Christmas Vacation -- Part One

Featuring the build up to the big day.  This year I was happy to have a few days leading up to Christmas with the kids already out of school.  With Christmas day on a Wednesday this year, there just seemed to be a lot more time available for increasing our holiday cheer.  Haha.  And since Scott had not really used up ANY of his vacation days prior to the holiday season, he decided to really kick Christmas vacation up a notch by taking a full two weeks off.  Best Christmas present ever!  :)

In the days before Christmas, we managed to fit in most of our holiday traditions and I was even able to squeeze in a few extra projects as well.  Because nothing says merry Christmas Eve like finally finishing the painting of a desk that has been sitting in our garage for the past 2 months and then some!  Hahaha. 

Painting in the kitchen on Christmas Eve.

Grace's desk take two.  If you'll recall, one of her Christmas gifts LAST year was a new {to her} desk that I had found at a thrift store and revamped and repainted a pale pink color.  While we both liked the pink color in and of itself, something about the combo of the Ballet Slipper pink paired with the Bird's Egg blue of the walls in her new room didn't really work. 

So, I stripped off all the paint {we're talking at least 3 or 4 layers worth!}, stained and waxed the top and then painted the bottom the same white as her dresser and other furniture in the room.  {The top has been finished for months, I just had never gotten around to painting the bottom.} The chair is another St. Vincent de Paul thrift store gem.  I found it several months ago and spruced it up by recovering the cushion with some fabric I had leftover from some of the blocks in Grace's baptism quilt.  And voila!

{Alex chose Lucky Charms for his Christmas cereal this year.  He REALLY liked the marshmallows.  And I'm pretty sure his box was gone in about a day.}

Jane holding the shrinky dink ornament she got from her Primary teacher at church.

Isn't that so cute?  Jane LOVED watching it shrinky dink it up in the oven.  :)

Christmas Eve was quite the busy day as we also decorated our annual gingerbread house and got OUR house ready for the company we had invited over to share our traditional Christmas Gumbo and join us in our nativity pageant.

I made the mistake of telling Ethan he was "in charge" of this activity. 

So much sugar consumed...

Sleepy little puppy has not been falling asleep for naps while the kids are home from school.  

Look at that concentration...

 The "haunted" side of the Gingerbread house.  Courtesy of Grace and Sophie.

 
The kids were super excited for the big day, but managed to get their acts together and get themselves in bed and asleep in a very timely manner at the end of Christmas Eve.  It makes Christmas morning SO much better when they've actually gotten a good night's sleep!  We went with Secret Santa for the stockings again this year, and I think the kids were pretty happy with the results.  I always find it hilarious to see what the kids pick out for each other -- Grace is notorious for choosing things that she really wants, Sophie has an anything goes philosophy, and Ethan just wants to get his shopping over with as quickly as possible.

 In keeping with tradition, all non-Santa gifts were exchanged on Christmas Eve.  This is the gift I made for Scott this year.  I printed out a picture I took back in the fall and wrote the lyrics on top to one of my favorite songs that make me think of Scott. {From "The Light" by Sara Bareilles}

Post-Santa's visit.

Look at all those cute little faces!  So happy and excited.   :)

Grace had Alex's name...

Sophie had Jane's...

"Jane" had Sophie's...

"Alex" had Ethan's...

 

and Ethan had Grace's.

All the loot from Santa.  Plus a couple of presents that Ethan bought for the girls.

Jane with her 3 gifts.

{Lalaloopsy dress, 3D cardboard castle, Mercy Watson books}

Alex with his 3 gifts.

{Little People superheroes, Magna Doodle, board books}

Grace {wearing her "Lucky Charms"} with her 3 gifts.

{Earring making kit, Paper Twirling klutz set, Diary of a Wimpy Kid book set}

Sophie with her 3 gifts.

{Princess dress, Lego Friends set, Clementine books}

Ethan with his 3 gifts.

{Speed stacks, Dollar Origami book, The Secret Series}

As a whole I was rather impressed with the unfolding of Christmas morning this year!  Everyone posed patiently on the steps for our annual kid shot before opening presents, no one was up SUPER early, and everyone was totally fine with taking turns as they opened their gifts one at a time, one after the other while I tried to snap pictures of everything.  AND -- in the end -- they were all very appreciative of what they got.  Always a nice thing to witness.  

