past 3 months, I have been able to change those feelings to acceptance, peace and overwhelming joy. I love being a mom. I love watching my children learn and grow. I love the excitement of holidays that children express. I've just started my 2nd trimester and I know that once this new little spirit comes, I won't remember how our family was without him/her. At one time I even felt guilty for being pregnant. I know so many women who struggle with even getting pregnant. Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. He knew that there was just one more spirit waiting to come down.

When we told the kids, they were sooooo excited. They had me pull out their scrapbooks so they could see what they looked like as a newborn. They jumped online to look at the most popular baby names. (Which they are convinced we are having a boy named Tyler). I overheard the girls playing dolls and one of the dolls was a baby boy named Tyler. So cute.

Since we were "done", we gave away ALL of our baby clothes, furniture, maternity clothes, etc. So it'll be like starting all over again. Most of the stuff we had was from Jordan 10 years ago and is outdated anyways.

So, here is to another life changing experience!

Mommy Daughter Date

Last night Kaylee and I went on a Mommy/Daughter Date for Activity Days. Now that Kaylee is 8 she is able to enjoy some really fun activities with other girls in the ward. For our date we went to a silly dinner at the church. We had a 4 course dinner which was delicious. The "silly" part was that we didn't know what we were ordering for each course since all of the menu items were disguised. Lucky us.....for one course we ordered the spaghetti and dessert, but without any utensils. I think I managed eating it with my fingers without too much mess. Kaylee, on the other hand, just went at it!

Kaylee and her friend Eden

Livin' it up in their 60's

Okay...so I stole this off of my Mom and Dad's blog, but I just couldn't resist. Since my Mom and Dad both retired, they have been living it up in the mountains. They go camping every chance they get and have been especially enjoying their ATV. This makes me look forward to my retirement years. Love you both!

Parade

Last weekend we were able to watch Doug's band play in the Evans Day Parade. (Evans is a small town connected to Greeley) It was a fun parade. Short AND they threw candy. That's my kind of parade! The kids had a great time.

I recorded a little bit of them playing. They didn't start playing until after they passed us, so unfortunately, you'll see the back of them.

Greeley Central Marching Band and Colorguard from Kristi Farr on Vimeo.

Labor Day Camping

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping up Poudre River Canyon. They have free camping spots up by the Red Feather Lakes. We haven't been camping together as a family for several years and we had a great time! Surprisingly, it wasn't very busy. We found a spot away from the main road and couldn't see anyone. Awesome. There were several big rock mountains around that the kids had a great time climbing on. They pretended to be pirates. Take a look at this short video I took of them:

Camping with Pirates from Kristi Farr on Vimeo.

Windsor Lake

Last Friday we headed to Windsor Lake for a ward activity. The kids had a great time playing in the lake and the sand. This lake is only about 15 minutes from our house. We will probably head back there soon. We also noticed that we could fish, boat, BBQ, and play on the playground. We are having a great time exploring this new area we live in.

Tour of our home in CO

There are many who wanted to see what it looked like where I am living now. I did a camera recording for those who are interested.

Colorado Rental from Kristi Farr on Vimeo.

We are renting this home for now. We still need to sell our house in NV before we can buy another home. We really like it here so far.

First day of school!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Today was the first day of school. It starts really early here in Colorado. I did notice that they get out on May 20th though. Also...they have short days here. Every Monday they get out of school at 2 pm. The rest of the week it is 3:30 pm. I remember having short days when I was in Elementary School (Although our short days were on Friday, which (in my opinion) makes more sense). The kids were extremely excited to start school. They met their teachers on Tuesday during open house and brought all of their supplies to put in their desks. I can see the school from my backyard and the kids can walk every day. Here is a picture of them in their new "back to school" clothes.

Jordan-Fifth Grade

Kaylee-Third Grade

Lexi-First Grade