One More Before Christmas

 Oh boy!  Christmas Eve is tomorrow!  We're excited!  Nick is on his way home and I can't wait to have him all to myself.  Well, ok, I have to share him with little people, but no work and no school for a week and a half!  :)  That is the best Christmas present.

This last week has been snowy: 

 So far, we aren't complaining.  Let it snow!  Come mid-January, I'm pretty sure I'll be singing a different tune.

This little darling decided she was tired and went and put herself down for a nap.  Mom loves that.

And now, Christmas goodness.  My mom hosted her 50-somethingish annual Christmas party.  My kids LOVE to participate in the nativity.  Maren begs for Mary and Ellie begs for angel.  Taking good care of Baby Jesus:

 Lainey with her most favorite person in the whole world.  They are pretty much attached at the hip when family gets together.

Luke 2:19  "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." 

Everett is a shepherd in the middle (I was shocked he wanted to participate) and Daisy was a shepherd as well, but escaped after about 1.3 minutes.

And then, our ward Christmas party with Santa:

 The little girls didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, and I certainly won't force them.  I don't blame them for wanting nothing to do with a stranger with a big, fake beard that wants me to come sit on his lap.

My baby girls, all spiffed up and Christmas-y looking for Sunday:

Last night we did Temple Square with my parents and sister's family.

Mandatory stop at the Macy's window display:

We can't take a "normal" photo without also taking a "silly" photo.  Whatever it takes.

My people:

 Nice Ellie, nice.

Looking at that photo reminds me of what my mom told me when we first met up.  She was watching our family from afar, but only saw a dad with a bunch of kids.  Then she realized that it was us.  Great.  I blend in with the kids.  Oh well, I really do hope they all outgrow me.

My cute mom and dad with 8 of their 43 grandchildren:

Plus an extra.  :)  Daisy was being a stink, so Dad stepped in.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Looks like Christmas

 I love how kids arrange the nativity.

Everyone wants a good look at the baby.  Well, hello!  Of course!  No shoving, now.

And, this one's for my mom.  And for anyone else who can stand me being a show off:

 Isn't it just darling?  I think so...  Now I just need a bed for Daisy baby to put it on.

Here's some close ups of my sister's mad quilting machine skills:

 Perfect butterfly.

 I love that she rounded the squares.  I think it makes it look more dainty.

And, I love the back too:

 Fun project.  One I can tackle every 10 years or so.

Here's another fun project.  Gingerbread houses.

The kids had their own house, they shared frosting, and had access to all the candy and just went nuts without any input from mom.  It was actually a very enjoyable time for me, surprisingly.  As long as I didn't stress about them eating every other candy, it was a fine time.  Cousins makes it more fun:

 Those be some mighty fine houses.  And some mighty strong frosting.  Check out the gravity defying structures on some of those roofs!

Daisy has been a stinker about naps lately.  Being as the rest of the house is in chaos with the other kids running around, I haven't forced them on her either.  It doesn't give me sanity time or anything.  However, it makes for some sleepy (and sometimes ornery) babe:

Other than those things, we are just biding time for school to go on break, Nick's included (4 more days!).  We've spent some time driving around and looking at Christmas lights and preparing and delivering neighbor gifts.  And with a few inches of snow today, it's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Sick Baby

 Our weekend looked about like this:

Poor Daisy baby had croup.  Mom and Dad had little sleep.  Having a sick baby makes me sad, but snuggling that sick baby surely does not.

 Pink cheeks on our feverish, sleepy babe.

She's much better now, see:

 Our cool dude.  Seriously, he's awesome.  He gets SO excited about lots of stuff.  Like when Nick was putting up our Christmas lights.  He kept asking and asking Nick to do it, and when he did, he had to watch him do the whole thing and ran to turn on the switch.  Nick told him he could put them up when he is a teenager.  "I can't WAIT until I'm thirteen!"  he says.  He was super excited to go Christmas shopping with dad and knew just what to get for his family.  He is a really good artist and gets so excited over his creations and now writing too.  He'll see something he wants to draw a picture of and will right then run over and grab pencil and paper.  He just can't wait to get it out of his head.  Goodness, he's a cool kid and we sure love having him around.  I'm so grateful we have a boy in the house.

These days I hear a pretty constant "thud thud" on the walls as Maren practices standing on her hands.  Oh, and the couch cushions are usually all over the house:

And, lastly, I'm so excited about this project:

I bought those embroidery squares about 9 years ago.  I figured I'd better get on it and turn them into a quilt before my girls are ages that they don't appreciate Sunbonnet Sue.  I pieced it, my amazingly talented sister quilted it and now I'm working on binding it.  Shhh, don't tell Daisy.  It will be one of her Christmas surprises.

