Christmas Morn

This year, as every year, we really do try to help our little ones understand the true meaning of Christmas, and what it really means to us. This was a great year. The Nativity, reading the Luke 2 account, telling sweet stories. . . it was a great year.

And after all the spiritual celebration of the season, it's so fun to wrap it all up with a little Santa Clause. Okay, a lot of Santa Clause! Here's a little video montage of how our Christmas morning went down. . . enjoy!

PS - Do you have the best husband in the world? Because I do! Guess what I got for Christmas! A 4 day surprise getaway to the "Prices Spa for Mama Rejuvenation and Relaxation" in my very own hometown of La Canada Flintridge. Tomorrow morning I board a plane and I'll be back New Years Eve. Good luck Gordon, and thanks again!

Merry Christmas!

Family Pictures

Do you have an photographer in your extended family? If you don't, you should really try to arrange for one. It's quite a nice arrangement! While Gordon's brother and his his wife, Laura were here for Thanksgiving, she took on the challenge of taking our family photo. Not a task to be taken lightly with our growing numbers. She caught some great shots and I'm so glad we had her do this! Thanks Laura!

While I had a hold of Laura, I had her take a photo or two of Emilee in her too fabulous for words coat, courtesy of another favorite Laura.

Swing kisses are the best!Thanks again Laura! I love them!

Piglets

The other night I said to Emilee, "I think you've got enough hair here for piggies! Do you want to try it?" And she said "yes!" with so much enthusiasm that we headed straight to the bathroom. 3 minutes later we emerged with a new do:

She was so cute and thought they were the best thing. She kept grabbing them and saying "bows!" And she looked so grown up that I just about couldn't stand it. It made me all giddy and sad at the same time.

I got a big hug for my efforts and a little girl very pleased with her new look.

She's going to grow up whether I like it or not!

the best Christmas Pageant ever!

The past month I have been working on a little project for my ward. I volunteered (am I crazy) to put this together for our activities committee. I first saw the idea last year on design mom's blog and felt so inspired by it. I knew I would be a copy cat someday. With the help of some fantastic photographers, and some very cooperative children, and hours spent trying to get the narration and audio working, I am happy to say that the ward loved it last night and I can finally post it here. So, here is a little bit of the Christmas spirit for you to enjoy, from us to you!

You can also see it on a bigger screen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOYhjbeE4zI

eleven

the years keep flying by!

Happy 11th Anniversary to us!

I love you sweetheart!

and Happy 40th to my parents, with whom we share our anniversary!

Tree Time

Our tree came a little late this year due to our travels. I think it added even more excitement than normal!

Thank heavens for unbreakable ornaments!
We dubbed this little row right here "Emilee's section." She has decorated and undecorated it about 753 times since Saturday. Did you know elves have belly buttons? This one wanted us to see his. I especially like his coordinated Christmassy unders. . .

Merry Christmas!!!

PS - note the time on the clock on the wall - it is 8:15 a.m., and we are DONE. It was an early Saturday, as most all Saturday's are around here. I think we started this project with the kids at 6:45. Oh, the joys of early risers!

A Utah Equation

We traveled to Utah at the beginning of December for Gordon's little brother's wedding. More on that later hopefully. . . while there, we discovered something about Utah and our daughter.

Very Dry Air
+
Very Fine Hair
+
Microfiber Sofa
+
Streaming Sunlight
=

A Lot of FUN!!!

We laughed and laughed. Utah was lots of fun, but difficult on the hair! Emilee's hair which is curly every day in Portland, was straight as a stick! It would not curl up one bit, and was full of static. I missed her curls and enjoyed watching them come back as we entered the Gorge. Over the last two hours of our drive, the curls returned. It was so funny!

Did you give up on me?

For the first time in 3 years, I have been TOO busy to blog. I haven't had moment. But, things are starting to relax. I am happy about that and I can once again journal our funny little lives. So stay tuned, I'll be returning to my normal, blog happy self here shortly. . .

Stop the Presses!

This post is coming a day or two late, but it must be posted anyway. . . the other night at dinner, EMILEE ATE!!! And I don't just mean ate a little meal, I mean made her belly hard with food. She ate so much pineapple, rice, chicken, and corn that I thought she was going to make herself sick. And this food fest followed a day of record eating or her as well! Her little belly was sticking out like a pot belly pig. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and I knew Grammy would too, so we had to take some pictures. . .

This is Emilee's new "say cheese" smile. She makes it whenever she sees a camera within 10 feet. Lovely, I know!

Any girl who eats like that gets big kisses from everybody!

Have I mentioned that Emilee gives the best kisses?

Service Auction

About a year ago, I participated in a "service auction" within my ward. I bought 3 hours of babysitting, and offered two items. Family portraits, and a cake. Well, 11 months went by and NONE of these items had been redeemed! But, we all finally got on the ball, and I got my babysitter, and I have now taken family pictures and made a birthday cake for a good friend.

This was the first cake I ever had to dowel. It was quite an adventure, but very fun!

Rocket Ship Crash Landing

"I should have saved myself!" That's what Chandler kept telling the doctor today at the ER. Which I think meant, "I should have caught myself with my hands instead of diving head first into moms bed frame while my body was stuck inside the rocket ship (hamper)." Poor kid. He was pretty tough and left with three stitches and an order to keep it out of the sun for the next couple of years. Yea. That will be easy! :) I predict longer hair for Chandler. . .

Numbing Gel. . . a godsend to little ones with big ouchies everywhere. . .
All repaired and ready to go, we get the thumbs up!

Phew! I don't care to ever see that far into my childs (or anyone elses for that matter) head again. I'll sleep well tonight, this wore me out!

Curls

There was a little girl,

With a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was very, very good,

and when she was bad she was. . .

well, the poem ends "horrid," but I can't say it, because this little girl is never horrid. She's a love.

Let's Twist Again!

This evening we were getting a little bit of cabin fever and really wanted to go do something fun with the kids. We got our options down to Chuck E. Cheese with a side of swine flu, and staying home to play games. So, we decided to stay home and taught the kids to play. . .

Emilee was really good at weaving in and out between peoples legs, while we tried not to smash her.

Chandler wins the award for showing the biggest muscles in yoga positions,

and of course tackling the players if they're taking too long to get "out."

Aidan had some good right from left moments that helped us see that we need to work on that a bit. . .

We got all squished together!
And Ethan wins for best stretch. Whose arm is that anyway?

Sometimes staying home is the sweetest thing!