Finishing out the year

We spent the rest of the days before the end of the year enjoying ourselves with family.  We also enjoyed our first ever trip to a movie theater as a family to see Frozen.  LOVED it!

 

I know that I'm pretty biased but my kids are simple beautiful. :)

We spent New Years Eve at our friends house playing and eating the night away....

(some of us didn't eat all that much, but that's a different post)

Cousins!!

I LOVE living near cousins!  Especially since almost all of them are lined up around my kids.  I've been promising these particular nieces & nephews that they could come stay over night for awhile and we finally able to get it done! I rented the Just Dance game and we danced the night away. I also taught my nieces how to make necklaces with wire and beads.  We had breakfast and then went and played at the park.  Me + 9 kids 11 and under.  We ALL went to the park.  Yeah.  We walked because that many people don't fit in my car.  And we only had 3 injuries.  Pretty good, huh?  My poor niece fell off the swing, Eliza whacked her eye and Xander got a rock thrown into his head that I thought needed stitches--so we came home.  Thankfully no stitches were needed.  But fun was had by all!  The kids slept all over the house but my sweet niece (she's almost 3) recently told her Mom that it was time to go to Aunt Wendy's again and that Aunt Wendy has a a bed just for her.  :)  Ahh, I LOVE being the cool Aunt!!

Christmas Day 2014

 Our kids slept until their normal 7 AM time, it was a nice day of 'sleeping' in for us! Once they were awake though they really didn't want to stop, it was hard to explain that they had to wait for Nana & Grumpy to come over.  We let them open their stockings while they waited:

 

 We tried to get a cute picture in front of the tree...this is as good as it gets!

 A couple of present highlights:

 Abby got a stryder! She was so excited (Yeah to our neighbors for passing it on to us!!)

 Violet got Xander a "What Does the Fox Say" shirt. If you don't know the song, you are really (NOT) missing out.  But that's a topic for another time. 

 I made two gifts for Ben this year.  The first was a lazy susan.  We have a large square table and it's really hard to pass things...so I went to Lowe's, got the tools, and busted this out!  :)  Ben has been wanting one for several years...and it works SO well.  I'm pretty proud of myself!

 We are having an unreasonably warm winter...dangerously warm.  So the kids enjoyed a Christmas swim!

It was a beautiful Christmas season this year as we reflected on the Savior and the Gospel that He has given us.  We are so grateful for His plan, for His atonement and for His Gospel.  It was a difficult Christmas, being the first without Brenda (Ben's Mom) but we know that we will see her again! We share dinner with the Adams family--super simple steak dinner with homemade rolls and plum apple dumplings!  Lovely, lovely evening!!

Christmas Eve

 

We had a fabulous Christmas Eve at our house.  Nana came over and baked treats with me all day, it was fabulous!  For dinner, the men joined us--Ben, Dad, Dad Webster,  and Uncle Jake for a prime rib feast!  We had a super simple dinner of roasted vegetables (brussel sprouts, beets, garlic, sweet potatoes) and meat and bread.  It was awesome. Afterwards, the kids opened their gifts from Papa, Ben pulled out his guitar and played while the kids sang.  Everyone was so excited.  After all that excitement, I made the Carter family traditional Tom & Jerry.  I was glad to have my family to share those with me since Ben does not like them.  :)  (Think warm milk and LOTS of sugar).  Ben and I were pretty much ready with everything before Christmas Eve (for the first time ever) and so we didn't have to stay up late!  It was a beautiful evening....

Bribery

I've been really tired lately. Ben has been really tired lately.  And our kids have been waking us up early.  So I decided to try a new technique: bribery.  I had some homemade waffle batter and decided to offer making them for the kids and whoever slept the latest into the morning would get what was left of the whip cream.  It worked.  No one woke up before 730 and Violet ended up winning at 820!  It was awesome!  I do not think that early mornings are something I will miss as they grow up. I think it will be a great day when the kids will be able to wake up, get something to eat and let me sleep :)

Christmas Sunday

 We didn't plan to look so darn cute but we all turned out pretty coordinated on the Sunday before church. We decided to take the kids on a small walk to see the life-size nativity next to the temple by our church building, so we did and they loved it.  We also took a walk around the temple to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Then we went home, Daddy needed to stay and help the Bishop out so we got crafty and made us some 'Mistletoes'

Webster Nativity 2013

Xander--Donkey; Eliza--- King; Violet--Shepherd; Abby---Shepherd

It's amazing how large our cast has gotten over the years!  But I love this tradition I married in to and am grateful we are continuing it with the grandkids.  So grateful for to take time to remember why there is Christmas at all! 

