Saturday before Christmas we went to the Riverwoods so the kids could see the lights. I really wanted to take the kids to Temple Square but since Justin and I were at Temple Square twice already this month, we decided not to go again and just go to Provo. The kids didn't care.
Notice how Henry is catching Sarah's awkward smile.
I thought this picture looked familiar when I was scrolling through them.
Probably because this is last year. Henry's head is a bit smaller but that's about all that's changed.
This is Sarah last year. Different coat, same hat.
Sarah and I really liked this tree. The icicle lights looked like they were dripping.
2012......
2013......
Handsome boys.
Pretty girl.
Hey good lookin' family.
Henry finally got down and walked a little bit. He slipped on the ice earlier this month and has been paranoid of things being "sippy" every since.
We went to Tucano's with Justin's parents and siblings. I felt like I ate a lot but since my stomach is squished somewhere near my throat, it's hard to tell these days. So growing up, my mom's mixer didn't lock so you had to keep your hand on the top or else it would slowly rise up and not mix what was at the bottom. This is so ingrained in me that apparently I still do it with my own mixer even though it locks properly. I didn't realize I did until I noticed my kids doing the same thing, also for no reason. Ahh, traditions.
My little cookie cutter in action. She had her hat on for 6 hours that day.
Christmas Eve we started off the day by seeing Frozen and then came home for lunch, naps, wrapping presents, cleaning, etc. Then that night we went to Jusitn's grandpa's house. Here's a 4-generation picture.
This is his Grandpa Kitchen's wife Henny. She's from Denmark and has the best accent. Since most of my ancestors on both sides come from Denmark, I ask her lots of questions about the mother country. Did you know there's First Christmas and Second Christmas in Denmark? They're like hobbits over there.
Henry was being a spaz and cracking everyone up.
Then we headed to Mapleton to play games with my family. This is the song Henry sang all the way there.
I didn't take many pictures at my mom's because I was too busy playing. But here's Henry.
Santa left Christmas pajamas outside the kids' doors when we got home. Sarah thinks it was me. They were super excited.
Sarah swore she was going to stay up late to see Santa. We told her she could stay up but she had to stay in her bed and could only come down if she heard jingle bells or reindeer on the roof. Justin and I were so tired. He fell asleep on the couch waiting for her to fall asleep. At 11 pm, we finally were able to put out the kids' stuff.
I don't know why I take a picture of the tree every year, but I do. Notice how the top third of our DVDs are missing from the stand? They are wrapped under the tree as a present from Sarah. Best gift ever.
Sarah woke up at 6:30. Henry woke up at 8:30. That was the longest 2 hours of Sarah's life. She hung out on our bed and rolled around and asked us every 4 minutes if it was time to go downstairs. I finally turned the TV in our room for her and just when we all got tired again, Henry woke up.
This airplane was in his stocking. He could have been happy with just this.
Nothing like a Christmas sweater.
Henry got a tool set and immediately set off to find his motorcycle so he could fix it like Uncle Nate works on his snowmobile....that's what he said anyway.
My parent's came over to watch the kids open presents then we had ebelskivers for breakfast. Hey family, I'm taking custody of mom's ebelskiver pan while they're in London. You can borrow it if you want.
New mitt and ball. He also got a T-ball set.
This is my tea set from when I was little. I got it for Christmas and I can still remember the wrapping paper it came in. Sarah was excited to get it.
She also got a camera. She's taking a picture of Justin and his wood chips that go with his meat smoker.
That afternoon, we went to Justin's parent's house to open more presents. Henry got 2 snowmobiles. Can you see he's making the sounds in the picture? This kid is obsessed. He also got a toy motorcycle and 4-wheeler so we've been hearing lots of motor noises around here. But I guess that's nothing new.
Sarah really wanted a kids sewing machine but I think she's too young so I got her this potholder making kit. She loves it. It keeps her so busy and quiet. I finally got her to let me take a finished potholder off today. She had just been taking all the loops off so she could do it again.
Since then we've just been playing with new stuff, taking it easy, playing games and working on the basement. Justin's already smoked like 7 different kinds of meat.
Sarah had been begging to play out in the snow for days but there was no way I was going out there when it was 12 degrees. Last Saturday I guilted talked Justin into taking Sarah sledding near his parent's house just for a little while. While she waited for her dad to get ready, Sarah made some snow angels in the back yard.
This picture below is one of my favorite pictures of the whole year. This is after they got back from sledding. Sarah's at that age where it's cool to keep your snow pants on. I was putting up more lights in the living room and Sarah was supposedly looking for the hot chocolate in the cupboard. Then she calls out, "Mom, can you come help me? My finger is stuck." I wish I had a picture of her before I helped her but I'm not that mean and she wasn't that patient. The knife block and platter were laying on her and her finger was stuck between them. She wouldn't let me take a picture until I helped her get her hand unwedged. I freed her hand but wouldn't help her up until I got this picture. "Did you fall?" No. "Why were you laying on the counter?" I don't know.
It's also the greatest mystery of my year.
Henry as Tinkerbelle. Come over at any time of any day and this ensemble or the cars pajamas below will be on him.
Hey look! Another picture of my kids wearing pajamas. I just want to point out how similar they can look sometimes. Makes me wonder if Baby #3 will come from the same mold.
In addition to the 4 advent calendars in our home, Sarah has been keeping track on her own self-made calendar. She's been making calendars since October and has January's done underneath this one.
Justin found this blank calendar when I was bossy and made him clean out stuff in the basement. Sarah was ecstatic. She copies down everything I write on my calendar.
One of the many things I love about Sarah's preschool is that they make crafts so I don't have to. I like making stuff with my kids but more along the lines of cutting out snowflakes and color-by-numbers.