Ethan's loot...

Grace's...

Sophie's...

Jane's...

and Alex's.

{A stocking stuffer I slipped in for Sophie -- some brand new earrings -- as token to let her know

that she could get her ears pierced over Christmas vacation.  She was VERY excited!}

Some Christmas morning fun:

 

Eating leftover Gumbo for breakfast.  Featuring her brand-new "donut bun" that was in her stocking from Jane.

Fun fact -- Scott and Sophie eat exactly the same way.  It is hiLARious.  You'll just have to trust me.  Every time I look over at the two of them munching along in exactly the same manner it slays me.  Hahaha.

I knew Ethan would enjoy this present.  He spent the majority of his vacation stacking.

 Modeling her princess dress and the lipstick that was in her stocking.

 I found Grace inside Jane's castle working in one of her Diary of a Wimpy Kid activity books.  {That giant Beanie Ballz is the gift Ethan gave her.}

Some more of Grace's stocking stuffers courtesy of Ethan.

And that was that.  The kids were more than excited to hit the road a few short hours later and head on over to Indiana to stay for the week at the cousins.  Stay tuned for Part Two of our Christmas vacation...

Merry Christmas!

Our annual Christmas newsletter -- Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Dear Friends and Family,

There were lots of changes for our family in 2013.  With great sadness, we moved from St. Louis earlier this year.  We sure loved it there and like to think St. Louis reciprocated. {St. Louis friends – if you disagree with this assertion, please don’t let us know. We frankly would prefer to live in our state of blissful ignorance.}  Even though the transition was a bit rough for the kids, we have finally started to settle into our new surroundings and are pleased to announce that we have the nicest neighbors in the world.  In a truly shocking development, you will not find any hospital references in the rest of this note. In a family first, we have not visited the hospital once during this calendar year. And yes, I realize that since we completed this letter with time remaining in the year, I fully expect to be spending at least a few hours over the holidays with our friends (and borderline family) in the medical profession. But let’s just move on before I tempt fate any further.

Jessica continues to be amazing, acing life with class (and sass?) to spare. Along with managing the day-to-day mayhem of life with our large crew, she single-handedly prepped our St. Louis home for sale with all 5 kids under foot back in June. I wish this was just figuratively speaking, but they were very often literally under her feet while she painted roughly 42 different surfaces this year.  In her spare time she continues to love a good project, reads us all out of the water, and is always on the hunt for better and more effective ways of molding the kids into respectable, responsible and contributing members of society.  She’s holding onto lots of Hope. 

I had the pleasure (?) this year of serving in what turned out to be a surprisingly patriotic capacity: jury duty. Working in HR, I fully expected to be dismissed during jury selection. I was wrong. And boy, did I pick a bad time to be wrong! Suffice it to say that I am now an expert in a field that NOBODY wants to hear anything more about.  In other news, another year has come and gone and I still haven’t written a book or run a marathon.  I continue to feel mostly OK about that but have gotten a head start on my resolutions for 2014 and just might {might} join some friends at work in a Spartan Race come spring.  Because nothing says “Spartan” like Scott.  On a serious note, I’m enjoying my new assignment at work and adjusting to driving in traffic on I-71 North during rush hour.   

Regular readers (awfully presumptuous, eh?) will be curious/anxious to find out if Ethan ever got his Kindle Fire this year. The answer is…kind of, although the better question would be if he still has it, and that answer would be no. After demonstrating that said ownership would NOT help him to be perfectly behaved, he reluctantly handed it back over to us. Thankfully, he is still a really good kid and his lack of electronics has not hampered his ability to be a model child at school.  He enjoyed his first season of organized sports with soccer in the fall and in other sports related news turned into a human Popsicle at the BYU-Notre Dame game in South Bend back in November. If you watched that game on TV or heard about the freezing cold conditions, it really was as cold as it looked/sounded. Ethan braved it as long as his rail-thin body could take it before we finished the last 15 minutes in the heated bathroom listening to the game on the radio.

