Christmas Morning

We had a very fun Christmas in our house this year. Christmas morning was very exciting. The kids came down at 7:30am (yay for sleeping in!). If I hadn't woken up in the 4 o'clock hour with baby Kingston, I would have felt even more lucky.

The tree looked beautiful with all the gifts piled below and the lights shimmering. I love that magical feel. This year we kept the tree in the livingroom instead of the front room.

In order to accommodate us all for present opening, we pushed the couch back against the wall and had the kids spread out on the floor. As it turned out, it was a bit more room than we needed. It was hard to see what each person got when they opened their gift. The kids made it a habit to crowd around the present opener each time. Next year we keep the couch where it goes.

Santa Claus visited us! His note on the refrigerator was proof. Yes. We made him Lemon Cheesecake bars this year. They were delicious.

The kids received three gifts from Mom and Dad. Two store bought gifts, and one homemade gift. This year's homemade gift was a teddy bear. Cam and I were able to finish them together in just two evenings of sewing. Pretty proud of that. They turned out cute, too. River's reaction was my favorite.

Santa Claus brought stockings for the kids, too. We got new stockings a few days before Christmas since we no longer had enough with the addition of baby Kingston. Santa filled them with all sorts of fun presents and goodies. The three older kids got 64 chocolate covered coins each! (Santa told me the exact number ;)

There were a few other choice stocking gifts as well. It's amazing the variety that can fit into those little socks. I'll have to remember next year though, that just because it fits, doesn't mean it should be allowed into the stocking.

Kingston did surprisingly well on his first Christmas. He didn't really get how to open the presents, but with a bit of help he managed to unwrap the gifts he was given. He probably could have cared less about how many presents he received, but it was certainly fun for us to watch him.

He actually reacted pretty well to the gifts! We got some wide eyes and excited noises. He played with every toy he was given, too. Everything went right into his mouth, of course.

He has the most contagious smile, too. It was fun to watch him enjoying the occasion. I think the kids really make holidays that much more enjoyable. These are precious years.

Cameron and I also get each other two big gifts, one homemade gift, and a stocking with some other smaller gifts inside (or outside if there are too many to fit inside, HA!) This year for Cam's homemade gift I made him six batches of cookies. I froze the individual cookie scoops on the cookie sheets and then gathered them into a bag. Each batch made somewhere between 3 1/2 dozen to 5 dozen cookies. Then, whenever he wants a freshly baked cookie, he can just go out to the freezer, bring in the bag of whichever he wants, and cook however many he wants! I made chocolate chip with pecans, chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips, lemon poppyseed, marble cookies (they are a chocolate and sour cream swirl), white chocolate macadamia nut, and coconut cashew. The gift was a big hit! I love doing homemade gifts.

For Cam's homemade gift to me, he constructed an 8 foot long cutting table to go upstairs in the sewing room. It was white and very solid! He did a fantastic job. We are both really sad that we can't get it upstairs into the room. Not sure how that one will turn out in the end. I'll let you know.

The kids all really loved their gifts. They especially loved watching one another open the gifts they gave. It was really sweet to see how excited they were to buy presents for their siblings. Giving the gifts is definitely my favorite part of Christmas. It makes me happy to know our kids are learning to love that at a young age as well.

It was a very successful Christmas day. We were able to video chat and phone chat with family members in Arizona and Utah. It was relaxed. Other than the frantic hour or two after realizing that I needed to make more solid dinner plans (please note: there are no restaurants or grocery stores open for business on Christmas Day), it was quite peaceful. I think I like this Christmas thing. Let's do it again next year.

Christmas Eve Pajamas

Our Christmas Eve traditional present is pajamas. The kids know this. I try to fake them out each year to see if I can make it a surprise. No luck. BUT it's a fun tradition, so I don't mind that they already know what they are getting.

This year the kids got fleece sock monkey pajamas. I wish I could say I made them. I didn't have time to make my kids' pjs this year. Maybe next year.

I also bought Cameron pjs. He has a love of Cookie Monster that goes back to when we started dating when we were 16 years old. These pjs were perfect.

We also got me some pjs so I wouldn't feel left out. They are very soft and lovely.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Not the Sucker

Kingston has become more and more interested in the objects around him. He's starting to crawl a bit. He's always grabbing at things and he puts everything into his mouth.

Britta loves her baby brother. He knows it, too. I'm sure he expected her just to give him the nose on her face. She probably would have if it could have been removed for him.

No way she would give him her sucker though. Some things surpass sibling love.

Bass Pro Shop Winter Wonderland

 A few years ago, when we lived in the Phoenix area, my mother in law Marsha took our kids to Bass Pro Shop around Christmas time. They had advertised a "Winter Wonderland" for the holiday season, complete with Santa Claus. They even had crafts for the kids to do! Frankly, it all came across really gimmicky at the time and I really had no intention of going. However, Marsha wanted something fun to do with the kids, and this fit the bill.

