~My baby boy is 7~

Wow! I can't believe that Hunter is already 7. Time sure does go by fast. This year his birthday was on a Sunday, and being 2 days after Christmas, Dave and I went back and forth on if we would celebrate it on his birthday or the day after. We decided to do a little surprise for him, and do it on his birthday. He had no idea anything was going on. Dave and Mckell asked Hunter if he wanted to go downstairs and watch a movie. Hunter thought nothing of it, and followed them downstairs asking, "What movie are we going to watch?" When he got downstairs he saw his cake, presents, and balloons galore! We all yelled "Surprise" He was soo excited, and totally surprised. So Hunter had a GREAT birthday! And he still hasn't even had the extended family party, or his friends party. His favorite things that he got were the Night Raven GI Joe ship and Dave bought him a Call of Duty game for his DS (it is one for kids, not the one like Dave plays) Hunter loved it :)

We love having Hunter in our family. He is so much fun and is such a big helper. Some things that he has done over this past year are:
1- He has learned to ride a dirt bike, and loves taking day trips with his dad and friends to go ride.
2- He loves school. He is in the first grade and his favorite subject is Math and recess. He has gotten 100% on all of his spelling tests so far this year, and he is an excellent reader. It is fun to have him read stories to me and his sisters.
3- He has had a growth spurt these last few months, all of his pants are too short. So I had to buy him new pants that would be long enough, but around the waist they are way to big :) We almost have to double them up with a belt so they don't fall off. He is so tall. On his birthday he is 51 inches tall and weighs 53 lbs.
4- His favorite food is pizza.
5- His favorite movies are Terminator Salvation and GI Joe (maybe because we jsut got them for Christmas :)
6- He went on his first official hunting trips with his dad this year. They went bunny blasting and on a deer hunt.
7- He is getting way to brave in Grandmas swimming pool. He thinks that he can swim without floaties, which he can, but he tries to swim out in the deep which scares both me and grandma.
8- He has played many sports this past year. Soccer, Flag football, and Basketball. His favorite was basketball. Which I think made both of his grandpas happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER!!! We love you!!!!!!

~Merry Christmas~

Well Santa definetly didn't skimp at our house this year :) The kids got everything that they wanted. On Christmas Eve, Hunter kept telling us that he was going to wake up at 6:30. Well 6:30 came and went, at about 7:15 we heard Hunter yelling "A new DS! Wow! Lego Indiana Jones!" In our house it is a rule that the kids come to get Dave and me first before looking at any of their presents, so that the whole family could go in to see what Santa brought together. Well Hunter must have forgot, because Mckell was still down in bed and he was the only one looking to see what Santa had brought :) So I started yelling from our bedroom, "Hunter, don't look! Go get your sister!" So he ran down, woke her up, and we all met back up in the living room.

Hunter got just what he asked for. A new DSi, 2 DS games, a huge Lego Indiana Jones Lego set, some movies, GI Joe action figures, and Snow Clothes (boots, gloves, pants, coat)

Mckell got a Swan Princess Castle, a Barbie doll, makeup (lip gloss) 2 DS games, movies, a new DS charger, snow clothes (boots, gloves, coat, pants), and a princess motor bike (battery operated). She loved all of her presents but was most excited about giving Lexi the present she had wrapped for her ( 3 of my old dolls) That is what is in the pink bag, Mckell wanted Lexi to open it before Mckell really started looking through what Santa had brought for her. She is so sweet!!!

When Dave took Mckell outside to ride her new Princess motor bike, she insited that she needed to where a helmet. That's my Girl!

Lexi got a Leapfrog Learning table, a stroller, and a baby doll, and snow clothes (gloves, a hat, coat, and pants). She absolutely loved her baby doll and stroller, but I think she liked Mckell's princess motorbike more :)

Lexi cried whenever we tried to take her off. :)

Dave spoiled me, as always :) I got a new IPhone, good snow boots, clothes, and a framed family picture to go above the mantle. Dave got a range finder for hunting, a hair cutting kit, movies, clothes, and a computer game.

Both sets of grandparents came to visit in the morning to see what the kids had gotten. Grandma and Grandpa Ropelato brought their gifts to all of us for us to open.

