Christmas Eve At the Joneses

The Nativity-All the grandkids put on the Nativity. Chelise was Mary. Eden was the Angel and the Star, but she wanted to be a sheep, Larke was the Wise Men, Alec and Dallin were the shepherds, and Gideon was Joseph. My favorite part of this years Nativity was when Gideon picked up the baby Jesus and put him on Larke's ducky pillow pet. Maybe he thought it would be more comfortable. All the kids gathered around it and Larke didn't mind sharing with the baby Jesus. It was great.

Making ornaments-The kids really enjoyed making ornaments after dinner. They also enjoyed just coloring on the butcher paper. It was a fun way to keep them occupied.

Brent trying to win over a coloring Rushmore. Only if you give him more fruit snacks Brent.
Melissa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't Preston just adorable. I love his curly hair.

The kid table-what goofballs

Loving on Indy

Rush being cute over Mac and Cheese.

Playing with Grandpa's iPad

Larke still loving on her duckies.All the kids loved this snow globe.

We had a fun and full Christmas Eve at the Joneses. A nativity, crafts for kids, little presents for the kids, family stories, good food and awesome company. It was a great time. Thanks so much to Joy and Mike for hosting and putting up with all of us crazies. We loved being there and spending such a wonderful holiday with you all.

Retirement

Larke saying farewell to her 1st 2 duckies.
4 year old ducky, 2 year old ducky, brand new ducky

Maybe it is silly of me to allow this obsession with the ducky to remain so healthy and strong. I can't help it, she is just so stinking cute about her ducky. My mom has made Larke yet another ducky, a final ducky to the ducky trilogy. About a month and a half ago Larke's newer ducky started getting a hole in it. Matt kept encouraging me to fix it, but I kind of felt like it was a lost cause. I knew Larke was not above accepting new duckies so I asked my mom if she would make her a new, last ducky blanket. I had plans for the old ones. After Larke opened her ducky blanket and her new ducky pillow pet (total surprise to us all and complete score, of course Larke adores it) she said farewell to her old duckies. I cut them up. I kept a small piece of each to scrapbook and a larger piece of each that she could keep in the car for when we went places. Larke, I believe has accepted that this ducky is a stay at home ducky. Then we threw the rest away. Larke obviously doesn't mind. Look at that smile. She just told me tonight that the thing she was grateful for today is her new ducky blanket. She loves that it is so soft. She has given up her pillow of late and will only use her ducky pillow pet to sleep on. After she opened those presents I think she thanked my mom every 5 minutes for them for the rest of the time we were there. Hopefully her sweetness and gratitude made up for Rush being a stinker. Thanks Mom, for making Larke's Christmas awesome!

Our Visit at Grma and Grpa Christenson's

Eden playing with her tiny tea set from my parents. She loves it, it is perfect for her.

Rush being cute with toys at my parents. It may have been the only time he was cute the whole time we were there. So glad I documented it.

Larke playing with toy ice cream. She carried it around half the time we were there.
Eden being very silly stuffing ornaments into her leotard.Larke, so tired she fell asleep on the kitchen floor with her beloved ducky.

The kids love playing playdough and air hockey at my parents. There is a lot of space to play in and toys to play with. We also got to build a snowman with all that snow we drove through. I have no documentation because I was having too much fun building it and because I had to stop because Rushmore was screaming. As Gideon was putting the finishing touches on our snowman, it all fell apart. It was so sad. I was actually watching from the window telling Gideon that his cousins were there to play with him. He had made a face with pieces of wood and had done such a great job. I watched it all crumble and I saw Gideon's despair. It was pretty tragic to see him work so hard and have it all fall apart.

Rushmore was such a punk at my parents house. Every time my poor mother would enter a room he would scream at her even if he had just been playing with her minutes before. He got to have rides on her walker and talk to her and show her how he stuck the toys on his fingers and still I can't count the number of times he screamed at her because she walked in his general direction. I got so mad at him as we were packing to leave. He was being especially bratty that morning. (probably overtired and teething, but still) I finally looked at him and told him off. I don't believe he yelled at her anymore. Maybe he just needed a stern talking too. Thankfully I know my Mom still loves me and a very undeserving Rushmore.

I love being with my family and I am so glad we got to share part of our Christmas with them.

