Tilden Christmas

Carson and Noah really hit it off. They seemed to really like playing together!
Playing the Tilden version of duck duck goose, they had to close their eyes.

Lauren doing her famous CHEEEEESE face.

Well it has come and gone already! I cannot believe here we are in December again already having Christmas. Where does the time go?!

Tilden Christmas has at times been really hard for me to go to, because it's one of those things that I hate to go to without my mom. It's her family, but this year it wasn't bad at all. Im not sure if it's that it was just across the street from my house, or the fact that she got to be here last year, or it could even be that I get to see most of these people all the time living in Onsted so im comfortable. Nonetheless, I throughly enjoyed it!

We did the crazy gift exchange that we usually do, I got Jessi's gift, I got to steal it from her, because I didn't think she should get to take home what she brought! It's a huge Starbucks coffee mug, Starbucks coffee and biscotti. Cute!


This is the gift that I sent! Tina ended up with it. She was number 1 and got to choose whatever she wanted and she choose mine! How cute!

The kids got their gifts, they were so cute all lined up. They played a type of duck duck goose and then musical chairs. Kenedey got the game Blokus. SOO fun. Carson got a Caterpillar backhoe, he doesnt really like it! LOL go figure. Jack got a Lighting McQueen car which Carson spent most of his afternoon pissed off that he couldn't play with Jack's car. Ahh well..!

We had tree winners of musical chair! (above)

Aunt Joyce playing with the kids.

We did crafts as usual with the kids. I brought the one that has their handprint creating Santa's beard. My grandma brought some ornaments for them to make and also a gingerbread house that Kenedey made.




Funny thing to me, I was over doing crafts with the kids, then everyone finishes and moves onto something else. Well, here I am still doing crafts. I look behind me at the table where the other craft project (decorating cookies) was going on and there's my Aunt Joyce all by herself. She is in her late 70's btw... look how good she looks... INCREDIBLE. Anyway, funny thing about that is... My cousins always make fun of me because im a crafty type person. They call me "aunt Joyce" and tell me i'm just like her. So I said to her... hey look I guess I am like you! She is adorable!


Anyway, all of you who weren't able to make it today... mom, Connie, Angie, Lindsey... we missed you bunches. It's not the same when you aren't there, WE LOVE YOU.

Start of the day...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you can see the snowflakes on his lashes!






Well, the bad weather is on it's way. It started this morning at around 9am we had been up for a couple of hours and Kenedey wanted to go play out in the snow. So I bundled up Carson and sent him out with her! They had SO much fun. Carson has never played in it before, so he was in his glory. I don't have snow pants for the poor guy. I have looked everywhere that I can think to look near home and nothing. I plan to order some online after seeing how much he enjoyed it. I can't wait now to take him sledding! My great Grandma Grace has a huge hill in front of her house and it's kind of a ritual to go down there a few times through the winter, so maybe once we get some snow pants for the kiddo we will head down there. I put 3 pairs of pants on him when he went out, and actually he stayed pretty warm. He came in and got in a warm bath afterwards! Kenedey did her first snow angel of the season! Too fun!

Couldn't help it

I was NOT going to blog tonight, buuuuut.... I couldn't go to bed (its 12:30am) without posting this picture... it will for sure go on my list of favs! This is Talan for those of you who don't know him, Talan and his family live across the street from us. His parents and grandparents are family friends of my family's for 50+ years. So it's pretty cool that they live across the street, we get to see them lots, anyway... you'll understand why I had to post it!

Pedal Firetruck

So my mom had this idea to get Carson a sit in toy for Christmas... well aparently when she was little she had a Pedal Fire Truck. So... she found this one for Carson, and now all of Carson's grandma's can't wait to see him ride around in his firetruck. I HAVE to get him a hat to go with it!

Isn't this the neatest looking thing! I never see stuff like this in the stores around here.

Outside of that I am having a terrible time finding things to get him for Christmas. I am dead set against getting him just something that gets thrown in the toy box and im huge on getting my kids toys that they actually interact with. He enjoys the usual cars and truck but not obsessed type thing. The only thing that he plays with regularly is his little people school but... that he sits on see post below, and his duplo blocks. Any ideas let me know! Thanks.

Secret Santa...

Well a few days ago I posted about my wonderful gifts from Kasey, now my secret santa got hers today! Go check out her(Tracy) blog and you can see what I sent her! Enjoy! Click on their names to view their blogs.

fun times...

Taken around 1965

My 72 year old grandpa acting crazy!!! Gotta love this amazing man! He is the BEST!


Well not too much to blog about this week so far. I guess that's a good thing! I am really looking forward to this Saturday. We have our annual Tilden Christmas party. I used to hate Christmas in my late teens and early twenties, but for some reason the excitment of Christmas has returned and im thrilled about it.


The Tilden family is my mom's family, her dad's siblings and then all of their offspring. Lots of them will be there. The siblings all take turns hosting the party, and this year it is my mom's dads turn. We are having it at the hall across the street from me where we had Carson's first bday. The kids do crafts and we have dinner and play cards and just spend time enjoying each other. I get to see most of these people often just because I live in Onsted, where most of them also live. I feel really fortunate for that. It used to be really tough to go without my mom but she was able to make it last year so that will suffice for at least this year... next year mom... you'll probably have to come again! I think the intention this year is to have the dinner and all that stuff and then the "real" party afterwards at my Uncle Bill's house. Yeah it's pretty fun to watch them all get a little loopy and competitive in cards!

Jessi gathered recipes this year from everyone and is putting together a recipe book. I think this will be really cool for us and then our kids to have when they grow up. I intend to get two copies one for me to use and then one for my kids if they want it when they grow up! Some of it is pretty basic, but it kind of shows what we all make at this point in our lives as favs.

I was responsible for making the front page, this is pretty much all I came up with... it's pretty simple, but got some neat pictures from my great aunt. The one in the center my mom was probably around 10 or so. The one picture of my grandpa is him acting like a reindeer, him and his brother had a "reindeer" fight last year that was aparently hilarious... I had a 7 month old who needed my attention at the time, so I was not there, but the pics are pretty fun... these guys sure know how to have fun! And... they are in their 70's! Too cute!


I feel so fortunate to be able to have my grandparents around and in good health and so involved in our lives. I don't want to take that specialness for granted! So again... I can't wait for Sat. to get here!


We do a gift exchange which is like white elephant... everyone brings a gift (catergory: men's and ladies) Then we draw a number and you can "steal" one that is opened or you can open a new one... but you could be stuck with something you don't like. Being #1 is the ultimate because you can pretty much choose whatever you want and give your gift to who you "steal" from. It's really fun! Usually with the guys either fishing lures or flashlights are big hits... with the women... it's usually some type of craft type thing that we fight over! I'll let you know what I get!

Just a random

Picture!