A Merry Little Christmas

Christmas 2013 was a success!  This is us on Christmas day-it was absolutely gorgeous sunny & in the 50's so we had to go to the beach for a little while.  Jeremy only had to work half of a day the entire week.  I love being all together.

Poor Hyrum didn't actually go to sleep until after 10pm & woke up before 6am because he was so excited!  Here are the oldest two waiting patiently to open their stockings.

Gooey cinnamon rolls about to go in the oven

I think it's pretty safe to say that the favorite stocking gift by far by everyone were the wands Darlin' made each kid-they are so cool!  They've been running around casting spells ever since.

 

 

Oranges, cinnamon rolls & milk-can't beat that breakfast

We've met someone in the other church ward that is a very talented wood worker.  So we paid him to make this rocking horse for Dallen - he was very excited & can get off & on all by himself which is a plus.

 

 

 

 

Never get lost again!

The kids each get 3 presents from us & then we do one gift for everyone.  It's usually a game but since we gave Justy three board games for one of his gifts we found something else.  I love our new couches but I really miss the old ones. The thing I miss most is  seeing the kids tear all the cushions off & build all sorts of different forts & boats & castles etc.  It was really cool to see how many different things their imaginations could come up with the same 8 cushions.  So even though this is different we're hoping to see more building of castles & forts with these panel/block things.

Playing Snail Races

A Kindle Fire-I was completely surprised by this one in my stocking!

We had to go outside & enjoy the sunshine & Hyrum had to try out his new scooter.  He was so excited!

We saw a giant herd of about 30 elk grazing on the golf course.  We got out of the car to get a better view.  When Justy saw them over the ridge he said 'Wow is this Africa?'  That made me laugh so hard!

2013 was a great year for our family.  Sure we had our trials & struggles but we have been so blessed in so many ways.  Our most important blessings are our family, friends & the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.  

Last week of Adventing

Day 16: Shepherd's Night is one of my favorites.  Love any chance to dress up!  We eat shepherd's pie on the floor in our shepherd's garb & talk about shepherd's & how Jesus is our Shepherd & we are His sheep & just like a shepherd would protect his sheep from wolves Jesus helps protect us from evil etc.  Daddy was the wolf-yikes!  The kids all protected their paper sheep pretty well.  And that shepherd's pie recipe was dang good!

 

 Day 17:  We found a giving tree at Fred Meyer & the kids helped us pick out the presents.  I didn't take any pictures that day so here's one of Dallen saying 'Cheeeeeeese'

Day 18:  School Winter Concert for the big boys.  They both did a great job.  The music teacher has a very difficult job let's just say that.  He didn't just have the kids sing but each class took turns doing a dance & playing instruments & singing.  They sang Hanukkah, Christmas & Kwaanza songs too. 

Half the school performed at 6:30 & the other half was at 7:30 & Hyrum & Hunter were at different times so we were there all evening.  This is how Justy felt by the second performance.  Dallen spent the evening with his best friend instead (luckily for us!)

Day 19:  Polar Express Night was a hit.  We invited some friends over -decorated trains, ate pizza & chugged hot chocolate

Day 20:  Caroling Party!  We headed up to Washington to go with my parents to their annual Christmas caroling party.  When my family moved to WA state we started this tradition with two other families in our ward.  Now all the kids are grown with their own families so there are a lot more people attending now. It has always been one of my favorite things to do this time of year. Pa with the kids by the tree :)

Day 21:  Children's Museum (Bazoonium)  Before heading home we went to the brand new Children's museum in Olympia.  It was amazing!  Seriously & Pa & Darlin' bought an annual grandparents pass so we'll be able to go often this next year.  Here's Dallen in his favorite spot-snuggled up to Daddy.

 

Day 22:  Christmas Lights - we found a couple of neighborhoods in Seaside that were pretty well decked out with lights & other decorations.

Hunter wrote the card on the left on Sunday in his class & the one on the right at the Children' Museum.  Lucky Mom award right here! So sweet.

 

Day 23:  Family Sleepover - we hadn't really watched any Christmas movies with the kids yet so we watched all the tradition ones -Rudolph, Grinch & Frosty.  We bought 'Elf' this year so maybe we'll throw that in the mix next year.  Everyone but Dallen slept out in the living room after.  We have had sooooooo many late nights this month! That's going to change really fast come January!  I just noticed looking at this picture that we still have one Halloween decoration still up - hahahaha

Day 24:  Christmas Eve!!!!  It has been so sunny & beautiful really since we moved here.  It rained one week in November (of course while Nana was here) & a few other random days but other than that it's just been gorgeous.  We went for a long walk around the neighborhood.

One of my mission companions Tammy, her sister & parents came to visit us for a couple of hours.  It was so fun to see them & catch up - they are the nicest people & once the kids warmed up they had them laughing & running & giggling like crazy.  I had forgotten how great Tammy is with kids.

We had our traditional breakfast taco's for dinner, made cookies for Santa (Jeremy), & then read & acted out the Nativity.  We have Mary & Joseph & baby Jesus (played by Hedwig) on the left.  As you can tell Emma is not a doll person she is most definitely a stuffed animal person.  We have a shepherd & his sheep on the right.

 

Here's our angel & Wise Man

And of course we can't forget the donkey.

The Wise Man imparting his special gift.  I'm not sure what the shepherd was doing??

We watched the church's 'Joy to the World' DVD, got the kids to bed & then made our over night Christmas cinnamon rolls & watched 'Elf'.  I didn't used to think this movie was at all funny but I think I'm changing my mind.  

It's been a wonderful month full of fun traditions.  And now I'm ready to get back to eating less sugar & the kids going to bed at 7:30 again!