kids

looking pretty sweet in their christmas duds.

(skirts, compliments of C's mom)

The BIG day!

Despite being up every hour with B, and trying to convince K to stay in bed 'just a little longer', we were still up at 6:15 opening presents.

The kiddos waiting to go downstairs to see if santa came.

 Me MAKING the kids pause for a picture before opening stockings.

 J so excited for something hello kitty

 meet caroline, the newest member of our family

G pretty pleased with his new survival bracelet/whistle

 K opening up his new remote control car

 christmas dinner with the elders. we carried on my nana's tradition of Christmas crackers, complete with paper crown.

 G worked on Ollivanders shop (from Harry Potter) all morning, with a slew of other lego projects. He was happy he got some help from one of the missionaries!

We had a great christmas. We missed family but realize this is where the Lord wants us. 

We are grateful for His birth at this Christmas season and hope we can become a little bit more like him each day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve, we got together with some of our friends. We had soup and rolls and other delicious food. We had a production of the  nativity.

 G got to be Joseph

 There were TONS of kids and running amuck

 We also watched the nativity and then the REAL fruit ninja guy. I think the kids were quieter for the fruit ninja. 

It was so nice to be surrounded with friends who have become our family here in PA. Definitely feeling the Christmas love. 

We also got a nice little dusting of snow on christmas eve. 

perfect ending.

We came home and said farewell to buddy, the elf.

the kids were sad. 

I tucked them into bed (daddy was working late) and wished them sweet dreams.

then i listened to b cry and get out of bed for the next hour and 45 minutes. 

i don't know why. i think he finally fell asleep around 10pm. 

he must have been excited for christmas.

Christmas Eve

How does this little on go from looking like this,

 to this? (the fifth member of kiss)

 my visiting teachers brought this by, just for our family. it was AMAZING and DELICIOUS. Came to the conclusion that we would  NEVER eat this many goodies, so we shared.

SO NICE!!!

hershey at christmas

saturday was a fun day. we headed to hershey in the afternoon.

we pulled up and saw a VERY full parking lot and i thought we were in for it. i was pleasantly surprised. it was busy, but it didn't match the cars that were outside.

We of course, had to go on the obligatory hershey ride and of course pick up the free candy at the end.  

 we then went upstairs and the kids got to pick their dessert. J and G decorated sugar cookies, K got smores and the 2 babes shared an ice cream sandwich with homemade cookies.

 b was pretty much in heaven. marshmallow fluff and sprinkles combined..... remember i told you he was like elf

this gingerbread house is pretty amazing. made of all hershey brands of candy. b was trying to climb over the fence to pull a hansel and gretel.

this girl was determined to sit on santa's lap. he was a tired, not so jolly santa. i don't even know if he asked j what she wanted for christmas. they just wanted money for pics. i got this with my  camera (with permission).  maybe next year they will schedule more breaks for poor santa...

The funniest part of the day was when we went to drive through the hershey lights. We got to the street and noticed that it was $25 a car to drive through. We continued up the road (we hadn't hit the fee stand yet) and we decided we were NOT paying $25 to drive through lights. There were about 5 lit up figures on the side of the road.  I casually said, okay, guys, there are the lights, aren't they cool.  G, who had been busy on the DS, looked up and said, 'hmmmmm, I thought there would have been more...'

oh i love this season.

gingerbread

we kept up grandma b's tradition, and decorated our gingerbread house. the kids had a ball.

 the two babes just loved eating the candy

 never a dull moment....

love christmas traditions!

let the water mess continue

oh how b loves playing in water.

if there's a vacant stool (and it's not on top of our cabinet-yes folks, that's where we keep them), he pulls it right up to the sink and gets soaked. everytime.

 this little gal is always eagerly watching. and taking notes.

i found him up here the other day, literally jumping on the cabinet, singing the tune to jingle bells and waving two straws frantically through the air.

let the chaos continue

as most of you know, never a dull moment at my house. mostly because of the two babes that rule our roost.

as a disclaimer; i really do watch my kids. really. i might leave the room for 5 minutes, i'm panicked the whole time because i never know what i'll find.

a few days ago, b did this. i went up to brush my hair and came back down and found this. it terrified me. mostly because it meant, he had to climb up on a counter, get down off the counter and transport all the steak knives about 5 feet. it makes my stomach drop. i thought my house was baby proof. i'm going to have to re-configure.

this was his latest. i let him play in the sink. he loves it. i was in the other room addressing christmas cards. i kept hearing what i thought was water being poured onto our floor. i thought, 'no, he wouldn't do that'. i don't know why i thought that. what would stop him? why wouldn't he do it? 

i went into the kitchen to find water in about a 6 foot circumference and c standing right in the middle of it. not to mention a nudey little boy amongst all of it. and drinking soapy water.

i had to wear my rain boots to clean it all up. 

what i am loving about christmas this year

There are a few things THIS season that I don't want to forget about.

We have been able to help organize a couple sub for santa things for our ward and also C's work. It has been overwhelming to see people so willing to help out. Especially, our ward, that isn't particularly well off. They gave so much. I walked into our bishops office last sunday to help organize gifts and was overwhelmed at the amount there was. I tried to hold back the tears. To see  people who are willing to give so much when they have so little.

I LOVE seeing the Christmas lights. Only because it makes my 2 year old squeal in delight and yell out 'chrishmash yights!' He yells it every time. it NEVER gets old.

I LOVE listening to Hallelujah by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Never a better song written. Do you know you can down load it for free on Mormon.org/christmas. Free! Nice! that's how we roll.

What's even better is that my kids sing along, even the 2 year old. I  point to G on the hallelujah parts, and he, in rhythm sings it out. The first time we did it, when we got to the end of the song, he looked up at me and says, 'that was exhausting'.  

My heart has been so sad because of the events in connecticut. But I am amazed at the forgiveness I see in Emilie Parker's parents. There is no anger, there is sadness for the shooter and his life and the things that he struggled with. 

What a life lesson. The phrase 'love your enemies' keeps coming to mind. They exemplify this. Such a great reminder at this Christmas  season. To look to Christ and ask what gift we can give. 

Forgiveness, patience, love and kindness. 

My prayers will continue to be the poor families of Connecticut, but I will try to apply, even a small amount, of the lesson i have learned from Emilie Parker's parents.

bouncy babies

k loves to bounce on my exercise ball with these two babes. they love it too!!

piano recital

the kids are all taking piano this year. 

i'm just going to say it. i'm MAKING them. J loves it, the boys, not so much. they'll thank me one day when they are concert pianists....

this was their first recital. they were SO nervous!!!

Everyone did amazing. K even had his song memorized. so proud of these little kiddos.

the first er visit

i knew it was only a matter of time. it finally happened.

i had to take this little guy of mine to the er. considering ALL he gets into in a day, it's amazing that it wasn't worse.

he was sitting eating lunch, fell off the stool and cut his lip. i was trying to stop the bleeding on the outside, and it was just pouring out of his mouth. i then realized it was also cut on the inside. that's when i kinda, shall we say, panicked. i wondered if it had gone all the way through his lip.

i called my hubby who and told him i was headed to the er. found a sitter for c, and headed over. Daddy was able to come down for a minute to be with B. after examining him, they realized it had gone all the way through his lip. poor kiddo was a trooper. they only had to do one stitch, but he got loose and pulled it out, so they had to do it again. 

we got home, and after a long nap, snuggled him up and let him relax and watch a show.

 and then, of course, lots of attention and loves from older siblings when they got home from school

as a side note;

this is what happens to bread when it rises for way too long as you sit in an er room.