Christmas DAY

We will start with Christmas Eve, of which I took VERY few photos. Ty and Heather came over that night for dinner of burgers and hot dogs (yes we grilled out on Christmas Eve. I know...I'm crazy. It sounded good. And it was!) We hung out and chatted for a while. The kids ran around and played. Except Leah kept complaining that her stomach was hurting. I kept thinking she had eaten too much candy. Well, I was wrong. About 7:30 pm, she threw up. Ty and Heather left. We got her cleaned up, got the house cleaned up and tried to settle down for the night. Needless to say it was not the evening I was hoping for. *sigh* Oh well, I guess I have next Christmas Eve. 

We did manage to make and decorate some sugar cookies to leave for Santa. (Don't worry, I threw all the cookies that Leah touched, in the garbage.) Then I watched my traditional "The Nativity Story" and went to bed. Luckily all gifts were already wrapped and everything was ready for Christmas morning. No staying up late for me. Santa was coming. I had to get to bed.

Kids decorating cookies. The boys didn't last too long. Shocker! 

                                     

This was when Leah really started to not feel well. Poor thing.

Little Kylan playing in the wrapping paper.

Cookies for Santa. Yay!

And come he did!

Carter got a new music activity center and Brandon got an awesome Optimus Prime Transformer.

Leah got the Barbie doll and carriage she wanted, and Ashlyn got another American Girl Doll. 

This year I decided to wrap each of our kids gifts in one kind of paper. That way the kids could easily find their gifts in the morning. It worked out quite well. And they were so cute about it. Even Brandon could help hand out gifts because he knew what paper went with which person. I think I like that idea.

In all the commotion of the evening before, we didn't have the kids open their new jammies. 

Ashlyn was quite excited to see her "My American Girl" doll that she had requested from Santa. I can't say she was really surprised though. She knew she had been a good girl all year and was fully expecting to get what she asked for. 

And now this sad little face is not the face of a girl who didn't get what she wanted. It's the face of a little girl who is QUITE upset that she isn't feeling well. I felt awful for her. What could be worse to a five year old than being sick on Christmas morning. She could barely muster the energy to be excited for her gifts. The poor little thing. She mostly just laid on the couch and had Brandon bring her her gifts.

Carter was much more interested in his toys this Christmas than he was last year. 

Granted, he was only 7 weeks old last Christmas.

This was one excited little boy, who probably didn't deserve a new transformer from Santa for all the fits he's been throwing lately. I guess Santa decided to cut him a little slack though since he is just three years old, and it's hard to be three I guess. He had Daddy tearing in to the box in no time.

The one and only picture of me on Christmas morning. So no matter how awful it is, it has to go on the blog for posterities sake.

Mustering a bit of energy to be excited for her globe piggy bank.

It was all too much effort though and pretty soon she crashed.

But Carter still had plenty of energy so he kept on playing....in the trio blocks box. 

Ashlyn is one VERY lucky little girl and got a Kindle Fire from her Pop. She LOVES to read, and her Pop knew that, so when he won one at work, he thought he'd pass it along to her. She didn't waste anytime having me download a few new Magic Treehouse books for her to read. 

Brandon got a few other transformers from us and one from Ty and Heather, so he was in Transformer Heaven.

And he wasn't about to share. (Poor little Carter. I keep telling Brandon that he better be nice to his brother because one day he's gonna start fighting back.)

Carter playing on his new pirate ship from Uncle Steve.

And here's my poor little sick girl. She wanted so badly to get up and start playing with her toys, but she just didn't have it in her and fell asleep sitting up in her chair.

 Since it was Sunday, we had Church. But since Leah was sick, I stayed home with the kids while Paul went to church by himself. He had to speak that day and so there was no staying home for him. I was sad to miss his talk. I spent the rest of the day packing up for our trip to Utah the next day. Well....it was suppose to be the next day. But about 10 pm that night Paul thought it'd be a great idea to just go ahead and leave and drive through the night... So we did. Stay tuned for our exciting trip details. 

Christmas Programs

It's been a fun week of Holiday Programs at the kids schools.

