Christmastime.....

Claire helping me make caramel popcorn.... love that she is naked, but she's still got shoes!!

Oh, this Christmas season was wonderful, and wonderfully busy.  I feel like I really don't even know what happened to the whole month of December.  I didn't exercise all month, the menu on our menu board didn't change all month....and we probably only ate like 1 meal that I had written on it the whole month, I didn't teach any music lessons to Madelyn all month, get the picture?  It was a crazy month, but it was wonderful.  

We hosted several parties, and big ones, at our house.  We had a couple mutual activities here.  One was a fireside for all the youth and leaders, there were about 55+ people here.  Madelyn got baptized and we ate leftovers from that shindig for a solid week in the beginning of December.  Jed and I went to Mountain River Ranch with all the adults in his family, that was a fun night out.  We hit a deer on the way home with Jed's new truck, luckily nothing got hurt......well, except for the deer that is.  It died on contact.  It was too bad for the deer, but there is really nothing you can do to avoid that kind of catastrophe, they just spring out of nowhere.

The kids had school parties, parties with scouts and activity days, we had a lot of family parties, a bridal shower for a new sister-in-law, we were in charge of putting the ward Christmas letter together and mailing them so that turned into a folding and stamping party, and some neighbor parties.  We had weeks of solid partying.  But we like parties, so we are all for that!  Jed and I spoke in sacrament meeting on the 15th, and the following week I did a musical number with the choir and a special soloist:  Hannah!  She did awesome and has the sweetest clearest little voice.  Plus she was so little and cute, she can barely even see over the pulpit.  We had to put the booster box on its side for her to stand on so her whole face could be seen over the pulpit.  She is one brave little girl!!

We also made time for quiet and peace and reflection on the seasons true meaning.  

One of my favorite traditions we do is have the kids draw names of each other at the beginning of December.  They do extra chores, that helps out a lot, and they earn some cash to buy their secret someone a gift.

I love taking them to the store with Jed and I and we help them secretly purchase their gifts.  We just go to a small store that isn't too expensive and since it is not packed with people, they got to push their own carts.  It was so cute.  They all were taking their gift shopping very seriously, I loved it.  They were so thoughtful and sincere with their selections.  I took each of them one at a time through the check out and then stashed the bags in the car, and helped the next person.  So much fun.

 I love how excited they are to give.  

We use Christmas Eve as a time for giving.  They each go get their gifts that they have secretly wrapped, some with notes of their love written on them too, and put them under the tree.  They're getting to be pretty darn good little wrappers too.  

We read The Gift of the Magi and talk about the ultimate gift that the Savior gave, and then one at a time they give their gifts away.

It is my favorite:

 It really just doesn't get much better than that.  

There is just a lot of love in the room!

Then it was pajama time.  We set brownies under the tree, Madelyn made them, it's her specialty.  And they wrote notes to Santa.

 Then we went up and enjoyed Jed's early Christmas present:  3D glasses!  Whooee, were these guys excited to watch a brand new movie in 3D.  It was so cute, after watching a part where flecks of fire came floating out Hannah said:  "They're coming to me!!"  It was pretty fun and memorable.

 Then it was off to bed even though the air was filled with excitement!  Love that Christmas magic!

They had a sleepover downstairs and were told they could come and wake us up at 6:00 AM.--that worked pretty good last year.  Only this year they weren't supposed to peak in any of their stockings before they came and got us.  :)  I just have to be there and see it!!

 Drew had a rough night.  :)  He was so excited.  He read an entire book in the middle of the night!  :)  

But finally we woke up to this:

 And for a big surprise that morning after they scoured their stockings and santa gifts, they got to open this:

 But before we get into that big box, lets finish the santa stuff.

 Claire's new pretend smartphone.  That girl has a technology issue I'm telling you!  The biggest fits ever if you try to take your phone, ipad, or the like away from her.  We've got our work cut out for us in that department.  :)

 Luckily she does love her pretend phone...

 Ok, back to the big red box, this is the message they deciphered from several envelopes contaning mixed up letters:

Pure excitement!!  

Like Drew I had a few sleepless nights because of excitement over keeping this whole thing a secret!

They were instructed to pack their bags with some packing lists that were included in the giant box, as well as colored pencils, snacks, and other things for the road.

They were off and packing their bags in a jiffy!  

It was a pretty fun Christmas surprise and I was so glad that it was a surprise!  I was a little nervous that they might have heard something....but they didn't!!

We put away the new toys and cleaned up the house and enjoyed pumpkin roll pancakes and hashbrowns and we were outta there!!  

