A Merry Little Chrristmas

Our Christmas was very calm and simple this year. We actually got hit with a nasty stomach flu starting on about the 20th. It swept through our house on a rampage hitting 7 out of 8 of us within 3-4 days (and then there were a couple of flair ups again a few days later). Luckily no one was throwing up Christmas Day, but we still weren't all back to normal. Even with that plus the busyness of December we still managed to get in all our Christmas traditions: baking and delivering goodies to friends, Christmas caroling, 12 Days of Christmas, reading Christmas stories, listening to lots of Christmas music, donating gifts/stocking to kids in need, seeing Christmas lights (we did this while we were on our trip at the end of November). We went to our ward Christmas party. This year the theme was A Night in Bethlehem. We all dressed up for that time period. Sean was one of the Wisemen for the nativity. They sang "We Three Kings", which many people mentioned was the highlight of the program. The whole gym was set up like a city marketplace. There were stations where we got our food (cheese, bread, olives, fruit, vegetables and treats of course), there was a clothing station, there were stations for kids to do games and make crafts. All of the stations required money (we got a bag of coins at the beginning of the night). It was great. We sang in our Sacrament Christmas program. I am the choir director, so I was leading the music. It turned out beautiful. We sang "Sing a Glad Noel," "Stars were Gleaming" (with a children's choir singing the first verse), "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and "Peace, Peace, Peace" (where the congregation comes in to sing Silent Night at the end). The youth speaker (who was doing a great job) got sick right there at the podium. He actually told his mom earlier that day he wasn't feeling well. She said exactly what I would have said, "It's probably just your nerves".....whoops. But it was wonderful to sing and listen and feel the true meaning of Christmas. We did our regular Christmas Eve things: Ham dinner with fancy dishes, reading the account of the Savior's Birth, reading "Jabeez Dawz," getting in matching pajamas and taking a family picture, watching "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and then heading off to bed. The kids actually forgot to leave anything out for Santa. Luckily he helped himself to peppermint ice cream and left them a note about it :) The next morning we could hear the kids awake at just before 7. No one is allowed in the living room until the music comes on. Sean and I came down and got the music going which was immediately followed by the pounding of feet running down the stairs. Santa left Megan her very own pet kitty ("a dream come true" she said), Ben got his own tablet, Caelan got a desk, Nathan got a sled, Austin got trike. We opened presents (the kids all got gifts for each other throughout the month of December...with their own, earned money). Caelan got some jewelry kits, a gift certificate to get her ears pierced, a journal.... Ben got his Journal book (the book I put together for the Christmas after they turn 8 - a bound copy of their online journal), Legos, books... Nothing could top the kitten for Meg, but she also got a vanity set, a barbie, hair things, Littlest Pet Shop home.....Nathan got cars and a retractable raceway, his own real tools (he asked almost everyone we saw for the next week if they thought they were "real tools or fake." He was quite thrilled with these real tools). Austin got a car track too and a velcro ball game. Sean and I got a VitaMix (actually Sean got me one and his parents got one for both of us). We love it! Sean got a welding blanket for his smoker. We spent the rest of the day hanging around in our jammies playing with our new toys, watching movies, playing games, doing puzzles, etc. A perfect family celebration.

Sunday Best for Christmas

I wanted to get a picture of the whole family before church on the Sunday before Christmas, but I didn't quite have my act together enough to do it. I ended up bringing Ian and Austin home from church early (Ian had had a fever for two days). They both fell asleep on the ride home, so I sat in the car for about 45 minutes listening to Christmas music. Ian woke up first so we took a quick shot together. By the time the kids got home, Austin was in NO MOOD to take a picture, so I got a separate shot of him later when he was in a better mood. Sean had to take the youth around to deliver Christmas baskets immediately after dropping the kids off at home, so I didn't get a picture of him at all. Just know - he was looking sharp too:)

Happy Birthday Miss Magoo

Megan turned 7 years old. My, how the time flies. We had a pretty simple little family birthday party. She chose a Little Mermaid cake, so we did an under-the-sea theme and found an Ariel to put on top. Turned out pretty cute. She was thrilled with her gifts (even the clothes elate this little girl). Megan is such a joy. She is so fun and spunky and social and loving. She can make friends with pretty much anyone (regardless of age, sex, personality, etc). She is a real hugger. This girl loves affection. Once she is your friend, you will know it: she'll hug you, sit on your lap, climb all over you, etc. Megan has really become a good reader this past year. She brings stacks of books to bed with her and reads. Once she's done reading she likes the lights all the way off in her room. She is a good student. She brings home good grades, but also her teacher tells me often what a wonderful classmate she is. She accepts and reaches out to new students, she helps kids that are struggling, she is very compassionate to anyone that is having a hard time. Megan is strong willed at home, but when she harnesses that will she does really great things. She is our cleaner (granted, she also is one of our biggest mess-makers, but at least she is good at cleaning it up). There are times when she'll decide she wants to clean and she'll go from room to room getting things done. She is an animal lover. She loves all types of animals. She's been asking me for a pet kitten since August. We think we might consider something like that for Christmas....we'll see. Megan isn't a picky eater. There are a few things she's not fond of: sweet potatoes in particular, but most things she'll try. She likes to sing, play barbies and ponies, do hair and nails, read, color, help me cook, swim, watch movies, etc. We love Meg to bits - she is such a joy in our home.