For lunch we went to my mom and dads to exchange gifts and talk to my brother Christian who is on a mission.

I don't know what Dave's deal was, but everytime I took a picutre of him today, he would pull a funny face ??????

After visiting with my side of the family, we went up to Dave's mom and dad's to exchange gifts and have dinner.


I love Christmas, even though it is EXHAUSTING. I love getting together with family and visiting. I love the excitement with kids on Christmas morning. I love the decorations, movies, and music. And most of all I love the giving. This is the second year our family has adopted, for Christmas, a child at the child abuse prevention center. We have provided all of Christmas for that particular child. On Christmas morning, I couldn't help but think of the little girl we provided Christmas for this year. I hoped that she was having as great of Christmas as we were. I hope that we helped bring a little bit of happiness to her on Christmas morning. After all, she will not be celebrating with her family, she will not be waking up in her own home, and she will not be opening gifts with her brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, cousins, grandmas/grandpas. It makes me so grateful for the family that I have, for the home that we live in, and for love that we share. Merry Christmas!

~The Colors of Christmas~

Last night was Mckell's preschool's Christmas Program. They talked/sang about all the colors you see at Christmas time. We were sooo proud of her, she did such a cute job. She sang all of the songs great, and really got into the actions (which I loved). Her favorite song that they sang was "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". They all had red dot stickers on their noses for this song, sooo cute!

Mckell with her friend Lauren.

The program ended with Santa coming for a visit and cookies.

Mckell told Santa that she wanted a Barbie.

Hunter told Santa that he wanted Legos. I don't know what Hunter thought about this Santa. He was telling Hunter all kinds of stories about Dave playing soccer for Weber High (I think Santa must have played soccer with Dave a couple of times :) )

Lexi didn't want to sit of Santas lap, I think she was trying to be her own Santa.

Don't you love her Rice Krispie treat beard?

Mckell with her Grandma and Grandpa Wangsgard.

~Wangsgard Family Christmas Party~

So I love this time of year. I love the snow (when I'm not driving in it or shoveling it), I love the music, holiday movies, the decorations, and I love getting together with family. Last night we had the Wangsgard family Christmas party. The kids couldn't wait for the party all day long, because they knew they were going to get to open presents :) They loved what they got.

Hunter got Transformers

Mckell got Sleeping Beauty figures (her favorite Disney Princess)

And Lexi got a cute, fuzzy Elephant backpack. She is not really into the whole open presents thing yet. (which I'm kind of glad for, otherwise we wouldn't be able to have any presents under the tree :)

For the adults, we have been playing a gift exchange for years. Everyone brings a $20 gift, and after opening the gifts, we set a timer for 15 minutes and go around the circle shaking the dice. If you get 7, 11, or doubles then you get to trade gifts with someone. At the end of the 15 minutes whatever gift you have is the gift you go home with. It is a really fun game, and this year Mckell had to be right in the middle of it :) When the women were playing, she kept telling me what she wanted me to go after -makeup. Meckell loves makeup. She was very disappionted when we didn't end up with the makeup :) I guess santa will have to bring her some lipgloss of something.




The kids loved riding on the wiggle cars.

~Our Visit with Santa and His Reindeer~

Today the kids and I went up to the Weber State Bookstore's big Christmas celebration. It was a lot of fun. The kids each made an ornament, a reindeer cookie, played pin the nose on the reindeer, saw 2 of Santa's reindeer, and yes saw Santa.

The kids with the reindeer.

So after waiting in line for like an hour we finally got to sit on Santa'a lap (normally I wouldn't wait in a line that long to see Santa, but the kids insisted). Hunter was kinda bummed that he didn't get to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, we just got a picture with him. But I know it was because the line was soooo long, that they were trying to speed the whole process up (which I was so grateful for). I guess we'll have to visit Santa again at the mall to tell him what we want.

I totally wasn't planning on sitting on Santa's lap, but when I handed Lexi to him, she immediately started screaming. I don't think he was to thrilled with that, because he quickly handed her back to me and told me to hold her and and one of his helpers would take our picture. I kind of wanted to get a picture of just her with him, even if she was screaming. (Aren't I the meanest mom).