Winter Break

Our first day of winter break (Dec 21) started quite perfectly with SNOW!  I love me a little snow as long as we don’t have to drive in it and it doesn’t stick around too long.

By late afternoon there was plenty to keep the kids entertained (Abigail was at a Christmas party and Drew was napping).

Katie and Carly built an impressive snowman in the backyard.    

That evening we introduced the three big kids to one of the original Star Wars movies – Abigail apparently felt the need to take a few selfies while we got the movie started.

Carly also enjoys taking selfies on my phone.

Doing puzzles over Christmas break is a pastime I remember fondly growing up and something I enjoying doing with my family as well.  We bought the kids a BYU puzzle while we were visiting the campus in October and it was fun to put that together for the first time.

The girls and I stayed up late one evening working on another puzzle but Drew destroyed it early the next morning.  Boo.

With Christmas sneaking up on us so quickly we missed doing some of our usual December traditions including visiting Snowflake Lane in Bellevue.  The week after Christmas they change it to Celebration Lane – it’s not as big of an event, but we decided it would still be fun to do.  Instead of peppermint suckers they pass out Americana blowhorns.

And instead of ‘snow’ falling from the sky there are bubbles (i.e. soap suds)

Thanks to Santa we went to our first movie as an entire family of seven.  The Good Dinosaur was cute and entertaining to all.

Mid-way through December we found out that our Bishop had set a goal for our ward to index 30,000 records that month.  Our ward has been pushing indexing all year and we have amazing stats, but 30,000 is an incredibly ambitious goal.  Each Sunday the wards indexing stats are included in the ward bulletin and things weren’t looking good.   I decided that it wasn’t going to be the Fletcher’s fault if the ward goal wasn’t met. We borrowed a laptop from a friend and Justin used his work laptop so we could have an indexing marathon after the three youngest went to bed.  My goal was for us to hit 1,000 records before we could call it a night.  It took us nearly 4 hours – 16 man-hours – to reach our goal, but we did it.  We actually had a good time with it and ate plenty of yummy snacks to keep us awake and motivated.

We were without a babysitter on New Year’s Eve – Abigail tagged along overnight to Ensign Ranch with a friend’s family.  She had a blast staying up late playing games and sledding in all the fresh snow.  Carly spent the evening hanging out with her friend Chloe at another ward member’s house.  I can’t remember what Justin and I did – which further validates my need to continue blogging because my memory is terrible.  Perhaps we watched the third Star Wars movie in preparation for seeing the new movie the next day?  Oh well, must not have been too exciting of an evening.

2016 began with breakfast at Georgia’s Bakery.  Ever since our first visit on Veteran’s Day I’d been wanting to return and get the ‘Giant Donut’ with chocolate frosting.  I actually called ahead so they would have one ready for me.  ‘Texas Donuts’ were a special treat from my Dad when I was young and this beauty was amazingly delicious!

Welcome 2016!  We had a great winter break.  The kids hung out with friends on several occasions, we had some fun family outings, and there was some productivity happening at home (always a win for me!).

Christmas with the Fletchers

The Fletcher family gathered at Justin’s parents later on Christmas Day.   We enjoyed lots of yummy appetizers and pizza and then there was much gift giving to be had.

These two planned on wearing matching shirts and were thrilled to both receive instax cameras.

This look says, “I really hope this is what I think it is!?!”

Her own sewing machine!

Grandma rarely wraps just one thing in a box – often it’s a whole stack of goodies like this!

Drew loaded up many of his gifts into the shopping cart the Baumgartners gave him.

The kids went home with lots of fun and exciting things – Grandma and Grandpa are always so generous and we’re so grateful.  These are some lucky kiddos!

Christmas Morning

Regarding the night before Christmas, I thought the saying went “not a creature was stirring…”  At about 5 am I heard some rustling near by bedroom door.  I figured it must be one of the three oldest, but I had no idea what they were up to.  Knowing it must be Christmas related and not wanting to ruin whatever surprise they had in mind I stayed quiet and after they’d finished I quickly went back to sleep.  When I woke up I found this taped to the inside of my bedroom door.  Jason had made it and commissioned Carly to put it up for him. 

It reads “Thank you for all the trips we done love, Jason” there were two small white paper boxes taped to the door, each with five precious Hershey kisses he’d received the night before.  Best gift of the day.

Christmas morning didn’t get started until 7:30 or 8am here.  The girls may have woken up a bit earlier than that, but nobody had to wait around long this year for the celebration to begin.  I’m always grateful to not have to get up early so it was perfect timing.  The kids lined up on the stairs to head downstairs and then everyone dug into their stockings.

Carly wasn’t sure what this could be – it’s a handy way to hang the girls’ headbands/belts on     

Abigail got a tube of my favorite lipgloss – Santa is a smart one! 

   

Katie had specifically put a “cat coloring book” on her wish list – score! 

   

The kids were excited to see that Santa had left us a family surprise – movie tickets and treats to see The Good Dinosaur over the holiday break.

The plan was to eat breakfast between stockings and gifts under the tree, but the kids couldn’t hit pause so we plowed through.

Abigail had Drew for her secret sibling and picked out a boogie board for him to take to church

Jason gave Katie a Minion coloring book – Amazon grossly exaggerated this JUMBO coloring book

I think it’s sweet that the girls purchase each other gifts even though they didn’t draw their name – fingers crossed that these girls stay friends forever.  Abigail bought Carly a cool coloring book and Carly bought Abigail some cute boot socks and a big candy bar.

Grandma and Val sent new cars for Drew and Katie was excited to receive a replenishment of fusion beads and new templates.  The big kids scored some spending cash to pick out something special they would like. 

The kids each got something clothing related – not much exciting but following a big trip to Hawaii they didn’t expect much so it was a great morning.  I did get the family a Bluetooth speaker – we might be the last people to own one, but it’s already gotten a lot of use and is nice to have.  The aftermath – not too bad, eh?

Justin had requested Waffle Love for breakfast  - yum, yum.

We spent the rest of the morning enjoying our new goodies and time together as a family before heading off to the Fletcher’s for more Christmas fun.