Presents for Tian

12.24.08
For being Tian's 1st Christmas, he sure knew how to dig into his presents! My parents spoiled him with the best presents Tian could have possibly gotten: a huge supply of diapers and formula! Also, being the sun-consious mom that I am, Tian received some sunglasses for our endless trips to Roaring Springs!

Tradition: Christmas Eve PJ's

This seems to be a tradition of every home! Tian's Christmas PJ's were so special and the definition of Tradition! They were worn by his two cousins Cyrus and Canyon, and then by Trey! I loved them and thought he looked so cute in them!
Our Christmas Eve!

(Tian looks a bit nervous being held by Trey! It doesn't happen very often (not for the lack of trying! Trey is such a busy kid, he doesn't sit for very long periods of time) and I think Tian could tell Trey wasn't used to holding him.)




Tian's 1st Christmas!

Tradition: Reindeer Food

12.23.08
A friend of my mom's had wrote in her Christmas Newsletter MANY years ago about a reindeer food tradition their family had, which always stuck in my head. I had reminded my mom of this tradition so she called her friend and asked her for the specifics. Because my parents raise cattle, they had some crushed corn which we thought would be perfect to feed Rudolph. We added some magical sparkles into the corn so the reindeer could see their food from the sky (red and green colored sugar sprinkles!) and would know where to land!

My mom sat Trey onto her kitchen counter, told him a story about Santa's reindeer and how they love to eat corn. She made up a little recipe (Trey knows we need recipes to make dinners, cookies, etc.) and read it to him. His job was to add the sprinkles and shake the food up.







After shaking up the ingredients, my mom and Trey went outside and found the perfect place to sprinkle the reindeer food(the place was chosen by Trey of course.). Trey began to sprinkle the food, and then turned to my mom and asked, "Grandma, can I just dump it?!" He dumped it with excitement!









Thanks mom for your research AND resources! Trey still talks about the reindeer food!

Tradition: Candy Cane Cookies

12.23.08
This tradition began with Justin's family. Justin's mom would make chocolate chip cookies and add crushed candy canes into the dough. Justin enjoys these special cookies at this time of year, so I decided to put my own twist to the recipe (white chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate!) and we put these cookies on our Santa Plate we painted. Trey, aka: Richard Ray" of course LOVED making the cookies; especially crushing the candy!

"PEACE" on Earth!

***Don't ask my why Trey flashed a "peace" sign when I took this picture. He is getting to be quite the silly man!***

Grandma's Bed

Justin and I slept so well while we were in Bend. We are usually woken by Trey (yes, he is 3 and a half and STILL does not sleep through the night!) once or twice a night, but while in Bend, he figured out where Grandma and Grandpa's room was and would climb into bed with them. The first morning we woke up at 8:30 and realized we had slept in and weren't bothered by Trey at all! One morning, Derek AND Trey joined my parents. Thankfully, their bed is large enough to hold 4 people comfortably!

Thank you Mom and Dad for letting Trey climb in with you and letting us sleep soundly!

Taylor's Double Decker Bike

Ever since Taylor was young, he was always trying new tricks. First it was scooters, second, long boards. Now, it is a double decker bike he designed and now rides everywhere. The other night, he rode his new set of wheels around the Old Mill District in Bend where he said he drew quite the crowd. He says, "Chicks dig the bike!"

This video was taken over Christmas vacation in my parents Sportscourt!

"Mr. Mouthy"

During our Christmas Vacation, Abbey and I decided to nickname Tian, "Mr. Mouthy!" It all started when I found a cute little toy at Old Navy that looked like an Ugly Doll, but with cuter fabric and a HUGE toothy grin. On the back of the toy, it had printed the words, "Mr. Mouthy." That evening, Abbey showered Tian with two cute outfits, one of which was a t-shirt with the SAME little toothy grinned guy and underneath the man, it read, "Mr. Mouthy." Great minds think alike.

These pictures are the complete definition of "Mr. Mouthy." Hands always in the mouth, drool soaking his cute red coat from Grandma Bend.

I just pray, by senior picture day, those hands will be out of his mouth!

Game Night with the Clawsons

12.21.08
Our 2nd Annual Clawson/Sauter/Bledsoe Family Game Night and Chilli feed! The night began with sledding, and ended with a chilli dinner, compliments of my dad, and the game of PIT! The kids ate pizza, read stories (Trey LOVED reading stories with Hannah! I think he might have a crush Alisha!) and a movie that completely enthrawled Trey! At one point, he had the most concerned look upon his face! Thanks Clawson's for a fun night!

Trey and Justin Sledding

Trey and Justin took full advantage of my parents 4-wheeler, the snow, and the land at my parent's home. We bundled Trey up like the little brother off "The Christmas Story" so he wouldn't mind the cold!

Christmas Dinner

12.21.08
So sad, this is the only picture I took of "Christmas Dinner." Robert wearing a shirt I bought him several Christmas' ago when we were all obsessed with Napoleon Dynamite