Sarah and I had a tea party at the table since that's the only place I'll let her use real water. Sarah pretended she was a preschool teacher and I was a famous photographer. It's times like these that kind of freak me out how grown up she's getting. We can have long, complex conversations.
Sarah slipped climbing back up our yard.
But she's okay.
And the concert last week was amazing, thanks for asking. I didn't looooove the soprano lady's opera style but she was a good performer and was still very entertaining. And we were there the same night as President Monson and President Uchtdorf. Aaand I had a nice time riding Frontrunner up with my parents. It was all our first time on the train and then I got to be tour guide on the Trax train into downtown. Aaaaaand we met Justin right away, ate good Mexican food, saw purdy lights and gave away 4 tickets to some lucky stand-by people. But it was so very, very cold.
I'm sooo looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Art show at BYU with family, dinner and lights at Riverwoods with family, seeing Sarah sing in sacrament meeting, dipping chocolates, making sugar cookies, eating delicious food and playing games, going to a movie or two, watching my kids open presents, going out to eat, my parent's farewell (not the good-bye part but the seeing family part), Justin's 30th birthday, sledding, and Justin not working. We'll probably work on the basement sometime in between all that.
Even though the days are super short this time of year, I feel like my days are soooo long. Justin has end-of-year deadlines at work so he's been putting in longer hours every day which means I am too. It seems after 5 o'clock, my energy crashes while my kids energy just picks up and enters spaz mode and won't listen to a word I say. It's quite the combination. Oh, and if we go outside, we'll meet our death so that makes keeping sane even more challenging.
We've listened/danced to a lot of Christmas music. Henry's favorite is "Days of Tissmas" (12 Days of Christmas) Sarah loves "Must Be Santa". They both love running around the living room.
And they love to rearrange the ornaments on the tree. In years past I've tried to even things out every day or so but I've given up. Christmas is for kids, right?
I don't know if it's nesting or the impending construction in my basement but I am hating stuff right now. I've been going through storage totes and throwing tons of stuff away. I think I had 50 pounds of college notebooks tucked away neatly in a box. Why? I don't know. Haven't touched them in 8 years, not going to go through them in the future. Gone. I have to roll my eyes at some of the things from my childhood and elementary school days that I've held on to for this long.
Cleaning out boxes has worked out great for Sarah. She loves stuff and there's a few stuff from my childhood she is so excited about. (I'm saving a few things to give to her for Christmas.) Every now again she says, "Santa's not real" but when I ask her what makes her think that, she just shrugs and then says something completely opposite and inaccurate like, "Henry, Santa is coming tonight!" I'm not sure if she has real doubts or is just testing my reaction.
Little Mermaid paint set and Little Mermaid paper dolls circa 1992. Of course I've wrangled Justin into going through his boxes too. He loves that.
This was another sweet find. My little Christmas tree tucked in the depths under the stairs. Sarah has taken it over. Henry calls it the baby tree. And those little houses are from my childhood. My mom let us borrow this village because I love them so. I didn't have an extra strand of lights for them and told Sarah we could use the lights on her tree until I got to the store. I guess this is what she thought I meant.
Speaking of Henry, he loves brownie batter. "This is nummy, Mommy!"
Yes it is, son, yes it is.
Sarah wanted her picture taken too.
Sarah is all about making them beds to lay on while they watch Christmas movies before bed. It's annoying sometimes but it makes them happy.
I made this felt nativity I found on Pinterest. The tutorial came with patterns so I didn't have to use too much of my brain. But I really didn't like the angel. It was too small and didn't match the rest.
So I made my own from the other pattern pieces. Much better, right? Sarah said it needs wings but I refused on grounds of religious accuracy.
Tonight I'm fulfilling one of my dreams of going to the Tabernacle Christmas concert! I'm so excited, it's almost nerdy.
For some reason, my kids were snuggling on the couch singing together. It's times like these that get me through the bickering.
I'm so glad I have 2 mops. Just a few squirts of floor cleaner and these two will have my kitchen cleaned up in no time. It's only fair since they cause 99% of the spills. And I hate mopping.
Sarah helped out in her new room for over an hour. She filled in holes until there were no more she could reach. And she did a great job.
Here's how it looks now. Mudding and taping are tedious.
I was squeezing lemons for a Thanksgiving pie. Henry really wanted to taste the lemon so I gave it to him, expecting him to hate it. Well he licked it and said thanks mom and went into the other room to watch a show. This kid surprises me everyday.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. Four of my 7 siblings and their kids were there plus 2 aunts and their families. There was 35 of us! It was hot and noisy and lots of fun.
I don't know why I like making my nieces and nephews do funny things. I feel like they owe me from all the diapers I changed. These are a few minute-to-win-it games. Shake your ping-pong.
Knock over a water bottle with a golf ball inside a pantyhose. And the pantyhose is on your head.
Oreos from your forehead to mouth without your hands.
Here's my little Indian princess. She made her hat in preschool on Monday at wore it every day that week.
Sarah spent all day Friday with cousins and fell asleep on the living room floor at 6 o'clock that evening. At 8:30 I carried her upstairs and she kept on sleeping until morning. (Those headphones aren't plugged into anything. She just feels cool wearing them.)
Last night for family night, we put up our Christmas decorations while listening to Andy Williams Christmas (the best Christmas album ever). Justin doesn't care for this kind of stuff but since he's a nice dad, you'd never know.
Henry, on the other hand, didn't do so well masking his frustration.
Justin graciously lifts the kids up so all the ornaments aren't on the bottom foot of the tree.
"That's Sella!" (how he pronounces Sarah)
We finished off the night with a double-batch of fudge and watching the Grinch and then putting the Christmas pillowcases on their pillows to get them to go to bed. Tonight we'll make dinner whilst listening to Sing Along With Mitch, the second-best Christmas album ever.
