December 2018

I love having kids during the month of December. They make the month so magical and fun. Something as simple as making paper snowflakes and sleeping under the Christmas tree is so exciting and magical with kids. Of course, Annalyn was really the only one that spend the entire nigh under the tree but we all had fun watching  a movie together. We had a picnic under the Christmas tree, we made yummy popcorn, decorated sugar cookies, danced to Christmas music, and had so much fun getting ready for Christmas. We watched lots of Christmas movies as well as the Christmas devotional, read Christmas books, and went to the Kuna night lights parade. We love celebrating Christmas. 

We went to the library several times and I even went one weekend with all of my girls to do a fun performance to the Nutcracker and then we did crafts and saw Santa while we were there. We also spent another weekend night looking at Christmas lights as a family. The kids were kind of whining that night and Summer ended up falling asleep right as we got to the Scentsy light tunnel so I stayed in the van with her and the baby. She woke up right as we were leaving and then cried for most of the rest of the night but we still had fun. We also went to our ward party and the girls got to see Santa again. Everyone was pretty excited about seeing Santa this year and even the baby sat on his lap and was fine. 

It snowed a little bit one Sunday morning so the girls put some snow suits on over their church dresses early that morning and they worked together to make a cute little snowman. The snow melted pretty quickly so he didn't last long but we enjoyed him while he was there. It also snowed a little bit a few days after Christmas and a few of the girls went out and made snow angles on the trampoline. We did not have a white Christmas. There was really only two days of snow the whole month.

I helped Grandma make gingerbread houses again this month and we had a fun time decorating them. I love seeing how unique and creative each girl gets. Summer begged to eat hers and picked it up and took a huge bite of the roof the minute we for it home. These girls love eating their houses almost as much as they love decorating them. 

My grandma bought a Christmas tree but never got a chance to set it up so my Aunt Lora called us and asked if we would like to help surprise her with a decorated tree. Summer fell asleep right before we were going to do that project so I stayed home with her while Joel and the older girls had a fun time decorating the tree. Joel said they were giddy with excitement the entire time. They put light up around her house as well and wrote her notes that were from Elfred the Elf. My grandma called me that night to thank us for putting up the tree and my girls were all shocked that she had figured out who had done it. I went back after Christmas and the girls and I helped her to take the tree back down as well. 

A few days after Christmas I took the girls to play with Elowyn while I took Annalyn to get her ears pierced. She was so excited about it and laughed while she got the first ear done. The lady asked her if she was ready for the next ear and she said no at first but then nodded her head and started laughing again. I took her to spend some Christmas money after that and she agonized over that decision for a long time and finally bought a set of Hatchimals.

Annalyn had a Christmas music concert that I got to watch. I love watching her because she really enjoys singing and gets into the hand motions they do. She did great. I also got to go to her class party and bring cupcakes. Kyla went with me and had fun getting to be with there. 

Summer's cousin Elowyn started to learn how to use the potty a few weeks before Christmas. Summer has used the potty a few time but she was determined that she would much rather pee in her diaper or in her panties than in her potty chair. As soon as she found out that Elowyn was going potty on the big potty chair, she started doing it too. I then let her put on panties and she didn't pee in them at all for the next few days. She would just go and sit on the potty chair and come and get me when she was done. Pooping in the potty was a little bit scarier for her but as soon as she figured it out she hasn't looked back. She is officially out of diapers.

Joel started out the month by helping his sister Joanna with a project at her house. He had the YM over one night and they made french fries for an activity. He spent a lot of time out in the garage making Christmas presents for people. He ended the month helping one of my dad's friends with some house remodel projects that he was working on. I have kept busy with parenting class, with book group, with volunteering in Annalyn's class at school and with taking care of kids. We had dinner at Jake and Rachel's house one day this month and on the last day of the month we celebrated New Year's Eve with a fun party at Aunt Joanna's house. Joel's sister Jaime was here with most of her kids and it was fun to see them. It has for sure been a great month and a pretty great year. The best part about it was the addition of little Miriam to our family. 

