Un-Merry Christmas

That's what we really had. Aubrey got sick Christmas Eve night into Christmas morning, so that makes two years in a row of us being up all night with Christmas vomit. She was very disappointed to miss out on all the festivities with the Moffats Christmas day, but she has a couple of pretty wonderful grandmas who came by at different times for a visit and brought some cheer to our day. Grandma Moffat brought her stocking and present to her in the afternoon since she couldn't make it to their house. That lifted her spirits quite a bit, especially since she was feeling quite a bit better by then.

We felt thankful that at least this year we had a great Christmas Sunday (the day the happy family photo was taken) and a great Christmas Eve with the Arnolds. Here's to hoping Christmas of 2013 is a healthy one!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Sunday

Sure enjoyed the Christmas program at church this morning. Greg, Aubrey, Kari, and Joel were in the choirs, and Grant and I had fun watching them together. He jumped up off his chair at one point during one of the songs and announced, "I have to go poop!" so we had to go out to take care of that, but we didn't miss too much. They all did great!

Aubrey's Preschool Christmas Program

This last Tuesday evening was Aubrey's Christmas program. She knew all the songs and was very excited for all of us to watch her. In typical preschool fashion, she was constantly tugging at her dress, hiking up her tights, and putting her fingers in her mouth. She sure was cute! They all were. Here's some video that my dad took. https://vimeo.com/55954181 Thanks, Dad!

 

Christmas Party Attire

Greg's company holiday party was a couple weeks ago. The theme was "denim and diamonds," kinda strange but also nice because it meant we were supposed to wear jeans, something I already own, rather than fancy black-tie attire, which I do not own. I took care of the "sparkle" for the both of us. :) I wore fun heels, too, but you can't see them in the picture.























The next weekend we went out again, this time to an "ugly Christmas sweater" party hosted by one of Greg's co-workers.
Thankfully, I had met he and his wife the weekend before at the company party, so at least they'd seen me wearing "normal" clothes before seeing me in this. I hadn't met anyone else at the party, though! The photo doesn't do us justice. We're both wearing sweaters with kittens on them, but Greg's has glitter on it, too. He took care of the "sparkle" this time. :) We borrowed these gems from some friends who host this sort of party every year, and guess who won "best" couple? We did! It takes some guts, I discovered, to meet new people and converse normally while wearing an ugly sweater with a mock turtleneck. Ever since being pregnant, I can't stand having anything touching my neck (makes me gag), so this turtleneck gave me a little trouble that night, but it was worth it. We had a good time. I always enjoy getting to know more of the people Greg works with every day, and it's always fun to go out alone with my husband.

Happy Birthday to Kari

Kari Lynn turned nine years old today--one year shy of double digits! She had a fabulous day--special birthday breakfast, birthday button at school, surprise visit from Aubrey, Grant, and I at lunch at school (came bearing McDonalds--got her good by packing her lunch box with just a water bottle and heavy ice pack--she was truly surprised and excited to see us), her favorite meal for dinner (chicken pot pie), and finally, a pajama-clad drive to look at Christmas lights this evening. She was one happy girl!

Birthday breakfast with Grandpa. Love this tradition and wish I could tag along to hear the conversation.

Her family party was Sunday afternoon. We are surrounded by some pretty wonderful family. They all made her feel special and loved. We had some snacks and just hung out with the fam--a pretty low-key event for one of our parties. It was kind of nice to not be planning/executing a bunch of activities and games. We'll be doing plenty of that for the other two birthdays coming up, so it was nice to be able to give ourselves a "bye" this time. She's growing up. Games were not a part of her plan.


































Such a grown up girl getting so many grown up gifts--i-tunes, gift cards, earrings, a fish (takes responsibility, you know--precursor to a kitten, in her mind), clothes, and yarn to knit hats and scarves. She was also excited to receive more clothes for her doll, Kit, so there's still some little girl in there, too. :) She's really never been one to play imaginatively with toys. She'd much rather organize them, but something about the American Girl doll has captivated her. She doesn't really play imaginatively with Kit either, but she loves the books, loves to change her outfits according to the season/event, and loves to set out all of Kit's things and then fold them all carefully in the basket again. I'm glad there's at least one "toy" that she still wants and appreciates. It's fun, too, though, to see her excited about books, learning to knit, and playing the guitar. Mid-elementary school age is great.















Love Aubrey and Joel's faces while looking at the new fish, which I'm told has been named "Sparky."














Love Kari's face here when she realized Grandma had made a matching "birthday" dress for her, to go along with the "birthday" dress for Kit.





Flowers were the only required decorations this year. I'm still enjoying them in my kitchen.

Greg giving Kari her first guitar lesson on her new guitar. She's eager to learn!

Strep Throat X3

This is a little ridiculous, isn't it? First Aubrey, then Kari, and now Joel. Will Grant escape? Will we? Nobody knows!

Gingerbread and Birthday party

For the last several years I've made gingerbread houses for the kids using the recipe from my Grandma Arnold. This year I decided to make lots of houses so Kari and her friends could decorate them at her birthday party. It was a lot of work, but I was successful! I made 17 houses total--2 big ones, and 15 little ones. Aubrey helped me roll out the dough and prep the pieces for the oven.

The morning of the party Grant and Aubrey helped me decorate one of the big houses to use as an example. We gave the other big house to cousin Russell to decorate.







Looked like we had a gingerbread "village" in our kitchen.

Greg helped Joel and Aubrey in the kitchen while I helped the big girls in the dining room. Grant was conveniently napping.

Eight girls happily working on their houses.

Party #1 done. Party #2 (family) is this next Sunday.

Very large tree

I love big Christmas trees, and since we have very little furniture in our front room we still have room for a big one. Boy, did we get a biggie this year! Here's Greg sawing it down (should have brought the chainsaw). The kids had fun playing hide and seek in the trees while Greg sawed away. We had an extra with us--Kari's friend, Grace. She spent the night with us and stayed for more fun. She even helped us cut tree branches that morning with our community group for the school's Community Christmas event (to make swags). The kids had a great time serving alongside us, and they actually were helpful--running branches to the truck and keeping track of how many we had cut.

That would be dirt on his face, not scratches.

Getting it on top of the van was quite a feat! Greg got pinned between the tree and the back of the van at one point. :) We drove home VERY slowly. Good thing we didn't have far to go!

And here it is! Getting it into the house was quite a feat, as well. Our neighbors across the street were laughing at us as we struggled with our massive load and squeezed it through the front door. We were laughing, too, so it was ok.


Grant was so cute when Greg was filling the tree stand with water. It took a couple trips, and Grant got down on his belly under the tree each time, just like Daddy.