Well, as it turned out, the whole thing was pretty great. The kids absolutely LOVED it. They talked about it for years and always asked if they could go back. Well, there is no Bass Pro Shop in Austin. So, we weren't able to take the kids when we moved here. There is, however, a Bass Pro Shop in San Antonio!

Ever since the baby was born Cameron and I have taken the kids with us once a month to go to the San Antonio temple. Since the kids can't go in, we take turns watching them while the other goes into the temple. Typically we would take the kids to a park while we wait. However, this time I decided to drive the 20 minutes to Bass Pro Shop to see their Winter Wonderland for myself.

The kids were beyond delighted when they discovered what we were doing. Madalyn especially has very fond memories and was overjoyed when we pulled into the parking lot. It was fun for me that we could fit it in! I love doing things that make the kids jump for joy and squeal with glee.

There was a whole section of the store decorated for the season. It was the North Pole! There were a bunch of little activities for the kids to do around that area of the store, and a ton of fun displays for everyone to enjoy.

Each of the kids got to use this toy gun to shoot at targets (it just had an infrared light). I was holding the baby so I was unable to help them hold the gun. River didn't do too bad a job though. He looks like such a boy!

There was even a Merry Go Round inside that was free for everyone! Kingston liked riding it, too. Typically we skip that kind of thing because I feel like it's a rip off... and because I get motion sickness on things that twirl around and around.

I loved that everything there was free (well, the activities... not the merchandise). That meant that we could try whatever we wanted if we had time. The kids loved that idea, too. They just wished we had unlimited time.

The line to see Santa wasn't even that long. This was the only time the kids were able to see Santa in person this year. I'm glad we had the chance. There's just something magical about that when you're a kid. They took a picture and gave it to us for free, too. I was even allowed to snap some shots with my own camera.

Once we had seen Santa the kids went over and colored a picture and wrote a letter to Santa. I was hoping for a craft, but a coloring picture was fun, too. The letters to Santa were fun.  Maddy had a good sized list, but Britta just wanted a Barbie. I like short lists. So very doable.

The kids were sad when we had to go. I let them wander around Bass Pro Shop for about an hour. It's actually a pretty neat place. The kids think it's the best place in the whole world. I'm sure they will be looking for more reasons to return. If I needed to buy something outdoorsy, I'd surely go back there to do so. Well done marketing department. Very well done.

Angel Fire NM Trip

The first week in December Cam and I took the kids and met his mom at a cabin in Angel Fire NM. We had been craving a week away to just chill, watch Christmas movies, do crafts, eat food, and lounge around. This was our trip! We planned it months in advance, and it was going to be fantastic.

Since Angel Fire is still about a 3 hour drive from any airport, and since we weren't traveling light (I brought most of the food and lots of other things), we decided to rent a van and drive instead of fly. It had been awhile since we'd been on a good road trip anyhow.

It's about a 13 hour drive (and that's without all the necessary stops when you're traveling with kids), so we decided to split the drive into two days. We left Friday afternoon and stayed in a hotel in Clovis NM. We then finished our drive at a leisurely pace Saturday. We had a planned stop about every 2 hours or so in order to meet our dining, potty break, and stretching needs.

I love how road trips enable the discovery of cool new places. There were a few parks along our drive that were great! One thing I loved is that so many of the parks we saw had these marry-go-round things. I remember them from my childhood in Salt Lake, but they didn't have them in Arizona. It's fun to see them and watch my kids enjoy them as much as I did.

We arrived at the cabin (a timeshare my wonderful Mother in law Marsha booked for us) Saturday afternoon. It was a cabin we had never seen before, and it was really cute! There were three bedrooms and a full kitchen. It was perfect for what we were looking to do. We started decorating pretty much immediately. We intended for this place to be our Christmas wonderland. Snowflakes were an obvious choice.

Marsha brought some precut strips of paper and we made Christmas chains to hang around along with the Christmas lights we'd brought with us. The precut strips were wonderful! They even had the adhesive where you just lick and stick (like with the old stamps). They were so easy! Plus, they definitely added to the festive feel we were going for.

The end product was dazzling. Having the atmosphere all decorated and festive was such a fantastic idea. If ever you take a trip between Thanksgiving and Christmas I highly recommend decorating. It really kicked off the Christmas season right.

During our visit we did about a million crafts (give or take a few). One of the kids' favorites is when we let them make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, frosting, and candy. The rule was, you shouldn't save them to look at. These houses were for EATING. They did look tasty, too.

I was glad to have Maddy there for the crafts. She was able to do most of them without much help from us, and was able to help the little kids here and there. She is definitely an artist at the core. I was really impressed with how most of her projects turned out. Plus she LOVES crafts, and that kind of enthusiasm is contagious.

