2011 Christmas at the Roper House

Christmas came too soon and also left too quick. It was such a perfect day. Josh and I were FINALLY awoken by the kids for the very first time EVER! My oldest is 8 and every year Josh and I would sip down to cups of coffee and then go wake the kids up cause they weren't up yet to open gifts. :)

This year was different. The boys woke up and begged us to wake up around 5:30 in the morning. I got up cause I wasn't going to miss this for the world but daddy slept in another hour. I let the boys dig through their stockings until everyone was awake. It was a small Christmas for us. But it was still amazing. With another little one on the way most of our money has been spent on her... (geez babies are spendy) but the kids are so appreciative and so thankful for what they did get.

Jacob and Ryan each got nerf guns, a dartboard, some board games, PS3 games (Infamous) and even PSP games for their handheld video games. Jacob got this super amazing helicopter that flies in the air (unfortunately needs to be returned cause it won't work) and Ryan got some walkie talkies and a remote control car.

Madison got a kitchen set and a fur real walking dog toy and some art stuff too. We made our annual Christmas quiche for Christmas and my Father in Law joined us for breakfast. Someone surprised me with a amazing camera bag to put all my gear in and it was given anonymously so not sure who it was but THANK YOU!! Keeps my camera gear nice and safe :)

We spent Christmas dinner at Jenny's house and had a super amazing dinner and the kids got to do a gift exchange.

Happy 4th birthday to my sweet girl!

Time goes by so fast. I can't believe my little girl is four already. She is so smart, and sweet and that girl can talk your ear off. We haven't had her birthday party yet and decided to wait until holidays were over. Her birthday is the same as my anniversary (which reminds me happy 9th anniversary to Josh and I too!)

Josh was out of town so we didn't do much on her birthday. She got this amazing doll house and got to have her cousin McKynlee spend the night. We baked our night away and then had some cake and ice cream. When daddy came home from out of town Madison convinced him to play dollies with her in her room. It was so sweet. She is so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy.

Visiting Daddy in McCall

Last week daddy invited us up for a few days to visit him while working. It was cold and the kids didn't want to play up in the snowy mountains for very long :) We didn't get many photos since we were cooped up in a hotel for a majority of the time but we did snap a few. The kids got to go swimming, watch lots of movies and even eat tons of junk food. It was nice to just relax and not have much to do and to get away from work and actually snap photos of my kids for once  :)

Visiting our Nana before Christmas

Its getting harder and harder every year for Nana. She is having a hard time with her health so we try to visit her whenever we can. Madison loves her Nana! This year all the kids got to make two special ornaments for two very special people and Madison wanted to make one for her Nana. We went and visited her at the nursing home this year and gave her her gift. Madison painted and put the glitter on it all by herself. She couldn't wait to bring it to her :) It was such a sweet moment and I am so glad I captured it on camera. Madison has a heart of gold. She is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met.

The Adventures of Putting up our Tree!

It is a tradition every year to put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving. This year was probably the best year ever for us cause all three kids actually participated the entire time! They had so much fun setting up the branches, hanging the lights, beads and ornaments. We are so excited to get ready for the holidays and create our first memories in our new house.

When we were done hanging the branches we took a hot cocoa break and of course it wouldn't be a Roper tradition if one of the kids didn't spill their hot cocoa all over the floor.

And the final touches. We will try and post some better pics of the tree later. It was getting so dark by the time we finished and we were exhausted when we were done. :)

Our Family Photos 2011 - Boise Idaho Photographer

I got my family photos back from Jamie Hudson Photography. She did such a beautiful job and worked so good with my 3 little ones who don't always like to have their pictures taken :) This is the first year we had our family photos done and not attempted to do them ourselves (which never works like you want it too!). So fun and memories will last forever! Thank you so much for our memories of our family Jamie.

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Introducing baby boy Shepherd!

My sister just had her third baby today! We are all so excited and wanted to share him with family and friends. He has not been given a name yet. They had a name picked out for him but felt it didn't suit him when he was born so they are hoping to agree with a name by tomorrow. Mommy is doing very well and hoping to go home in a few days.

4th of July fun!

Just a few days behind on these but better late then never! I told grandpa all about how Madison for the first time in a long time would sit still long enough for me to take some photos of her. Over the last year she has become a pill to photograph and find myself wanting to take pictures of my other little monkey Ryan cause he is such a little poser for me! We had a great 4th of July and went to a friends house and had a BBQ, did a few fireworks and just let the kids play play play! :)

A lot has happened to us this week. Moving into a new home (bigger and lots of yard for the kids!) We are very excited for this. Found out that Ryan will have to undergo another surgery on his boy parts :( gotta make sure it is taken care of so this mommy can have some grandbabies. :) And also he is undergoing testing at a neurologists to find out what is causing "tics" that he keeps having in his face over the last couple weeks. A lot is going on but looking forward to finding out the results so we can figure out what steps we need to do to help him get through this!