For someone who still doesn’t own one, Grace continues to be obsessed with dogs. (Thought provoking, yet somewhat tangential/existential question: Is Grace truly obsessed with dogs or is she obsessed with the idea of having a dog? Discuss.)  She has added an iPod Touch to her list of needs and despite our efforts to frequently remind her that it is actually a want, she continues to insist that it will help her to be a better human being.  Right.  On an academic note, Grace became a voracious reader earlier this year while powering through all of the Lemony Snickets books in a mere couple of months.  Since finishing, however, she has returned to her party line of insisting that she hates reading and all things books despite evidence to the contrary.  Other than “not reading,” Grace spends her free time playing with the little ones, doing LOTS of homework, and turning random objects (masking tape, cardboard boxes, paper, etc.) into pretty impressive works of art.  As Sophie says, “Grace is VERY artsy craftsy.”  No argument here!

As for Sophie, this child continues to break her own records for most words per minute at high-pitch and high-volume levels.  Her tendency towards non-stop chatter at school with friends has continued to raise comment at parent-teacher conferences, but luckily has not resulted in any red notes sent home so far this school year!   On the activity front, Sophie started gymnastics in the fall and has really enjoyed running and jumping and swinging, this time on objects designed for said activities.  Additionally, Sophie can waggle her eyebrows with the best of them, but you sort of have to see it to truly appreciate it.  While she can go full on angry elf when she wants to, Sophie is thankfully a mostly happy child who flashes her dimples when necessary to charm her way into your heart.

Jane … I’m half tempted to just simply write Jane’s name and leave it at that because it’s becoming increasingly impossible to accurately describe this precious little jem. She is such a unique kid in such a way that I wouldn’t dare change, and we’re so grateful to have her in the family. She started pre-school this year and has really loved it, and I think her teachers get a kick out of her too. After a steady diet of cartwheels in our family room with an increasing level of competence, we got her involved with gymnastics classes as well and she couldn’t be happier with the arrangement.  

The baby of our family is no longer a baby.  {Although, NO – that is NOT an announcement!} Alex turned 2 this summer and has joined the ranks of the communicators, first babbling up a storm and now talking in full sentences over the last several months. He continues to love his elephant and his pacifier and his life is pretty plush if you really stop and think about it.  He wakes up, gets doted on by his mother and older siblings, occasionally changes into real clothes (why bother getting out of footsy pajamas?), plays on assorted electronic devices, eats here and there, gets pulled into various pretend/make believe schemes concocted by the other children, and then goes back to sleep. Not bad, right? He still loves anything to do with a ball and has recently added a donkey kick to his repertoire of tricks.  Another thing you really have to see to fully appreciate.  Ha!

We are so thankful at this time of year for our family, as well as our friends – old and new. We are blessed well beyond anything we deserve and wish all of you nothing but the best. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Scott, Jessica, Ethan (10), Grace (9), Sophie (6), Jane (4), and Alex (2)

I Know that My Redeemer Lives

Grace gave a talk in Primary today.  After a crazy and hyped up morning, she managed to settle down and pull herself together and truly surprised me with her help in writing it.  I wanted to post it here mostly to have a record of it, but also because I think her short and sweet testimony is especially tender at this time of year. 

At Christmas time we celebrate Jesus' birth.  He lived a long time ago in Jerusalem and showed us the way to live.  After living a perfect life, Jesus Christ atoned for our sins and died on the cross.  After three days he was resurrected and came back to life.  This month my family is learning the song "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."  One of my favorite lines from it is "He lives to bless me with His love."  I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lives.

Even though it's been a long time since he lived on Earth, the scriptures teach us that He will come again.  For example, this month's scripture in Job 19:25 says: "I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."  No one knows exactly when he will come again but we can be ready for His coming by following the Savior's example and listening to the words of our prophet.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I want to add my own testimony that I know that my Redeemer lives.  He lives and loves us.  May we all feel His spirit at Christmas and throughout the rest of the year as well!

After church, I told her I wanted to get a picture of her holding her talk and she decided to one up that and went up to the podium in the (empty) Primary room and started reading it for me. 

