Caroling - Fa la la la la

Some people take sleigh rides during Christmas, but when you live in the desert you take hay rides! A family in our Ward invited us out to their home for a caroling/hay ride/taco soup/white elephant/extremely fun Christmas Party! They live over an hour away from El Paso, so it was fun to spend time in a small town for the evening. Here are some photos that captured the night for us.

Chilly 50 degree weather = a few snotty noses!

Hot Coco to warm us after the “truck-driven” hay ride

Poor little Ash sacked out after the caroling.

White Elephant exchange

John testing out his new spectacles he received

(I love how Paul is advertising his Toss up game in the background)

Noah and Ashley in the girls room helping to make a huge mess!

OK OK I know the last picture is totally mean (poor John, I am always picking on him), but how could I pass that one up!!!

Like father, like daughter

Merry Christmas Gilmore’s and thanks for

such an exciting, fun filled night.

Where a Kid can be a Kid

John went on his very first Business trip!!!!! We missed him tons while he was gone and to commemorate his return home we went to Chuck E. Cheese's!!!! Woo-hoo. Here are the classic pencil sketch booth pictures that we couldn't leave without!

Welcome Home Johnny Boy

Chaffin Merriment Moments

Christmas really is such a fun time of year. We have been watching Mr. Krueger’s Christmas non-stop, the radio is always blasting tacky holiday jingles all day, and the To Do List is filled with fun things like make cookies and wrap gifts.

The kids loved pulling all the decorations out of the attic. Here is a picture of Ash sneakin’ into the Christmas stuff.Mr. Luke, doesn’t he look refine with a stache, haha. Found this mustache in the attic left over from their Cowboy B-Day party.At school Luke had Polar Express Day, they got to wear PJs to school, and I just had to get him a robe to wear just like the boy in the story. In all the excitement, we forgot his backpack and I had to book it back to the house to get it for him before the bus left. oopppsThis year’s tree is by far my favorite (although, John tells me I say that every year). I get to redecorate the tree every night, thanks to Ashley and Noah’s helpful dedecorating all day.Noah’s can of soup tower! He is so talented. haha I think they should make it into an Olympic event.Ashley is always dressed to perfection thanks to Andrea and Trina. I mean seriously, look at how cute this Christmas dress is. It has a fur collar!

Free food, Friends, and a Fatty Man in Red

We had our Ward Party tonight and the kids had a lot of fun running around the gym, all crazy like! Here are some snapshots to commemorate the beginning of the Chaffin Christmas season.

Our entertainment for the evening!

Ashley and The Roll, she sat with this roll in her hand all night, and would intermittently nibble on it.

Luke watching a skit on the true meaning of Christmas. (So weird to have a kid old enough to sit still and listen.)

All the children got their own Jingle Bell to rattle while they sang Christmas Songs.

The Big arrival of Mr. C

Shy Luke (whenever he feels panicked, he puts his hands up to his face.)

Noah, took the candy and ran. (he watched Christmas Story, and now he doesn’t think that much of Santa, “You’ll Shoot your eye out kid”)

Digging into their Candy Bags, Luke had four dum-dums demolished in about 5.2 seconds.

Ashley was ready for bed.

But being the mean mother that I am, I had to get a picture of her crying on Santa’s lap before we left. (take note of the roll remnants in her hand)

John wanted some candy of his own, and we all know there is only one way to get candy from Santa Claus.

Under the weather, Vacationless Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving did not go as planned. We were originally planning our holiday break with a visit to Arizona for some Ikea shopping, Twilight watching, Birthday bashing, and Giants cheering. But the day we were supposed to leave, Noah and Luke decided the stomach flu would be more entertaining than a vacation. So we decided to wait it out, and hoped that it would just be a 24 hour bug. So when they were feeling better we were packed and planning to leave the next morning, until 4 am rolled around and I joined the sick, with a date around the toilet. So my poor little Johnny called for reinforcement from my mom and the two of them took care of the kids, while Noah and I lied lifeless in bed all day. To make a long story short, John and my mom were able to finally make it to AZ just in time for Katelyn’s Birthday party. And then John and my brother were able to go to see THE GIANTS play the Cardinals. He has been looking forward to this game all year. He had great seats, with a good size crowd of NY fans around him. He had such a fun time, that he is planning another game for next season.
"GO GIANTS"

There sure are a lot of New York fans in Arizona I was able to heal just in time for my birthday.But Noah didn’t really regain his 2 year old peppy personality, and on Thanksgiving morning we were just about out the door, with green bean casseroles in hand, when he decided to get sick all over again. So my glorious mom came to the rescue again. She came over to watch Noah, so I could go to Thanksgiving dinner and visit with my cousins.Dinner and all the decorations were beautiful, but some how I only managed two pictures.The rest of the weekend went better, with far less puke. Andrea brought her big jumping balloon, which kept the kids entertained all weekend. And I was finally able to meet Todd’s girlfriend. (She gave me an awesome haircut, thanks Kat) And my lovely brother Eric fixed my computer so that it now functions at a faster speed and blogging won’t be such a pain.

It was a whirlwind of a holiday. I just hope this Christmas season is in good health and unhurried, because Thanksgiving came and went way too fast!