PINK HEAVEN

Chris' sister is no dummy. She knew she would secure the top spot for "Best Aunt in the World" when  she sent this to our family as a Christmas present:

Thanks to Chris, our kids are a bunch of sugar junkies. They opened this at about 6:40am on Christmas Day and were ready to test it out right then. We managed to hold them off for a couple of days while we purged the house of all the other sugar goodies we had around. Then it was go time. I accidentally deleted the photo of Chris as he was warming up the machine, all three kids hovering around him waiting for the magic to happen. Here is he at work:

And the little rascals, devouring their tasty treat while making comments like, "Wow, Aunt Annette is the greatest ever" and "She knew just what we needed..."

PLEASE NOTE: Nick does not routinely wear wife-beaters...
He had just gotten home from karate and had taken off his uniform.

Mission accomplished, Annette! You earned stars in your crown with this one, forever changing all future birthday parties and famiy movie nights! Thanks, sis! We love ya.

CAMERA CAPER

Today I was going through pictures on my camera on found these.....

Only sneaky Ben would be up early enough to take pictures of a sleeping sister, his snowman night light and the shoe shelf in his closet!

SWEET DREAMS

Christmas Break has been so fun and so busy! Every minute has been great. But it will also be great to get back to normal, regular life. All the festivities and late nights and sugar have made for some tired little buddies. I love these pics of them sacked out after an exciting Christmas weekend:

CHRISTMAS

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. My parents flew in from South Dakota for a few days and it was so nice having them here. The spirit of Christmas is one of my most favorite things on earth. It just has such a special feeling.  I love the fact that my Savior, Jesus Christ, can bring so much peace and happiness into our home.

We ran to the gym and did some errands early on Christmas Eve day, then Grandma and Grandpa arrived about mid-morning so we just relaxed around the house. Our biggest wish came true when it started to snow in the afternoon! Chris cuddled Ben on the rug in front of the fireplace and watched the snow fall before our prime rib dinner.

Olivia and Ben, delivering cookies to a neighbor down
the street.

Our Christmas Eve program is the same every year and we love it. First we act out the nativity and Chris is always the donkey. The rest of us get to rotate roles but not him! I scored the role of Mary this year, thanks to my belly.

After acting out the story, we watched the five minute "Nativity" video. Then it was upstairs for dessert and to listen to Chris read "The Night Before Christmas" to the family. The kids opened their Christmas jammies and their gifts to each other before getting Santa's plate of goodies ready. Bedtime is supposed to be next but excitement usually wins out! The kids started sleeping together in Olivia's room a few years ago and that has become a fun tradition. Ben outlasted them all this year, undecorating Olivia's tree while his siblings slept on!

Christmas morning came early. They were all in our room by 5:50am this year. I think they had been up at least an hour. We watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for a few minutes in our room while we waited for Grandma and Grandpa, who were told to come over from the hotel about 6:00am. We had a family prayer and then things got crazy....

Wide awake...

Grandma, holding them off while we "check" to see if Santa has been here

Wishes came true....Olivia got a microscope and
Nick a real rocket to launch.

Ben was excited about his airplane and pop gun 

The best part of Christmas morning is watching the excitement of the kids. They get so excited over every little thing. Better than any of the gifts though was seeing how gracious they were, quickly giving out "thank yous" and hugs.

Nick, handing out the gifts

Ben neatly laid out each of his presents so he could see them all

Livi's wish came true....butterscotch suckers from See's Candies!

After a big breakfast, we spent the rest of they day playing new wii games, checking out Liv's microscope, trying out to art supplies and putting together toys. (I think a few naps were taken by the big people, too!)  It was a wonderfully relaxing day in every way. 

On Sunday morning, we took my parents to the Visitor's Center in Independence. There was a beautiful art display dipicting Christ's life as well as some awesome exhibits explaining the history of the church. The "Families Are Forever" presentation had us all in tears, the spirit was so strong. It was a really great way to finish off my parent's visit!

NEVER AGAIN

When we first got Charlie, we tried to give him a bath and it was a disaster. He ended up at the groomers and we decided from then on, it was going to be someone else's job to bath the dog. It's not him that's the problem, it's his fur. I am convinced that he is part bear or something because his coat is so, so thick. There are at least three layers to it, making it nearly impossible to get it all clean, let alone see his skin underneath.

