Christmas Morning at the Douberlys!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dustin had to work a 12 hour shift today but was lucky enough to come home for "lunch" at 8am. He got stay for 2 hours which was nice. We opened gifts and ate lots of Christmas Candy and cookies for breakfast! The kids were pleased with their gifts. I'm not sure if there's a favorite yet. We tried to simplify things this year and I think we succeeded. I was most excited about the play kitchen, I think. We received lots and lots of books this year and, as I write this, my sweet boys are sitting quietly on the couch looking through them. Thank You to everyone who sent gifts. We hope all of you have had a wonderful morning, too!

The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds...

Jeff

Jenna

Henry

I love to take photos of the kids asleep on Christmas Eve. I think I love it because my parents did it one year and that photo is one of my all-time favorites. In it, I've actually climbed into bed with my big brother Dennis and we're both out cold- me in my footie pajamas! So cute! So now, I capture these moments for my little ones. Maybe someday I'll make a little book for each of them with all their Christmas Eve photos. We'll have to wait and see. Sleep tight!

Henry's Kindergarten Holiday Program

Here are the Kindergarten Classes of Chief Joseph School getting ready for their holiday program. Henry did a great job. I was surprised that these two classes learned 6 songs for the program. Henry is in the front row, a little towards the right in a navy blue sweater.

You call that a sandwich?

Let me start out by saying that sometimes I wonder if I baby Henry too much. I hear from other moms that other kids Henry's age are allowed to do more or expected to do more than I make Henry do. Some examples are, I know a mom who has her boys (who are my boys' ages) empty the dishwasher. Another mom has her boys showering on their own. Anyways, this afternoon I found myself in a tidy basement with Jenna asleep, the boys playing nicely, and my 20 minute Pilates DVD in my hand. (I was cleaning up the left out DVDs at the time) I thought, hey, I'm going to actually do this. Due to some back issues the doctor had told me no Pilates until after my latest visit which was this past Monday. So I popped it in and got started which, of course, made my boys instantly need me. I told them I was busy and to just give me 20 minutes. Henry asked me if he could make a sandwich. I thought, okay, maybe I should let him try this. How bad could it turn out...the kitchen was clean....he knows where stuff is....yeah, well... the photo is of what I found when I came upstairs...

Apparently, Henry and Jeffrey made Peanut Butter-Heath Bar Baking chips-butterscotch pudding sandwiches, without the crusts, of course!

Chugga! Chugga! Chugga! Chugga! Whoo! Whoo!

Tonight for FHE we built this fabulous gingerbread train, from a kit, of course! :) We won this kit at Dustin's group Christmas party gift exchange. Needless to say the boys were VERY excited. I think it turned out pretty cute. It's 8pm now and it's already been disassembled and partially eaten. The kids were a mess but they sure had fun tonight!

Ward Christmas Program

For our Ward Christmas Party this year we had a Ward Family Musical Christmas Program. The gym was set up to represent a family living room and families were invited to lead musical numbers or perform musical numbers. It was meant to be a casual evening around the piano like so many families do during the holiday season. Our family sang Jingle Bells. We sang the verse and everyone joined in on the chorus while Henry and Jeff rang little sets of jingle bells. I hope it went well. :) Henry also sang "Away in a Manger" with the Primary children and Dustin sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" with the Priesthood Quorums. After the program we had cookies and cocoa and milk. We brought our ride-on train sets and everyone under the age of 5 (which is something like 30% of the ward) had a blast riding them around and around and around. They were a HUGE hit.

Henry Can Read!

Henry is now learning to read in Kindergarten and we are so proud of him. It's amazing how fast he is learning. His teacher sent home these sight word flash cards last night for homework and he's gotten them all down already. We'll move on to page 2 tonight! Yeah for Henry!

NEWS FLASH!

JENNA IS LEAVING THE CHRISTMAS TREE ALONE! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Jeff loves my Little People Nativity set. He played with it ALL DAY LONG today!

Jeff, Jenna, Henry, and Dad with their special ornament gifts.

This year it was Jeff's turn to put the star on the top of the tree. He was so proud.

Today we set up our Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite days of the year! Usually, we do it for FHE the Monday following Thanksgiving but this year Henry has a special family activity at school on Monday. We decided to do it today. I put up all the decorations earlier today and then we decorated the tree together, as a family. Every year, everyone gets a new ornament that commemorates something special that happened over the previous year. This year, Dustin got a photo frame ornament with a picture of him surfing on it. Henry got a little Fisher Price School Bus ornament because this is his first year going to school on the bus. Jeff got a super cool Go, Diego, Go ornament because that's who he's really into right now. Jenna got a Tinkerbell ornament because that's who she was for Halloween. This is something that I do for them every year and I LOVE it! I also got an extra photo frame ornament for myself and I hope to put one of my dolphin photos or another photo of Hawaii in it. Now I just have to teach Jenna to leave the tree alone. It went okay tonight but it's gonna take a little while!

