Merry Christmas!

We hope your day is merry and bright, and we wish you a joyous holiday with your friends and family!

In mid November, we had some family pictures taken in Kuna.  Back when I was pregnant, I had a parent of one of my first graders mention that she started a photography business.  I've had three of her kids in my class in the last few years, and I finally got around to asking about getting some photos taken of our little family.  We LOVED how they turned out.  It was a beautiful November day, and now we'll always be able to look back and remember this time in our lives!  I'd recommend her in a heartbeat, and when I viewed the pictures for the first time, I sent her an immediate e-mail stating that she'd have us as regular customers from now on!

Enjoy looking at these scrubbed-up versions of ourselves!

christmas cookies.

For a few years now, my fantastic friend Jessica and I have gotten together during the holidays to bake cookies together!  Even though we both have "new" babies this year (Knox is one year and Clara 10 months), we still had to get together to bake!  We were bound to make it happen!

So we turned the children loose with Knox's big brother Ezra watching their every move, and we got busy in the kitchen!  Luckily, the daddies got off work shortly after baking commenced, so we had some help with the baby wrangling!

Here are those two cute babies!

 And what would a play date with Clara be without kissing...

 and cuddling?

What a cute picture with the dads and babes! 

Thanks Tylers for coming over to bake and hang out!

winter garden aGlow.

For the second year in a row, the Brooks side of the family has gone to Winter Garden aGlow at the Idaho Botanical Gardens.  It is lovely.  The lights really get you in the spirit of Christmas.  This year was Clara's first time participating in this tradition.  It was a bitter cold evening, but we bundled her up beyond belief and parked her in the stroller and had a ball!  We saw a reindeer.  This sweet little girl reindeer was very docile and even let children pet her.  Clara liked her!

 This is just a small glimpse of the garden.  The lights are everywhere!

 A little blurry, but beautiful.

 After the garden, we went to our traditional Table Rock dinner.  Each time Uncle Arlen comes to visit, we all get together at Table Rock and share a meal, drinks, and of course...bread pudding!

Here is Uncle Brad indulging Clara with some chapstick!  She's a little bit of a chapstick addict (her Oma watches her during the week, so she's had lots of practice with chak-stik!), and she loved when Brad would let her lick his tube of chapstick.  We all got a kick out of it!

I wish I would have snapped more pictures at Table Rock.  By the end of the evening, my arms were full with a tired babe, so no more pictures were taken.  And...they ran out of bread pudding...GASP!  We settled for the berry cobbler, which was actually quite good.  It was a great evening with the family.  Thanks Jeff, Janet, and Arlen for the fun filled night!  It was the perfect kick-off to the holidays!  Let the festivities begin!

Great Grandma, Grandma, and Clara.

Great Grandma Appleford (Grandma Janet's Mom) came over bearing a few sweet gifts for Clara (and Clara's mama too!)  It was so great to have both of these Grandmas over to visit.  I snapped a few sweet pictures while the three girls were having fun together!

 I love this one!

 I love how similar Grandma and Great Grandma look here!

 The grandmas know what will really make Clara happy, a PHONE! 

Thanks for the wonderful afternoon Grandma and Great Grandma!  Come again soon for another visit!

Green bay fan.

This little girl was born into a family of packers fans. Her paternal grandpa is from Wisconsin. Her maternal grandparents are from Minnesota...funny I know. Kurtis' Aunt Patty from Appleton, WI sent Clara a little cheerleader outfit in green and yellow. She wore it today, and it may have been bad luck because the packers lost. But she sure looked cute!

Crazy baby.

This baby is a night owl. She either goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes up at 4 am ready to party... Or she stays up till 10 or 11 and sleeps in a little. Right now... She's up and not too happy (even though in this pic she looks like she's having fun). But there's no way she's going down. The little girl kinda rules this roost!

oh christmas tree.

Oh Sunday, December 4, we headed to the mountains just outside Idaho City to cut down a Christmas tree.  It was a fun time, and all the Brooks clan made it!  We packed the baby backpack, a lunch for Clara, and a couple bottles of formula for the babe and a thermos of coffee for the parents, and we were off!

Here's a fantastic photo of Kurtis and Clara on the hike!

 All three of us!

 Cute babe all snuggled up in her backpack (which she loves!).

 Here we are with our tree.

 The whole crew.

 Then we headed back home to decorate!  We pulled out the Christmas boxes and got to work.  Clara loved all the boxes of lights and ornaments.  She couldn't keep her hands off the sparkly, pretty things.

 And here's our tree!  Nope...no ornaments.  I just stopped with lights this year, and I love it!  I know we'll do ornaments again in the future, but I'm kinda loving the lights and greenery only!

piggies.

Clara's hair is long enough to get into two little pig tails.  She's the cutest thing ever!

 Even if by the end of the day, those piggies look something like this!

stampede...

The Idaho Stampede, that is!  My dad loves the Idaho Stampede games.  We always try to go to at least one game as a whole family during the season, and this year, we all made it to the season opener.  My dad couldn't have been happier!

Opa and Ben and Clara

 Opa and Ben, Ben's a little consumed with the embroidery on Opa's shirt

 Kurtis, Clara, and I

 Ben with Rumble, the mascot

 Adorable!

It was a great night!  Thanks, Dad, for hosting!