Thanksgiving

 Hello, friends.  It's been awhile.  I would've updated last week, but we were enjoying our Thanksgiving break.  It was REALLY hard to get up to an alarm this morning.  But, let's rewind.  Before Thanksgiving break, we had snow.  This may be the cutest little snow bunny ever known to mankind:

Yep.  Cuuuuute.

We believe in Christmas around here.  And, that feel-good Christmas season doesn't last near long enough, so we set up the tree a week before Thanksgiving.  We are rebels.  The kids made their own tree (completely their idea, I was told to grab the camera):

 I love that Christmas tree from top to bottom, crazy hair, messy faces and all.

That Christmas tree is pretty good too.  It makes me happy.

Then there was a day that we played at the park for a bit:

And then, the Fall activity we all look forward to:  the kids and I went and raked and then played in, leaves.  Yep, pretty much in our pajamas.  We love our comfy clothes around here.

And THEN, it was Thanksgiving.  Can I give a hip hip hurray for my awesome family?  I just love being with them.  I feel completely at home, being my corky (corky: cute and dorky) little self.  We enjoyed family I haven't seen in a long while, family I see often, a brisk walk around the block (2 mile block, mind you), some games, and food of course, always lots of good food.  Nick got to check "afternoon nap" off of his to-do list.  Perfect day.

Having a big sis around is pretty great stuff.  Ellie got Daisy dressed and did her hair and everything.  She takes good care of baby girl.

And then, it snowed again.  There was a flurry of winter clothes and hot chocolate.

Suckers and sledding, not the perfect combo, but she's cute!

 I love it when there is a reason to go OUTSIDE to play.  My house is a disaster zone.

We were invited to join my brother's family in Bethlehem.  It was a great way to start the Christmas season right.  At the beginning, they bring you into a market with lots of different time period activities going on.  Mary and Joseph came in and were walking among us.  I walked past them and Mary asked if I knew of somewhere they could stay.  "Yes!  Come stay at our home!"  The baby Jesus wouldn't be born in a stable on my watch.  ;)  A bit later, they moved us into another big room where they told the story of Christ's birth. Christmas (the true, real meaning of Christmas) makes me cry, that is all there is to it.  I felt like I was there adoring the baby Jesus along with the shepherds, angels, and wise men.  And you know what?  Perhaps I was.

Oh come, let us adore Him.

I love this time of year.

Fried

 All that thinking fried my brain.  Seriously, this blog has been the last thing on my mind for the last week or so.  Why?  Because I just got called to be Primary President in my ward (this new thinking has replaced the old thinking of my previous post).  I know it'll settle down, but for now, my head is reeling with all that needs to be attended to.  Actually, I know this may sound weird, but I'm grateful for the challenge.  Bring it on.  It'll be a good time.

Normal life has been going on too.  You know, kids not doing homework and being asked a billion times to do something.  Running kids to and fro (Ellie just finished a really fun sewing class, now I just need to teach her how to use my machine and set her loose!).  Soaking up family time on the weekends.  Oh, and now that cold weather has set in, lots of kids chasing each other around the house, jumping on couches and lots of yelling and teasing and whining.  Ya know, normal life.

Nick and I did take advantage of the kindness of my brother and his wife (thank you, thank you!), left our kids and went on a little overnight trip to Park City for a late anniversary getaway.  It was perfect!  Lots of yummy food, relaxing in the hot tub and steam room, sleeping in and watching tv in bed, then shopping without kids.  I had great pity for all those suckers who were dragging their tired, ornery kids around the outlets.  Of course, by the afternoon, Nick was dragging tired, ornery me around.  I'm not a very good shopper.  However, I do love time with my Honey.

We ate at the Grub Steakhouse, and it was so good.  We'd consider just taking a day trip to visit again.  A terrible phone shot:

Our prime rib:

 Yum.  We had to be rolled out the door.

And, this is what happens when your kid sits in the shower and plugs the drain:

You can't see it well, but that is mold along the baseboard.  This happened twice before we figured out what was going on.  "Mom, it got REALLY high!"  We need new carpet, but we'll be waiting a little longer until kids are old enough to get puke and poop in the toilet 99% of the time.  And stop making a water mess in the bathrooms, apparently.  We may be waiting for awhile.  For now, my extremely handy husband cleaned it up and stretched the carpet back out.

This was a fun project for FHE:

 It isn't my best crafting, but I sure love my turkeys!  Those hands won't be tiny for long!