 First off was Leah's on Monday morning. I had Brandon and Carter with me so I brought my IPad thinking it would help keep Brandon happy while we waited for the show to start. Well, Carter started fussing for Brandon to let him see the IPad too, and since Brandon didn't want to share, a fight ensued. I took the IPad away from Brandon for not being willing to share and you would have thought I cut off his arm. He started kicking and screaming and causing such a commotion that I had to take him outside. He wouldn't calm down outside either so I left him on the corner outside and I tried to stand at the door to hear the last part of her program. I heard a tiny bit of it, and then it was over. Brandon sat in his room most of the morning while I calmed down from being so upset with him that I missed her show. And that was that! I guess I always have next years program, right? 

On Wednesday though I got a sitter and got to be at Leah's Class Christmas  Party. That was lots of fun. They made gingerbread houses, and had treats outside on the patio. The kids in the class are all so fun and Leah just lights up when I come in. I'm glad I'm able to go from time to time.

On Wednesday was Ashlyn's program. THIS TIME, I left the IPad at home and my morning went much smoother (although it might have had something to do with the major threat I gave Brandon before getting there telling him he'd sit in his room again all day if he threw another fit like he had on Monday). I'm so nice huh!

Her class sang three really good songs and I got to sit next to my friend Brooke who's son, Luke, is also in Ashlyn's class. 

Thursday was Brandon's turn. This is where he was while the rest of his class was......

...here. Acting out the story of the Nativity.

Oh well. At least he wasn't throwing a fit. 

He did perk up when Grandma K and Grandma B presented him with a stuffed Penquin (their class mascot). 

And even though he looks completely uninterested in sitting in Santa's lap in this picture, he was indeed excited to be there. Just nervous. Santa gave him a puzzle and a candy cane. But Brandon couldn't understand why he didn't get a Transformer from him, which is what he asked for. I told him he had to wait until Christmas Day to see if he has been good enough to get one. 

And this is why I never walk into Hallmark. Because I can't come out without some cute little treasure. I was so excited when I saw it, that it practically jumped into my hands. It had to be mine!

The candles were a gift to me from Leah's Kindergarten teacher. Nice huh! 

Some December Fun

It's been a busy, fun, overwhelming, exciting, exhausting, entertaining month so far. I'd be lying if I said it's all been bliss. It can be quite hectic getting Christmas ready for four little kids. So many expectations landing on "mom's" lap. But I'd also be lying if I said I haven't had a really great month so far either. Here are a few pictures from what we've done.

At the beginning of the month my friend Brooke put on a great "Homemade Christmas Party". This party seriously gets better and better every year. Some of the homemade gifts were just AMAZING! I can't believe the talent some people have. I made an etched candle/candy/potpourri holder. It's pictured below. It wasn't one of the amazing gifts by far, but I was proud of it. And it went to a good home. I got a really cute Jewelry holder that coincidentally matches my bedding set exactly, so I was happy.

Dreamworks hosts a "Holiday Bazaar" every year. I don't usually go but since Paul had a booth set up selling "Mugtuk" dolls, I decided to get a sitter and come check it out. There were so many booths with really cool things for sell. I got the girls some stocking stuffer type things. Mostly hair clips and bows, and a cute little "tooth fairy" pillow I'm excited for them to have (tired of trying to find something to stick that tiny little tooth in). Then I found a couple of really cute feather clips for me. 

A friend of ours, Brad, had a surprise Birthday party at a restaurant down in Burbank for his wife Jackie. We got to go. We missed the "surprise" part since I had a primary assignment at the Stake Baptism earlier that evening, but we got there in plenty of time for dinner and to hang out and chat for a while. It was lots of fun and the food was really good. 

We took the kids on our traditional outing to the "Wakefield Winter Wonderland" lights. This year I did the inviting of friends and before I knew it over 50 people were coming in our group (I can't say I'm not blessed with good friends that's for sure. I'm SO grateful for them). I was worried we would all just lose each other, but surprisingly enough we stayed together pretty well and it was a really fun night. 

But there were FAR too many people to get a decent group shot like we like to get. Here's our best attempt in panoramic view.

Got a cute photo of the Phillips Family. One of our besties, who just moved less than a mile from us. I'm so excited to have them closer that I could scream. I think I have a few times. 

Brandon is indeed IN this picture. You just have to play "Where's Waldo" to find him. Surprising? No, not really. He's so finicky when it comes to picture taking. It's just not worth the fight most of the time. Paul is still in his suit because he literally came screaching into the driveway minutes after all our other friends arrived ready to caravan over to the lights. Poor guy. He was at church late doing tithing (the day after tithing settlement). Of course, the nice wife I am, was totally bugged that he was late. I know.... I gotta work on that patience level from time to time. It's just tough sometimes having him gone ALL day Sunday and then expecting him home and then not having it happen. I was, at least, decent enough to make him some dinner that he could eat on the way there. Sorry honey! I will try to be better. 

