Christmas 2012

It was so fun to have Grandma and Aunt Elizabeth with us for Christmas this year.  I grew up having Grandma and Grandpa (some years both sides) come over on Christmas morning and I'm glad my kids had that opportunity.  Since my parents couldn't be here, I included a couple short video clips so they can catch a glimpse of our day.

Santa found us!

Christmas George put crepe paper across the doorway at the top of the stairs.

First look

Checking out the stockings.  

Justin was slow to warm up, but he got the hang of this "Christmas thing" quickly.

I think he liked the candy most of all.

Dillon got a pet hamster!  He's been living in our master bathroom for over 3 weeks, 

but we managed to keep him a secret! 

Brayden's haul included new rollerblades, new scriptures with his name engraved, and a Snap Circuits set.

  

Caleb got a pogo stick, the complete Harry Potter book series, and a Ninjago Lego set.

Dillon received his first ever new bike (he's only had hand-me-downs from his brothers). He was also thrilled to get the pet hamster he's wanted for months, and a Monster Lego set.

Justin got a "Sit and Spin", Lego Duplos, a Cash Register, and a gas tank to go with his Cozy Coupe.

I accidentally saw my gift a few weeks ago when the UPS delivered it in a labeled box.  Todd and Linda went in together and bought be the Serger that has been in my Amazon cart for over a year!  I'm excited to figure out how to use it.  

The boys picked out this shirt for their dad.  He also got a fancy-a$$ pillow (Todd has pillow "issues"), a gift card to Cal-Ranch, and a handgun.  He's hoping to go shoot it later today. 

Our family gift was a ping pong table!  We shoved stuff out of the way to make room for Christmas morning.  Cleaning, de-junking and organizing the garage is next up on the project list.

The high-priest group leader in our ward has a tradition of feeding the ward breakfast on Christmas morning at his house.  You read that right.  They invite the entire ward!  After we opened presents, we went over to the Lafaele's for waffles, ham, orange juice, rice, sweet and sour meatballs, and homemade rolls in some kind of coconut milk sauce. Yum.

The rest of the day included naps, sugar, toys, more sugar, and then a Christmas dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes.  Just before dinner, we took a minute to go outside and release some heart shaped balloons for Grandpa, since we can't visit the cemetery. 

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  We've loved receiving cards from so many of you. We are hoping to finally get a family picture taken this week (we've been sick all month!!) and possibly send out New Years cards.  If you would like one, please fb, or email me your address, since our address list is stuck on a hard drive with a broken port and I can't access anything until I get it fixed.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was busy.  

My brother and his wife arrived at 5:30 AM after driving all night. They took a nap, made us a yummy breakfast (their Christmas gift), waited around for me to finish wrapping gifts, and then headed North to spend Christmas with both their families.

Todd's sister flew in last week to stay with us 'til New Years.  She and Linda (Todd's mom) have been such a huge help to me this week!  They stayed with the kids while I finished up last minute shopping, and they wrapped nearly ALL the gifts.

Todd had to work all day, and as soon as he got home, Linda took us out to dinner at Olive Garden.

Any day I don't have to cook is a good day. 

After dinner, we banished the kids from the garage while Todd started assembling Christmas gifts.

We "opened" their new pajamas (opened the door of the dryer, to be exact) and moved the couch in front of our toothless vertical blinds to make more room for Christmas morning festivities.

The boys wrestled and played until bedtime.

I loved this picture of Dillon, until I realized he was sitting on Brayden's hand.

It just looks....awkward.

The three older boys had a slumber party in the family room downstairs, with a phone to call us if they needed anything, since they were not allowed upstairs.

It feels like Christmas...(on Q__)

Thanks to a tip from my sis-in-law, I discovered this morning that when you read my last blog post on an ipod (or I assume on any other similar device), some of the words didn't get crossed out like they did on my blog, so the first line reads, "Last night I got a bee up my butt wild hair".  Nice. Sorry for those of you who had to deal with that mental image. If it happened to you, go read my blog on a computer for heaven sakes, and while you're there, leave me a comment. I could use some love...

