Christmas Pictures

Still behind...but here are a few pictures from this Christmas season:

We had an advent calendar (courtesy of my mother) for the first time this year (should have been included in the traditions I listed last week...) and each day had a little slip of paper with something simple and fun to do.  The kids LOVED it and looked forward to it each day.  We opened them after dinner each night and got to do lots of fun stuff:

Drinking Hot Chocolate with candy canes:

 

Coloring Christmas Pictures:

We even got to go visit Santa one night:

No, we didn't pay the $20 bucks to get a picture with him, so this is the kids in line:

We had a "polar express party" with the boy's joyschool group and Samantha got to come since it was at our house:

We made treats for those same joyschool friends:

We played lots of Wii with Granna:

ate dinner at In & Out on Christmas Eve:

We acted out Luke 2.  Noah was SUPER sweet!  He kept putting his arm around "Mary" trying to help her and saying things like "It will be okay, I love you."  Micah is a king.  That is the only crown we had!  And Samantha wanted a real baby (Hanna) in her tummy at first, so that was the best we could do and made her quite happy!

There were other things that we didn't get pictures of....always true I guess.  It was a really fun month / / week.   I will try to post Christmas morning next week!  (-:

Quick Christmas Re-cap:

I had planned to get ALL of Christmas posted and up today.  But instead, I got into a great conversation with Cory and since my "motto" for the year is "choose what matters most," I chose that tonight.  I'm also going to choose to go to bed before 11:00 pm, so instead of posting ALL of Christmas, I'm just going to post what mattered most and try to the rest of it next week!  (-:

There were a few precious memories (at least to me as a mother...no one else may even care!) that I don't want to forget:

A few weeks before Christmas, we were sitting in sacrament meeting.  We had sung a Christmas song and whoever was giving the talk mentioned Christ and Christmas in the same sentence. Noah leaned over to me and said:  "Mom, I like coming to church b/c they know that Christmas was really Jesus birthday and not Santa's."  I teared up and still do when I think about his cute little voice saying that.  I'm sure we had mentioned it, but I don't really remember trying to drill that into his head at all.  He really just came up with it on his own.  Of course, we jumped on the opportunity and mentioned it a BUNCH over the next few weeks.

I took each of the kids to the dollar store to buy gifts for their siblings and Dad.  I gave them each $5 in $1 bills.  When I got to the cash register with Noah, his total came to $3 and change.  I told him to give the cashier $4.  He did.  She then gave his change.  He turned to me wide eyed and said: "I gave her 4 pieces of paper and she gave me MONEY!"

(we caught this one on tape):  Christmas morning Noah was jumping up and down excited for Micah to open the gift he had gotten for him.  He was more excited for that than any gift he received.  I LOVED it. Once Micah opened it and was obviously very excited about his giant coloring book, Noah said:  "Don't you just want to hug me?!"  Micah thought it over and said: "Um, no thanks!"

I've always talked about having the kids give away a toy each time they get a new one, but this is the first year we've actually done it.  And I was SO pleased with how well it went.  They played with all their new gifts for a while and then I took each of them aside individually and had them choose things to give away.  I encouraged them to choose something similar to what they had received (for example, Micah got a robot, so I encouraged him to choose something from the "talking toys" bucket.  Sam gave up and old doll for a new one and Noah gave up some old cars for the new ones he got.), but other than that, I completely let them choose.  They each gave up 4 toys total and I was so pleased with how willing they were to do so and that they didn't just pick their least favorite, crappy old toys, but really thought about something that would still be good for someone else.  Definitely keeping that tradition!

Cory spent HOURS on my gift.  He was up until midnight (sometimes later) every night for 3-4 weeks before Christmas making it.  He edited out all our family videos to include just the absolute best clips of each kid (lots of smiling, happy, giggling, dancing, funny faced kiddos) and then slowed them down and put them to music.  He made a different DVD for each kid so I can kinda watch their whole lives (to this point) in just a few minutes.  I LOVE it.  The kids LOVE it.  We have watched it every Sunday since Christmas. It is bringing a wonderful sense of unity and love into our home and I am so grateful for his incredible effort in putting it all together.  Only trouble is, I don't want him to stop.  I want one every year now!  haha

We went to see a incredible light show in La Costa a few nights before Christmas and the boys LOVED it, but Sam was totally scared the whole time.  She just kept her eyes covered.  Really a-typical for her, but it sure was fun cuddling with her (she had her head buried in my arm most the time)

And a few things we'd like to make tradition (writing them here so I dont' forget next year):

