Christmas 2016!

     This years Christmas was a great success....in the end. Our cute, if not silly looking, lamb was supposed to participate with the ward primary children at our Christmas Eve nativity but she only made it to the pew to sit with her dad so you could say she was a little lost sheep who wasn't quite comfortable in her own 'wool'.

The primary president insisted she wear it despite my resignation.

    Christmas Eve traditions are still going strong with new pjs. I did my shopping on line this year and it made sizing a bit of an issue but everyone was happy in the end.

Pajamas being too big is better than pajamas being too small.

I even treated Greg and myself to new pjs.

      Christmas on a Sunday is always a little different. Our little princess was the only one who got to have something new first thing in the morning, courtesy of her big sister. She loves pink and dresses so this was a win, win!

All ready for Christmas at church.

    After torturous hours of waiting they finally were all home and ready to get to the 'fun'.

Traditional lineup and a little more dressed up than usual!

     Now comes the fun and a LOT of photos!

She would have been happy with so little, why can't they all be so sweet!

Best buds sharing a moment. Marcus had a nice gift box for Mark to enjoy.

A little Harry Potter paraphanelia for this Hufflepuff. 

Some ginormous snowboard boots for this guy.

New movies courtesy of G&G Christmas funds! Thanks to both sets of grandparents!

A few fun things for this kid.

McClane was happy for the most part.

Carter was beyond thrilled with his gifts, especially the inappropriate video game his older brother got him.

A tablet, his one big wish has been fulfilled, now he can stop crying! (He cried right from the start when he didn't initially see a tablet lying out by his stocking. Some peoples kids!)

His one moment of anger, which wasn't about this cool firetruck. And the magic tracks in the top right corner are so cool and another fun gift from grandparent Christmas funds.

She was thrilled with this gift from Isaac. The new Pete's Dragon is a cute movie.

Another fun gift to Charlie from Kayli.

Dress ups and cars, what more could these kids ask for.

The new projector screen was another great gift from G&G funds and I especially can't wait to use it this coming summer in the backyard!

Sweet!

And have you met this spoiled dog!?Seriously, he's something else!

     So there you have it! We survived another Christmas and everyone came out of it happy and content over all. I didn't post every single photo from the big day but you get the gist of our fun. Greg got ramps for the car and a new snow shovel. I got candy, a flip belt and a cool mount for my cellphone in the car. Now we're just looking forward to ringing in the New Year in Idaho with some of our favorite Baker's!

A little fun before the big day.

    I think I've mentioned before how incredible our primary chorister is. This was his suit this past Sunday! Add the elaborate, and much appreciated, nativity activity he put on, with a little help from his mom and sister, was AWESOME!

The prophet with the black afro on the right is no other than Carter!

      Carter also got to participate in a play at school about Pandora's box. He's in the middle of the bottom row in the photo. I didn't get to attend but a neighbor graciously sent me a photo since her daughter was part of the production. (She's in red right by Carter.) Anyway, he has a fun 6th grade class and teacher.

     I did make it to the very low-key Christmas piano recital that Brock, Carter and Isaac had this week. They all did very well. Honestly, Brock plays the piano so much it gets annoying! They mostly played Christmas songs but there was a little Star Wars mixed in. Carter, Brock and McClane also had a Christmas singing program at school Wednesday morning but I failed to get even one photo. (I refuse to be like the other crazy parents who have no regard for anyone but themselves and their kid.)

     Cute McClane has had some fun in his kindergarten class. This was his latest creation.

     And you can't leave Charlie out of the fun.

     So that's about the extent of our week. I did experience my first trip and second trip to the chiropractor. I had an appointment for after Christmas but the back pain I was experiencing was almost crippling so I went to the local walk-in clinic and they are actually quite good. I'm finally seeing light at the end of a painful tunnel so I'm hoping I can enjoy my Christmas weekend a lot more. Thank goodness for modern medicine and chiropractic procedures. And getting older SUCKS!!!!

Festivities!

     We managed to get out a couple times this week for some Christmas festivities. For FHE we took the four smallest kids to see some of the dancing house lights nearby. There are three fun houses less then three miles away from home and the one at the top of the photo is absolutely mind blowing! Everything is lit up, it's like a miniature Temple Square! I love the dancing house lights!

Photos don't do these justice but you get the idea.

     After enjoying the last house Greg decided to let Charlie drive us out of the neighborhood. She did not want any help!

Ummmm......NO!