I gotta admit, it's starting to feel like Christmas around here.  The tree is lit 24/7, it snowed last night, the van doors were frozen shut this morning, the laundry is piled high, the kids are barfing every other day, there's not an ounce of milk or bread in our house 'cause I haven't had time to go shopping, I still have packages to mail...wait, finish, then mail. I haven't wrapped a single present, the garage has to get cleaned for one of our Christmas morning surprises, I'm trying to finish a quilt that's past due, we ordered pizza for dinner at 8:15 last night, and Christmas George is missing.   I just realized, through typing this, that he's probably hiding.  I can't say that I blame him. 

He was last seen in the following locations:

Cleaning our very dirty french doors (I was hoping the boys would be inspired by this, but no such luck.)

On Sunday, I heard Dillon exclaim, "George is adoring baby Jesus!"

And on Monday, he had a snowball fight with Mr. Potato Head.

The kids and I searched everywhere this morning and we cannot find Christmas George. We are offering a reward if you can find him (a nasty flu bug that you will no doubt go home with if you enter our house).

I'm pretty sure he spent some time practicing his longarm skills on this quilt last night, but there is no other trace of him.

 So, in all seriousness, we have the flu that keeps on giving. I'm going to try to re-construct a timeline for my own records:

Tues. Dec. 4th:  Justin was throwing up all day long.
Wed. Dec. 5th: Justin threw up again after eating breakfast.  His tummy is not used to food, right?
Thurs. Dec. 6th: When we tuck Justin in at night, we discover fresh vomit all over his "best lovie".
Sat. Dec. 7th: I come inside from trying to organize my quilting studio, to find vomit on the livingroom carpet.  Justin again.
Mon. Dec. 10th: I wake up in the middle of the night to my least favorite words:  "Mom, I threw up."  Caleb is the winner this time.
Mon. Dec. 10th:  Dillon finishes breakfast and announces he doesn't feel very good. Within 20 minutes, he's down too.
Tues. Dec. 11th: Caleb and Dillon stay home to recover, but don't seem to feel well all day.
Fri. Dec. 14th: Again, I wake up to those all too familiar words, "Mom, I threw up" from Brayden.
Sat. Dec. 15th: Grandma graciously agree's to tend the kids while Todd and I attend one of six Christmas parties we have on our calendar. We come home, only to find that Dillon threw up all over the bathroom (I'm still finding chunks from this one.)
Sun. Dec. 16th: Todd and I made an executive decision to keep all the kids home from church and just rest. He went to his morning meetings, and then I went for the 3 hour block to teach my primary class.  I got home to find that Brayden had thrown up again.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 4:30 AM I woke up to my "favorite" phrase, "Mom, I threw up...on the carpet". Dillon... round 3.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 6:30 AM I woke up to Caleb saying, "Mom, my tummy hurts."
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 7:05 AM I discovered that Brayden is doubled over with stomach pain.  Luckily, Caleb ate breakfast and felt better, so I only had two kids home from school.
Wed. Dec. 19th: Dillon left breakfast for the bathroom, but decided he was okay and went to school anyway (crossing my fingers).  Justin has had three NASTY diapers, but I'm staying positive....and blogging my woes.

*Update:  the carnage didn't end on the 19th.  
Thurs. Dec. 20th: I spent the day with stomach pains, and since I HAD to finish up some last minute shopping, I visited the bathroom in every store. Twice.

Fri. Dec. 21st at 2:30 AM  Caleb woke me up because he had "a heartburn".  I gave him some tums, but his heartburn turned into vomiting and horrible stomach pains.  He didn't know it, but I was watching him closely for signs of appendicitis.  At 4:30 AM, he broke out into hives. Yeah. Hives. Huh?  I rubbed his tummy and back with lotion, told him to try not to scratch, and went back to bed.  At 7:00 AM, I found him watching TV and when I asked how he was doing, he threw his hands in the air and said, "Great!".  He went to school. I figure he's already exposed his class anyway.  

Through all the sickness, I'm grateful to my mother-in-law, for watching our kids while we attended some our Christmas parties.  Please join me in praying for her continued health. She deserves it. Last weekend we had a party with all the therapists (and their wives) from Todd's work.  For the white elephant gift exchange, we gave the following:

a Sigmund Freud bobble-head doll...