The primary presidency made these cute ornaments of the Salt Lake City Temple introducing next year's theme for all of the kids as a Christmas present.

{For those who aren't members of our church, the Primary is an organization for children ages 18 months -- 12 years that is essentially a Sunday School.  They meet in classes by age group and come together for part of the time to participate in something we call "Sharing Time" where they learn about the gospel and have lessons and songs to go along with it.  At the beginning of Sharing Time there is typically one child assigned to pray, one child assigned to read the month's scripture, and one assigned to give a "talk" on a topic that is given to them by the Primary leaders.  Today was Grace's turn to give that talk.}

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year -- Mostly

Ahhhh.  My favorite thing about Saturday night is mandatory early bedtime for the kids.  And at this most wonderful time of year it is especially delightful.  I'm not exactly sure WHAT is going on with son number one, but he's been in the red zone for the majority of the last 24+ hours.  And girl number one has not been much better, either.  I'm sure it all ties into not enough sleep and too many treats but really -- this is not the best way to kick off our Christmas vacation! Especially since the morning started out on such a hopeful note...

After Ethan came to me this morning with a list that he had compiled of all the presents he wanted to buy for everyone in the family, I told him that if he wanted to do any shopping today (on the LAST Saturday before Christmas), we would have to go right away before the crowds got too bad.  He quickly agreed and got ready to go -- and was then quite perturbed when Grace and Sophie jumped in on the bandwagon as well.  He was losing it for the beginning half of our Target expedition and THEN, when he discovered we would also be hitting up the Michael's and Justice that were in the same shopping center, he pretty much almost blew a gasket.  Luckily, we all made it out alive and I even managed to tack on ONE more errand before going home by bribing them all with food at the Barnes & Noble cafe while I hunted for one more thing I needed for Scott's stocking.  As a whole, our outing was fine enough, but once we got home (after FOUR hours of shopping) things quickly began to unravel.  All in all, I don't think any of the kids were surprised when we moved their already early bedtime even earlier.  :)

In other news, we've been busy this month doing lots of other Christmas-y stuff as well.  Consider the following a photo essay of December...

Wrapping the Christmas books to put under the tree so that there would be one to open each night was a lot more fun than actually opening them.  Just so you know.

Grace participated in her very first procrastinated-until-the-night-before-it-was-due experience.  Her grade is working on entrepreneurship (I think?) and they're supposed to create some kind of unique object to "sell" to the second graders.  Grace decided to get a bunch of rocks from the woods behind our house and then paint them and put words on them.  Unfortunately, we were not sure of all the details because she lost her packet that outlined everything over Thanksgiving Break.

She made 20 of them.  The joke was all on us, though, when she got to school and requested a new packet and discovered that only the PROPOSAL SHEET was due that day.  And that only ONE sample prototype was due 2 weeks from then.  And that there would be a practice sale in APRIL where she would need 20-30 of the objects finished and that the REAL SALE for the second-graders wouldn't be until MAY.  Oh Grace. 

Sophie got to be "Star of the Week" and was supposed to document her time with Curious George.  We made some popcorn one day after school and called it good as far as their adventures went.  Haha.

Jane participated in a Christmas performance at her preschool and made the cutest angel I've ever seen.  :)  Even cuter was how excitedly she waved to us whenever she spotted us in the crowd.  Unfortunately, I totally missed her one speaking part {"He is Christ the Lord"} because Lover Baby was a tired and fussy little man and was freaking out over wanting to play on my phone.  Luckily, Scott caught her performance debut on video and I watched it once we were home.  

The kids FINALLY got to put all their new snow gear to good use when we experienced a day of PERFECT snowfall a week or so ago.  Most of the time when it snows here it's really not that great for packing, but this was an exception.  Everyone but Alex disappeared out to the backyard that night while I was finishing up dinner and created this adorable little masterpiece.  

Teacher gifts were a bit sparse this year, but I really think these bowls I found at Target are quite the treasure.  And of course, EVERYTHING looks classier with a little cellophane and ribbon.

Jane created a bulb ornament at preschool using paint that she swirled around.  She was really proud of it.