     Then we got really CRAZY and took the 4 smallest kids, again (The older kids have not been good sports recently.) to Seven Peaks Waterpark for their North Pole activities. We waited about 20 minutes to get in, 60 minutes to ride on the boats and waited another 45 minutes to ride the trikes through the Nutcracker story book and then our time was up. (They put the groups in 2 hour time blocks.) Was it worth it? I'm still not sure but the kids left happy so that's something. Brock and McClane would have liked to go back the next night to try riding the train and sledding down one of the waterslides but no one else was willing to wait in the cold and in such long lines.

Silly boys!

Magical!

Spinning Fun!

Fun!

    We may not get too crazy with our holiday festivities but I think we do just enough. And when the older kids saw our photos they were a little bummed that they didn't join us at the "North Pole". (That'll teach them.)
      Now 'Santa' just needs to find some time to go through a few things to be sure 'he's' ready for the big day.

Cute and a little not so cute.

      Sunday the two littles were in a modeling mood. Charlie was modeling her cute new dress, BONUS!

This is some of our cute part of the week.

      Monday was my bi-weekly shopping day and this huge goose egg on my shin is exactly how I feel about shopping and apparently how shopping carts feel about me. PAINFUL! Pure pride is all that kept me from crying out and fainting from the pain. (This is some of the not so cute of the week.)

This was photographed about 10 minutes later so I'm guessing it might have been even a little bigger right at first but I didn't have the guts to look at it initially.

     Monday night the four littles did a little gingerbread house decorating. This kit came with he house already assembled, GENIUS! This is cute and not so cute! By the next day Charlie had eaten about 50% of the candy off and then the boys started breaking off pieces so it's become less and less cute as the weeks worn on.

     And this boy was asked to Preference in a fun way. The girls name was spelled out on the frozen peas and he had to sit and sort through them all to find out who asked him. After about an hour he figured he had the letters for "Morgan" so he responded with a helium filled balloon with a note inside saying YES and the balloon was tied to about 200 yards of ribbon so she had to do a little work as well to get her answer. Morgan is the sugar cookie master so she had my vote for his date. This kid may not have access to his vehicle but he still manages to have fun a majority of the time.

     So that's our week of cute and not so cute. Santa's been doing a little shopping and is nearly done with this family's wish list. Everyone is excited about Christmas and we've especially been enjoying the "Light the World" campaign and the morning devotionals we've been participating in each morning via brightlystreet.com. If you haven't had a chance to see this cool website check it out right now! Every day there's an awesome music video, a few scriptures and a video that coincides with the scriptures. It's been fun and uplifting and has helped me feel a little more of the real Christmas spirit this season. Merry Christmas!

Birthday

    Usually my birthdays are a bit disappointing and I know it's only because I have unrealistic expectations, but this year I just planned on being disappointed and ended up being pleasantly surprised. My first surprise was balloons from Greg. Then after my treadmill torture I found my bed covered in new clothes, courtesy of Kayli and almost everything fit and will be a great addition to my wardrobe.

I love having my own personal clothes shopper.

    Another fun surprise was a gift certificate from my friend and she made me promise to use it on my birthday and I like to keep my promises so during the lunch hour I had the pleasure of getting a pedicure. I loved most of it, the toenail filing is a bit disturbing but I got through it.

Periwinkle is one of my favorite colors.

    Totally off topic from my birthday celebrations, Mark shared these, and several more, photos of him and a few of his friends and I thought they were pretty cool so I figured I'd share a few on the blog.

Mark really isn't that much taller than his buddy but they tried to convince a few people with this photo that Mark was 7 feet tall. (He wishes!) 

     Once everyone was home it was a good time for me to open a gift from Greg and my birthday card from my parents.

    New slippers, money and a giant piece of cake!

Thanks Mom & Dad and Greg!

     Then, per my request, Greg and I went to Festival of Trees as a date night and left the kids home. It was a much more pleasant experience and I don't think the kids were too bummed about missing all the walking.

These were a few of our favorite trees.

These were some cool reclaimed wood projects.

Fun playhouse ideas.

And by far my most favorite display! You have to be a true Seinfeld fan to truly appreciate this. The decorator and donator were listed as "The Human Fund"! I seriously loved it! No tree, just a pole, a real Festivus for the rest of us! Whoever did this is my new best friend!

Then a yummy dinner at Chili's to finish off the night!

And a day later I got this yummy plate of cookies from Mark and his 'friend' Morgan. She seriously makes the best sugar cookies I've ever had so Mark is going to marry her!

    I also received a nice gift from my long time friend and walking buddy, Cammy, but I failed to photograph it. All together it was a great day and the highlight of my week for sure. Life aint too bad for this 42 year old!