A few more things from Christmas

A few random things I forgot...

I'd say Elise's favorite gift was her Rapunzel head.  A big highlight was learning how to braid!  It still needs some practice, but nice job Diamond Crystal!

We were feeling a bit stir crazy one Saturday night so we ventured out to Ogden to see their Christmas light display.  We got there around 5 or 6 ish and it was a beautiful night.  We took a little train ride, looked in the cute little houses all decorated up fancy, and listened to a story teller... and then... lots of tears.  The kids were sobbing because it was cold and they wanted donuts and a potty and whatever else.  We had to leave without seeing the other half of the display, but did stop at Dunkin' Donuts for a little treat (it was warm there :)

George played in the Alumni Tournament for the first time in I don't know how many years.  When he saw he was now in the "old man" category, he said he had to play.  And I think they won their last game.  Whew!  All those sore muscles paid off!

The kids loved playing in the halls and on the mats and whatever.  Brought back some fun memories.  Except, I don't remember laying down and rolling down the hill.  ???  It's possible though.

We joined up with the Allred family to play in the gymnastics gym in Tooele.  Great fun!  One blurry picture as proof...  

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is all the fun cards from friends we've known throughout our schooling/military life.  So fun to see how families have grown and makes me smile to think back on all those friendships and good times.  Now our mailbox is back to boring...

Merry Christmas to All!

Wake up Cole!
(poor little sickie)

"Do ya wanna build a snowman?"

Santa's gifts:
Elise:  Furr Real Kitty, Pink scooter
Lucy: purple camera, Furr Real monkey
Cole:  Rollercoaster, Leap Frog Letters
Erik:  ummm... something great, I'm sure
Austin:  Batcave, 360 trike thing

Everyone seemed happy with their gifts, but I'd say the boy's stuff got the most "play time" from everyone throughout Christmas break.  Fun, fun!

Santa usually leaves a few family gifts too... this time it was a bunch of nice classic books, yard of candy and a couple sleds.  The kids were so funny with those!  "Look, they are giant poppers!"  "No, maybe they are giant frisbees!"  So funny!  George had to explain.  :)

almond dispenser for me

old sewing machine goes to Elise

After cold cereal mini-boxes for breakfast, we opened the presents under the tree.  Again, Lucy had surprises for everyone.  

Love diorama

Mrs. Gundermann sent Elise the class picture that was taken before she left.  She loved it!

Ok.. There is Jayden M.  And Jayden B.

We spent a great morning playing with toys, then off to Gemmie and Chad's for breakfast at noon.  No pics... lots of good food though(and good company of course).  The most exciting thing for Elise was that grammy Cindy pulled her loose tooth out!  Yay!!!  First visit from the tooth fairy for Elise!



And Erik cut his first tooth (and his second a couple days later). Wasn't as fun for him.

Then it was off to the Tripp's for more yummy food, fun gifts and laughter.  Half of the family was either dead tired or sick and went to bed early.  But Geo stayed up and had a great time playing a new tick-tac-toe game with his brothers. 

... and to all a good night!

The Creatures are Stirring

Geo worked Christmas Eve (we're really missing the Air Force holiday time!!!) so it was up to me and the crew to get the house put together.  I told them if we got it finished by lunch time, I'd take them on an outing.  And what do you know, they worked like Santa's elves!  I was in shock!  My kids really DO know how to work hard and fast.  Plus they know how help each other and be kind.  The house looked better than it has since we moved in!

So after lunch, we went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden.  This was the first time we'd visited and it was great fun.  It's across the street from Ogden's reconstructed LDS temple.  It's not finished, but wow!  Doesn't it look great?!?  Much better than the '70's birthday cake version.

In addition to the regular activities, they also had Christmas chalk art, cookies, and the great chimney/stuff the stocking race.  Santa even stopped by for Q&A!  Lucy still laughs at his answer to "What kind of cookies are you favorite?" and I loved the "What time should I be in bed?" question.  :)

Chris, Benji and the parents joined us for the evening festivities.  We had soup in a breadbowl (from Kneaders :) and shrimp, pistachio, sweet potato salad (idea from Plates and Palates).  YUMMY!

And then... it was time for the 1st annual Christmas Eve talent show.  My friend Emily does this every year, so I thought we'd give it a go.  We had a "dancing bear" by Cole, "Angels Among Us" by Lucy, juggling by Benji and Chris, "Milton the Dancing Christmas Mouse" by Elise (with somersault), and a great poem by Geo.  Somehow we didn't get Austin's bat hang (with bat facts), my ukulele "Jingle Bells", or Erik's darling smile on camera.  However, the show stealers were definitely my parents!  They said they were going to paint like grandma Barbara used to.  We were all blown away, especially the kids!  They painted with the board upside down, but even before it was flipped Cole shouted out "It's Jesus!"  Nice job, folks!

We usually do the sibling gifts on Christmas Eve so they don't get lost in the chaos of the next morning.  It is one of my favorite things.  Lucy especially wraps all month long, making things or finding something of her's to give away.  This year she gave erasers to the uncles, masking tape to the grandparents, and a fridge magnet to Natalie and Jake (all given at different parties).  The siblings were given various things.  One of my favorite things were the little scarves she made from fleece (cut the fringe) and the head scarf for me and the doll tablecloth for Elise.

Elise and I sat down at the computer and she chose little games to print for all the kids.  She spent quite a bit of time cutting out pieces, etc.  And she made one for herself as well.  :)

Lucy's scroll for her dad.

Wrapping up the finished products

Austin made fortune tellers.  I helped him fold and he drew pictures and told me what to write.  So cute!  (Aunty Lacey's idea... thanks!)

Elise's inside

Lucy's outside

Lucy's inside

We read Luke 2.  Chris the donkey gave everyone a ride.  And we called it a night.  The brothers and parents slept at a hotel in Ogden and came back in the late morning to see the fun.  

