For Christmas Eve we had dinner at Sarah’s parents and breakfast at the Ahlstrom’s. Nothing too eventful just fun time with family.
Our favorite gift!
Toothless grins and babies.
Who has the real baby?
All the girls got their nails painted by Daddy. Not bad for zero practice.
These are supposed to be santa hats.
Halloween always seems so busy. Every year there are more and more activities and parties. Each kids usually has a school party of some sort. Then there is the ward party. The work party. The street party. All fun but it makes for a lot of sugar highs and messes around the house. I like Halloween but I’m always glad when it is over. Today we’ve already taken down all decorations and disposed of a ton of trash.
We quickly carved these pumpkins on halloween. I think I’m going to retire from carving pumpkins. Curious George is Autumns. The mermaid is Lacey’s and the cat is Rachelle’s. Jackson carved his own pumpkin last week for the ward party. Can you guess what it is?
Every year our street has a pot luck Halloween party. We usually don’t know too many people but it is good to get out and interact with your neighbors. I think most of the neighborhood kids are a little bit older than our kids.
A co-worker invited the whole building to his band’s Halloween show. They have two tesla coils that make music and a Faraday Cage for people to get in. I put some video footage of it in my weekly vlog.
We had a great Christmas break the past few weeks. Micah took quite a bit of time off work and we all were able to get a lot done, relax and enjoy the time we had with each other. It was so nice. I am so grateful to have had all of his help as I’ve been getting back into the swing of things. He has been a great diaper changer, entertainer, errand runner, dinner maker, etc, etc, etc over the past several weeks! I’m picking up some slack now but I really have appreciated the time I’ve had to recover and get used to having a new baby in the mix. We’ve had a lot of fun throughout December with our elf, Jimmy Jingle, who would surprise us every morning with something fun (ingredients to make pancakes, blanket forts, stacked chairs, donuts, etc).
We miss Jimmy – the kids were so excited to wake up in the morning with him and now they slowly saunter out of bed again. We drove around a few times looking for Christmas lights and light shows. We tried to do random acts of kindness every day (which was pretty fun and successful) and this year we found a great garden train house to visit that was a fun Christmas bonus.
Christmas Eve took place at Mamama’s and Papa-dad’s house. When we arrived we had just missed the excitement – but could still smell the evidence. The house was set up so nicely for dinner and there were candles next to some poinsettias as the centerpieces. One of the little candles somehow caught the wrapping of the poinsettias on fire which then started the table cloth on fire. Luckily, it was caught quickly and the poinsettias and tablecloth were the only losses! We ate a DELICIOUS dinner with beef tenderloin, rolls, salad, fruit, etc. There were crackers and dip and cookies, and a delicious mint ice cream dessert. After eating and playing for a little bit we had our Christmas nativity. I love seeing all the little ones dressed up and its so fun to listen to all the little voices singing along. We came home and opened pajamas and then got the kids in bed.
Getting ready for the nativity.
Rachelle hung out with Robyn during the Nativity.
Lacey and Jackson.
Santa brought a trampoline for the family and Jimmy Jingle left a doll house he had built for the family. Both gifts are enjoyed very much! Autumn got a little musical toy for the car, Chelle got a cute baby doll, Lacey got walkie talkies, Jackson got “guess who” and a little submarine. Each got some clothes. I think everyone came away happy. That morning we ate breakfast, opened gifts from Santa, and then got dressed and Micah and the three oldest went to church. Then when they came home there were a few presents under the tree for them to open from cousins and we finally showed them the trampoline.
Our converted bookshelf.
We’ve talked over and over about baby Jesus with Jackson, Lacey and Rachelle and it was a neat feeling to have a new baby during this time. I’ve been able to reflect a little on how Mary must have felt. I have a lot of questions for her… I want to know what she was thinking about and what kind of a baby little Jesus was! I can’t imagine how it felt to have a baby in a manger in those circumstances. Wow – she was amazing. I’m so grateful for her, and especially for Jesus, who has given us a path to follow and has done so much for us. The more I read and think about Him, the more I know that its true. It really was a fun and exhausting Christmas for all of us.
We love this sweet little girl. I caught this picture last night… I know its a little blurry, but I love the sweet innocence of a sleeping baby. It is so precious to me!
A couple nights ago I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for my sweet new baby and my 3 sweet children that love her SO dearly. I couldn’t help but thank my Heavenly Father for these greatest blessings and yet I still felt that my thanks to Him were inadequate for the joy I feel.
We have felt so grateful for all the love and help we’ve received from family and friends! In the hospital as I was getting prepped to go back to the operating room someone who worked there came in and asked if I would need any help or assistance with other children when I left the hospital. I was grateful to say that we have family and friends that are helping us. Since then I’ve thought again and again about how much harder it would be to have a baby without everyone’s support. Thank you, Thank you! My heart is overfilled with gratitude! Happy Thanksgiving!
This is what Halloween looked like over here:
Batman, Bat “girl”, and a cute little cowgirl
For the trunk-or-treat on Wednesday night, Micah did a little dressing up with a nice white shirt unbuttoned a little with a gray shirt underneath that had the batman symbol showing and batman mask, but somehow I didn’t get pictures of that – he must have been the photographer. The kids really wanted us to all dress up as a “Bat” family for the trunk-or-treat, but of course I didn’t get my act together for that. Lacey assured me it was ok because the baby (in my tummy) was dressing up as me…so at least we all had a costume or were a costume!
Saturday night we had fun carving pumpkins for the kids. We had several stencils that they could choose from and we came out with Scooby doo, angry birds, and a cabbage patch doll. Pretty fun!
Halloween night was a big success – everyone came home happy and I’m glad its over. Don’t get me wrong… I love Halloween, but the celebration felt like it started early this year because it landed on a Monday and I felt like everyone celebrated the entire week before with Halloween cookies, candies, and treats everywhere we went!