A Birthday

 The morning started with some fun decorations.

Daddy Earnest (as Emma calls him) got to open some presents.

I felt, with his newfoundlove of NASCAR,  a NASCAR birthday would be in order.

When asked what he wanted to do on his birthday, Marcus chose to spend the day with Emma and Kyle at the Children's Museum.  He doesn't get to spend much quality time with them normally.  This is only one of the reasons why he is the World's Greatest Dad.  Children's Museum on his birthday?  Come on.

We got a sitter and actually went out without kids!  We had a wonderful steak dinner at Fleming's, then saw True Grit at the movie theater.

Since we were busy all day, the blowing out of candles and eating of cake got pushed to the next day.

Happy Birthday, Marcus!  It was a wonderful day and it will be another wonderful year together!

Christmas

Let's keep this simple:

Christmas for our family means a big Christmas Eve dinner with our friends, the Castos:

Opening Sibling Gifts on Christmas Eve:

Staying up way too late to wrap gifts and assemble presents:

Seeing the joy on our children's faces as their gifts are opened:

Enduring grumpy Drew's whining and crying until finally putting him down for a nap.  

Before nap:

After nap:

Hanging out in PJ's most of the morning and playing with toys:

 
Merry Christmas to all, thank you so much for all the gifts you sent, and a happy new year!

When there's sickness at home

Last Christmas, I had a two month old who wouldn't sleep and who basically screamed much of the time he was awake.  We did little to no Christmas activities outside the home.  I just couldn't handle it.

This year, I was determined to have some fun with the kids.  We would go to Glendale Glitters- see the lights, explore the booths, jump in the bounce house, have treats....  We would go to our ward Christmas party and have fun with our friends.  We would drive around and see the Christmas Light displays in the neighborhood. We planned them all for this weekend.

Then, we got sick.

Emma had strep and a viral infection. The virus moved quickly throughout the house.  So far everyone has had a taste of it.  Marcus is still hanging on to the couch for dear life.  Needless to say- we did not get to do any of the activities we had planned for this weekend.  Two urgent care visits, three trips to Walgreens, and two prescriptions later- it's Monday and we missed out.

I think I was more disappointed than the kids.  I just wanted it to feel like the holidays, and when you're just sitting around your house all the time, you lose some of that.

So, we made Christmas cookies.  This year I got smart and baked them ahead of time- so when the kids were feeling a little better, I mixed up the frosting and let them have at it.

Sunday was our ward Christmas program.  I sang a song and played my flute.  Luckily I was only a little sick, so I was able to perform as I needed to.  I also taught the Christmas sharing time lesson in Primary- which went pretty well.

Part of my lesson discussed how it would have felt to look at that sweet baby in the manger, and to know you were looking at the future Savior of the world- what a special baby he was.  I taught those words as my own baby had fallen asleep in my arms- I held him as I spoke of the baby Jesus.  I know how much love I have for Drew- how much promise he holds- how much I hope for his future.  I can only imagine how Mary felt as she held the Savior- knowing, as she did, who He really was.

I know Christmas isn't truly about the lights, the presents, and the activities.  I am grateful I have my family around me for the holidays, so we can remember the birth of the Savior and celebrate His birth and life--together.  Even if we're all still sick.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family- near and far.  "And a Happy New Year!"

Gingerbread Houses

Last night I went to our ward's Relief Society Christmas dinner.  After chips, salsa, and tamales, we sampled desserts from sisters in the ward.  Each person brought something that is a tradition in their home.   After the dinner, we had a simple program where several sisters shared a bit about their family traditions.  One sister, my friend Heather, read a quote from a talk she found on lds.org that said, basically-
If we let anger, impatience, or a mess get in the way of observing our family traditions, we lose the meaning behind them.  What's important is the time spent together as families and loved ones.