Geo and I got to bed at 12:30.  And then the creatures started stirring...
After two hours of sleep, Erik woke up wailing and wouldn't settle down (found out in the morning he was cutting his first tooth).  Half hour after that, a child woke up because they'd wet the bed.  Then another half hour and it was Cole with a fever and throwing up.  It was two hours of crying children and laundry and disgustingness.  Holy mole-y.  So much for the "long winter's nap." :)

The trouble with Elf-ie

Meet Elf-ie.  He was named like everything else in our house - Truck-ie, Car-ie, etc.  Apparently the Elf is a very popular topic among 3rd graders.  This was the first year that Lucy came home telling me about her friends elves and their naughty tricks.  I had to re-explain that the parents are the ones that allow an elf to visit and they can set the rules.  Ours:  1.  Elf-ie only visits one week prior to Christmas.  2.  We have plenty of mess around this house.  If he adds to the mess, your father will throw him into the snow.

I think Geo's rules would be 1.  No elf.

But the kids LOVE looking for Elf-ie. so we cave to the 1 week allowed.  One day, the kids were excited to find him in the chandelier.  But when he moved the next day, they noticed there was a large hole burned into his side.  Half of his belly was gone.  Oopsie, Elfie.  Elise and Lucy were pretty worried that the magic would be gone.  I picked him up and they started screaming (one of the rules as defined by the book is that he can't be touched).  But I thought there should be an exception since we had a burn victim on our hands.  So I got out the first aid kit and asked Lucy to hold him while I wrapped him up.  She refused.  Then she dug through the box and found surgical gloves so we did the necessary wrap.  Elise took his temperature to make sure he was going to live through the whole experience.  And what do you know, he had moved to the poinsetta on Christmas Eve.  whew!

Christmas Party Animals

The weekend before Christmas was a crazy one... full of lots of parties.  We were going, going, going all weekend.  However, I kinda liked that they were all together.  It meant less travel and the other weekends weren't as hectic.  We hadn't been back for Christmas since we moved to HI, so it had been a while since we'd seen extended family folks.  Lots of fun!

We kicked it off with the Gundi Christmas breakfast.  The food and company were both fabulous!  So much so I didn't get my camera out until the very end.  

The most memorable part was the singing by the sisters.  This used to be a regular occurrence at parties, but it had been a while since I'd seen them sing ALL together.  It was pretty tender, as Sherry now has alzheimer's.  She loves to sing though and sang "Ring those Christmas Bells" with joy and added the "Ding, dong" at the end (which was my kids' favorite part).  Us women folk were pretty teary by the end and one of those moments where my heart was glad to be home for Christmas.

Next up...the Cole family party!  

Thanks for the PJ's grammy and grandpa!

Lacey and Mark joined in by phone as we exchanged gifts.  My favorite was the calendar Lacey made for my mom (Chris and Greg's genius idea and Lacey's creativity).  It had alternating pictures of jeeps and Romney (or anti-Obama) pictures.  We got a good laugh out of the whole thing.  This year, we added Christmas socks to our gift giving (Benji's idea) and my favorite were the ones given to George by Chris.  There were Duck Dynasty beards going down the sides, with the words "family first" at the top and "business second" on the heel.  :)

Yummy dinner afterwards...

Austin is ticked he's not sitting by Cannon
That kid is not one to hide his true emotion.

Then it was date night to the Piano Guys!  My parents joined us for this fun event.  There were 12,000+ people at the Energy Solutions Arena.  Great fun!

This was "Angels we have Heard On High" - 4 guys on one piano.  Little better view on their channel but the sound was pretty close to this.  :)

And Sunday brought... the Harden family party!

After a yummy dinner, the kids sang "Picture a Christmas", Spence and Diana taught us some Swedish Christmas songs, and Geo read a great poem.

A Christmas poem

I just moved from the islands

To an icy mountain home.

Its winter now and I have found

I’m frozen to the bone.

The snow has come, I fear that I

Won’t see my lawn ‘til May

My pickup truck is salted mud

And may just stay that way.

Three weeks ago I hurt my back

From shoveling snow too long

Three weeks before I fell down thrice.

This shoveling chore is wrong!

Most times when we tell new friends

Where we moved from, and to

They wrinkle up their foreheads

Asking “What is wrong with you?!”

But for all the chattering teeth

And all the messy snow

There is a reason that we left

A reason you should know:

  

We missed too many parties,

Too many little chances

to say hello, to share a hug

and exchange smiling glances.

So now we’re here and hope to see

Uncles, cousins, sibs and aunts

And make up for the other times

We didn’t have the chance.

We plan on turning loose our kids

To gobble endless sweets.

We plan on lots of pot luck meals

With tasty breads and meats.

I’ve often felt that all fun times

Are naught but machinations

To put us in position for

Some clever conversations.

So best of all we’ll sit and talk

And have some quiet chats

And reminisce on past fun times

Or recent football stats.

Its family times and nights like these

That payoff for the cold.

So may we laugh and love and cheer,

Until we’re gray and old. 

Look!  Ben has the baby!  and he likes it!

kids favorite part... the CHIMES!!!

We visited grandma Marjie and grandpa Grant on that weekend too.  Elise LOVES to go out there to be the waitress.  When I told her we were going over, she started raiding grandpa Tom's pantry for something to bring over.  My mom had given them breakfast an hour before, but they were good sports about her bringing the trays, etc.  :)  This girl is a natural nurse!

singing "Picture a Christmas" - this one was their best performance!

 The last party was the Tripp family party on Monday.  Again, I was too busy chatting to get the camera out.  Jake, any pics?  Anyway, it was lots of fun there too.

What a fun Christmas weekend with family!