We had our ward Christmas party the next weekend. I was suppose to be more helpful with this party but with Paul in charge of Activities also, it never quite works out that well. He's trying to run in one direction and I'm trying to go in another and there aren't enough of us to watch the kids. We brought Grace along with us because Ashlyn had been at a Girl Scout Holiday party RIGHT before this. It actually helped keep the girls happy and in one spot. It was the boys we were mostly chasing. But it all turned out well in the end. The Primary kids did a cute nativity re-inactment. I got barfed on by Carter right as it was starting and I was suppose to be directing the shepherds. Luckily Paul had that "little feeling/thought" (thank you Holy Ghost) to get up and see if he could help me RIGHT as Carter started throwing up, so he was able to rush him off to the bathroom to clean him up. I ran to the girls restroom to get as clean as I could and I was still able to get back to my "shepherds" in time to not mess up the program. As a side note: No, Carter was not sick. He just likes to throw up a lot. Ha...really he just gagged on a little tiny piece of leaf he had picked up off the ground and that's all it took to bring his dinner up. Lovely huh!

Paul was then in charge of the Nativity movie (done by the church), so he handed Carter back off to me and got to his duty. 

And despite the barfing incident, the night was really a lot of fun. I ate lots of yummy food and did get to sit and enjoy the night chatting with some friends at neighboring tables. 

Seriously??!!

Look who decided he was big enough to CLIMB up on the table. Never have I had a child climb on the table....or anywhere dangerous like that. And he was fast. I had my back to him while looking something up on the computer. My heart about dropped when I turned around. 

Paul turned 34!

Which means I'm next...which is quite depressing, so let's not talk about it. So now back to Paul since this is HIS post. This past Saturday Paul turned 34! Wow....like how did that even happen? That means I've known him for 13 years. More than a 1/3 of his life. But that is going back to me. Sorry honey! Haha...Okay now really... we had a fun birthday weekend with him. We decided to start celebrating on Friday night since we were going out on Saturday without the kids. As soon as I picked up Ashlyn and Leah from school I told them it was operation "Get ready for Daddy's party". They got all excited. I told them their duties were to clean up the house (pretty sneaky of me huh? But it TOTALLY worked. Wish I could use that excuse more often.) and make birthday posters. They got right on it. I started making the cake (thanks for the stick of butter Brooke) and cooking his usually requested birthday dinner of ....wait for it.....tacos. Yup, that's right. Tacos. He always requests them for his birthday. Works for me cuz they're easy. So it's a win win. Anyway, so we hung balloons from the ceiling (thanks for the idea pinterest), taped up posters all around and got organized. After the cake was done, I decided we needed some more Christmas lawn decorations (that goes with his party right? SURE), so we rushed over to Lowe's and bought a blow up nativity scene and some net lighting. That along with our snowflake stakes and soon to be put up icicles, and our front yard will FINALLY have some Christmas decorations. Okay, I keep getting side tracked. Back to Paul. So I had Paul text me right before he got home so the kids could hide and "surprise" him. Then we all sat down to dinner, ate some yummy food, had cake and ice cream and opened a few gifts. Hooray! It was a fun evening (except for Carter who was throwing fits but ya know....nothing's ever perfect right). The next day Paul and I went out to lunch at Rubios (his pick), where he ordered....wait for it....tacos. Yes, you heard me right. Tacos....again! But I guess in his defense, this time they were FISH tacos. I do not make those. So lunch was yummy and then we headed over to the theater to see "Hugo". Totally amazing movie. Go see it....you will love it! Here are some pictures from the weekend. I didn't take that many unfortunately.

Next year I will be sure to actually GET IN one of the pictures. 

These were all gifts from the "kids". He got a new stylus for his ipad, President Monson's biography, some body wash and smelly spray (for men), a new cover for his iphone, and an itunes gift card. 

Like my ghetto cake? Obviously I didn't have 34 candles, so I made a 3 out of candles and then stuck a number 4 candle I had left over from Leah's birthday a couple of years ago. Kind of pathetic I know. But it worked! 

I wonder what he wished for?