Christmas 2011

We had a fabulous Christmas that didn't go as planned but turned out great in the end.  Santa and I were really on top of things this year and had the shopping done (so we thought) by the first week of December. Then Santa's elves fell apart. The dune racer for the little girls was on back order and wasn't going to arrive until the middle of January and the go kart for the big kids (Jason, Nicole, Brock and Mikele) was never shipped. So Santa reordered another go kart from someplace else, bought a back up power wheels and crossed his fingers.  In the end the go kart made it the Monday before Christmas, the Dune Racer arrived the Friday before Christmas (the back up was returned) and all was well. . . until Christmas eve.  Allie had thrown up on Friday morning but she had been congested so I didn't think anything of it. Kassie threw up Friday night once and was tired on Saturday but didn't want to miss out on the planned activities so we went forward as planned.  After a fabulous day of playing games, eating dinner opening a present and reading a story we sent the kids off to bed.  One more side note - Christmas fell on a Sunday and we have 9:00 church. We had discussed our plans for Christmas morning. I wanted to be up and open presents before church. Everyone else I spoke to said that they were going to make their kids wait until after church. (cruel and unusual punishment in my opinion!) I asked the kids what they wanted to do and they said they wanted to open their Santa gift before church but wait until after church so they didn't have to leave their new toys after they opened them. (whose children are these?)  Here are a few pictures from Christmas eve.

We traditionally open a present Christmas eve.  We use to open pj's but the kids found that anticlimactic (boring). So then we started opening a game on Christmas eve to play as a family.  This year I found this game called Left, Right, Center.  It is easy, fast and fun.  It comes in a small tube so to make the opening of the game a little more fun I had Jason put it in a box and wrap the present multiple times. Then we took turns tearing off wrapping paper with Jason's big work gloves on while the res of us sang "We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!" Allie was the first one to try and when we put the gloves on her and told her what to do she gave us this look like you idiots and said "I can't with these."  So we didn't make her wear the gloves.

Success!

  Santa finished assembling gifts and we were set and ready for bed by about 1:30.  At 3:00 Mikele came up and woke me up crying that there was throw up in her hair. YUCK! So Jason cleaned carpet while I cleaned up Mikele.  When Mikele walked downstairs (passing the tree) she said. Oh it doesn't look like Santa has come yet. WHAT??? Obviously she was not completely awake.
  Brock woke up a little after 7:00. He was SOO excited and came and woke me up. I told him to go wake up Kassie and Allie. (I wanted Mikele to sleep as long as possible but didn't want her to miss out).  Brock came back to inform me that Allie had thrown up all over her bed. So with 1/3 of the family puking in the last 5 hours we decided that instead of sharing our fun we would stay home from church.
  Santa delivered Kassie and Allie's dune racer and had it under the tree with a note.

Brock reading the note: basically it said that Santa had not forgot the big kids but that it was too big to get down the chimney and under the tree so it was in the garage. Santa had to bring 3 extra elves to get it unloaded and the reindeer were relieved to have the weight off the sleigh.

Kassie, Brock and Mikele got coal in their stocking. It was really bubble gum. 

When you would ask Allie what she got she declared "MINE!"

Its a pillow, its a pet, its a PILLOW PET!

Yes Kassie asked for a vacuum for Christmas. 

And I would have been stupid not to give her one. 

That is a scary evil look!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Baptism Pictures

I took Mikele up to the Logan Temple to take picture of her in her baptism dress for her announcements. It was FREEZING! But she was a trooper and had a good time. These are a few of my favorites. Ok maybe it is more then a few. Enjoy.

Mikele's Birthday

Mikele had the choice between a friend party or a big gift. She opted for the gift so a week before her birthday she went and got her ears pierced. Small gift big price tag! She was so brave and barely even flinched. Much braver then I was. I couldn't watch. Between her glasses and ears she has changed so much in the last month! She is so excited to be 8 and to finally be getting baptized. I will share her baptism pictures in the next post. Happy Birthday Mikele!

"Birthdays are SO EXCITING!"

"I wonder what it is?"

I woke up sick on Saturday morning so Jason had to play Mr. Mom. He baked and decorated Mikele's cake all by himself. What an amazing dad!

Family Photos

It was time for the annual tripod impromptu family holiday photo.  These short sessions are always entertaining. We set the camera up on the tripod hit the button to activate the timer and I run into the photo before it takes the picture.  You really never know what you are going to get and who will be smiling or even looking.  I don't know if it is the pep talk (threatening) Jason gives the kids before, the fact that my kids have been doing this for so many years or that heaven smiles down on me but we seem to get some decent photos. I am really excited about these.  I have such a cute family if I do say so myself.

This one is my favorite.

Oh Christmas Tree

I think this was the earliest we have had our tree up. We had moved the couch out to make room for the tables for Thanksgiving dinner and instead of moving the couch back we just decided to go ahead and set up and decorate the tree. Allie was hilarious about the whole thing. She was so excited and giddy about the tree, the lights and the ornaments. I can hardly believe that it is already the Christmas season but ready or not here it comes!