Apparently, I had forgotten all of the above aquired knowledge because two days before Christmas, Olivia and I decided to give Charlie a bath. He needed to be spruced up and I knew I wasn't going to get him in anywhere that close to Christmas.  Besides, it couldn't be that bad and it would save me $50 dollars......

The waterproof dog

Then came the fun part, getting him dry....

You can see where he isn't the problem, right? 

Two hair dryers, a brush, countless garbage cans full of fur, three blown electrical fuses (due to the blowdryers), and over an hour-and-a-half of drying later, he is finished:

And don't get me wrong, he is beautiful. It's his fur that made me fall in love with him in the first place! But I am certain that he will never again receive a bath at home. The mess and the time involved are just not worth it. Not even Dave Ramsay would bathe this dog himself....

CHRISTMAS GOODIES

I love having my kids in the kitchen, especially when they are excited to be making something and not wrestling each other in front of the fridge. All of them love to cook and bake so we had a long list of yummies to make this year. We got started on their first day of winter break. Nick wanted to make Twinkie treats, Olivia was "dying" for fudge and carmels, and Ben was eager to frost Christmas cookies. Here are some fun pics of them in action:

Nick the Twinkie slicer

LOVE this photo

All smiles in this kitchen, even from cleaner Chris...

Don't tell Ben, but we "flag" his cookies so no one else eats them...

Ben, still covered in frosting and trying to convince his dad he is "all clean."

Sneakin' cookies for breakfast

CHRISTMAS PARTIES

Today was the kids' Christmas Party day at school! Chris had a free afternoon so he and I met for a little lunch date and then split up for the parties.  I went to the elementary school to Olivia and Nick's classrooms and he went to Ben's preschool for the afternoon. I have to say how pleased I was when he showed me the pictures he had taken at Ben's party. Yep, he took the camera and used it! The theme of the party was "Create With Me" so they made Christmas pictures for each other, build forts with giant blocks, decorated cookies and sang Christmas carols. I loved being able to see what they had done together!

The big kids had fun parties, too. (If I had remembered to take a camera, maybe there would be pictures of the cute stuff they were doing...!) Nick's class made some really fun crafts and had lots of yummy treats to share. Olivia's class did a really neat "Polar Express" themed party, complete with golden tickets and a scavenger hunt and everything. They decorated a Christmas tree for their classmate who is home sick for the year with bone cancer, too, and it turned out so cute.

It's days like this that I am so glad to be home during the day so I can spend time with them at school. It has been fun volunteering in their classrooms on Thursday afternoons for the same reason... I get to see them in action with all of their little friends!

DINNER

Most of the time, making dinner is quite an enjoyable part of my day. Other times it is the most painful task  I can possibly imagine. Right now we seem to be on a bit of a painful streak, with very few meals being well received by the starving animals with whom I live.  Even the ones they choose and help prepare just "don't sound good." Not nearly as good as canned chili and chicken nuggets, which must "sound" heavenly because that is all they want to eat. SICK. What they do eat is based on whether or not  dessert is available later in the evening and then a certain percentage of how much has to be eaten to get dessert is determined, bites counted, etc. etc. It makes me craaazy. I recently tried to go on strike from cooking but my resignation was not accepted. So we had a little family meeting with the "If-you-want-to-eat-you-will-stop-the-gagging-and-dry-heaving-and-try-it-because-it-is-not-poison-and-you-do-like-this-stuff" talk. So far so good. They seem to be pulling out of it and dinner time is fun again. This was the conversation Ben and I had the other night while I was making tacos:

B: Is that dinosaur meat?
M: No.
B: Is that Batman meat?
M: Nope. It's cow meat.
B: Oh. So the man killed the cow and cut it open to see it's blood?
M: Um, yep.
B: Then he squeezed the blood and meat together to make the cow meat?
M: Yep.
B:Oh. So the cow IS dead?

I have to admit that, after this little conversation, cereal was "sounding" pretty good to me...

GINGERBREAD VILLAGE

For Family Home Evening this week, we made a gingerbread village. It was just a kit I found at Michael's but it was perfect since it had five houses and there are five of us. What I didn't realize was just how mini a "mini village" could be.....but what these little houses lacked in size they made up for in sweetness after we were done with them!

Chris snarfing sprinkles

Ben's house

Livi's house

Dad's teepee

Mom's outhouse

Nick's church