The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Stockings hung with little jingle bell tags made by Tracy.

Decorating the tree is always an adventure with toddlers.

Steve and the girls playing in the first snow storm of the season. More snow day pictures to come.

Lauren and Tracy went to a Christmas play with her pre-school class.

Alison had a wonderful Christmas progam at school this year. She was one of the narrators.

For the Christmas card this year I directed you all to our family blog, partly because I'm lazy and thought this might be easier. However, you will get to see more pictures of all of us. Lucky you! We have had a great year.

• Steve- is enjoying his job as a contractor for NOAA. He also is now the Young Men's President in our ward.
• Tracy- had a great time with her friend Elinn teaching a group of children the Sound of Music play. I am loving being a mother of four beautiful girls.
• Alison- is enjoying first grade. She is reading very well and loves playing the piano and doing gymnastics.
• Lauren- is "love, love, loving" pre-school and all her new friends. She also loves being my Mother's Little Helper by helping with the twins.
• Bailey- (18 months) loves her sisters and jumping. She watches closely what her sisters are doing now and is even folding her arms when its time for prayers. She loves hugging Lilly and saying "yaya" when she is excited about something.
• Lilly- (18 months) loves climbing on the kitchen table and dancing. She also just discovered the joy of swishing her hand in the toliet and loves to watch my reaction as I catch her in the act. Yuck- but she sure is cute!

We are grateful for this time of year to reflect on the past year and perpare for the new one. How wonderful it is to celebrate the Savior's birth and his life. We hope you all have a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LOVE, THE LAVERTYS

Sound of Music

My good friend Elinn and I started a class where we taught our children and other children from church and our neighborhood the music from the play the Sound of Music. For three months we practiced this mini-play, where they learned choreography, memorizing lines and a handful of songs. They all did such a great job! We had two performances. What fun it was for me to help with scenery, costumes and put it all together. Here's a clip of the Brunswick Singers performing "Do Rei Me."

You can see the video here

Thanksgiving

We had a great crowd here for Thanksgiving. My grandmother, Aunt Jeannine, Uncle Leon, Heather, her boyfriend Pat, Ned, my parents, Aubs, Stuart, and baby Charlotte were the ones in attendance. Everyone pitched in to help with the feast and we all left feeling full. We felt so happy to have our home brimming with people we love and good food. We feel truly blessed. Here are some pictures to document the day. This first one is of the babies smothering poor Charlotte. They were loving being around her.
Pat, Heather, Jeannine and Ned at our pumpkin themed table. Mom, Aubs and Charlotte at the other little table we set up.

Me with the big spread. Let's dig in!

Mama Jean with all her grandchildren.

contributing to the family

I found a great chore chart for my girls. What I love about this chart is how the designer labeled it "how I contribute to my family." My girls have been on board with this from the get-go. They are feeling really accomplished at the end of the day when I say, "look how many checks you have! Thank you for contributing to our family."

You can download this free snazzy chart at:

http://www.modecokids.com/index.php/2009/10/21/free-printable-chore-chart-for-kids/

Halloween

Tracy made Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes for the twins and I dressed as the cat in the hat. The twins looked really cute.

This is a rare picture of the twins with their wigs. Tracy spent hours making these costumes and the twins absolutely hated waring the wigs.

All of the girls helped with the pumpkin. We had to keep Lilly from eating the seeds. We weren't too successful.

Lauren was Tinkerbell and Alison was our cute witch.

I decided to use a different method for carving pumpkins this year. My side of the family has somewhat of a tradition of combining fresh produce and power tools. It's a long story... but my dad would be proud!

Work It

The girls were little models again for our photographer friend Jen Anderson http://www.photographybyjennifer.net/. Here is a sampling of the pictures she took. She is amazing! These two baby pictures are of Bailey. Unfortunately, Lilly was not cooperating.

Half Marathon

I finished my first half Marathon yesterday. I was part of a 4-person marathon relay team, each person taking a quarter. I started with the first leg and continued on the second leg with one of my teammates. I finished in 1hr 50 something-minutes. There were around 20,000 runners on this day. Here are some pictures to prove that it actually happened!

Here's a shot of the crowd

Here we are passing mile 10-ish. At this point I had finished the first leg and was about halfway through the second leg.

There were a couple of crazy people (A relative term) who ran the marathon. Another ran in a farmer's outfit and another juggled 6 balls while running the marathon.

After the first half of the marathon, we hung out until the others were getting close to the finish line. Then we jumped in and crossed together.

The four of us after the race.

Auntie Aubrey Helps Out

Auntie Aubrey came to visit and help me while Steve was away on business. She brought along her cute little Charlotte. Not only did she help me with the girls, but she also was my personal organizer. Our master closet and desk look a ton better. I threw out three bags of trash and donated four huge bags to Good will. I will take the before and after pictures for all of you. Thank you Aubrey- we love you!!
Aubs and Charlotte

Mom came for a short visit in September. We had so much fun with her.


Bailey and Lilly with cousin Charlotte in the crib.



Here's a video of the Twins playing with the screen door.

School Begins

Our garden this summer was not the greatest in harvesting tomatoes that we had planted, but Alison's sunflower did grow beautifully tall.
Alison's first day of first grade. We walked her to the bus stop. She is loving school.

Alison looking cute.

Bailey and our little photo shoot.

Lilly with her bright blue eyes.

On The Run

This weekend we all decided to run the Brunswick Potomac Street Mile. This was Alison's second mile race and it was Lauren's first. We all had a great time. Here are some pictures from the day.

Our family before the race



Lauren and Tracy at the starting line

Alsion and some of her friends at the starting line. Notice one of her friends has her own I-Pod!

Alison finished the mile in about 9:20

Lauren and Tracy coming down the home stretch.

Lauren finsihed in about 12:00

My goal was to finish in less than 6:00. I haven't run a mile in less than 6:00 since BYU. My official time... 5:55!

Art Project

I worked on a little art project for the girl's room. I found this idea from a magazine and thought- I could totally make that! I spray painted canvases and made paper flowers. I used my friend's Cricket machine to cut out some of the shapes like the bird and the scollop edging. Ok, I LOVE the Cricket machine- it was so easy and you can do every shape imaginable. I painted the tree branch, and painted the cardboard letters. I loved doing this project. The girls like having bunk beds in their room now and I love it because it gives them more room and room for wall art.

Bailey wanted to put a barrett in her hair the other day. They are getting so big!