December Happenings

Dec 5:  December has been COLD!  I seem to be cold all the time these days – must be a getting older thing because my Mom always complained about being cold too.  Drew found a old mask in our winter gear and decided to put it on one morning as we were getting ready to walk to preschool.  This is the kid that spends most of his days in only his underwear so I don’t think wearing the mask had much to do with getting warmer.  Such a cute kid!

Reminded me of the time Katie wore the same mask to walk Jason to the bus stop

And Jason wore the same mask while eating cereal

Dec 10:  Attending the Nativity event hosted by our stake has become an annual tradition.  I think this was the first year we didn’t volunteer to host during the event.  We didn’t make it until the very last night.  Abigail was hosting that evening so I insisted that we get our annual nativity photo taken before she got assigned to her station for the night.  I’m glad the kids still indulge me in this – I think they actually enjoy it.

Dec 14:  I spotted a good deal on a Lego Friends advent calendar last month and knew Katie and Drew would love opening up a new little Lego set each day leading up to Christmas. 

Dec 16:  Tonight our bishop hosted a ward council Christmas dinner and gift exchange at his house.  Dinner was great and the gift exchange was pretty hilarious.  Justin and I walked away with some pretty decent gifts and gave away some junk that was just collecting dust around our house.

Dec 17:  I attempted a selfie during FHE tonight where our activity after the lesson was to watch an episode of Masterchef Junior.  I was tempted to just move these photos to the trash, but it’s actually just another glimpse of life around here.  Abigail didn’t want her picture taken at this moment so she was trying to use Drew’s head to shield her.  This morning Drew came down dressed for church wearing his church pants and just this sweater vest up top.  I convinced him to put on a white shirt underneath the vest for church, but I kid you not within minutes of getting home he’d taken off the white shirt and put back on the vest by itself.  Such a funny kid.  And then there’s Jason, just being his 10 year old self.  This is us even out of focus.

Dec 18:  Justin had some extra PTO days he needed to take before the end of the year so he took today off and we took Drew to see Ferdinand with some $5 T-Mobile Tuesday perks.  It was a cute movie.

Rough life for this kid, huh?

We then traveled up north to take advantage of a two-for-one deal at Macaroni Grill.  Turns out it was also kids-eat-free day so we totally scored.  I thought we’d run a few more errands before heading home, but Justin didn’t want to get stuck in afternoon traffic.  We also used our T-Mobile tickets to go see Star Wars that night – IMAX, 3D - $20 tickets for $5.  Thanks T-Mobile!

Dec 19:  Drew made gingerbread houses today at preschool.

When I saw how yummy it looked I knew it wouldn’t last long so I set it down by the window to take a picture of it.  The cute little boy of mine laid down right next to it and gave me a big ole smile.  Why would I even think of taking a picture of a little gingerbread house without a cute little boy in it?

Dec 20:  Abigail swore she wouldn’t miss a single thing by skipping school the last day before Christmas break so we let her play hooky.  We ended up going out to lunch that afternoon – I told her not to expect such a thing next year when she’ll be home from running start by lunch everyday.  She wouldn’t let me take a picture of us enjoying our MOD pizza so instead I took one of Drew.

Dec 22:  Justin took a few days off before and after Christmas.  He and I went out to lunch today and Abigail took it upon herself while we were gone to make up a batch of frosting and let the youngers decorate an extra gingerbread man she had. To use up the extra frosting, Jason and Katie wanted Justin to squirt a bunch of frosting in their mouths and top it off with a gumdrop.

Sometime during the month Katie created a Christmas tree at school and today, before disposing of it, she wanted me to take a picture of it.  Ok darlin’.

Dec 28:  In addition giving the kids spending money, my Mom sent us a big, heavy box full of STUFF – the kids loved diving into the box full of goodies, treats, and presents.  Not very often the kids get an entire box of fruit snacks to themselves.

Dec 30:  Justin was able to get some inexpensive fitbits through work so we gave both Carly and Jason a fitbit for Christmas.  Throughout the day you’ll hear Jason ask Carly how many steps Carly has so he can see if he has more.  When Jason wants to give his steps a boost he’ll run around the house in circles or run up and down the stairs.  I took this video this morning of him running around my bedroom.

I wish I had the same energy that boy of mine does.  Notice I’m still in bed – it’s 10:25am and I have ZERO exercise or stand credits on my new Apple Watch – which I love by the way.

Dec 31:  We rung in the New Year with the Reynolds and Sundwall families.  Great food, friends and fun was had by all.  Benjamin was struggling to get the Space Needle countdown on the TV so it looked like we would ring in the New Year huddled around his laptop.  He pulled it up with just 30 seconds to spare.

Memorable events not pictured: 

My annual favorites things party with Snoqualmie girlfriends & the annual Christmas pajama party with my Auburn friends.  I feel so tremendously blessed with the amazing friends I have. 

During break there were many movies (including the whole family seeing The Greatest Showman in the theatre and then listening to the soundtrack on repeat afterward), games, puzzles, kids getting together with friends.  The battery on the van died twice during break and we had a leaky ceiling we’ll have to address this week.  The three younger kids played together non-stop and it seemed that there was someone upset or crying hourly, but thankfully they are always quick to forgive and forget.

The Gibbs had us over with a few other families on Dec 29 for a fun family New Years Eve Eve party.  We sure lucked out in the white elephant gift exchange – we got rid of some stuff we’ve had laying around for ages (and some new protein powder that I found disgusting) – and only came home with one gift we’ll regift at a future white elephant gift exchange.

Carly made the last minute decision to go skiing with friends today and the plan is for the rest of us to take down Christmas and gear up for reality tomorrow.

As for me I spent a large chunk of time trying to get caught up on the blog.  Abigail told me I couldn’t do it so I had to prove her wrong.  She also told me I wouldn’t be able to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year and I wrapped that up yesterday morning.  Feels great to be on top of a few things and hopefully I’ll be able to keep the blog updated.  The kids have spent hours scrolling through the blog looking at old pictures and videos – that is why I do this.  I need to hang onto these memories and this has been a wonderful way to do that for my family (I’m still confident that someday I’ll get it all printed in books!)

What a wonderful year we have had – we have so much to look forward to in 2018!