Merry Christmas

Before we get to the Christmas festivities I wanted to share a few J-mo happenings.  We were sitting down to dinner on Sunday night and I put a nice cold pitcher of water from the refrigerator on the table.  By the time I grabbed something else and turned around Jameson had lifted the lid off of the full pitcher and was lapping up the water like a dog.  Agh! The entire pitcher of water was contaminated! We had to settle for water that wasn't refrigerator chilled  (not our favorite) and as you can see from this picture Jameson was super sorry about what he did.  Yeah, not so much. He laughed about lapping up the water like a dog for a good 5 minutes.

Britton came upstairs this week and exclaimed, "I taught Jameson how to do push-ups!" Both boys immediately dropped down and started doing push-ups.  Yup, Jameson can do them just like Britton.  In fact, to make it a little harder he decided to life up one leg.

 

Usually my parents come to our house on Christmas Eve and we my Mom makes reuben sandwiches. This year they went to Pennsylvania to be with my brother and his family so we were on our own for the first time in about 9 years. We had had reubens with them before they left town so we needed to think of something else to eat with our appetizers. Ok, so we weren't super creative but for me it doesn't feel much like a holiday if I have to do a lot of cooking so we ended up picking up a couple of  Papa Murphy's pizzas.  Apparently we weren't the only ones with this plan, Papa Murphy's was VERY busy on Christmas Eve.

 

Height check. Yes, Jenna is still taller. Maybe 2014 will be Britton's year.

Thanks Papa Murphy's for a great Christmas Eve feast!

 Don't worry, we still got our cheese ball on.

Adam made some super yummy spinach artichoke dip and some frappe with lime sherbet and 7-up.



After we were sufficiently stuffed the kids were very ready to open up their Christmas Eve gifts which EVERYONE knows is going to be pajamas.


 

Jameson saw the camera come out and immediately went down into his tuck position. Nothing screams picture taking like a good tuck.

This will probably be the last year the girls will be able to be matchy matchy with their PJ's since Jenna is starting to age out of the outfits.  They really loved that their dolls could be matchy matchy, too.

Nothing puts a smile on Jameson's face faster than Thomas the Train and the only thing better than 1 pair of Thomas jammies, is 2 pairs!

Here are the kids in their Christmas jammies.  Britton got a good base layer top and bottom for future winter scout camps so he is only wearing the top in this picture.

 

And so you can see just how silly they were feeling I added a few more pictures.

 

Jameson was running around the room while this picture was taken. 

Aaand he's back. In his favorite picture taking position, of course.

 

Christmas morning the girls came in to wake us up at 7:25 a.m.  I was more than pleased with the time, but we still made them wait until 8:00 before we would let them wake up Jameson (Ok, so we were a little mean).  They decided they could live with that so we didn't have to get up until 8 a.m. AWESOME!

 

 

Like usual we had the kids wait at the top of the stairs while we went down and turned on the lights and made sure everything was ready.  Here the older three are anxiously waiting for the ok signal. Jameson didn't get the "wait here" memo so by the time we gave the older kids the green light he was already downstairs playing with his new bubble mower.

 

The kids were thrilled with their gifts from Santa.  Britton got a new Kindle fire to replace his old Kindle that Jameson put through the dishwasher (oops). 

Jenna got a touch screen MP3 player and some clothes.

 

Korinne got a Vtech kid's tablet and a glow pet.

 

And Jameson got a lot of Thomas the Train stuff.  He couldn't have been more pleased.

 

 

He also got a fishing game that he couldn't get enough of.  The older kids even got in on the action.

 

 

 He celebrates every time he gets a fish.

He loved the game so much he even brought it to the dinner table.

 

 

Another fish! Yessssss!

 

 

We had a great day and didn't get out of our pajamas the entire day. When night came we just swapped out our worn jammies for new jammies.  It was awesome.

The next day we decided to go downtown to see the Christmas lights.  We arrived a few hours before sundown to look at some of the other things on Temple Square.  We took a tour of the Conference Center and then went to the Church history museum with the children's section.

We took some pictures by the temple and went to city creek and had dinner at Kneaders. By the time we were done the lights were on and we were able to walk around and see how beautiful everything was.

 

 

Why is it that I end up pushing Korinne in the stroller instead of Jameson on these outings??

Jameson pushing Korinne? Something is very wrong with this picture.

We got to see everything we wanted and were home by 8 pm. Perfect.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Winter Wonderland

In the last few days we have received enough of the white stuff to make it feel very Christmas-ee.

 

The neighborhood kids all out playing in the snow.

Every time I tried to get a picture of Jameson he would bend down into this tuck position. Not sure why, but since he was cheesing it up for the camera so I took the pictures anyway.

