Christmas

The older we get, the more complicated Christmas seems to get. It's hard to combine the traditions from our two families that we were raised in, with the traditions that each family wants to add individually, and figure out the way we want to do things for ourselves. With that being said, even though it gets harder, Christmas gets better with each new child, and with each of them getting older.

 We had a heck of a time figuring out what Meili wanted from Santa this year. She said she wanted a unicorn-which we just got for her birthday from Build-a-Bear workshop. But she said that she wanted one that was soft, but that she could ride on, and was as big as her. I tried to tell her that Santa couldn't bring her a real unicorn, and she insisted that that's not what she meant, but it sure sounded like it to me. Finally, the day that she was going to sit on Santa's lap, she told him that she wanted new clothes for the unicorn she already has. Sweet!

Grant had no choice. Meili told Santa he wanted a Paw Patrol blanket. I'm pretty sure that he would have said he wanted a truck though. Luckily, dad already had that covered.

 About a week before, my mom saw this with Meili when they were shopping, and decided she needed to have it. But she couldn't give it to Meili with all the other grandkids at her house, so we worked it into our Christmas morning plans. The only problem is when Meili decides that "Star" needs to come places with us in the car, or sleep in bed with her.

 Yes, Grant got his truck!

Josh tried to get me to scale back this year, and he I think he was mostly successful. Next year, I'll have to remind myself that he's right. The kids don't care, and they love Christmas regardless of how many presents they get.


...And... these are out of order, but I just realized that I didn't include Christmas Eve. Josh and I thought for a long time about what we wanted to do for Christmas Eve. We've always been with one of our families, and with plans this year, that didn't seem that it was going to work out. So Josh mentioned sledding, and I thought it sounded fun to try something different as far as food, so I did a crockpot chicken. It turned out that my parents ended up coming to Cache Valley that night, so we spent the night with Nick's family, my parents, and our family. It wasn't necessarily what I originally envisioned, but it was really fun.

 Grant, for whatever reason, decided to wake up super early that morning, and we all paid for it the rest of the day. Here he is at 10:00, already nearly dead asleep.

 When we finally did go sledding, Meili loved it, and could have stayed all day. Grant wasn't so sure about it, and the fact that he was so tired, just added to that. He pretty much just cried all day long until he had a nice long nap.

I am totally willing to make sledding our Christmas Eve tradition though. (Provided that we actually have snow-which is not always the case.)

Winter Musts

It's one of our family traditions to go to the Live Nativity in Nibley before Christmas. This year Jared and Amy's family joined us. Meili always likes the animals more than the nativity itself-Grant was no different.

 For some reason, Moses the camel was not a fan of Josh this year-which Jared made sure to tell the family about.

 I didn't realize how much I really love snow until we didn't have it last year. So thank goodness, this year we have had a few good snow storms that we have been able to actually enjoy the snow!

 Meili is a snowbunny. She could play in the snow for hours everyday and never get cold.

 Grant's still learning to like the snow. He definitely likes it, but just can't last quite so long. But can you blame him? It's hard when you're gloves keep falling off... and you keep falling down... and you're mom dresses you all in pink because she refuses to buy new snow clothes.

 Look at that snowman! This is the first snowman that I've built that hasn't fallen down the same day! In fact, a month later, he/she is still going strong!

Weirdos

And now for some random...

 These pictures are from the day that we received a package in the mail, and I thought to myself, "Sure, I can be the fun mom that lets her kids play in the packaging peanuts and not freak out."

 ...For like 45 minutes...

 ...Until I became a Stark-Raving Lunatic.

 Because the mess from packaging peanuts...

 ...Is no joke.

 In December, I decided it was time for Grant to switch to a big boy bed. I was going to stay 2 nights at my parents' house by myself, and the next week, my parents were going to watch our kids overnight. And the pack-n-play wasn't cutting it anymore for Grant.

