Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.  It started with Christmas Eve.  We all went to a movie together and then we went out to eat.  We normally have people over for dinner and have Mexican food, but our guests were coming on Saturday so we decided to save our traditional dinner for then.  When we got home we acted out the Nativity, had hot chocolate with special "sleeping powder",  fed the reindeer and watched a Christmas movie on TV.   It was a long night with not much sleep,  Tyson had been asking for a dog from Santa, and he was so anxious and excited to see if he got it that he didn't get too sleep until 5:00 a.m.  He was in our bed a lot of the time so Jeff and I didn't get sleep either.  At 6:30 when they all got up Tyson was very excited to see Santa had come through for him and he had finally gotten a dog.  It truly was a Christmas miracle since Jeff has always let them know they could not have a dog.

Emily, Tyson, and Justin are loving the dog.  Ryan and Abigail have not been outside to see it yet.  They do enjoy talking to it from inside the window.

Everyone got just what they asked for this year.  They were all very excited about their gifts.  Here are a few pictures of them with their gifts.

 

 

 

In the afternoon it had warmed up enough we could build a snowman.  Everyone enjoyed helping us build it.

 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

One thing I have always hated about Christmas here in Texas is the lack of snow.  I love the fact that my kids can play outside, etc. but it just doesn't feel like Christmas.  This year to my surprise we woke up to a ton of snow.  The kids were so excited to go out and play in it.  The bad part about snow here is it usually comes with lots of cold wind and ice and this was no exception so there are lots of drifts and it won't stick together to make a snowman, but they enjoyed making some snow angels.  I am hoping tomorrow it will be warm enough that they can build a snowman! 

As you can see, Emily needs a coat for Christmas!

 

Notice the woman in the background with the nice purple snowsuit, that is my friend Ellen.  Rich got this snowsuit for her from his boss when he was moving.  Doesn't she look nice!

After about 15 minutes out in the 17 degree weather with a wind chill that made it feel like 8 degrees, this is what Ryan looked like, but when I asked him if he liked the snow he said through his tears.
"Yes."

Abigail enjoyed it a little more.  She discovered immediately how good it tastes to eat it.  I am amazed how it is such a natural instinct to eat snow.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Events Leading up to Christmas

The thing that seems to help get the Christmas season going the most for us is the decorating of the tree. We had a great time decorating it.

What I love more than decorating the tree is putting up all of our nativities. In our formal living room I only have nativities and a formal tree. I let every child pick a different nativity to set up how ever they want it. I am always amazed at the time they will put into making it look just right. This is a picture of Abigail playing with one of the toy ones we have on the ground.

Ryan's preschool got into the Christmas spirit by going to an assisted living area and singing a few songs and passing out cookies and cards that they had made.  It was a little scary for them, but the old people sure did enjoy seeing them.

One of my children's favorite traditions is pulling our a different activity to do each day until Christmas.  The quilt that is hanging on the wall behind the children is the quilt used to pull out the different activities.  We keep these simple, and I have my calendar while making it so when we have something already scheduled for the day like a ward party or piano recital, that is our activity!

Here area  few pictures of Tyson and Emily at their piano recital.  They both did a great job.  Emily also got to play the organ at church for the opening and closing song Sunday while the normal organist played a different variation of the song on the piano.  Emily only had a chance to practice twice.  We were very proud of her considering she had never played the organ before.

 

Another fun thing we did is have the Hardy's over and the kids built sleighs out of a hershy bar, two candy canes, some candy to build a santa with, and a roll of tape.  When they were done building them we raced them down a table.  Tyson's was the winner.

Here is a picture of the kids in their Christmas Sunday outfits.  I always make them coordinate for Christmas.  The kids all hate this tradition, but I love it!

Surprise from Annabell

Usually every year for Christmas Annabell has the kids over and they decorate gingerbread houses.  This year she decided to give them a different surprise.  She surprised them by buying tickets so they could ride on the "Polar Express".  They were so excited to go, especially Ryan and Abigail.  We had a wonderful time and the kids loved it.  Tyson ended up not feeling so well, so unfortunately he spent a lot of time in the bathroom, but everyone else enjoyed themselves.  I wish I had more pictures, but my camera ran out of batteries (hate it when that happens).  Here is one of the pictures I got.

As you can see from the picture Tyson even missed the visit from Santa, but as Santa got ready to leave he came back and talked to Tyson. Ryan and Abigail talk about this almost everyday. They are amazed that we rode clear to the North Pole. Justin was not so impressed by the North Pole, he looked out the train window and said, "That is cotton on the ground not snow!" We are so thankful for Annabell's generosity!

Ryan turns "5"?

We had Ryan's four year old birthday party about a week and a half after his real birthday.  The whole week before he kept asking me about different things he could do when he turned 5 like go to school, switch to a booster car seat, etc.  I thought he was just preparing for next year, but when it came time for his party to start I found out the reason behind the asking.  Right before the kids got there I finished decorating his cake and showed it to him to see if he would like it.  He looked at the cake and said, "Um Mom, you made a mistake, you were suppose to put a five on it because now I am five."  I explained to him that he was still 4 and we were just having his four year old "kid party".  He was not happy and so greeted all of his guests with tears.  Once we started the games and stuff he was OK to still be four.  Here are a few pictures of the occasion.

A Donation for a Good Cause

When Emily was in 4th grade she donated her hair to Locks of Love.  It was something she really wanted to do, but wasn't so sure about it when she was done because she really missed her long hair, so you can imagine my surprise when she came and told me she was going to donate her hair again.  Although I was surprised, I was also very happy that she had made this decision.  Emily has long thick hair and I know it can be put to a lot of good use, not to mention the fact that I had wanted her to cut it for over a year. 
Yesterday we went and got it cut.  Here are her before and after shots, what do you think?  We all love it.  I think it makes her look a lot older.  She doesn't think it makes her look older.

Ryan Turns "4"

Ryan had his birthday last Monday.  He was so cute all day long.  It is our tradition to give them breakfast in bed and let them open their presents first thing in the morning.  Ryan is usually up before most of the kids, and Monday was no different.  I reminded him he needed to wait in bed and he quickly ran back to bed, but not before he reminded me that he wanted mashed potatoes and fruit salad for breakfast.

We couldn't bear to give him mashed potatoes, but he did get fruit salad and toast for his breakfast.   He loved opening all of his presents.

I had preschool at my house today so he got to celebrate with some of his friends during preschool.  That night Grandpa and Annabell came over for cake and ice cream.

You can see the stamps on Abigail and Ryan's forhead, I took them to McDonald's for lunch and Abigail got a stamp in her happy meal.  When we got home they proceeded to stamp up their whole face.  Some didn't come off as easily as others.

It is hard to believe Ryan is 4 already, but we are really enjoying the age.  He has decided now that he is 4 he can do things by himself.  Ryan has always been my least independant, so it is nice for him to do things for himself.  Ryan is such a fun boy.  He always keeps us laughing.  We love having him in our family.