Reunion: Day 1

Because my dad and my brothers farm, we always do our family reunions at Thanksgiving or New Years.  Today kicked our first official day.

Before we actually got started we entertained ourselves with lots of hanging out and Wii games.  Seth could be caught at all times playing (maybe we should get one, not!) and is actually getting quite good.

We got several inches of snow this morning so we scrapped our original plans and went for sledding and snow fun.  The grandkids even got a ride on the swather with Grandpa.

Just some pictures more pictures of sledding.  My sister Natalie pulled Luke and I on a tube and Luke didn't like that at all.  He loved being on the 4-wheeler though.  The last picture is just because it's funny, sorry Jen.

Christmas Clothes

The kids all got new Christmas Sunday clothes. I bought the girls dresses but this year I made the boys ties.  They were so easy and I think turned out so cute!

Christmas Day

SANTA CAME!!!!!!

Here are the kids with some of their other presents.  Luke recieved all kitchen things from Nana and Punkin, Santa and us.  He was so in heaven.  All morning he just kept saying "love to cook" over and over again.  The girls got lots of fun stuff including puzzles and a giant horse from Nana and Punkin.  Seth got so many things to build he was beside himself, k'nex, erector set, legos.  He also got an older x-box with 6 games (I sure love garage sales).  I haven't really seen the kids all day yesterday or today.  They have camped out in the basement playing with all their toys and watching their new movies.  I have loved it!

Sam got his dream this year.  He keeps saying over and over that he needs a either a gun or a truck to be a man in Idaho so I guess this year he officially became a man.  He was so excited.  I got him a 20-guage shotgun, mostly becase he is not a hunter, if he ever goes it will probably be for birds and he wants to have something for protection at home.  He took it out today to practice shooting and was beaming like a little kids when he came home, cute guy!

I had a great Christmas, especially after my nap (the kids woke us up at 5:30 am after many repeatings the night before to not be up BEFORE 7).  It is was so fun to see their excitement.  This year all of them really got into it and I love that.  Sam got me some wonderful gifts, a very pretty ctr ring, a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, slippers and a new stock pot (which I loved).  He is such a good man and takes such good care of me and the kids.  What a joy it has been to have him home for several days at a time.  I love having him around and thank God everyday for this man!!!

Christmas Eve

For the past 4 years we have spent Christmas Eve with our friends the Barfusses.  We eat dinner together (pizza, yum!), play games, exchange presents and act out the nativity.  This year Sarah and Makayla wanted to be the angels, Kathryn was Mary and Maddi the donkey, Seth was Joseph with Logan being Herod/wiseman/shepard.  We tried to get Luke to participate and all he wanted to be was Lightening McQueen.  When I wouldn't let him be that he went off crying and the picture is of me trying to get a picture of him crying but he was running away and getting really mad at me, I thought it was hilarious.

This is all the kids showing off their presents from the exchange.  They love picking something out for their friend and get so excited to see if they will like it.

This year we made reindeer food to sprinkle on the grass so Santa's reindeer would be able to find us.  The kids loved sprinkling it, then it was off to open our pajamas.  This has been a tradition in my family since we were little kids.   Back then my mom would always make them, but I just by them.

We then got Santa's note all ready and the kids were off to bed and hopefully to sleep!

Merry Christmas!!

Are you all ready?  I am ready today, YEAH!  I finally got all the presents wrapped today, thanks to a good friend who invited all my kids over to play, and everything I need for Christmas dinner.  I think that's all, I'm sure it's not, but at least right now it sounds really good.  Tonight we went to an Ugly Christmas Sweater party with lots of yummy treats and tomorrow is our annual dinner/nativity/gift exchange with our friends.  The kids can't wait.  Kathryn is the most excited and tells me how many days are left, several times a day.  She loves to get the presents that are under the tree out and separate them into each person's pile, it is so cute.  I remember doing that as a kid and just getting so excited that I couldn't sleep for days.  It is so fun to see their excitement, now if we just could get some snow!!!

Christmas Fun

So I decided that we needed a wreath for out front door so I made this one and I think it turned out so cute.  It is just made from gumdrops, hot glue and some ribbon.

This is what I made the kids for breakfast this morning.  I thought I would share because it was so cute.  (If you don't know what it is, it is suppose to be a christmas tree).

Busy, Busy, Busy....

I think that I will be less busy this year and that is just not the case!  Dang it!!!!  The days are packed with so many things that shouldn't take long but it always does and then you add all the things that just come up.  I looked at my calendar at the beginning of the week and thought, everyday just has one thing, nice!  YEAH RIGHT!  Not anymore.  Just today I made Christmas Tree French Toast, got the kids out the door, cleaned up breakfast, put away the rest of the kids clothes, gave Luke and Kathryn a bath, went to the gym for my class, picked up my friends little boy so she could run some errands, made two pans of choclate fillers (admist lots of helpers and Kalvin taking apart almost everything he could reach--he's one and doesn't quite understand the concept of not getting into things), did the dishes, made lunch, took a shower--finally, did school with Kathryn, printed out the poems for the ward party and now I am on to make the reindeer food to hand out to the kids at our ward party, finishing my gumdrop wereath, violin lessons, helping at cub scouts, dinner and did I mention that we are potty training Luke again?  Why does he want to learn how to go now?  I know all of you are just as busy so may you get all your projects done and have lots of fun with your kids.

p.s. we have been doing a special thing each day and the kids have loved it.  I have tried to keep it simple but some of the highlights have been roasting marshmellows in the fire, hot chocolate, cinnamon ornaments and swimming.

What we've been doing lately...

Decorating the tree (we had to go fake this year because we didn't have a spare Saturday to drive to the mountains and cut one down).  The kids loved it.  We gave them each a new ornament: Seth--a violin because this is his first year playing, Sarah--a soccer ball because she played soccer for the first time this year, Kathryn--an ABC ornament because she started school this year and Luke--a oven mitt with cooking untensils that says "I love to cook" (what is better than that for that little boy!!).

This is what our living room looked like at night.  A glowing tree, a fire in the fireplace, stockings hung and a wonderful, peaceful feeling.  I absolutely love this time of the year!!

We have had super cold days lately.  This morning is was -3 at 9 o'clock this morning.  The highs have been in the low teens, so we stay inside as much as possible, but yesterday Luke wanted to go outside so we decided to shovel the driveway.  Kathryn and Luke got their play sand shovels out (thanks Beckah) and started helping.  It was so cute.

Today I found these two like this.  Seth came out of his bedroom after school with his hat like this.  I asked him why he was wearing his hat that way and he said that it's "COOL" to wear it like that, who knew!  I found Kathryn doing this and couldn't resist taking the picture.  There was a fire going in the fireplace and she was looking through a toy ad.  So fun!!