Mr. E-Sauce

E-Sauce: that's one of our nicknames for Ian. That as well as "E." He is our little thumb sucking dude. He'll take his binkie, but most of the time he plays with it. In fact, he does this funny trick where he sucks his binkie while he is sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth. It looks so funny. He loves to gnaw on it and chew it. Whenever I am wrapping him up in his blanket at night, he will immediately stick his thumb in his mouth. He'll also do it when he fussy and has dropped his binkie. I have always tried to steer my kids in a direction other than the thumb (which has always worked up until now), but Ian loves it....and I have to admit, it is one of my favorite things that he does, especially when he cuddles up on me while he is sucking his thumb. Precious! He is a good little baby. He likes to be with people, but he is pretty happy in his bouncy seat or sometimes we put him in the Exersaucer (which he sometimes will be content to play in for a while and other times he hates it immediately). He smiles and giggles. He is our little light weight. I couldn't believe he could fit into the little Tigger Halloween costume that Nathan and Austin wore for Halloween (because he was 5 months old wearing a 0-3 month costume). I haven't started solid foods yet, but I do occasionally give his tastes of soft things that I am eating, which so far he has been a big fan of.

Soccer Season

Our Saturdays were sufficiently filled up with soccer games for about 8 weeks straight, but I have to admit I love it. I realize we won't have much free time on Saturdays for a couple of months each time I sign the kids up, but I so look forward to watching the games and seeing them improve. Nathan played for the first time this season as well as Megan. We have asked Megan in the past if she wanted to sign up and she has never seemed interested at all. Somewhere in the middle of Spring season she mentioned that maybe next time she would want to play. And she still had the desire when we signed up for Fall season. She was a total surprise to us. Our little girlie girl has some serious SCRAP to her. She got right in there scoring goals and going after the ball. Her coach said on multiple occasions that she was the most improved, especially since she was a first time player, and that she really listened to him when he gave direction (and then would do it). It was great to watch. I volunteered to be a referee and was assigned to be the ref for Megan's team, so I didn't get to do as much screaming and yelling as I would have like :) I had to be fair and impartial as the ref. This was super challenging on the first game when I was right there by all the action and Megan got the ball and started heading right towards the goal. Unfortunately it was the wrong goal...and I just didn't feel like I could yell out, "turn around Meg" right there on the field. Oh man. At least she scored again in the right goal to make up for it. HE HE HE. There were a couple of pretty intense games that I had to run, which wasn't really my favorite, but I definitely learned from them. Overall I enjoyed the experience. I think I'll probably do it again next season. Nathan had all sorts of fun playing. You could pretty much tell within the first two minutes of the game what kind of day this was going to be for him: he would either be gung-ho and aggressive about blocking and attacking the ball (and therefore score a few goals) or he would be kind of in his own little world and run along side the ball but not really have his heart into it. When he had his head in the game he was pretty good. He definitely has a good power kick. A couple of times he scored from his kick-off kick. Ben improved this season as well. He moved up to U-10, which means he started playing on the bigger field using goalies and off-side calls. As the season went on he was better about running hard through the whole game. He scored a couple of times (once on the last game of the season, along with a good assist too). He's not super aggressive with his possession of the ball but he plays hard and can run down the opponent. He loves it.

Halloween

I failed to get a good picture of everyone dressed up for our ward Halloween party (Nathan was Batman, Megan was Ariel, Ben was the Grim Reaper, Caelan was a gypsy, Austin was a worker guy, Ian was a bat and I was a little girl), but I did get a picture taken before the kids went to school on Halloween day. The kids had their annual Halloween parade and class parties. Nathan had a preschool party as well. We carved pumpkins the night before. Sean made his famous chili for the ward party. It was a great success. Nathan was a maniac trick-or-treater this year. He took off and went from car to car over and over again. Amber Pearce (a friend of ours) said she probably saw Nathan 7 times. Sheesh. They definitely made out in the candy department. Their plastic pumpkins were completely full (I LOVE that about trunk-or-treating). Austin even kept at it for a good round or two. There were also a few rooms inside the church with some carnival games, which the kids had fun playing at as well.

Mess Alert

Austin loves himself some Ranch dressing. Every so often he actually bites into the vegetable too. This last picture is great. Sean took Nathan and Ben to see "Man of Steel" at the cheap theater one night. They went out for Baskin Robbins ice cream afterwards. Sean looked over in the car and Nathan was clean as a whistle and Ben looked like this. HA! Totally uncharacteristic of him.

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