Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas to you all! Here are some shots of us opening gifts this morning. The kids were so excited to see all the gifts waiting for them and dove right in. You will see that my eyes are closed in one of the pictures. Was I awake today or what? Hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve

I have such a greater appreciation for parents now that I am one and have passed through several sleepless Christmas Eves. Last night I stayed up until 2am wrapping gifts and doing some last minute things to make Christmas a memorable experience. Despite being sleep deprived, we all had a wonderful time. We had Cedric's family visiting from NY. On Christmas Eve, we had close family over, including my brother and his wife and daughter. We have started a familiy tradition of reinacting the story of the birth of Christ. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed one another's company. Some of our costumes were makeshift (especially G's), but that added to the amusement of it all. After dinner, we all get dressed in our p.j.'s and head out to see Christmas lights. Every year, we pray that Daddy doesn't get pulled over and frisked because he always wears his embarrassing (and tight) bright red "sugar daddy" pajamas. Wish I had a pic to show. Well, Merry Christmas, everyone! So grateful for our Savior and this time to celebrate his birth!

Breakfast with Santa

The kids got all dressed up to see the big man, Santa. They were so excited to tell him what they wanted. When we got there, T was all over that. She, of course, wanted to tell him that she wanted a big pink diamond ring that sparkled (feel sorry for the guy who's going to have to keep up with this high maitenance girl)! She went right up to Santa and verbally ran off her list from memory. G was a different story. He wanted Transformers and was too shy to tell Santa, so tried to get me to do it. Santa finally said he had to hear it straight from him, so he whispered it in his ear. M wouldn't touch Santa with a 10 ft. pole! Here are some pics of our fun time!

December...Busiest Month of the Year!

I had no idea I would fall this far behind in posting. Tis the season for giving, which means shopping, shopping, shopping! Which means no time for anything! Now I am going to give you Moran overload. Here are some pictures of the kids goofing off. T and M love to play hide and seek in the cabinets. The others are just of the kids striking a pose around the house. I think I'm just adding anything to make up for the time I didn't post anything...here ya go!

First Snow!

I have never seen the kids more excited than today. As soon as they woke up, they looked outside and it was a winter wonderland. To Gavin's disappointment, school was still up and running, so he had to go. He made up for all the lost time when he got home though! The kids played for probably 2 hours with their friends in the freezing weather. We have a huge hill in our backyard that is perfect for sledding. They probably would have stayed out there forever, if it hadn't been for the fact that their fingers and toes were going numb! Here are some pics of my little snow angels. Gotta love the before and after of G on the sled.

Festival of Lights

We took the kids to the annual Festival of Lights held at the DC temple. It is a wonderful event each year where they top the night off by illuminating the hundreds of thousands of lights around the temple grounds. It is a beautiful site. We were honored to be in the presence of Elders Oaks and Packer. It was a great experience to hear them speak first hand. The kids loved walking the temple grounds.

Thankful for...

I love Thanksgiving because it gives us a time to reflect on all the wonderful blessings we have in our lives. I have been so richly blessed with an awesome family and wonderful friends. Here are some pics of our Thanksgiving. G had a school play. As you can see from the look on his face, he was sooo excited to be there. There's a pic of just the kids on Thanksgiving Day. The weather was absolutely beautiful here (70's) so we took the kids to the National Zoo in DC. There's a shot of me and my guy (with no stinky animals). The elephant house was the worst...G almost lost his lunch there and we had to bolt it out of there! Anyways, I digress...hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Teacher's Pet

G got an award for the best citizen in his class for this quarter. Each class had one student voted to receive the award per class. They held a breakfast honoring the students and we were able to go and surprise G. He was so excited! Just wanted to send a shot out to G. We tease him and call him the teacher's pet. Hey, being teacher's pet's not so bad, you get free donuts and juice!

Tagged

My old BYU freshman roomie Nancy tagged me. I am certain she did this because she knows that I am probably the least likely to do this...so here's to you, Nancy! I have to tell you 7 things about myself...

