happy new year! 2010

Derek's birthday cupcakes! I thought they turned out fun.

Karson is the funniest kid ever! The Jex's came over for a bit and he decided to sing michael jackson and jonny cash for them. Brady paid him a dollar and somehow he kept getting more and more. He thought it was pretty cool. We were laughing so hard at him! Quite the entertainer!

Happy New Years! We had such a fun and relaxing new years. Shel and Joel hosted us, even though Joel was in bed at 9! It was so fun though. He didn't get much sleep cause everyone kept going in there waking him up thinking it was funny. It kinda was too. We headed over there and played the wii all night and over ate on lots of good food! I want to make every year super fun for Derek cause he was born at 12:33 so I made him some cupcakes and we sang to him. It was cute, when it hit midnight the neighbors started fireworks and everyone was yelling happy new year and all the cousins starting saying happy birthday Derek. It was cute. We just hung out with my side and a couple cousins. We missed grandpa and grandma though this year! It was a fun new years!

camping in december

So I had been promising my sisters kids they could sleep over forever now and I owe her bad cause she is always taking mine overnight when we go places. I didn't really have much planned but it all fell into place when they came. Mylee follows the 2 older ones everywhere so I wasn't too worried. We decided to pull out my smore maker and make smores then Layne decided to pitch my tent he gave me for christmas! Yes he gave me a tent and that is a huge deal in our house! He is not a true camping type and I have begged him for 9yrs now! I finally got one! Anyways, our night was fun. They played dressups all night and got a sugar high from all the smores! It was so fun and I want to do another one soon!

you'll shoot your eye out

we decided that we were pretty bored and wanted to go shooting. joel and layne were going to go with my brothers but it didn't work out so they took us instead. i love to go shoot with layne. we have so much fun. it was pretty cold though. derek fell asleep on the way up so that was perfect and mylee adores shelleys girls so they sat in their car and played beauty shop the whole time. it was so fun to go and do something different. our men kept watching to make sure we were watching them from the car. shel and i were laughing. joel was teaching his two little girls how to shoot a bb gun. they loved it. mal didn't get back in the car hardly at all. i love being with layne. i'm glad he'll take me to go and do things like that and we just let the kids entertain each other in the cars. after there was a train when we were on our way home so layne ran up to joel's car and got us some hot chocolate. it was delicious! so fun!

christmas day 09

This was probably her favorite gift ever! My parents got My a mermaid toy that goes in the tub. When we got home for the night around 7, she jumped in the tub with it and played for over an hour. Filled the hot water twice. She begged to get in!

Derek with his tonka trucks.

Every year my parents give the kids pj's. every year they get their picture taken too. this year they got them on christmas day and once they opened them they all took off running to change into them. they love this tradition.

Derek got this hat and my little brother bryce put it on him and he hated it!

All the kids waiting for their gifts.

Mylee got a coloring book and these little markers. she was so excited for them.

The older kids have been begging my mom to make them a little house on the prairie hat. My didn't quite know what to think of it but they all loved them. My mom always put so much time into making them things.

My loves her cousins! They got makeup and she was getting all dazzled up by Kait and Kar. We had a fun time at my parents house Christmas day. We had lots to eat and hung out and visited. All the older boys got remote control helicopters and they flew them all day. They were like little kids with these! I'm so grateful I have family close. All of us are right by each other, on Laynes side and mine and I can say they are some of my best friends. I love doing things with them and know they would do anything for me. Our parents are so good to us and do so much for us too. So grateful for them all.

santa came!

when we finally decided to go wake our girl up around 9:30 to tell her santa came this is how we found her. she decided she wanted to sleep on the floor instead of her nice comfy bed. of course she couldn't leave her eyeor out either. she had him snuggled up right next to her. derek had woken up alittle earlier so we decided to let her sleep until she woke up. she is too grumpy if you wake her up not on her terms! we reminded her that santa maybe came and she was so excited. derek was crawling down the hall and she was waiting for him until he kept going the other way. she decided she didn't care to wait. she was so excited when she saw all their presents. derek ended up liking his tonka truck santa brought for him. to be honest though, he would have been completely happy with the 2 smarties suckers and the orange he thought was a ball. he kinda didn't really care about much more. mylee was supper fun this year! she loved every present. she wanted to open all of dereks too. when she was opening her petshops, she saw what it was then went hog wild on it. layne and i were laughing so hard! santa brought her a big horse and she loves it! she is so into horses right now. also she got some dress ups in a chest and she told us santa brought her a big treasure. holidays are so much more fun with kids! derek got lots of cars stuff from the disney movie. he loves all the little cars. he got a woodie from toy story and when he opened it mylee said derek has a great big woodie! layne and i were laughing so hard. i know, i know, we need to grow up but who cares. it was perfect timing too cause right before they finished opening all their gifts my mom, dad, layne and bryce came by to see them. it was way fun having them here while they opened some. after gifts i made german pancakes and instead of cooking them in a casserole dish you put them in big muffin tins. then when they are done you put fresh fruit and syrup on them. they will be our new tradition. it was so good. santa was good to the kids this year and it was so fun watching them enjoy it.

christmas eve 09

this year we went to Laynes side to have Christmas eve. it was a fun evening. his mom wanted all the kids in the nativity outfits and to get a picture. it was freezing but they did pretty well and it turned out cute. we had tons of good food and opened gifts. ken read the story of the saviors birth. it was really fun to be together as a family. before we went up i had mylee and derek open their pajamas and then we went and fed the reindeer so santa's sled could come to our house. mylee had alot of fun doing that. the kids fell asleep on the way home and layne and i just hung out. it was a fun night.

Banks party!

I was cracking up when I came out and saw Kels lifting up My for a drink. She's close to her size.

Another family Christmas party! It was so fun to get together again. I swear we are always doing something. I love how close our families all are. Santa came and Mylee loved him. I thought she would be scared and she ran right up and got on his lap without us. I was shocked! Derek was analizing him pretty good. He didn't cry though. It was another fun party with the crazy Banks family!

Happy birthday to mymy

I decided to have a little playdate party with her cousins. She loved it! She has been so excited for her birthday and couldn't wait so I thought I would make it kinda fun for her. Nothing too exciting but she had fun. They played and made a mess with the cupcakes!

I seriously can't believe my baby girl is three and headed to sunbeams! It is so crazy and I'm so sad she is getting so big! It goes way too fast! We had a little party for her on her actual birthday with the grandparents. I made peach cobbler and we just hung out and opened gifts. She loved the attention! Earlier in the week I asked Josee if she wanted to go to the movie with us and go see Princess and the frog. They loved it. Braylee was cracking me up the things she would say about her prince! Then we had her little cousins party. I wasn't gonna do it this year but she was so excited. We decorated the house the night before and she LOVED the balloons her dad put everywhere! They were all down the hall and in the family room and she thought it was pretty cool. She kept telling us to sing to her under the ABC's. (happy birthday sign) She wanted a elephant cake so we made that. It was such a fun year. We gave her a couple things for her doll house and Cinderellas dress up. She loved it!