Snow Much Fun with Friends

 We got lots and lots of snow over Christmas vacation...and burned lots of calories shoveling it!  The kids had a blast going in and out - especially when I would make hot chocolate WITH whipping cream to warm up their cold little bodies!

 They all worked together to make a big fort, supposedly a wall for a snowball fight, but Dad had to go to look for a car and go to work and then we got more interested in sledding...

 This is our little friend Everett with his panda.  He got to spend some time with us over the break while his cute momma had back surgery.  The girls loved having him sleep in their room, and I think Mitchell enjoyed not being the baby - although there was a little bit of jealousy when he didn't get all of the attention.  Thankfully, Ben has a big lap and long arms!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

 The stonkings were a dream this year, as Mr. and Mrs. Clause didn't communicate very well...  Emily LOVES her new skirt - although she is not supposed to wear it two days in a row, her kindergarten class has seen this little number many many many times...

 Oh, this little concrete mixer was meant to be such an awesome gift and I was so excited that Mitchell loved it - for about 5 minutes....and hasn't played with it since!

 This was definitely his FAVORITE gift - the ellusive chocolate orange, a kid after my own heart!

 The living room aftermath - and a friendly game of Monopoly Jr - a really fun game!

Mitchell got the little dog from Aunt Nancy.  When you open and close its mouth, the dog 'barks' a song.  Mitchell loves playing with it.  Ben loves playing with it.  Andy loves playing with it.  Annie loves playing with it.  You get the idea.  Somehow, this dog was lost for a day while Mom got her sanity back.  After which, the dog was miraculously found again!

 Christmas dinner - love our turkey!  Despite Em's scowl, she really was having a great day!

Every Sunday morning, Ben comes down to borrow a tie from Andy to go with his church clothes.  It took a few tries, but Ben is pretty awesome at tying them too.  Grandma Doerk said the new 'in' style with ties is paisley, so she got them matching ones! 

 Ph, the joy of shrinky-dinks!  The girls had so much fun with these - I did too!!!!

 Yes, one must play with cars while in pajamas - its kind of a rule!

We all had a great Christmas!  The kids' big gift was a pair of googles for each of them - along with some plane tickets to Colorado for a week of skiing.  Wait - maybe that was the gift for Andy....either way - everyone was happy on Christmas morning, throughout the day, and into the next day - I'd call it a success!!!

Christmas Eve

Love my cute little monkeys - we have so much fun!  So glad that we started Christmas Eve festivities early this year - it really makes the evening go smoother and then everyone isn't too tired to do all of the things that I want to!  Putting cookies together for Santa (although kids were tired and totally forgot about this at bedtime...)

The Nativity - we went the rounds this year with part-playing.  It was Emily's year to be Mary, but she deferred - to me!  :)  Then I got the part yanked by Annie and was relegated to be the donkey...and then a sheep.

Ben was the shepherd, with his little fuzzy lamb.

Emily again played the role of angel - she just loves this one!  I just love angels in general!!!  Andy was again the storyteller and wicked King Herod.  As we have now had these rolls for the last 3 years, we're getting pretty good!

The little lamb got a bit sidetracked but yummy green stuff on the wayside...

Little munchkins all in a row....waiting to open their Christmas Eve gift (jammies for Em, Ben, and Mitchell - books for Annie!)

All the stockings were set on the sofa with care....children were nestled all snug in their beds, etc...

A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve

We did it.  We finally got tickets to go to the The Christmas Story House through Groupon - so not astronomically expensive!  We showed the kids the movie the week before in a 3 session-viewing as we didn't have one night available for a 2 hour movie!  Ben didn't really want to see it (I thought he would be the most excited!), but about halfway through he was hooked.  *Confession - I thought this was a VERY dumb movie growing up and never saw the entire thing.  Having now seen all the details, I admit that I did laugh out loud several times.*

It was packed, and I'm shocked that these pictures turned out so well.  Some friends had gone the weekend before and warned us that the line gets longer and longer as the day goes on.  Below - the classic under the sink picture.  Funny - other people were also taking pictures of our kids doing this....

Pretty house on a COLD slippery day.  The house is just in the middle of a neighborhood, so the streets are just lined with crazy busyness.  Then, of course, we headed off to have our Christmas Eve Chinese!!!

Girls Night while Boy Camp

 Andy and Ben went to the Fathers/Sons Winter Campout, so we had a girls night.  We had some little friends come over and they stayed way past bedtime, much to everyone's delight!  Even doing playdough for over an hour, they weren't ready to end our playdate!  Love when they end with everyone wanting more!!!

Yes, it's cold outside.  No, Andy was not going to suffer through a 4th winter without having a working fireplace.  Yes, Costco will ship you one.  No, it doesn't provide very much heat, just enough for the person in front of it.  Yes, it does create a much warmer atmosphere and we call love it!

December Happenings

We had a family home evening to decorate our Christmas tree.  We had Popcorn Papa (awesomest popcorn store EVER that I worked at during high school) cheese and caramel popcorn that I brought back from Texas. 

My little decorators.  They love Christmas.  Wish I got more into it because they would love it, but most of the time it just seems like more and more work for me.  This year we didn't even set up my village...  One of these days, when I have more room to set thing out and less little fingers with a mind of their own...

Our Christmas party at church was really neat.  We split into groups to learn how different countries celebrate Christmas.  I loved learning something and keeping the kids AND adults engaged! 

It was a lot of work for those involved, but we all had a great time!  Annie was picked to be Mary in the Mexican nativity.  Andy stole a friend's baby - and yes, that is his boss in the decorative outfit, so thrilled to be there!  ;)

Basketball - how much to say...  Ben is the little one on the left of the white jerseys.  This was a really rough season, for all of us!  Even though he enjoys the sport, he would rather focus on soccer and baseball.  Andy and I whole-heartedly support that decision!!!!!!

He loved playing against his friends - this is Jacob, who played on his team last year.  Even though he doesn't have the best shot, Ben is an awesome defender!

We got to babysit a friend's little one while they went to a work Christmas party.  The kids were so sad because Kade was NOT waking up.  I let them stay up a bit late so they could watch me feed him a bottle when his eyes finally opened.  Such a fun time - it was wonderful to have the energy to enjoy this little 3 week old baby.  This is a really rough age for new moms because you are completely exhausted and wiped out, help has ended, and your spouse is back to the job focus.  It was amazing for me to not be tired and get to love on such a little tender spirit!

Then I got to cuddle with a sweet Mitchell-baby.  He wakes up looking for about 2 minutes of cuddle time, which I just cherish!!!

Santa's little helper.  This kid - love him when he wants something so he will work so hard to make his momma happy!!!