1. I am a homebody. Yes, that's right...I'd much rather hang out at home than go out. If you gave me a choice between going for a night out on the town or just hanging out at home, probably 9 out of the 10 times, I'd choose staying home. I don't think there's anything more fun and relaxing than getting in our jammies and popping in a movie or playing a game with the family. This is my most favorite past time. I absolutely love just hanging out at home with the kids and hubby. So call me a homebody 'cause that's what I am!!
2. I am a bargain shopping freak! Yes, I absolutely love yard sales and craigslist, I know, unpaid advertisement, but it is my obsessive passion. I love finding things for cheap (in good and new shape, of course) for a fraction of the cost. I am the geek that maps out all the places to hit Saturday morning and highlights which ones have the good stuff. The kids love coming along for the ride too!
3. Confession: I love Sudoku. I'm not one to do a puzzle all day long, but I love to pull out a puzzle after the kids are in bed. I feel at least I'm challenging by brain, since I am not in school anymore. It's a calming effect for me. I remember waiting in the parking lot of the hospital on the day I was scheduled for a c-section with Maddy. I was nervous as heck, and the only thing that could ease my mind? Sudoku!
4. I love hanging out in the kids room until they fall asleep. I know it's a no-no in a lot of poeple's books, but hey, how long do you have till they are all grown up and you can't do this anymore? Cedric and I love to say prayer with the kids, read to them, sing songs, and talk until they fall asleep. Then we sneak in a million kisses and watch how precious they are while they are asleep.
5. I love long scenic drives. Our most memorable vacations have been driving up to PA and watching the rolling hills and beautiful countryside. I'd much rather drive somewhere than fly.
6. I love being pregnant. No, I am not pregnant right now! I just needed to clarify that...but when I am pregnant, it is probably the best feeling ever. I love having a little pootch (and having an excuse for it). I think it is beautiful to feel the baby moving around inside of you. I also love using the excuse of "eating for two!"
7. I can't stand crowds. If I am in the middle of a crowd, I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs. I hate not being able to get to a place I want to when I want to because someone's in the way. So holiday shopping is not for me. That's why most of my shopping is done online!

Okay, I'm done...did I just incriminate myself? This was supposed to be 7 interesting things about me, I think...and reading this makes me sound soooo uninteresting! LOL! Well take me as I am, a geek at heart! So my turn to tag some people...I tag Dave, Karen and Merilee...get cracking guys!

My Baby Turns 1!!!

Wow, one full year has gone by...I remember like it was just yesterday. I remember hauling my fat belly up and down the street on Halloween night last year, pregnant, and hoping she would hurry and come. This is a shot out to our baby (not so anymore, sniffle, sniffle) Maddy. She is definitely the most easy-going of the bunch, always happy and very entertaining! We love our little Moots! Here are some pictures of her birthday party. She was so excited about her presents. She wasn't so sure about the cake, and she we wore her out so well that she passed out during her own party! Happy Birthday M!

Just Hanging Out

So this is going to be a boring post. There's nothing new to talk about. Just got some new pics of the kids and thought I'd put them up. In the mix of all the pictures, I finally got M to show her teeth. There's also one of Tori's favorite poses. I don't know why, but she loves to spread her arms like an airplane. She thinks it looks so cute for taking pictures. The kids all got new pajamas and wanted to show them off. Bed time gets very crazy in our household. It's always a race against the clock. It was never that bad, until G started school and we have to get him out the door by 7:30am!

Halloween

Does anyone else have sore legs from last night? The kids were like little energizer bunnies. They could have kept going for miles and miles! Grandma (matow) came over and handed out candy while G, T, and M made their rounds. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we came home with candy to last the entire year!

Pumpkin Carving

The kids loved carving pumpkins. This year Halloween snuck up on us. We didn't get this done until two days before the big day. Oh well, the kids loved touching the pumpkin "brain" and we stuck to a simple bat pattern for dad's sake!

Baby Milestones

Our Maddy is 11 months old. Boy, does time fly. I wanted to show you (with her crazy hair and all) that she stands now and is taking a few steps. She FINALLY got her teeth in now, so no more gumming food! Hooray, we were wondering when that would happen. Here are some pics I snapped of her, trying get her to show those pearly whites, but it didn't happen. She gave me this look like, yeah right!

Ballerina Party

Tori went to her very first party that was held at a ballet school. They had cute little princess dresses for all of the girls to wear. They did creative play while teaching ballet moves. At first, she was very hesitant to join in and did NOT want to dress up. Then the teacher said, "Okay, time to go to the ball, and you can't enter the ball without wearing a princess dress." She quickly got changed and danced the entire time. I couldn't resist taking pics!