He loved playing in the snow with the big kids.

 

This week hit a snag on Wednesday when I came down with the flu.  Adam was sick last Saturday and experienced a fever with aches and pains.  I remember telling him that if he had to be sick that that was the way to do it.  I'd take getting a fever over throwing up and being nauseous any day of the week.  Well, when it was my turn to get sick I wasn't as lucky as he was and threw up all. day. long. Not fun. It just confirmed to me that fevers really are better. Just sayin'.

 

The girls had mini-recitals for violin during their regular lesson times this week.  I missed Korinne's because I was sick, but was able to make it to Jenna's the next day.

 

 

Jenna played her violin for a special musical number at church today with 2 other girls her age. They did a great job!  We had 7 musical numbers and 2 short speakers for sacrament meeting.  Adam was the last speaker and just as he got up and started to talk Jameson slipped through the side of the bench by the wall (we were sitting in the 2nd row bench on the side) and found himself free from all bench constraints. When Korinne tried to get through to capture him he started running away and laughing. He ran at full speed across the front of the chapel to the opposite side and then turned around and ran while laughing all the way back. I was mortified, but of course everyone else in the congregation loved it.  Who doesn't love a good unplanned spectacle in the form of a cute kid running around and laughing?  Adam did a good job ignoring the little side show unfolding in front of him.  In the end I was just happy the incident didn't involve food. If I could compare these special Jameson church moments to sickness I would say running down the aisle and laughing would be like getting a fever, while throwing cheerios all over the entire chapel would be like being nauseous and throwing up all day. One is definitely better than the other, but neither is fun.

 

All of Jameson's sleep issues from last week went away as soon as we got out a big boy bed.  It was love at first sight for him.  He loves sleeping in it and is back to being mostly cooperative when it comes to bed and nap times. THANK GOODNESS. I'll have to post pictures later since he is sleeping right now and I forgot to take some earlier.

Orchestra, Orchestra, Orchestra

This was the week of orchestra concerts. We had two on Wednesday night, one on Thursday night and another violin group recital on Friday night. Yeah, that's a lot of orchestra.  Britton still likes playing the cello, and Jenna and Korinne still like the violin, so it's all good. No one has decided to follow in my Clarinet playing footsteps. What a shocker.

 

 Britton on his cello at the Middle School concert.

 

 Jenna had to perform in 2 concerts as part of the select Ambassador group. You can't see her in this picture because she was in the back, but she is there.

Korinne and Jenna played in a recital, but I was so busy dealing with Jameson that I didn't get a picture.  Jameson can only sit through so many concerts, if you know what I mean.

Jameson decided that this would be the perfect week to start freaking out about nap time and bedtime.  After almost 2 years of minimal non-compliance he decided he should start screaming and making a complete fuss for 2 hours before falling asleep every time. He even got up during the night a few times for good measure. WHAT IS GOING ON?!? Seriously, I can't live like this.  We got him a night light thinking maybe he was just scared, we've rocked him, we've let him cry it out, we've gone out on drives in the car. Nothing has worked. Let' s hope it is a phase and will end quickly.  I NEED it to end quickly.  You can't just throw that on a parent after 2 years.

Speaking of Jameson it is fun to start seeing some of his personality come out. For instance, Jameson doesn't like to have messy hands.  If he is feeding himself and his hands are too messy for his liking he will hold out his hands and then yell out in baby jibberish for us to do something about it.  I'll ask, "Do you want me to wash your hands?" and he will reply with "Yeah" and nod his head and smile.  We don't put a bib on him very much when he eats because for the most part he isn't a messy eater and will pause several times during a meal to be cleaned up.  He also doesn't like to have a runny nose so he is pretty good about letting me wipe his nose with a tissue.  I know it is kind of silly, but this had given me a little hope that maybe, just maybe, he will like to have things clean and won't fight me so much on this when he is older.  Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Jameson has also shown us over the last month or two that he gets scared and doesn't like to be scared which is why we think his sleeping problems might be related to this.  He is a lot like Britton was at his age.  Britton got scared easily and didn't like it one bit.  There was a Thomas the Train episode that scared Jameson (it was about Halloween) and he was really upset by it.  I turned it off and deleted it from our DVR but he really hasn't been the same since. He definitely gets scared easily these days.  It's not like Thomas the Train is trying to push the envelope or anything, Jameson is just sensitive.

Guest Post

My sister Tiffany lives in Texas but was in town for Thanksgiving this year.  She wrote a great post in her blog about our Thanksgiving activities so I decided to borrow her post as a way to document our holiday this year. Thanks Tiffany for your guest post! Oh, and I did write a few words after her post ended, just so you know.

