At about 2 am in the deepest sleep I was awaken by Erica telling me that James threw up. Oh goodie. Luckily the mess was minimal and it didn't happen again but I didn't sleep well after that trying to half listen to him from across the house.
I took mostly videos Christmas morning but here are a few photos.
This sloth has a zipper on the back and inside are a 4 baby sloths. Nothing more perfect for Erica.
The sweetest part of the morning were the gifts the kids got for eachother and for Justin and I. Henry, especially, was giving out heartfelt gifts. Most things were things from his room he knew his siblings liked to play with. He wrapped up a set of service coupons like this. "From Henry Dye" in case I got confused.
Henry made this for Justin out of his old basketball cards. (He thinks he was channeling Garfield from the Christmas special and I have to agree.)
Erica drew this for me.
And painted this for Justin.
What's James so excited to open, you may wonder?
Wool socks from dad. He loves his wool socks.
My parents came by a few hours later making the Christmas morning rounds. I got my mom some new socks and dishtowels (sounds lame but she loved it). I got my dad some treats and a
USU nightlight.
The kids got a mini tramp and before we even came down from our room they had moved it to the bottom of the 2 flights of stairs.
It stayed there for a few days but it's in the family room now. I'm hoping it helps with the wintertime wiggles. We spent some time that afternoon opening presents at Justin's parents, played some games and then came home early because we were all tired.
The next morning Justin and I found these outside our bedroom door.
We took Sarah and Henry to do baptisms for the dead. The littles hung out at my mom's house. By the time we got home from the temple I was feeling pretty sick. I felt tired and achy and cold all day. I took a nap and wrapped up in a blanket most of the day. Luckily we had enough leftovers to eat for dinner for days so Justin didn't have to do too much without me.
By Thursday I was feeling mostly better so we went bowling at BYU. I took a lot of videos because bowling with my kids is funny.
I told the kids if I beat Justin we could get ice cream. That's an easy way to get your kids to cheer for you. Not only did I beat Justin but I beat everyone. This may be my highest score ever. (We used bumpers.)
Friday we went to Texas Roadhouse because we had a giftcard from last year's work party. I don't think I would go to Texas Roadhouse unless we had a giftcard. Then we went in the mall to find the giving machines.
Erica chose a school uniform for a girl in Africa. I chose a newborn care kit for a new mom. Henry chose meals for a food pantry. Justin bought a chromebook for a student. I think James chose a goat and I can't remember what Sarah chose. It's a pretty fun way to give and opened my kids eyes to what sort of things people are in need of.
That afternoon we met up with Justin's family at our church building to play in the gym. In search of some pickleball equipment Sarah and I opened an unlabeled door and found a flight of stairs. So naturally we went up.
This is the gigantic attic of our church. It's all HVAC and clean and tidy and not spooky but we had no idea it existed.
I mean, it makes sense that there's all this stuff somewhere, we just had no idea it was so large up there.
We could walk above the entire building. Oh the perks to having a bishop's key.
Back downstairs we/they played pickleball and basketball. The kids rode scooters but the littlest ones eventually settled in the nursery and played with toys. The last thing we did was pull out the laser tag guns and turn off the lights.
This is really just the midpoint in our Christmas break. Next up, Justin's birthday.