Just in Time!

They made their last trip of the season just before our first big snow, and I mean just before! Dustin took the boys to Idaho this past weekend to visit his Uncle Johnny and cousin Travis and his family. I was worried about the roads before they left and even more worried for their trip home as the snow started to fall last night. They made it home safely after traveling at about 30 miles an hour for about 10 hours. They were due back at 2am and didn't get here until 4am. Needless to say, I was a bit worried. They had a wonderful time and I'm sure they're glad they went. Jenna and I had a great girls only weekend with plenty of shopping, movies, and crafting. Hopefully Dustin's travel bug will go into hybernation for the winter and we can spend some time together doing absolutely nothing!

The Card is Done!

Here at Malmstrom there is a Giant Holiday Card contest. I really, really wanted to enter last year but with Jenna being so new and family coming for Thanksgiving it just didn't happen. This year I was determined to get it done. So, here it is. I think it's pretty clever but who knows what the judges will think. The contest is open to squadrons, units, youth groups, and base housing residents. The top prize is $150! Second is $100, and Third is $75. It's due into Outdoor Rec by the 26th. We still have to drill holes in the corners and turn it in. I can't wait to see it displayed at the Club!

I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving?

This is a photo of our first real dumping of snow for the season. We got about 6" last night. It will probably stick around until Saturday when our temps head back up into the 40s. It looks like another snowy Thanksgiving for the Douberlys. Happily the roads are safe today but after it freezes tonight and the slush turns to ice I will probably be spending a lot of time at home!

Jenna Took My Toy!

So, the ladies at my mom's Weight Watcher's class have started buying "athletic" hula hoops and they're losing a lot of weight- like 4 lbs. a week. Mom said, "You gotta try it!". So I went outside and grabbed Henry's dollar store hula hoop and brought it inside. I can see why they lost 4lbs in a week- it's a workout to keep that thing up. Since I am down to just 6.2lbs and I'm free again at Weight Watchers and since I am struggling with those last few pounds, I will try just about anything. I'll let you know next Wednesday when I weigh in again. Oh, and Jenna likes it, too!

Henry's New School Shirt

Here is Henry this morning in his new school t-shirt. They get to wear these every Friday. He's pretty excited about it. We bought it for Henry this week after we had a great parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Hart. Henry is doing a wonderful job in Kindergarten. Henry really enjoys school and we hope that continues throughout the year.

It's powdered sugar, right?

Here's a photo of our house I just took this morning. Notice anything different? I think, in the night, a jet carrying thousands of pounds of powdered sugar must have lost it's load! Ok, so we had our first snow. It's a little disheartening but at least this is November and not September like last year. It'll all be gone by later this morning and we have weather in the 50sF for the rest of the week. I promised Dustin that I would have a good attitude about Montana winters if it at least stayed snow-free until my birthday and it gave us almost a month after that. Ya'll will have to keep me in check with my winter weather whining!

Who Says Government Employees Don't Have Any Fun?

Ok, so the Base has had this banner up at the gate check for about a month now. I shake my head everytime I pass under it. Luckily, today I had the camera with me and I quickly took the picture before any of the gate guards, with large guns, thought I was up to something. So, do you get it? It reads, "Chip Says..." and it's a buffalo. Like Buffalo chip? Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny. I'm just surprised it passed inspection...

TRICK-OR-TREAT!

Happy Halloween from the Douberlys. We had a great time trick-or-treating last night. The boys were so excited. Jeff especially had a good time as this was his first year where he really got into it. We went around our little neighborhood and then hopped on the hay wagon and had a ride around the base. We got off at the Base Commander's house where she and her husband had hot dogs, chili, and hot chocolate. We ran into Henry's friend from school, Colton, and his mom, Mel. We had heard so much about Colton. It was nice to finally meet him. He and Henry both sit at the yellow table, which I hear is a pretty happening place!

Henry's Artwork

Here are some fun photos of Henry's artwork from his first quarter of Kindergarten. Instead of saving all of it, I just take a photo of him with his artwork. It may seem sad throwing it all away, but who uses it later anyways? We have the memory recorded and that's what's important. We can still look back and see how much he's grown and improved.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween!

Love, Jenna

Another Photo of Jenna, as Promised

Here's Jenna as a little elephant. This one is Jeff's favorite. Now I just have to get her into the ladybug one again- the photos weren't as great as I had hoped...

Oh, the fun of sidewalk chalk!

Henry, Jeff, and I have been working on this for about 3 days now. The wind here in Great Falls is pretty crazy and it's been a little on the cool side. I can only handle being out in it for so long. We decorated our sidewalk, driveway, and front steps with fun Halloween pictures and phrases. My favorites are the spider webs. Tonight there will be a hayride throughout the base so that you can Trick-or-Treat all the neighborhoods. We'll probably just go around our little neighborhood collecting treats and then just ride the hayride as a base tour. It takes about an hour. I'll be sure to post some fun photos of that later on!