Evanston

As I said in my last post we did not leave until after the girls dance recital around 6pm for my parents. There was snow the whole way. It was the snowiest drive we have ever had thus far. The roads were never super scary (well to Matt anyway, I may have been a tad bit scared). We made it to Rock Springs around 12:30 and I was pretty done in and wanted to stop for the night. We decided to carry on the trek and after gas and potty breaks got back on the road around 12:50 or so. We didn't make it to Evanston until 3am and by then I was completely done in. We stopped at a Motel and tried our very best to get some rest. The kids were troopers and did awesome in the car. They slept and were pretty good about transferring to the room. We tried to let Rush sleep in bed with us, but after a while he wasn't interested. We put his blanket on the floor and I laid down with him there. He fell asleep in about 5 minutes that way. He woke up around 5am but I did the same thing with him again and he fell right back to sleep. It was not the most comfortable bed, but we were no longer on snowy roads in a moving vehicle. The kids loved waking up in the morning in the hotel. Matt got some cute pictures of everyone. While Eden was in the bathroom he got a picture of Gideon and Larke really asleep. Everyone started getting up then and he was trying to reenact a sleeping picture with all three of the older kids and Larke kept on opening her eyes. He'd say "let's try again, this time Larke, shut your eyes, pretend to be asleep" She just could not keep those eyes shut. We have like 6 pictures of them in bed together, every single one Larke has her eyes open. The kids thought it was so awesome to watch cartoons in the hotel room. They also loved the continental breakfast. All in all it was a swell yet tiring adventure for us all.

Christmas Recital

So we left for Utah on the 20th, but before we could leave we needed to watch our cute little girls dance in their Christmas Recital. Larke's class danced to Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. We recorded it, but it did not turn out very well. So I'll try to describe the funny stuff she did. First the girls were supposed to be swinging their bodies from side to side. Larke was doing this funny thing where she was bending her knees instead. She did the silliest curtsy. She constantly watched the teacher off stage to see what she was supposed to be doing. She forgot to blow a kiss at the end and started walking off stage when the teacher stopped her to blow a kiss(it was so sweet and cute). Larke was so adorable. I was proud of her for getting up there and not being scared. In fact when I picked her up she was crying because she wanted to do it again.

Eden did so good on her dance. They danced to a song called Cookies and Milk that I have never heard before, but very cute. She hardly looked at the teacher at all and was full of smiles and confidence. My favorite part of Eden's dance was when all the girls took turns partnering up in the middle of the stage and popping all their limbs out like a star. Eden was the last girl to go and did a perfect star jump all by herself that was so cute. Then she ended it with a perfect curtsy and a kiss and wave to the crowd. She was so pleased with the crowd cheering her on she held up the line to get off the stage.

I was so proud of both our girls and look forward to their recital in May.

December Randomness

I am not quite sure where December went. One minute it was here and I was crazy busy and the next it's all over and it's a new year to boot. These are some of the things we did in December before we traveled to Utah to visit family. We did building kids club at Home Depot. We saw the Parade of Lights downtown. The older kids loved it and insisted on sticking it out until Santa came, but Rushmore was a pill. We went to the Winterfest in our town. The kids favorite part of that was getting Rudolph glasses, so that when they would look at all the lit up trees they saw Rudolph everywhere. Matt and I were trying to reenact one of our favorite pictures of Gideon when he was a baby. At the Winterfest in 2003 Gideon wore the same jacket that Rushmore was wearing this year, but we just could not get Rushmore to smile. And for some reason we thought Gideon was up on Matt's shoulders, but he wasn't. Oh well, they were still cute pictures.

Decorating for Christmas was fun this year. The kids were so excited to help. Matt left the lights rolled up, lit, and up on the roof like that for 3 days. He wanted to put up a sign that said baa hum bug. I finally got up there and did them myself. I am grateful I didn't fall down. I am also grateful that when my phone slid down the roof that it landed in the bushes and received no damage whatsoever. Last but not least I made about a million cookies with my sister and friend to give to those we love. Always a good but stressful time. I made fudge, peanut brittle, fudge jumbos, cashew caramel thumbprints, meringue santa hats and pecan pie bites. And I gained 3 pounds in December so I must have enjoyed the food. Rushmore it turns out has gotten in all four of his eye teeth this month so all the grumpiness was somewhat warranted.

Laughter

This happened sometime in the month of December. It happens alot, but this time I actually caught it on the camera. Larke has been sitting on her siblings for years making her giggle. Now I guess it is time for her to repay the favor. I love hearing laughter in our house, it makes life so much more fun.