Top 14 of 2014

I'm jumping on the end of year bandwagon. Here are my top 14 photos for the year.

January. Double-decker piggy-back for bedtime.

January. New room for big sister.

February. Welcome to the world, baby.

 February. Siblings.

 March. Handsome man at the zoo. And it's his birthday today. More on that later.

March. Blessing day for my little blessing.

April. Little fishermen.

 May. A month of illness.

 May. Pure joy of training wheel freedom.

 June. Henry's face.

July. The pretty swimmer.

 August. The handsome fireman.

August. Kindergarten, baby.
 September. The cutest kids on the block.

 October. Lions, robots, and Little Red, oh my.

November. Clingy baby.

 December. Birthday boy and happy girl.

That was more like 17 photos but Happy New Year all the same!

Twas the Week Before Christmas

I was going to blog about the basement next but since I spend every spare moment down there working on it, I kind of don't feel like blogging about it. I need some distance. Instead, here's how Christmas went for us.

We made sugar cookies. I tried to relinquish a little control and let the kids help out a little more this year. We made them early one morning so that Justin could take some to work with him.

 My kids love dough. Eating it, molding it, cutting it.

Justin was a good helper. I just stood behind the camera and out of the way, breathing deeply and trying not to take over.

Photobomb Justin.

 Goofy face Henry.

I taught the kids to string popcorn. It kept them busy and quiet for quite a while.

 Then Linus Henry strung it up.

Sarah sang "Rudolph" at her school's sing around the tree. She dressed in all brown to look more like a reindeer.

After reading the ingredient list and the nutritional content of egg nog, I thought it sounded just like ice cream. So we dumped a quart in my ice cream maker.

 And wa-la! Egg nog ice cream.

 This is Justin's mega elk burger. It was delicious and a little hard to eat.

 Erica taking care of some spilled cheerios.

Saturday we had a Christmas party at my parent's house without them. My nephew Tyler put together a video of the night's events to send to them. First we made gingerbread houses.

 Erica and Justin watched.

 Henry put on this much candy then after I took the picture asked if he could eat it. And he did.

 Hey look! Erica is being held by someone else and not crying. She did fine as long as we kept her distracted and from looking at Matt.

The adults and teens played a white elephant game of $5 gift cards and dollar store gifts. It was super funny to see what people came up with.

 Then the littles opened up Christmas candy. No trading or stealing.

 Sarah scored this awesome snow monster sucker.

 Then we had a concert by 2 cello playing and one viola playing nephews. Sarah liked it. I hope to live vicariously through her and get her to play the cello too.

Henry wrapped up his own toy and put it under the tree. But he missed it so he opened it that night.

 My niece Jaana gave Sarah a belated birthday gift. She opened it when we got home from the party. It's a giant princess activity kit shaped like a crayon. Sarah slept with it in her bed that night.

 Erica looking good Sunday after church. Thanks for the dress, cousin Maddie.

Monday for family home evening we drove through the festival of lights and ate candy canes then came home and watched "The Night Before Christmas" on youtube. That movie was a favorite of mine as a kid. I think it was one of the first movies we got on VHS.

Tuesday I dipped chocolates. I was nervous doing it all by myself but I managed. It took forever and after awhile I got tired of dipping caramels and pretzels and just threw in Oreos to use up the chocolate. That night Sarah and Henry slept over at Justin's parents house. Justin and I took care of sick, sick Erica, got Mexican take-out and finished wrapping presents.

Wednesday, Christmas Eve, we spent most of the day getting ready for dinner.  We stayed home for Christmas Eve for the first time and it turned out pretty fun. The kids were most excited about using the fancy glasses.

 I made some felt silverware holders for the occasion. We had smoked chicken, rolls, raspberry salad and green beans.

Merry Christmas from the Dyes. Erica is stripped of her clothing just like she is after dinner every night.

Christmas pajamas.

And Christmas snuggles.

Then they watched Charlie Brown Christmas. Sarah said she was going to stay up and catch Santa. I told her that was fine; she just had to stay in her bed with the light off. She was asleep by 9.

Santa came!

Erica crawled over her stocking and a few presents to eat the carrot nubs the Santa left behind.

 Erica would have been happy with a candy cane.

Henry Bear looked just like the bear on his shirt while holding Justin's new meat shredders.

Sarah got a new snow hat from Henry.

 Lego Christmases make the best Christmases.

We Skyped with my parents which turned out to be an endless parade of "Grandma, look what else I got" then we ate ebelskivers for breakfast. That afternoon we went to Justin's parents for more presents, prime rib lunch, and games.

We kept the kids up way too late but they had fun. Then we drove home in the snow, got the kids to bed, stayed up too late continuing our binge of "The Good Wife".

I asked Henry what is favorite part of Christmas was. "Sitting by the tree and reading Christmas stories about Jesus." Bless his tantrum-throwing, food-wasting, toy-breaking heart. "Transformers! Robots in the sky! Here come robots to get the bad guys!" Guess what his favorite toy is?