Santa Baby

We headed up north last weekend for grandma and grandpa Bowen's annual "Santa Party." Always the highlight of the Christmas season! This year did not disappoint. We started the afternoon off with my mom's amazing quiche, sourdough pancakes and hot chocolate bar. Followed by the traditional Christmas crackers. My mom read the kids Jolly Old Santa Clause. THE. BEST. CHRISTMAS. BOOK. EVER. It is from my mom's childhood and is no longer in print (don't be fooled by the modernized version). The pictures are the most amazing paintings. It is how I define how Christmas should be. I found me a copy on eBay a few years back and consider it my best Christmas decoration. After the story our old friend Santa payed us a visit passing out gifts and Christmas cheer. The kids were adorable. We ended the afternoon making gingerbread houses (foam ones from Oriental Trading). Take it from me...these were the way to go! My parents gave us our annual gift of cash in another amazingly creative way, but I am sworn to secrecy until my brother Nate opens his in Alaska. Oh how we MISSED our Alaska family. Move home!!! It was fun and amazing, take my word for it. It was such a lovely day, it was totally worth the trip up. Thank you mom and dad for such a wonderful day!

Coops and Santa

Court and Santa

Jack and Santa

Bo and Santa

Gwennie and Santa(She was not one bit afraid!)

This is where you will ALWAYS find Jane and Gwen. Grandpa is THE favorite. If he picks one up, the other cries, if he puts one of them down, they cry. They adore their papa.

Grandma reading the kids Jolly Old Santa Clause. They were spellbound.

The Christmas cracker loot! The gold crowns are always found in every cracker....added bonus.

The grandkids and their gingerbread houses.

Cooper was very proud of his creation!

Grandpa telling Santa all he wants for Christmas is to retire...oh wait that already happened. :)

Thanks to the most wonderful parents a girl could ask for. You are my strength and my pillars. I am dumbfounded at my luck in the parent department. Love you!

Don't Mock...Halloween Happenings

I know, I know, it's December. It's fine, don't worry about it. I have to catch up so I can post about the fun Christmas stuff going on around here. I love Halloween, but I am always glad to see it go.



Coop and Bowen both dressed up as old men this year. They both fit the part so naturally. They are both old souls. The walkers with tennis balls on the bottom were a crack up (the DI has loads of these for the small asking price of $8.00). Carter dropped Coop of at school in his costume. Cooper refused to get out of Carter's truck unless Carter came around and opened the door and helped him out since he was so old and infirm . Carter helped him out and said it took him seriously ten minutes to shuffle to the playground. When he stopped he would just sit there and shake. His teacher said he never left character the whole entire day. What a ham this kid is.

Court thinks she is too big to dress up (sad), Jackson threw together this pathetic outfit in hopes I would let him trick-or-treat. My family is growing up, I hate it.



We did the annual 400 homemade doughnuts in the garage this year.



They were very tasty.



We ran out in and hour and a half this year. I think word may have gotten out.


Gwennie was our little Alice in Wonderland.



Oh how I have been waiting for another girl to dress up for Halloween.



Cooper at his classroom party.



I helped out in Cooper's classroom this year. I wanted to do a treat that was not so sugary since they get so much junk. I saw this idea somewhere on the Internet and it was a hit.



I was not so health conscious for Bowen's class. We made owls out of doughnuts, another idea from the WWW.


The ritual apple juice with dry ice witches cauldron. The kids seriously never tire of this even though I do it every year.

I may or may not have dressed up as Dora this year. The pictures were WAY to ridiculous to post. I am slightly emabarassed that I wore the costume to our ward's Trunk Or Treat. Sometimes my better judgement fails me. Oh well. Goodby for another year Halloween!

Coop is 6

Holy cow, I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but I cannot keep up! My life is crazy right now and I am behind on just about everything. Including blogging. On October 26th Cooper turned six. One of his little friends has a birthday a couple of days before him, so his mom called and asked if I wanted to join forces and throw the boys a cowboy shindig. Since they live on a farm and she committed to do all the hard work, I quickly agreed! It was a fun party, with WAY to may six year olds! She had a bounce house all set up, they had their horses out for pony rids, the goats were there for petting, and the chickens were wandering around. Talk about the perfect setting. There were long tables with red checked table cloths and hay bails for benches. We did a pinata and ate tons of yummy food. I made little chocolate cowboy hats for the tops of the cupcakes and caramel apples for a take home gift. It was a fun day! Cooper was in seventh heaven! Thanks to the Hafen family for a wonderful day.