"I love living in Texas, but every year I get a bit homesick on Thanksgiving.  For the past 2 years, we have been blessed enough to make it back to UT/ID for Thanksgiving.  Abigail has had a great time with her cousins.  They love to dress up at Grandma's house.

Abigail and Jenna strike a pose

 

 

The girls also got the chance to help Grandma put her up Christmas tree this year.

 

 

They set up the tree the day before Thanksgiving, which threw off my internal holiday clock.  I wasn't quite ready to feel the Christmas spirit, but Abigail had no problems getting into the spirit of things.

 

 

Shawn was able to fly into SLC on Wednesday afternoon and we met him in Brigham City and drove to my sister Heather's house in Idaho that night.  Abigail was excited to be able to spend more time with cousins before we headed to my Aunt Kathy's house in Blackfoot.  Kathy has hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the Price family for almost 15 years. (Give or take, we couldn't figure out the exact date she started.) She puts on quite the spread and we all have such a blast together.  Snacks get set out on the counter sometime mid-morning and we don't stop eating until we leave.  Yummy!

 

 

My cousin Jake usually gets all fancy with his fruit trays and this year outdid himself with this fruit boat.  The "P" stands for Price, but one of the in-laws who shall remain nameless asked if it stood for "pirate". Yup- that is us, the "pirate" family!

 

 

Shawn was quickly put on KP duty and he and my Uncle Brent peeled massive amounts of potatoes for the feast.  Here they are with my nephew Tanner who was enjoying some tasty treats.  In the background you can see my brother-in-law Adam who is hard at work making the world's best homemade rolls.  Those things are seriously to die for!

 

 

Here we are dishing up.  As you can see, we had a lot of delicious food and a lot of great company.  We are seriously blessed to have such an awesome family.

 

After we ate, the kids did crafts for a while. I was in charge of bringing the crafts this year.

 

 

While the kids crafted, a few of the lucky adults napped in front of the football game and the rest of us helped clean up and visited for awhile.  Then it was time for the annual bowling excursion.  We had a bit of a hiccup before we left, however, as the car battery died and Shawn and my dad had to jump it.

 

 

That darn battery issue plagued us through the rest of the night until my cousin Jake called the owner of the local auto-parts store and asked him to get us a new battery.  The guy met my dad and Jake there and they were quickly on their way to replace the battery.  Gotta love cousins who are connected and small towns where people are still willing to help each other out on a holiday!

Let's just say that Abigail may or may not have beat me this year, but we all had a great time bowling.

Abigail and Elsie in the bowling alley.

After bowling, my Uncle Brent lit some fireworks and then it was time for the pinata. We did one pinata for the little kids 9 and under and one for the older kids.

 

If you ask her, Abigail will assure you that she was the one that broke the pinata.  While she did manage to whack a big chunk out of it and candy started to fall, she wasn't the one that dealt it the final blow.  The kids had a great time chasing after the goodies inside.

We were sad to leave when it was time to go, but Kathy had made up a box of homemade chocolates for each family which made our departure much sweeter. (Yeah, I know, bad pun!)

 

Here is the stash that Kathy has spent weeks making.  Seriously, that woman can cook!

We stayed the night at Heather's house again and the kids did a lot more playing than sleeping, but somehow they were still all smiles the next morning.

Jenna, Anna, Korinne and Abigail.

Elsie, Korinne, Abigail and Anna.

After lunchtime, we headed back to CV.  Abigail was very pleased that we let Jenna and Korinne ride with us. I think she is going to have a serious cousin withdrawal once we head home later this week!

On Saturday in CV, my mom and dad treated me, Shawn, Abigail, Jenna and Korinne to a showing of the new movie Frozen.  We really liked the movie and didn't even mind too much that we were sitting on the front row.

We sure have a lot to be grateful for!  I am thankful for my family and for being able to spend Thanksgiving with at least part of the Price clan.  We sure missed the ones that were far away and couldn't join us, but you were with us in our hearts."

**On a side note (this is Hilary again) I read this post and said to myself, "When did the kids do crafts?" Yeah, I was one of the adults sleeping on the couch while this was going on.  Oops, clearly I was not very much help. Also, Jameson did NOT love bowling.  Every time we helped him roll the bowling ball down the lane he would break out crying. Why, Why, Why would we give him a ball and then immediately make him throw it away?? He didn't catch the vision and thought we were just plain mean.  Peace was restored once we had other kids take the rest of his bowling turns.  He was much happier watching everyone else.

Here are my kids taking their turns with the piñata.

We loved the mild weather this year.  I always appreciate those rare Thankgivings without snow and with great traveling conditions!