 I'm always so nervous about these transitions, but as has so often happened with my kids, Grant has been awesome! It's never been easier to put him to bed than in the last month. I think he really likes that he feels like he has freedom, even though he doesn't really feel the need to exercise it. Before we put the gates on his bed, he did fall out a couple times, but nothing serious, and I did find him asleep on the recliner in their room once. But besides that: smooth sailing. And (aside from getting sick) he has been sleeping better; I think, because he needed more space.

 These pictures are titled, "Why we need siblings." Because, as mom, I never would have thought of putting socks on my hands and skating around the kitchen floor. But apparently it is amazing.

 As a side note, now, every time Grant sees this socks, he is very upset when I try to convince him that they actually go on his feet.

 

 This was also the day that I told Meili it looked like she was "in mourning" because she was wearing black from head to toe. She proudly came home from preschool that day and said, "Mom, none of the kids at preschool said I was mourning today."

 

I stand corrected.

 Pardon the awful settings on my phone, but just one more use for our throw pillows that I never would have thought of.

Gingerbread Houses

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the two days prior to our gingerbread house party at my parents' house, which means that all the time that my mom had planned to be able to get things ready, was taken by my kids and I. I figured it was only fair that I help out a little, since she had changed her plans for me. Between my brother and I staying up later Friday night, we were able to get all the pieces of the houses made, and the next morning, I glued them all together so my mom could do other last minute preparations.

 Over the years, we have learned some things about how to make our gingerbread party better, and I think this was the smoothest so far. My mom decided a few years ago that it's easier to have all the houses already made, so all the kids have to do is decorate, and their parents can help them, rather than focusing on building the houses. My mom also has scaled back the sizes of the houses every year, because we realized that a lot of the kids are done decorating after the roof anyway. We also started saving the extra candy from one year to the next, and have grown quite a stash. Then we bring a couple new items that we know we can eat. This year, we also decided to have a couple of the siblings share a house so we didn't have to make quite so many. As I said, I would say it was a success. Everybody's house actually got finished. I felt like the parents could relax a little, and it helps that we have a few grandkids that are old enough to know what they're doing on their own now.

 Grant did decorate a bit of the house, but he contributed more in making sure that none of the good candy went to waste.

 This is my family's house. Meili stuck with it longer than she ever has before, but I finished some of the empty spaces.

 If I remember this was Ruby's.

 This is Shasta and Shelby's. Shasta definitely knew which kind of candy was her favorite. I don't blame her. That's the one I would have used too.

 Chloe was quite the decorator this year. She did her house almost entirely by herself, and she had some really cute elements.

 Nick's

and last but not least, Gigi's.

Holiday Update

Due to some computer issues, I've been behind (which I know only matters to me.) But it is already the middle of January and I haven't even started on our family scrapbook for the year which is eating me alive! (The past few years, it would have already been in the mail by now!) So, I've decided it's time to get over my fear of using our new computer, and get on it. Easier said than done. Also, there are some pictures missing between my last post, and these pictures, but they are now trapped on a computer that will no longer charge. :( So that's a problem for another day.

 

Well the holidays are long past, and we enjoyed them just about as much as possible. Beginning in October I held my breath and crossed all my fingers and toes that none of us would get sick, and spoil our plans. By some miracle, we all managed to hold it off until the week after Christmas, and then it hit all 4 of us. But, honestly, if there is a "good time to get sick," that's probably as close as it comes.

 This is our thankful tree that we made for Family Home Evening before Thanksgiving. It was more fun this year that Meili could actually contribute meaningful ideas, and she is really into writing the words for herself as well as drawing pictures.

 If I remember right, there was a weekend that I stayed at my parents house that we went to Festival of Trees on Thursday (some of the pictures on my other computer), then the lights at Temple Square on Friday, and decorated gingerbread houses on Saturday (next post.)

 The kids were a little nuts at temple square, but compared to our experience last year, I think it went fabulously, and no one lost an appendage due to frostbite-which is always in question at temple square.

Nothing quite so beautiful as the lights at Temple Square with family!