Grace decided to REALLY get into the Christmas spirit this year and had me take around to a few different stores to purchase her own decorations for her room.  Seriously.  She ended up spending like $40 of her own money on all this stuff.  {The Little People Nativity and ornaments on the tree she simply commandeered from the family room, but everything else is brand new.}

{The rest of the ornaments from my exchange -- I realized I forgot to include the picture in the last post. :) }

Lots and lots and LOTS of Christmas card envelopes were stuffed and addressed.  Although, to be fair, Ethan did most of the stuffing.  He REALLY was looking forward to it.  It kept him occupied for a couple of days after school and then at bedtime one night as he stuffed all but 60 with the newsletter that we finally had printed out. 

Seriously a lot.

And that is mostly that.  The Christmas season is in full swing and EVERYONE is anxious for the big day!  :)

Party Time!

This past weekend I hosted my first ever Ornament Exchange!  My good friend, Charity, was the inspiration for the event.  For the last couple of years, Charity has hosted a Homemade Ornament Exchange at Christmas time.  The idea is simple -- everyone makes a set of ornaments ahead of time to exchange at a party where there are lots of yummy treats to eat and friends to visit and socialize with.  Sounds super fun, right?  Definitely up my alley.  :)

The reason for my inspiration is this: A couple of months ago, Charity was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and has since undergone surgery and finished 3 rounds of chemo.  Among all the things that were running through my mind when I found out the news, the thought of her not being able to host her favorite event of the year was one {of the many things} that hit me really hard.  I decided right then and there that I wanted to go ahead and still make a homemade ornament this year to mail back to her at Christmas time.  And then last month, I decided that even though we've moved and I wouldn't be able to throw a party FOR her, I wanted to host one in her honor anyway and invited a few friends from church. 

My ornaments -- I originally only made pink but then decided I loved the green, too.

How to Make an Ornament:

*  Blow up a balloon.

*  Wrap it all around with yarn. (Tucking in the ends)

*  Mix up a watered down glue solution -- I used roughly 1 part glue to 2 parts water.  Roughly.  It    should be the consistency of cream.

*  Dip yarn balls into glue and make sure they're good and coated all the way around.  Squeeze off any extra glue.

*  Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and stick in an oven set to 200 degrees.  Keep oven door cracked open! (Balloons will start to pop otherwise).  Turn over as needed.  The oven helps them to dry out and harden MUCH more quickly than letting them air dry overnight.  Because that didn't really work.

*  After the yarn is completely dry and hard, pop the balloons and remove them.

*  Spritz lightly with gold "Glitter Blast" spray paint and let dry.

*  Tie a ribbon through an opening in the ball, rotate string so the knot is at the bottom (inside the ornament), put a dab of hot glue at the base of the ribbon and then string a pretty bead to go on top.

*  Voila!  Hang on the tree and enjoy.  (I also strung a bunch of extras on ribbon to create a garland to hang across the entryway between our kitchen and family room).

How NOT to host a Party:

*  Don't count on children helping out all that much to get the house cleaned up and ready for company.

*  Don't try and squeeze in a bunch of stuff to do on the Saturday that you will be hosting.

*  Definitely don't have your husband run to the grocery store a couple of hours before the party starts.  

*  DON'T attempt to finally getting around to painting over that ugly picture you found at the thrift store 2 months ago just so you can finally hang it up on the wall it's been leaning against ever since.

*  Don't wait until the very last minute to throw your cookies into the oven while you're also trying to finish up cleaning the family room, feed kids, feed yourself, get little ones into bed and older ones ready for their outing with dad.

*  And finally DON'T turn into an absolute monster as you scream at your kids for not getting everything done that you needed them to simply because YOU'RE stressed out and feeling unprepared. 

*Sigh*  I'm pretty sure my kids were hating me ALL weekend long.  But you live and learn, right?  Will I still host a second annual Ornament Exchange next year?  Absolutely.  And perhaps by next year I will have learned how to Host a Party the proper way.  :)

This one's for you Charity!

{In the spirit of Christmas, please consider donating to Team Charity to help offset the costs of her cancer treatment.  Thank you so much!}

Breakfast with Santa!