Christmas 2018

We had another fun filled Christmas this year full of love, laughter, joy, presents, and just a few tears. The girls all had school up until the Friday before Christmas so they really didn't get any days off of school before Christmas eve. On Sunday we just had sacrament meeting at church and then we went home and relaxed before heading over to eat and hang out with my parents. 

My dad bought some giant gobstoppers for everyone and promised a prize to the person that finished theirs first. I had a big cut in my mouth so I didn't participate but Joel and Annalyn both made some really good progress and ate most of theirs. 

Joel got Christmas Eve off of work and we spent the day relaxing. We visited our neighbors and said hi to them and then we went to eat and spend some time at Aunt Joanna's house. She had it all set up to do karaoke and she had prizes for the top kids and adults. My girls all got way into that activity. Brynlee went first and sang all three verses of a song she knew. Annalyn went and Summer kept sneaking up to the microphone so she could sing jingle bells. She only knew the "Jingle bells, jingle bells." part so she just sang that over and over and over again. If we didn't stop her I bet she could have gone on for hours. I was surprised that Kyla wanted to go but she did and got up and did at great job at singing "twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Brynlee won a prize and we had a fun time. Joanna and her kids all made gifts for all the kids, they got these cute little pillow animals. 

     Brynlee woke up at 3:30 in the morning to check and see if Santa had came. She was super excited to see what she had gotten and then wanted to stay up and wait for everyone else to wake up but I made her go back to sleep. Annalyn woke up around 5:30 and Kyla was awake at 6. We were all dressed and ready to watch a movie and talk about baby Jesus a little after 7. It didn't take us long to open up our presents and then we enjoyed playing with all of our new gifts. 

     It became apparent this year that buying presents for five little girls is a lot of work. It is almost impossible to find five similar but a little bit different things. And Miriam was really still too little to care so for most things we were just getting four things. But what family really needs four more dolls? It was hard to make things fair. All of the girls mentioned that they wanted an Our generation doll but the only one who made a specific request to Santa Claus was Annalyn. She wanted an Our Generation Doll travel set. I guess it came with a suitcase and a bunch of other little accessories. All of the girls ended up getting a different Our Generation doll from Santa. Annalyn's doll came with a suitcase and a few little accessories so I am sure Santa thought that was better than the travel doll set Anna had picked out but this doll did not have the tiny toothbrush and toothpaste that the other thing came with so she was super disappointed. Last year Santa Clause didn't bring her the Shopkins she wanted either, Grandma Sherry gave her those and even though the doll she got from Santa last year is one of her most favorite toys she is still upset that Santa didn't just get her what she wanted. She cried about that for a long time and was beyond disappoint that Santa Claus did not make all of her hopes and dreams come true. Let's hope Santa gets his act together and does better next year. The rest of the girls all loved their dolls from Santa and they got several other fun new games, a photo book, Pringles, some movies, crafts, and clothes. Kyla and Summer both got make-up sets and that is probably their most favorite toy. Each girls got their very own box of band aids and Summer used all of hers up by the end of the day. Joel made nice doll bunk beds for all three of the girl's bedrooms and they loved those. Kyla and Summer were not happy about having to share so I guess Joel should have made four of those. Summer was pretty unset about not getting her own. Joel got some nerf guns and he had a blast having battles with the girls. I have been finding those things all over our house. Joel got us a nice tent and I got him a hammock so we can go camping some more this summer. 

After we opened up presents we went to eat a nice Christmas dinner at my mom and dad's house. We had a great time being with them. My little brother Josh got to call home from his mission while we were there and it sure was nice to talk to him. We were in charge of getting a present for Brian and his family so Joel made another much smaller doll house for Elowyn. It is still a pretty big house but not near as big as the one he made us. The girls sure had fun helping him with that project. They made a bunch of different chairs and furniture that were pretty cool. They made a few interesting things like a chair with only one leg but I think Elowyn will have fun with it. We also made a picnic table for my parents. My siblings and I all got together and got my dad all of the different things he could need to talk care of his teeth.

I sure am grateful for my family and for the chance that we had to celebrate the birth of my Savior. We spent most of our Christmas day just relaxing and playing games together. It was a fun day. I sure do love this family of mine.