 ...and plush "Syphilis".  Wish you could've
 been there when Todd's co-worker opened the gift and Todd shouted from across the room, "I just gave you syphilis!"

We came home with juggling balls, and a package of Bull Elk Urine.  I've always wanted some of that.

And lastly, I'm less than proud to tell you that when Todd accidentally reset our TV to it's factory settings, and for a few minutes we didn't know if we'd be able to watch Netflix Instant ever again (Dillon and his drama...) Justin surprised us with his newest phrase:  "Holy Crap!" which he either learned from Todd, or Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond.  Either way, there's room for improvement.

I'd better get quilting. So I can get it in the mail, and get to the laundry, and the shopping, and the wrapping, and the cleaning.  Did I mention I have company tomorrow night 'til New Year's?  Well, I do...and and the napkins are not freshly pressed. No wonder my left eye keeps twitching.

Christmas George and more

Last night I got a bee up my butt wild hair, and decided that Christmas George needed a Harry Potter costume.  The coat was ridiculously easy to whip up.  The tie...was not.  Oh well.  It looks like George made it himself, right?  The kids found him this morning, watching Harry Potter on my ipod.

 Brayden caught "the bug" today, and is taking his turn on the bathroom floor.  At least it will save me some money since he won't be eating.  I caught this pic of him eating breakfast the other day. This was just his first bowl of cereal.

 I volunteered to read a Christmas book to Dillon's class this week, and we were supposed to give each child something that went along with the book.  I read "Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear" and handed out these candy cane mice that Dillon and I made.  Each child also got an extra candy cane to give away to someone else, just like the mouse did with his presents.  It kind of made me miss teaching. Besides preschool, 2nd grade is my favorite age, and the kids in Dilly's class were so darn cute.  I may just have to sign up to read another book next week.

I am really enjoying Christmas this year.  Last year we were so busy with moving that I kind of missed Christmas altogether.  It was just one more item on the to-do list.  This year I've been able to take time to enjoy the small things, like driving around to look at the lights, making this craft with Dillon, and watching the Christmas clips on the Mormon channel with the kids. I told Todd that I'm pretty sure the Mayans were right, and the world really is going to end on the 21st, because it's the first time in a long time that I've felt ready for Christmas, and really enjoyed it.  It would be just my luck to have "the end" come beforehand :o).

Christmas George

 My mom wanted me to keep posting our Christmas George pictures so she could see what he's been up to.
This has been such a fun activity for us this year.  The kids all love it, but especially Dillon.  He has asked that George do something curious both at night, AND while he's at school.  I'm doing my best, but it doesn't happen twice every day!  Every night, Dillon brings George to me before he goes to bed, to make sure I don't forget. (I may have forgotten once or twice, which is the beauty of having older kids, and not having an elf who reports to Santa).

Here is George, driving one of Justin's "Tween" slippers down the banister...

One night, George stayed up late and made mini doughnuts out of "Vanilla-O's" cereal and melted chocolate chips. He made a mess of my clean countertop.

By the time the kids got home from school, those doughnuts had magically grown into after-school snack!

Another night, George hijacked the Little People Airplane and flew through the kitchen. The kids giggled and giggled over this one.

 Wheee!

(I used some really strong clear thread, and hung the plane from our kitchen light fixture)

Today I pulled out this old vending machine/bank that I bought years ago when Caleb was being potty-trained.  Brayden got home before I had it set up, so he helped.  Apparently, there's actually an episode of Curious George where he makes a vending machine and calls it "George-o-matic 2".  Brayden made the sign himself, and filled the machine with candy bars. Next year, I think I will put the older boys in charge of setting up "Christmas George" and let them have fun watching their younger brothers be surprised every day.

3 little monkeys swingin' in the tree...

On Friday I decided it was time to help Mother Nature along.  

I gave the boys (Caleb, Dillon, and cousin Gabe) 

permission to climb the trees and try to shake down the rest of the leaves.

Hopefully when "we" clean up the leaves this week, it will be the last time.

 Justin left his muffins in the oven to come play too.

Today we have this:  

Bathroom #1

 And bathroom #2

I'm holding a spot in bathroom #3 (just in case) for the kid who's at school.