Subtitled $30 worth of fun?  Hahaha.  J/K.  It was fun.  And almost worth the money.  Especially when you figure in that the $5/person entry fee covered a gourmet pancake breakfast, face painting, pictures with Santa, reindeer crafts, coloring, and a "free" goodie bag.  {The pancakes were not really gourmet -- just case anyone missed the sarcasm.}  Grace has been reminding us on a daily basis this week that the Santa breakfast was coming up and as a negotiating tool it came in pretty handy.  Or at least it did with Grace.  She alone completed her Saturday chores yesterday afternoon to free up this morning for the outing.  Getting Sophie and Jane to get their work done was another story.  In the end it was a good thing they woke up at 6:30 this morning because it took them almost 3 hours to finally get their room clean so we could head on over to the junior high to partake in the fun.  Ethan opted to stay home and do his own Saturday chores -- breakfast with Santa is so 2 years ago for him -- and Alex decided that staying in his Santa pajamas would be the best course of action for meeting the man, the myth, and the legend. 

Getting his o.j. on.

Finding their inner peacemaker while coloring on their placemats.

And finally meeting the big guy. {Although -- for the record -- Jane and Alex are the only believers left in the family.}

Sophie telling Santa she wants an iPod touch for Christmas.  {Not happening.}

 Jane still wanting a Lalaloopsy dress.  {Check!}

Alex looking terrified and trying hard not to show it.  Hahahaha.  Look at that little face!

 And Grace wanting "nothing" for Christmas.  {That can be arranged.  Hahahaha.}

Faces were painted, reindeer crowns were made, and pages were colored and filled out by each of the children.  The activities really were lots of fun for the kids and after spending an hour and half at the school we finally headed home.  For our first official Christmas outing of 2013, I would say it was a success!

 
 Not so successful?  Getting the kids to spend the rest of the day cleaning the house for the party I would be hosting in the evening.  But that's a whole OTHER story.  Ha!  In closing I'll leave you with one more Christmas craft that happened today.

A Santa Minion.  Courtesy of Grace.  She sculpted it a couple of days ago and painted it this afternoon for her teacher's Christmas gift.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!  :)

Flashback Friday -- "This is who I am"

Oh Grace.  It's been way over a month now, but I've been meaning to do a flashback on Grace ever since her birthday {way back in November}.  And since it's better late than never, I figured now is as good a time as any to do a flashback for my firstborn daughter...

At the very end of October, I tried to capitalize on the dual birthday photo shoot I was already doing for Alex and Jane and convinced Grace to jump in on the action as well.  I was trying to put together a package with pictures to send to my grandparents and wanted one of her that was a bit more current than her baptism photo from a year ago.  While snapping away with the little ones, I called over my shoulder for her to go and change into a nicer looking outfit and brush her hair so she'd look decent in the picture I was going to take.

She argued back and forth with me that she didn't want to go and change and that what she was wearing was FINE.  {Think gym shorts and a messy T-shirt.  And a rat's nest of a ponytail for her hair.}  I was fully planning on forcing her to change into something else when she stopped me dead in my tracks with the most profound statement I've ever heard from her.  "This is who I am," she said.  "I'm not fancy."  She said it so earnestly and with such conviction that it really gave me pause.


Think about it -- how well do you know who YOU are?  And how long did it take you to figure that out?  In some ways, I sometimes feel like I'm still trying to figure out who I am.  Not Grace.  She is a one-of-a-kind kind of girl.  Our ever-surprising surprise.  A tender-hearted, super sensitive, and independent spirit.  She knows who she is and she stays true to herself.  Always.  And while that can be frustrating as all get-out when she's brewing a tropical storm style meltdown, it is comforting to know that she will not be easily bent by the winds of conformity around her.  She does not care what anyone else thinks or does -- she alone chooses her path.  There is something inherently awe-inspiring about that. 

At the end of the day, I have faith in her.  And in the path she will ultimately choose. 

By the time I finished up with the little ones' photo shoot, Grace was ready for her own.  In true Grace form, she surprised me.  She didn't change into the exact clothing and hairstyle I wanted for the picture, but she did clean herself up, change into different clothes {still true to the essence of Grace} and ended up presenting to me the very best version of herself.  And as her mother, that's all I ever want.