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home!

Nobody likes when Daddy works extra or goes out of town!  But I'm sure he feels extra loved when he gets back!

These are the moments

 Xander & Abby after church

Abby was exhausted and Xander decided to help her rest by singing so sweetly to her.  It was one of those moments when it all just feels right.

Abby & Daddy

 Abby is our youngest child to do so much imaginative play...I know it is because she has older siblings but it still amazes me how much pretend play she does.  She does get frustrated when Eliza wants to play house because Eliza wants her to call Eliza Mommy and Abby doesn't quite grasp that yet but here she is cooking up a storm with her bunny ears.  I am always grateful for their pretend treats, then I don't have to feel like I'm missing out too much! ;)

 And here is Vi playing I SPY with our Christmas quilt. Auntie Em made us the quilt one year with a book key that has swatches of the fabrics she used and the kids use it as an I SPY game.  We LOVE it!  It wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Lastly, my friend Lindy invited the girls over as a Christmas gift to me so that I could get things done.  I think Abby thought she was moving in.  She packed.  I'm so glad she loves her friends!  Thanks Brenner!

Basketball!

Xander decided that he was ready to try a new sport this year.  So no soccer for him!  Basketball season has not really started yet but they had a big jamboree round robin game event that Xander got to play in.  He had a great time and is excited for the season to start in the new year!

Breakfast & Santa

Check it out! No one is crying and we are all looking at the camera!  WOW! 

This was at our church Christmas breakfast.  The kids got to participate in a nativity reenactment and then Santa came. 

Great times!

Baking with Friends!

Hold on to your seat because I'm going to tell a quick story that leads up to this post!
June 2010-I had just moved back to Folsom and just had Violet.  My sister Tara was visiting and called me and said I just had to come to the park to meet the nice French lady that was there.  Seriously? Well I did and I enjoyed talking to this lady and we exchanged numbers but I never followed through.
April 2011- we move into our first home on the other side of Folsom, changing wards.  On the first Sunday there, a woman makes a comment and I immediately recognized a French accent and then I saw her face! It was the same lady from the park. 

Now Morgane is a close and dear friend...I guess I should have followed through the first time, eh?
Anyways, so Morgane was talking to me one day about Buche de Noel-a classic French Christmas dessert. I told her that I had made many of these desserts over the years and she asked me if we could make one.  I was super excited!  Enter Cheryl!  I visit teach Cheryl (translation: in the LDS church we are assigned to a partner and together we are assigned to go and visit other woman in our ward.  My partner and I are assigned to check in on Cheryl to make sure that she and her family are doing well!) .  Cheryl visit teacher Morgane.  Cheryl came to me after hearing Morgane talk in church about French Christmas traditions and asked me if I had ever made a Buche de Noel because she wanted to make one to surprise Morgane.  I told her about my conversation with Morgane and so we decided to just do it all together.  We took a few hours (mostly talking not cooking because a buche is quick!) and had a blast.  Morgane got her buche, Cheryl got to surprise her friend and I got to do service for two wonderful friends. 

Good times were had by all!

Being Festive!

I love thinking that I am festive and I come up with fabulous ideas but my follow thru is lacking.  (Hence why I do not use my Pinterest account, too many ideas that I will never complete :).  But I did manage to do snowman pancakes one day and we did complete a gingerbread house. I know some people can't believe how easy it has become but I for one am SO grateful that even I can do a gingerbread house without too much work.  Some day it will look great and someday it may even taste good, but for now this is good enough!  All that matters is that we have a blast!!