Bathroom #4 is already being occupied by "the roaster" (as Justin calls him) 

who I will tell you more about after Christmas.

As you can see, Todd and I cannot get sick because there's simply no room.

Christmas George

Silly George.  On this day, he painted red dots on everyone's nose while they were sleeping...even dad's.

He also got into the leftover Halloween candy and snitched.

 On Sunday, he read the entire Book of Mormon, and was pondering 

Moroni's promise when the kids found him.

He also discovered the printer, and made a copy of himself (yes, he copied his bum too).

Christmas George

I have loved seeing the "Elf on the Shelf" ideas on Pinterest all year. 

I wanted to do it with my kids, but I did NOT want to spend $30 on the book and the elf.

Instead, I took our beloved Curious George, gave him a "bath", bought him a hat and scarf from 

Michaels for $3, and came up with "Christmas George".  

The boys have LOVED it. 

They already love George, but at Christmastime he is extra curious at our house.

So far, he's drawn faces on our family picture:

He got into the cornmeal and made snow angels on the kitchen floor...

(I didn't feel like cleaning up flour or sugar, and didn't want to waste my beloved Calrose rice, so we went with yellow snow)

He toilet papered the Christmas tree...

...and today, he is sick.  He caught the stomach bug that Justin picked up in nursery on Sunday.

(I always blame it on nursery when toddlers get sick on Tuesday).

Our 12, 10, and 7 yr old BOYS especially loved the Thousand Island "monkey vomit". 

Hopefully he doesn't pass the bug on to the rest of the family, because we just had it at Halloween time. 

 It's NOT our turn again.

Leaves are falling all around...

We have a fairly low-maintenance yard...until fall, that is.

Last Saturday, we (and I use the term "we" loosely) spent several hours raking, blowing, and mulching leaves.  

When we moved in a year ago (on Dec. 17th) there was not a leaf in sight.  I had no idea how much work the previous owner had put into the yard before we closed.  Apparently Todd had an idea, because he spent his Christmas money last year on a leaf blower/mulcher.  

I made fun of him.

Now I'm eating my words.

As he was sucking up the last of these  leaves I found myself asking,

 "Are there any bigger, badder leaf blowers out there?"

The boys "helped".

 ...a lot.

 Okay, I may have joined in the fun, too.  Until I found myself in danger of being mulched...

The next day, when we came home from church, the yard looked like this:

See those two garbage bags?  That's all the leaves from the day before after they were mulched.  You can't believe how heavy they were...

Thanksgiving

 We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at home this year with Todd's mom (Linda) and sister (Elizabeth).

Every year I get better at getting the meal done on time and on the table, and this year was by far the easiest.

(...except for the fact that when I checked the turkey the night before, it was still frozen SOLID.  It turns out some curious little hands turned the dial in the fridge in our garage and everything was frozen: broccoli, milk, sour cream, and the turkey.  I put the turkey in the sink in some water, and got up twice in the night to make sure the water was still cold.  At 6:30 AM, I turned the water to hot, and wrestled with that naked bird until he was thawed, and stuck him in the fridge.)

Apparently, Butterball turkeys do not come with string to "truss" the turkey. In case you were wondering, 

using blue dental floss instead will leave a blue line on your turkey.

 Linda ordered our rolls from Golden Corral, which freed up the oven for the stuffing and sweet potatoes, 

while I made the gravy and snitched the "guts".

  

I love the "guts". The liver is my  favorite.

I set the table the night before, and Elizabeth and I came up with the "turkey" napkins all on our own, 

with no help whatsoever from Pinterest.

Linda brought that cute turkey shaped butter, and the boys had lots of fun slicing its head off.

 We also had pumpkin pie, and this cake:

 No, I didn't make the cake.  I don't make pretty cakes.  Costco made this pretty cake. 

 I just transported it to my pretty cake plate (which was no easy task). 

We spent the afternoon watching White Christmas.

A few days later, Linda taught the boys to crochet.  They've been chaining up a storm, and even though he's not pictured, Caleb has the longest chain so far.  It's at least as big as a full size afghan.  In their next lesson, they'll learn to attach row 2.

(Brayden is wearing his PE uniform, hence the reason his name is broadcast in large letters on his shirt)