I don't think I've mentioned before how much I love puzzles. I have since I was a little kid. One thing I insisted on for our trip was that we have a 1000 piece puzzle out to be worked on while we were there. Admittedly, I didn't take the chance to sit down and work on it until nearly the end of the trip. I was glad it was there though! We even bought a new Christmas puzzle for the occasion.

Marsha went out of her way to organize and buy supplies for us to make a giant roll up calendar for our wall at home. She printed the calendars, brought awesome stickers, and made the whole thing so much fun for everyone to put together. It was so wonderful of her to put all that effort into something just for us. The kids LOVED decorating it.

I premade most of our meals and froze them to bring. Marsha also brought premixed cookies! Having fresh baked cookies was such an inviting thing while we were away from home. We had so many treats! I think we learned that when we bring cookie mixes, we should leave a lot of the other goodies home so they don't go to waste!

The most difficult part of our trip was that Kingston would NOT SLEEP. He woke up every few hours until nearly the last night of our stay. It was exhausting for everyone. The floors in the cabin were unbelievably squeaky, too. We had to tiptoe around after putting him down. The very last night there he slept all night long. Figures. Good thing he's cute.

We were pretty disappointed that we weren't able to find any snow to play in while we were there. We came to the same ski resort last year about the same time. It's a couple of weeks before the ski resort actually opens up, but there is usually at least a bit of snow on the ground. This year we even drove far to try to find some. We had zero luck. Next time we resolved that we would wait until at least late January if we wanted snow on our trip. Ironically, there was a huge storm the day after we left. Sigh. I guess you can't win them all.

We were a bit nervous for our drive home. We had to leave early in the morning and wouldn't arrive home until late that night. Thankfully the rental van had a built in dvd player. I'm not much of a fan of those for local day to day driving, but for long trips they are great!

The drive went by relatively quickly. The kids were all very well behaved. Cam and I took turns driving. The baby slept a good portion of the drive. We did have a stretch where we stopped every hour. Kingston hates the car. We passed the crazy alien windmills in the light this time. Boy those things creep me out.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I was afraid that the no snow and the sleepless nights would overshadow the good things. I'm pleased to report that is not the case. When I think of our trip I think of laughing and playing together, relaxing and bonding. I think of all the time we got to spend with Marsha. I think of festive cabins, and warm cookies. Great memories were made!  I look forward to next time!

Kingston laughs

I think everyone needs a baby to cheer them up sometimes. You might need to bookmark this one so you can watch it when you're having "one of those days" in the future.

Autumn Craft fun

My kids, like most kids I know, love crafts. Any crafts. If I call it a craft, they are almost guaranteed to love it. I've thought about renaming their chores "crafts" with the possibility they will do them more happily, but my kids are craft lovers, not idiots.

Turkey Head.

I bought some simple prepackaged crafts last year from Joann Fabrics when they marked them down after the holiday. I love how simple they are for me to pull out for the kids. I sat down with them, but I didn't really have to help much at all. It's also evidence that my kids (aside from the new baby of course) are getting older! I remember when craft time meant I got to do three separate craft projects (at least with as much "helping" as I did it sure seemed that way). It was really satisfying to watch the kids do these on their own.

Even Britta was able to stick on the pieces herself. Part of me wished this particular project was a bit more involved. The rest of me realized the project was quick enough that none of the kids lost interest half way through.

I am hoping this will help get some momentum going with crafts.  Sometimes it's hard for me to remember to sit down and get them out for the kids to do. I prefer the homemade ones over the little kits, but the kits take a lot less effort to get set up. The less work for me, the more likely I will be to get them out.

I love crafts around the holidays! We have a trip coming up where we're going to spend a week in a cabin. I am planning a ton of crafts for the kids to do while we are there. They will be in craft heaven!

Horseback Riding

None of the kids have ever had a single riding lesson! I was pleased there were no injuries. 

It was hard to pull them away from their new friends though.

Gotta love Costco.

A Krispy Kremey Halloween

Krispy Kreme is so cool. On Halloween they had a promotion where if you wore your costume into the shop they would give you a free Halloween donut.

I'm all about free Krispy Kreme. After Maddy's french class I took the kids in to claim their reward for being awesome and wearing their costumes all day long.

Kingston wore his lion pants (the jacket was too darn hot), so the lady behind the counter offered him one, too. I promptly accepted the offer and consumed the donut myself. I figured since he gets his sugar purely from nursing, that was the most direct way for him to enjoy it.

It was a fun time. I love how taking the kids to do the little extra things makes me feel like a good mom. Even if the trip did contribute to the massive amounts of sugar they consumed on October 31st. It's all about the experience.