Random Stuff

 Little Miss Claire is such a climber and can even get up to the next level and that super teeny skinny shelf.  Eek!

 Beautiful red strawberries.

 Turning them into jam with my girls.

 Even Claire got in there and helped clean the blender.  Such a helper!

 I just think this picture is super cute. 

 My kids love when we order stuff on the internet because they get awesome boxes to play in.

 This picture is pretty cute too.

 I don't know who even took this picture, but it is another pretty common occurrence at our house!

 This summer I got quite a bit canned!  By myself even.  That is major progress for me.  I did beans, carrots, salsa, and pickles.  And lots of all of those.  I had several quart jars sitting empty in my storage room for years, and now they are full!! 

 Some art of Drew's that we threw away only on the condition that I took a picture to document it.  Check.

 These girls like to hang out under the table sometimes.

 Madelyn doing some art.

 Cutie Claire.

 A Christmas picture that Drew drew....hahaha.  I like that he drew me next to him in the window.  :)

 Lily art that is just so sweet.  I love their art.

 This was Madelyn's impromptu artwork she whipped up in no time to take to the Activity Day girl talent show.

 While Hannah, Lily, Claire, and I decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, these guys and their dad started working on a clubhouse that they designed themselves.  Here they are building the foundation.  They worked hard the following day also, and were able to get the floor laid and frame two walls.  Then it snowed.  So they have had to postpone any further work....could be months before they can pull out their hammers again!

 A sweet note I discovered on our front sidewalk from Madelyn.  Loved it.

And a morning snuggle that Drew stole from me.  You can see Madelyn's beckoning arms wanting Drew to give Claire to her so she could sneak in some of that snuggle.  Mmmmm....love those morning snuggles.

A Very Special Birthday!

 Madelyn's Big Day came!  She turned eight years old, which is very exciting because she has been looking forward to her baptism for a long time....  :)

 We woke up early and hurriedly wrapped all those gifts!!  I need to remember to have her stuff all ready by morning because she is such an early bird.  I sent her to go get ready for school while I finished the last minute details!!

 She got an awesome art set, something she was hoping for.

 An ankle jump roper thing which has brought us a lot of family laughs.  I'll just say they think I'm a pro and we might just have a family talent night and show the world our expertise.  ;)

 Claire was trying on Madelyn's new clothes. 

 Madelyn got a set of princess polly pockets, just like Hannah's. 

 Here's my 8-year-old girl ready for school.

 I don't know what I was thinking, but Madelyn and I laid out the plans for a friend birthday party on her birthday as well.  She wanted to paint nails, make mini pizzas, decorate cupcakes, play the skittle game, and a draw the birthday girl blindfolded game.  We narrowed down a lot of ideas, but we still were left with a pretty good amount of activities.  And we were starting at 4:00.  I really don't think my head was thinking about logistics:  painting 8 girls fingernails, cooking their pizzas, having cupcakes all cooked, and the activities made up?!  It was stressful, but I think she had a great time.  Next time (note to myself) less cooking, less me hands on type activities, and plan it when Jed can be home to watch the other children.  :)

 I'm so glad I got to meet her new friends from school this year.

 One of her friends accidentally packed this food storage lid in with her gift, we had a good laugh.  She was a really cute and fun friend.

 We just partied it up with this girl because then on the next Sunday we had a family party.  She had asked for this cake months in advance.  Unfortunately one of the cakes broke coming out of the pan and made for a very difficult time keeping the layers steady.  It didn't look so great, but seriously was AMAZING to eat.  Like best birthday cake ever.  Yum-o.

 I'm so glad she was so patient and forgiving of the less than visually ideal cake.  She was a sweetheart.  :)

 Then on to her baptism day!! There's her special "8' cupcakes!

 She and her good buddy from school.  They were so excited to find out they were getting baptized on the same day!!

 Me and my big girl.

They warned us when we got there that the font was not heated, and it was like -1 outside!!  

It was seriously cold water.  

She was so brave and we did our best to warm her up quickly when she was finished.  

 Love those 5 special young ones.

 Love that 8-year-old girl!!

She and her daddy.

What a wonderful and beautiful day it was.  

I'm so grateful she made the choice to be baptized and follow the Savior Jesus Christ.

Such a wonderful blessing to be there and witness the special ordinance and feel the powerful spirit there.

I was privileged enough to be able to speak at Madelyn's baptism too.  It seems to make it more personal.

Love you Madelyn!!

Right Now...