Princess Jenna is On Her Way!

Here is a little video of Jenna walking. She hasn't quite realized that she can walk all the time so it's here a little, there a little still. It won't be long though. This is her princess costume that I forgot I bought for her last year. As I was putting away all the stuff from the Halloween party at church, I decided to go through the costume box. In it I found about 4 costumes that fit Jenna. I will post a few photos of the others. I love Halloween and I guess I have this weird idea that every year has to be something new so I have all of Henry and Jeff's old ones. We'll see what happens next year. I'll be sure to hit Old Navy on Thursday though- just to see what's left and on clearance. (That's where this princess dress is from!)

The Heath Family Quilt

Grandma Pamela asked us to post this picture so that she could show off our lucky little Jenna and her prized quilt. This past July we attended the Heath Family Reunion in Elk City, ID. Dustin's mom was a Heath. One of the family members made this amazing quilt with all of the names of the Heath family starting with Pam's Dad's parents and siblings, and then all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They raffled the quilt off, after putting everyone's name in the jar. Lucky little Jenna won! Now we just have to buy her a cedar chest to store it in.

Off to Neverland!

Henry as the infamous Captain Hook!

Jeff as the ever adventurous Peter Pan!

Jenna as the lovely Tinkerbell!

Peter, Hook, and Tink with Dad as Mr. Smee!

Me as the motherly Wendy!

Yep, we were all characters from Disney's Peter Pan. Dustin has been gone for a week TDY to Spokane. (Which is why I wasn't able to post all last week- he had the computer.) He came home to find his costume laid out for him and he was a great sport to wear it. I made him a name tag with Smee's character on it so that he wouldn't have to explain himself. I made one for me, too. I think we were a hit as we received lots of compliments at last night's Ward Halloween party. We planned and carried out a carnival with 14 games that the kids could play. Judging by the buzz at church today, the party was a tremendous hit! Whoo-Hoo, am I glad it's over! Now we just have to start thinking about the Christmas party!

Jenna Loves her Beads!

Grandma Pat sent us some costume beads in my birthday package and Jenna just loves them. I got all of our beads out of our costume box to add to them and she's played with them everyday since. I was so surprised that she could actually put them on herself and that she knew that that was what they were for. I think it's the same thing as my boys coming to earth knowing tractors make different vroom-vroom noises than trucks. She'll put 10 or 12 of them on and then try to crawl around so I have to keep a close eye on her, otherwise she gets all tangled up. Jenna definitely is our little princess. So long as she's happy with the costume ones we'll be safe, but watch out when she learns about the real ones!

Smile, everyone!

Last night, for FHE, we went down to Giant Springs State Park to try and get a family photo. This was our favorite. We got a bit of a late start and quickly ran out of daylight. We'd like to try again and capture more of the fall colors. If that doesn't happen this just might be our Christmas photo. :)

Progress

Sorry it's sideways again. I don't know why I did that. Anyways, I thought I saw her do this once before so I grabbed the camera, stood her up at the coffee table, and put some Cheerios on the couch. Sure enough, she let go and took a couple of steps! Way to go, Jenna!

A VERY special gift!

This is one of the BEST gifts I've ever received. My mom made me this special Halloween quilt and it arrived just today, on my birthday. Halloween is my favorite holiday, probably because I am an October baby and love anything "Fall" related. My mom, as cute as she is, CANNOT keep a secret and told me about the quilt weeks ago. I've been anxiously waiting since then. The quilt is wonderful, to say the least! The boys love it, too. I can't wait to take a nap with it tomorrow after church. That's if I can get Dustin to keep everyone quiet and happy! Anyways, thanks a million, Mom- I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Our Autumn Hayride

The Gang

Mommy & Jenna

Henry throwing Hay at Dad, of course!

Roasting Hotdogs over the campfire.

(We got to make s'mores, too!)

Happy 30th Birthday to ME! Yep, 30! I can hardly believe it myself. For my birthday we went on a hayride into the Little Belt Mountains, about an hour from town, and had a campfire dinner at Logging Creek Campground. It was a trip put on by Outdoor Rec. on Base. We couldn't have asked for a better autumn day. The air was perfectly crisp and clear and the sun was shining on the beautiful changing leaves. It was nice to enjoy being outside for a little bit. After the hayride we roasted hotdogs and made grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire. We drank hot chocolate, which Jenna LOVES, and made s'mores. YUM, YUM! After dinner we enjoyed exploring the nearby Logging Creek and the rest of the campground. Once we got home we had cake and opened presents. This year the boys chose their own presents for me and they did a pretty good job. They both chose a new necklace and Jeff got me hand lotion and Henry chose bubble bath. They were so excited to see my open them. It was a nice day. Let's hope I'm able to fill up the next 30 years with just as many wonderful things as I have these first 30!