•  7 Mondays before: Christ centered Christmas for FHEs
• 12 days before Christmas: 12 days of Christmas stories / ornaments from Devin and Melissa
• 22nd: Watching the dancing Christmas lights in la Costa with hot cocoa; talk about Christ as the light of the world (What think ye of Christmas? book) turn off all lights; add a lanturn; add all lights = letting Christ into our lives.
• 23rd: Joseph Smith birthday party with Roast, potatoes from a ricer, the missionaries and the Restoration video & testimony meeting.
• 24th: Artichoke dip for lunch; In & Out for dinner; acting out Luke 2; Reflections of Christ video & testimony meeting; water and magic oats (oats w/ sprinkles) for Rudolf with the cookies for Santa
• 25th: Picture of kids on stairs in am; Santa's gifts wrapped in Santa paper; Egg casserole and ableskivers for breakfast, bean dip for lunch; Ham and cheesy potatoes for dinner; choosing toys to give to others

Merry Christmas Nanna!

This was our gift to my Mom this year. The music and lyrics were written by an incredibly talented friend of mine. Once she'd written the song, she spent 3 hours with my kids recording it and then hours more editing it. Her talent is AMAZING. My kiddos can't really sing, but she has this method of getting things "just right." I added the pictures to the music for a slideshow. It is now my kids favorite song to listen to and I'm loving the memories. So is my Mom! If you are in So Cal & are interested in having one made let me know and I will put you in touch with my friend. Oh, and Samantha's last line is "I love you to the moon!"

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Thanksgiving trip to Utah: part I

I'm exhausted.  Not sure why.  Last night wasn't bad, but I haven't been able to keep my eyes open all day.  It has been 4 week since I updated this blog.  We were on vacation for 2 weeks.  I was still playing catch up last week and now tonight I just don't have the energy.  I'm going to bed soon.  But I wanted to get at least something up.  I just keep getting further and further behind and these memories are so important to me.

So, I picked something relatively easy and quick.  On our way to Utah last month, we stopped a Bob's Big Boys.  Cory has fun memories of this restaurant as a child, but I had never heard of it.  He said they used to take pictures in front of the restaurant with Bob.  So, I was determined to get one, no matter how windy and COLD it was:

The kids did pretty well for most of the trip.  Hanna was the toughest one. Each stretch went about like this: she would sleep for about an hour (at most). Once she woke up, she'd be happy on her own for about another 30 minutes.  We'd get another hour or two with her happy(ish) as long as I held her hand.  Yep.  Me in the front seat reaching backwards holding her hand.  My arm about fell off, but it was better than her screaming.  Eventually even that wouldn't calm her and she would just cry and scream until we stopped again (usually about an hour).  Poor girls does not like the car.  Samantha, Micah and Noah did really well.  So that was a huge blessing.

Only real hiccup was about 2 minutes after we entered the gorge, Samantha threw up.  Just a little at first.  I even debated whether to go back there: we were in the gorge, at night, below freezing temps: not exactly when I want to take  my seat belt off.  But she seemed pretty upset, so I decided to climb back there.  Just as I did, she threw up again, only this time it was a LOT and all over.  She was so, so sweet though.  I told her not to move while I started cleaning up (I didn't want her to spread it all over), and she didn't move at all.  I started cleaning up her face first and after a couple minutes she says: "Mom, my hand dirty too.  Please clean it." still without moving.  So sweet.  So, I cleaned her hands and then had her put them on her head so I could attempt to clean her lap and seat without her getting her hands dirty again.  She did just as I asked and didn't move at all.  Then suddenly Cory yells: "Light off and duck!  Cop ahead."  Crazy.  Luckily, our hotel was in St George and we got there just 15 minutes later or so. Put Sam right in the bath and brought up her seat to wash as best we could:

Samantha and Hanna were as happy as ever.  Samantha LOVED getting to take a bath in the middle of the night (about 11 pm) and Hanna was just THRILLED to be out of the car.  The boys, however, had fallen asleep in the car and did not appreciate being woken up.  They cried and cried and cried (still half asleep) for the entire 20 minutes it took us to get everyone / everything into the hotel room and make their bed (on the floor).  Within seconds of being in "bed," they were asleep (lights still on, Samantha and Hanna still up etc):

4 more posts

Once again, two are recent and are just below this one and two are "catchups" and back dated.  You can find them here:

Spelling Champ
Messy

Stir Crazy

We have all been going a bit stir crazy around here. We've had sickies for over 2 weeks, and I tell you, sometimes I think I might go nuts. Cory asked me today, "When did our kids all become brats?" I laughed....that's what you get when you spoil them silly b/c they are sick. I slept in Samantha's bed for three nights and responded every time she whimpered and she got to eat all the ice cream she wanted. Oh, and did I mention I think we've watched every movie we own?

Anyway, Sam's temp finally broke on Thursday of last week so I decided everyone should go out back to play. We've been living in our jammies (I told you...spoiled!), so I just let them go out without changing, but made them put their shoes on. Samantha insisted on her frog boots and a few minutes later, I found her like this:


Glad no one came to visit at that moment!