I feel like sometimes I need to post a "right now" post weekly, because things change around here so quickly.  I just have to record some things before they fly away from my memory! 
Right now....Drew is doing really well in school, I hope that doesn't change within the week.  ;)  He definitely puts forth his best effort.  He is a perfectionist, like someone else I know, and sometimes it bothers him when things aren't "just so."  I'm trying to help him with the idea of just doing your best and that is enough.  Man, I wish I could drill that into the head of that other person I know too.  Some things I wish weren't so readily picked up by our own children.  ;)  He is working super hard in scouts, he has earned the leave no trace award, the bear award, three arrow points, the whittling chip card, and is working toward more arrow points and his religious knot award.  He is very self-motivated and that is SO nice.  He has made friends with a great boy down the road from us and they seem to get along so well.  I'm so glad because there just aren't many boys his age very close to our home, so I'm SO grateful for this friendship.  It has been a blessing! He is really into making up Justin Bieber "tunes" with his friend Keegan and Madelyn.  They are basically stories about unfortunate events that happen to Justin Bieber....don't really know why he is the butt of their jokes, but he is.  :)

Right now....Madelyn has just started activity days and is loving it!  Her first activity was a talent show.  We found out about it just with a couple hours notice.  She was all over it and painted a poster with spring-like landscape with her new art set.  She was not bashful at all, she just got right in there and did it.  Way to go!  She has already memorized all of her Articles of Faith and has completed several requirements in her Faith in God booklet.  She has helped me a couple of times lately, braiding jump-ropes for children in need for Christmas presents.  It has been a fun service to work on together, and she is a pretty darn good braider.   She is doing well in school, but her real teacher had a baby and is on maternity leave.  Unfortunately, I feel like she isn't being pushed and therefore isn't really enjoying it as much as she used to.  She doesn't really enjoy her real teacher this year, but at least she was giving her extra work to keep her more challenged. 

Right now....Hannah is working on getting rid of her blanket.  No easy feat.  She's got to tackle that first and then we'll work on the thumb sucking.  Hannah is a super sweetie.  She has been so grateful in her prayers.  We had a luncheon for Madelyn's baptism and had TONS AND TONS of leftover pasta.  We've been eating it all week.  Hannah said in her prayer:  "we're thankful that we could eat pasta for a week..."  Jed and I were doing our best to stifle our laughs.  So hilarious.  She has been asked to sing a solo in church for the Christmas program next week.  I'm playing my violin with her.  We've been practicing together and it has been so cute.  She has a super cute little voice and is just so petite.  We sang/played it through with the choir at their last practice.  Hannah was stationed on a stool behind the pulpit.  Her solo is just the first two lines of Silent Night, and then the choir joins in.  Well, since she couldn't get down off this high stool she just sang with the choir (into the microphone no less) the first two lines over and over until the end of the song.  Everyone in the choir was beaming with bright smiles.  It was pretty cute! 

Right now....Lily is working on perfecting this potty situation.  Oh man, does anyone want to potty train Claire for me?  It doesn't have to be right now, I just don't think I have it in me to potty train one more child!!  Call me.  ;)  Anyway, Lily is going through a little naughty phase.  Love that little cutie, but I sometimes get to the end of my rope and don't know what to do next with her.  I'm really trying to work on being patient, even when she does the opposite of what I say, and trying to find the good and give her lavish praise for it.  It works well when I'm doing it, but if I lose my patience with her, it just seems to feed the next naughty inclination that comes to her mind. But oh the screaming, yelling, stubbornness, scratching, biting....yes biting.  STILL!!  So, yes, these behaviors totally wear me down.  Anyone with any ideas of helping teach this girly to be nice.....I welcome your advice.  I feel like I've tried everything I can think of.  Now, she doesn't have all bad moments, she definitely has wonderful moments of being hilarious, adorable, expressive (no one has expressions like Lily), and sweet. 

Right now...Claire is in love with milk.  She has a few must have items:  froggie blankie, sippy, her lion, and a baby.  She loves babies.  It is so sweet.  She is very clingy and wants me to hold her all the time.  While I'm cooking dinner, she loves to throw a fit and get in between my legs and the cupboards and just push me away.  She has an adorable little run and is a total mischief maker and loves to climb!!!  Oh does she ever love to climb.  She loves to give me heart attacks by climbing all the way up the computer desk, or get in the most precarious/dangerous positions in her attempts to climb.  Goodness.  She loves yogurt and did a little dance and song combo when she saw I put it on the table for breakfast.  :)  She is such a little snuggle bug too.  I love those morning snuggles.  Sometimes Drew or Madelyn get her out of bed so they can get them!

Just a little peek into what the here and now is like around these parts!