Tam Tam

Sunday night Tami came for dinner and to exchange gifts. It had been awhile since we had seen her so the kids were SUPER excited. They love to visit with Tami.

Landon loved his puppy (of course), he was pretty excited to open it. Now that he gets the concet he is trying to open everything that he can get his hands on.

So went it was time for Hannah to go to bed she had a pretty big meltdown. She kept crying saying that she loved Tami and she wanted to be with her. It was pretty heart breaking. She ended up flying down the stairs and into Tams arms for another snuggle! They love each other!

Fa La La La La La La La La

Monday night for family night we went Christmas Carolling. We met up with the Payne family and the Garietys, had a little pizza and then hit the streets. We had a lot of fun although we butchered Silent night and Away in a Manger. Pretty bad. It started to rain which actually made it much more fun. What a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.


The Payne and U wood kidos.

The kids like to get rides from Mike AKA Uncle Monkey.

The big guys!

The Garietys, they were fabulous singers! Straight out of the choir.

The whloe bunch!

Thanks guys for such an awesome evening, we had SO much fun. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Santa

Yesterday was the daycare pajama Christmas party at Michele's. Santa came and read them a story and all the kids got to sit on his lap. When the kids told Santa what they wanted for Christmas his response was "You got it"! Later Santa apologized to me and said maybe that wasn't the best reponse.

Landon was more than happy to sit on Santa's lap since he was giving out candy. He even went back a second time for more.

Grace was telling Santa how big she is.

We love Michele. The kids adore her and feel right at home with her. She takes such good care of them...... I seriously don't think I could work without her.

Landon's new moves

This is Landon's new trick that he thinks is the best thing ever, at this point it seems more dangerous to actually have the gate up. Why bother?!?! He loves to climb anything that he can, he is such a busy boy. Oddly enough he hasn't gotten hurt too bad yet. In fact it was Grace last week that was leaning up against the gate at the top of the stairs when the gate losened and fell. She fell down the entire flight of stairs, sliding on the gate (thank goodness!), and then somersalted off. She satrted crying hysterically and then burst out laughing because she did a flip. Thankfully she wasn't hurt! Our next home will not have stairs!!!

Christmas Tree Lane

On Saturday night we went to Christmas Tree Lane with our friends the Coronas. I think they might have been scared by how crazy the U woods are....they only have two calm children as opposed to our wild three. We had fun, as soon as we got there Grace immediately started crying that she had to go to the bathroom. I didn't remind her to go before we left, I figured since she had just peed all over self that she got it all out....apparently not! So Scott being the great dad that he is asked some people who were hanging outside their house if she could use the bathroom. At first they were pretty put off....they thought HE had to go, but when they realized it was her they let them in. Oh the joys of children!

Doesn't Landon look like little randy from the Christmas story....can't put his arms down.

Mercedes, Paul and Mateo....llittle Elia didn't make the cut in from where she sat in her stroller.

Hannah and Landon had fun dancing at one of the houses that was playing music while the lights flashed in sync. They had a great time. Santa was even there, we skipped the line since we had just seen him the night before. Hannah stared for awhile and then asked why all the Santa's look different and which one is real?!?!?!? What do YOU think we should tell her?

Ward Christmas Party

Last Friday nightwe had our ward christmas party. We took our friends the Davidsons with us. The kids had fun seeing Santa and looking for their Gingerbread houses that they made at their primary activity.

Hannah's gingerbread house....we won't talk aboutthe unfortunate incidnet that took place with the gingerbread house sliding off my lap on the way, the good news is the dog we almost hit is okay!

Ryan was a little reserved with Santa.

This was Grace's first year that she would sit on Santa's lap! What a big girl she is.

Landon, not really a fan of Santa, in fact he ran from him when he walked to Landon. He does however love to look at pictures of him!

Hannah was so excited to see Santa, she talked his ear off! She forget to tell him what she wanted for Christmas, instead told him how impressed she was with how far he was going to travel in one night.

Jessica was also a big fan of the Big Guy.

I love my friend Lisa!

Parade

Last weekend we went to the parade downtown with our friends the Davidsons. It was pretty fun as well as flippin cold!! The kids had a great time watching and keeping their eyes open for Santa.

So this is the mess that Landon got himself into...couldn't just WATCH the parade like all the other kids! You can't really tell from the pic but the gutter was pretty wet and had a sewer like smell.

This is where they ended up....back on the grass eating, and yup that's right Lando is sporting a hot pink hat.....it was that or freeze.

Me and the Big Guy.

Lisa and her hubby Ryan.

The whole gang....started as two friends and grew to 10! It's a little crazy when we get everyone together but so much fun!

Our dancing elves

Merry Christmas!

We elved our kids from http://jibjab.com/. Click on th link to go elf yourself.

snowflakes

We got this great idea for snow flakes off of Misty's Blog. The kids loved it. It made me realized that Grace has not had much "glue" time, she really didn't know what to do. When I told her to make glue dots and put the buttons on them she put glue all over the newspaper and put the bottons on there. When I told her that the idea was actually to put them on the sticks she started gluing them one on top of another. Alrighty....so we need to use the glue more and work on specific directions! They had a lot of fun and just when we were finishing up Lisa came by and Jessica got to make one too. We are going to hang the snowflakes in the window with fishing line....it's on the husbands "to do list" today. Fun times, we LOVE this season.

The blue and purple one is mine. The kids weren't that happy that I got to use the "special" sticks....hey it's one of the mom perks!

Fetch

I wasn't kidding before when I said that sometimes we think Landon really believes he is a puppy...just see for yourself. He's a much better trained dog than child! Either way he's pretty cute!

behavior management

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas can really amp up the kids. Holiday Ritalin could be the cure except it is difficult to persuade doctors to write a prescription. These three elves are our behavior monitors for the holidays. They arrive after Thanksgiving and leave with Santa on Christmas eve. It is an Underwood family tradition that began with my father. They are at the house to make sure the kids are listening and report to Santa often. When the kids are bad the elves go into their rooms until they act better. Nothing says Christmas like a crying child trying to strike a deal with a piece of painted porcelain. One rule we have is that the elves will go back to the North Pole if the they are touched. Each kid has their own elf watching them.

If you decide to purchase your own elves do not let Kim (AKA the elf slayer) touch it, for she is responsible for the death of two of them. Slayer's last victim is the middle elf, notice his missing right hand.

Tahoe

The day after Thanksgiving we packed up the car and headed to Tahoe for the weekend. Along the way we picked up Jeremy ini Stockton. At first we were so sad to get up there and see NO snow....not even a little, but it actually worked out because the kids could play outside which they loved. We had so much fun visiting with the Granties (Great Aunties)....we can't wait to go back next month to play in the snow.

The kids love going down to the village to get their hot chocolate.

How cute is this little man?

Scott and Jeremy help the Granties put up their Christmas lights...this was no small task.

Everyone loves their morning snuggle.

Jeremy and Scott took the girl on a hike while I stayed back with Landon. I'm not sure who was more tired at the end....the girls or the guys that had to carry them back up the hill.

The view from the top....facing the Nevada side. See what I mean about NO snow?!?!

What great hikers.....

We love you guys!! Thanks for the great weekend.