All Cooper wanted was a Nano for his birthday, so we combined all his gifts from everyone and that is what he got! He is a music lover. and boy can that boy dance.


When your birthday is so close to Halloween, you get spider balloons.



















And as for you Mr. Cooper, you are the sunshine in our family. you make us laugh everyday. You help me with chores all morning long before Kindergarten and never complain. You are my sidekick. Gwennie lights up when you come in the room, for that matter so does everyone else. The ladies in the neighborhood have a soft spot for you and those amazing blue eyes. You are one of my greatest accomplishments. I love you more than all the jelly beans!

Fall Rewind

Wow! Things have been crazy around here! I have had absolutely no extra time. I miss it. Although we have been extra busy, we have been having a lot of fun too. Here is a brief overview of last month.

We have been going to lots and lots of football games this year. Both Jackson and Bowen are playing. This is Jackson playing quarterback for the Desert Hills 7th grade team. He is calling the play, cutest thing ever.


Lined up and calling for the snap.


Cooper is playing soccer this year. He loves it.




Nearly scoring a goal. Maybe if the nets were a tidge bigger. Seriously.


This is Bowen's team...they were intense, having a poster to run through after EVERY half time.


Look at that tall kid. He played all kids of positions this year including quarterback.


I just had to throw this picture in. This is Bowen diligently practicing the piano. Court, Jack and Bowen are all playing still. I love a house full of music.


The kids are enjoying Gwennie more and more. She is growing up so fast and she is getting so fun. Laughing and playing with her brothers and sister. Coop gives her rides all around the house in the "Laundry Train."


Cute little legs are hardly strong enough to pull this little thing up, but they do and she is all over the place!



She only crawled for a couple of days before she learned to walk along the furniture.


She can barely see over her tray on the highchair, but she loves her food.


This is how we are greeted every morning and after every nap. So Cute.

Oh to be a muppet....

Found myself embarrassingly dancing all by myself in front of the computer, kids at school. IT ROCKS.

Awesomness!

Miss Plunkett is being featured on a craft blog today! Go HERE to check us out and sign up to win free "Plunketts". We are so thrilled with the amazing response we are having. We are growing faster than we could have imagined. Thank you to all my amazing friends and family members for helping us to spread the word. Oh and a little heads up. I've been cutting felt, and I LOVE IT!!!! Keep an eye on the store for our new line.

Welcome Reese

The latest addition to the Bowen Family. Reese Wood. My baby sister Ashley and her husband Kevin, had their first little girl on September 11th. She weighed 6lbs 5oz. Her brothers Garrett and Weston just love her and so do we! Welcome Reese.

Loving

BIG NEWS!!!

We are officially open! One of the most amazing women I know, Alisha Shaw, and I have been feverishly working on getting this fun business off the ground. We know you will love all the fun INTERCHANGEABLE pieces, that are perfect for any outfit. Our website is now up and running. Keep checking back often as we are going to be adding lots more fun items, including a felt line, new headbands, and other new and exciting products. Courtney, Gwen and I are loving trying out a new piece everyday, from the necklaces,rings, pins, and clips.

We are having a grand opening in St. George next week and you are all invited!! If you cant make i,t message me and I will send you a coupon code for 20% off your first order, But of course, we would rather have you there eating cupcakes and chatting with us! Either way be sure to check us out at our new website www.missplunkettboutique.com

Gwennie at Seven Months

Busy Busy

Holy cow, who's idea was it to have five kids? There are so many advantages to having a baby with teenagers, but so many disadvantages too. This little one lives in the car, which is not good because she hates the car. Oh well, she's worth it! By the way she is almost seven months, what??!! We are working on getting her pictures done.

We are just so busy around here, piano, homework, football, student council, Young Women/Young Men, wedding cupcakes, soccer, and canning, canning and more canning. etc. And I have a fun project in the works. I've partnered up with an amazing friend of mine and we are about to launch a little business that is already bigger than we expected! Stay tuned for all the details and some fun giveaways! Be patient with me as I try to find the time to juggle all there is to do, I am going to try to post more often, so stick with me.

Reasons for all the busyness:


Fun projects......

Canning.....

Scouting.......

Trips up north to see these cute cousins......

Football.......

Finding boys in places they shouldn't be......

Yes, even the big boys (Jackson).....

They just love their Gwennie.....

Swimming.......

The girls.....

I am FORCED to "supervise" the swimming.......

Swimming with our cousins.......

Homework, most especially chemistry.....YUCK!

Loving on our baby sister...

Six months already........

Thats it in a nutshell, our crazy, busy, wonderful life!