MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

A few pictures of the kids in their Christmas-y clothes, actually looking like they like each other!!

We are so thankful for this season and the meaning it brings to our lives. We know that this holiday is really about our Savior and his love for us. We feel particularly blessed this weekend to be safe and healthy. On Saturday we were all in a car accident with 7 other cars! It was an icy day and the hill was just too much for the van. Thankfully no one was hurt and thankfully we have good insurance. Oddly enough, there was a news guy a the bottom of the hill filming the whole thing! Watch this crazy video and pay close attention to 1:02 minutes in (that's the car coming down the hill that will hit us) and at 1:14 minutes in, you can see Kelly (in the red coat) jumping out of the way!!
This is the video of our car crash...

Laynie is 5!!!

I always hear my mom's voice in my head when I found out Laynie's due date (my mom's b-day is the 18th of Dec...) She made me promise to make Laynie's birthdays special and not just lump them in with Christmas (childhood experience on her part perhaps?) Anyway, we have tried to make Laynie's birthdays just as fun and special and everyone's of course! So here is her requested Hello Kitty cake, frosted at 6:30am! Maybe I should always wake up early!!

We made necklaces at her party, so here's the girls (and Quinn the little brother) showing off their new jewelry. The idea of making necklaces sounded so fun when I thought of it...after the 500th bead fell to the floor, I was wondering what I was thinking!

Laynie also requested a pinata, and lucky me...I found a butterfly pinata at Goodwill like 2 months ago!- for $.99!! So, here's the party, moved down to the scary basement, pounding the butterfly hoping for treats...

Especially my little Hailey LOVES treats. She also loves the Halloween socks she is wearing in this picture. But I'm not complaining- at least she has clothes on! Lately I will dress her, and she will undress herself to put on one of three "outfits": Laynie's strawberry shortcake swimsuit, the dress-up lady-bug costume, or her "Zoey" leotard...she even slept in the swimsuit last week.

WOO HOO! A whole set of nail polish!!! (it's okay actually, our carpets are already beyond repair.)

You wouldn't know it by her face, but she loved her cake-

Cake and ice cream = life is good!! We love you Laynie!! We can't believe you're already 5!! Happy Birthday!!

Where did November go?

My own mother has called me to repentance for not updating my blog sooner, and it's true, it's been too long...To think that December is here already is Crazy! but exciting! We are LOVING the Christmas Spirit everywhere!!!

To back-track a little, Thanksgiving was wonderful! We gathered the WHOLE Ditto clan into Grannie's house for fun, games, incredible food, and Memories!!! This family shot is pretty amazing considering the fact that the photographer is also IN the picture (thanks Birch!!) There are 22 grandkids now! (the OTHER reason for the amazing-ness of this picture...no one is sobbing, fighting, or running away! YEAH!)

Thanksgiving day it snowed all day! It was a wonderful holiday feeling to watch the snow fall... from inside :) and it just kept right on snowing! We broke the record in Spokane for the snowiest November!! and the kids are LOVING it!! We made this snowman together, and then Addison built one of his own- he was very proud.

Snow Angels...actually they were being angels that day, playing so well together- it's when we stay cooped up in the house a little too long that the angelic behaviors seem to dwindle a little...

Does this girl look happy or what?!!?

And on Friday we picked out our lucky tree! We had grand plans this year of driving into the mountains with our cheap permit and cutting a tree ourselves! but...the snow put a damper on those plans, so this tree came from a nice little parking-lot sale, and it looks perfect in our living room!

Merry Christmas!! We are loving this season!!