Halloween Day

Sam had a temp of 103, but was so so sadden by the idea of being left behind that we let her go. We made her stay in the stroller the whole time though so she didn't get close to any other kiddos. She only made it for about 15-20 min. and then asked to go to bed.

On the way out the door:



The beginning of the neighborhood parade:

The very first candy stop:
Right before we split up (I took Sam to about 3 houses and Cory went ahead (much faster) with the boys. Gotta love the boot Tinkerbell insisted on:
The loot:

4 new posts today

Two directly below this one and the other 2 are back dated.  You can find them here:

The Girls
She Really is a girl

Emjoy!

Welcome to my world

It's a beautiful world!  This is what it looks like every morning while I prep dinner:

Lately all four kids favorite thing to do is to help me cook.  If I put dinner off till 4:30, their "help" is the last thing I want, so I really try to do most of my dinner prep before 9 am while everyone is still in a good mood.  Each kid (except Hanna) has two days a week that are their "assigned" days to help me.  They actually get to sit on the counter right next to whatever I'm doing and help me with all sorts of stuff.  Hanna is almost always underfoot and Samantha joins her when it isn't officially Sam's turn.  I love it.

*Disclaimer: I don't ALWAYS love it, but most of the time I do.  And I don't love it in the evening, they are just too grumpy then.  I only love it in the morning!

If you need a good laugh...

This video ought to do it for you!

Cory had seen the mouse run in there from outside a few days before.  After 3-4 days of not catching it with traps, Cory decided to go after it.  I did NOT want him to.  I wanted him to buy more (different) traps.  I was so afraid it would get lost somewhere else in our house and nibble my kids toes at night and give them crazy diseases.  I liked having it safely trapped in the closet.  But, he insisted. So, Noah, Samanth, Hanna and I got on the counter.  Micah wanted to stay down in the kitchen.  Cory just knew it would be funny so he had me tape it.  He was right.  I really don't like mice.

I had been taping for forever and turned the camera off.  Then, Cory screamed like a girl and I turned it back on and got the rest:

Sorry, I had to remove the video b/c we submitted it to America's funniest home videos and they don't allow any videos that are published online.  If we get accepted, we'll let you know and you can watch it then!

Good, Better, Best

If there is anyone who still actually checks this thing, you've noticed that I"ve all but stopped blogging.  That is b/c I have this goal to put all my blog posts into a book each year.  Well, I started blogging 5 years ago, and I have two books.  So I am WAY BEHIND.  I've been trying to put each post into a scrapbooking page before I post it here so that they will be all ready to transfer to a book.  Well, that is exactly what is keeping me from posting.  I just don't love to scrapbook.  It isn't my talent.  It isn't my love.  It takes me forever and I'm still not usually happy with the results.  My Mom is ULTRA good at it.  As a side note, if you want to learn how, she just started a blog to help teach others.  Here is her most recent page from that blog:

Anyway, if  you've read Pres Oaks talk about Good, Better, Best, you will know what i mean when I say that I've decided that having all our memories in cute scrapbooking pages and bound in a book is good, but having them recorded here is best.  So, I'm forgetting the scrapbooking for a while and just posting the pictures with a quick explanation of what is going on.

Halloween Festivities so far.

I LOVE FALL!  I love the cooler weather, the leaves, the soups and hot cocoa.  I especially love all the traditions.  This fall has been the best b/c the boys are finally old enough to remember some of the things we did last year and our little family's traditions are starting!  I'm LOVING it!  They remembered that last year we made ghosts out of milk cartons and asked to do it again this year.  So we did:

They remembered that we decorated our door for Halloween last year as well and want to do it again, so we did that as well:

Brotherly Love

This girl ADORES her brothers.  She follows them around all day and wants to do everything they do.  She asks for them first thing in the morning and after naps.  She cries and cries and cries each time they go to joyschool without her.

Here is just one small evidence of her adoration.  Almost everytime I try to take a picture of the three (or four) of them, she is looking at them instead of me for the first (or more) pictures:

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I forgot Cory's birthday last year.  Yep.  We had been living in different states for a couple of months and I just forgot all about it.  What makes it worse is that my birthday is just 6 days before and he made it really nice: even without any money.  So, I wanted to do something nice this year.  We had agreed not to get each other gifts b/c we bought a new video camera instead, so I tried to think of something meaningful, but cheap too!  I decided to do a cute picture of the kids, but since I'm not a photographer, and my four kids squished together are a bit wiggly, it was quite the process.  Here are just a few of the "takes" (some got deleted):

Messy

You just have to have a few of these pictures of each of your kids, don't you?