I am guilty of this at times.  Living with three small children means a lot of things get messy, things take a lot of time to do, and someone often ends up crying or frustrated.  My temper runs short and my patience wears thin.  This quotation made me stop and think about my own attitude this Christmas season and beyond.  Is it really so important to keep the table clean when it can be easily cleaned up?  Does it matter if Kyle plays around instead of finishing the "fun activity"?  I want my children to have good memories of the things we do, not memories of a tired, shouting mama.  I may not always be successful, but my goal this month is to simply enjoy my time with my family and try to be more patient as we participate in our Christmas festivities.

In that vein, here is the story of the gingerbread houses.
Once upon a time, a family bought a gingerbread house kit to make with their two small children.  It seemed like so much fun, but it didn't turn out to be.  The frosting wasn't strong enough to stand the house up, and it squeezed all out the end of the bag and all over the father.  The kids would rather eat the candy than use it decorate.  Much yelling ensued, and though the houses turned out in the end, it was an experience best forgotten.

A new year dawned, and when the prospect of building houses once again dawned, the mother thought and thought about how she could make the activity a better experience.  So,  she made her own frosting glue from a tried and true recipe on the web.  She composed the houses from graham crackers well ahead of time, so they would be sturdy and dry for decorating later.  She bought squeeze bottles for the icing to contain the mess.  And when the kids ate the candy, she and the father just shrugged and smiled.
The result was this:  two beautiful houses and a happy family.

Dad handled the icing

Sampling the candy

Kyle gets a little help from Dad

I love how serious she looks in this picture.  She's committed to the task!

Kyle's house

Emma's house

Decking the Halls

It's the Christmas season!  We're busy decorating, mailing out cards and packages, making treats, and finding ways to celebrate the season.  I love this time of year!

It's fun to decorate my home.  A lot of my decorations this year I got from or used pieces from the Dollar Store. It's amazing what you can come up with from a few bucks and some inspiration from blogland.

I made the Santa plaque a few years ago at Super Saturday, but the rest of the items (minus the table runner) are from the dollar store.

I made this from a dollar store patriotic star.  I Mod Podged scrapbook paper on and tied it with dollar store ribbon.

I would have never thought to decorate with candycanes, but an article in Good Housekeeping inspired me to make this centerpiece for my table.  

This is my new favorite decoration.  I got the idea from Make It and Love It, found here, except I put my vinyl directly on the glass instead of on the wall.  This way I can reuse it each year.  The frames and ribbon are from the dollar store.

This is a free printable I found online, placed in a dollar store frame.  I still need to "bling it up" a little.

And finally, here are some of my other favorite decorations.  None of these are from the dollar store, but love and time went in to all of them.

A stitchery I finished when we lived in Seattle:

It wouldn't be a holiday without some blocks:

The kids get to take a turn moving the star to a new stocking each day:

I love these snowman candles.  I used to think snowmen really came alive at night when you were sleeping, so the block is quite appropriate next to these little guys.

My cute sister-in-law made this banner for us last year:

 And finally, our family Christmas tree.  Each year I give my kids an ornament, so that when they grow up and move away, they will have something to put on their own tree someday.  My mom did this with us, and I am continuing the tradition.

 I hope you've enjoyed our holiday home tour.  It may not be beautiful enough to grace the cover a magazine, but I love the spirit it brings into our home.  We are thinking of all of you throughout this holiday season!

And he's off!

Drew took his first steps last week.  It's only been about a week, and even since this video, taken on Thanksgiving, he has really gotten a lot better and faster.  At 13 1/2 months, he is by far our earliest walker, (which I know isn't really early).  Kyle was almost 15 months, and Emma was 15 1/2, so I wasn't even trying to push him to walk.  One day, he just let go of the walk and took some steps.  Guess he got tired of waiting for me to teach him....

We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We invited my SIL Chelsea and her new husband Taylor over for the big dinner.  We were grateful to have some family with us for the holiday.  We had the traditional spread- turkey, mashed and sweet potatoes, carrots, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin and apple pies, and of course, Earnest punch.

Unfortunately, the only Thanksgiving picture I took was of the pie.  It was delicious!

Here we are earlier in the day, though, cleaning up the yard.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.