Christmas in Dixie

We decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in St. George this year. That way, we were present for the annual grand-kid's sleepover and we got to spend more time with my Mom and Dad before they leave on their mission to Cove Fort in January! We got there Wednesday evening, and on Thursday morning the festivities officially began. My mom went all out for the party, which had Noah's Ark theme. As the kids arrived and boarded the ark, we played animal guessing games, stuffed a homemade cardboard ark full of stuffed animals to donate, and snacked on ark foods like dried fruit and nuts. :)


Pretty soon we headed for Jenn and Mike's school where were played human Hungry Hungry Hippos and other animal games. The kids had such a blast!


The kids came home and we ate pizza, watched movies and the kids stayed up way too late giggling and talking.:) The next morning we made ark themed ornaments and ate breakfast before everyone had to head home.


Later on in the day we made it to Great Grandma Crosby's house to eat some ice cream sandwiches, play some skip-bo, and play with some of her other toys. She got to meet Mr. Benson for the first time and it was sweet for me to watch them interact. Ira was her father's name. :)


Christmas Eve, Russ and the girls came over for dinner and the nativity scene. My nieces are all growing up so fast!


We left some cookies and eggnog for Santa and took our Christmas jammies picture. The kids wrote some cute notes to Santa that I hope I saved somewhere. The kids went to bed, but Benson got a second wind and decided to fight sleep that night. He must have been too excited to open his presents. ;) He couldn't get enough of Grandma Crosby this trip. They were buddies.


Our kids have never done the whole, "wake up early, jump on mom and dad's bed" thing on Christmas morning. Thank goodness! We got up leisurely, Richie made us our traditional German pancakes, Mom cut up the grapefruit, I fried up some bacon and we feasted. We made the kids line up, youngest to oldest of course, before entering the living room. It's fun to watch my kids do the same things, in the same place, as I did. I think Christmas was a success. Miles's big gift was a massive art kit. He's been using it almost non stop since then. Gwen's big gift was a barbie car and Barbie. She wants to sleep with it and take it with her everywhere we go. Lindy's big gift was a scooter. Her brother and sister have their own bikes, but she's always had to used whatever was around. She's so excited to have something like that, that's just hers! (Gwen is a little jealous.) Benson's big gift was a teddy bear (for my Benson bear. :) I think the first gift they really got into that morning was their lego sets. Very intense concentration going on.


We headed to sacrament meeting at noon, came home to play with presents more and got ready for our Christmas Day feast. Everyone came over and we had such a great, noisy night :) Mom and Dad gave out some more gifts relating to the Noah's Ark theme, some families exchanged gifts then, but the "highlight" was playing "Pie Face", which our kids got for Christmas. The kids LOVED it. However, I should have thought it through before introducing a game with flying whipped cream in a house with people who are much more tidy than I am. :) (sorry Dad!)
And there's a few cute pictures of Benson in his new church outfit on his first Christmas, just for good measure.


Every time I walk into my old house, I can feel a physical burden lifted and I breathe a little easier. I think it has something to do with the 2 people who live there who help shoulder our load when we walk in the door. I get to feel like Richard and Louise's daughter again, and not "Mommy" 24-7. It was so nice to be home for Christmas. The house is so festive and warm and inviting. I know I can go back during the next two years while my parents serve at Cove Fort and stay at the house, but it will be different. Even so, I'm incredibly excited for my parents to serve in this capacity. It truly does seem "positively providential!" Merry Christmas 2016!

2nd week in December

Home school stuff. The kids (Miles especially) has expressed a desire to learn how to sew. I know some basic things, but not enough to feel qualified to teach him. However, I'm trying to incorporate that idea where I can. Here's miles "sewing" by stringing cotton balls from our snow sensory box onto a string. We have been hanging the full strings by our window and it looks like it's snowing inside. :) Another picture of Gwen keeping Benson company, probably while I was working with Miles.


The kids helping me make little gifts for them to take to their teachers. I love these little treats because the kids can actually do most of the work and they love it!


We wanted to have our nephews over for a sleepover one weekend as a part of our Christmas present to their parents. The 3 boys came over and the kids loved playing with each other. They especially loved the new play-doh sets that Ethan and Caleb gave as gifts! The idea was for the older 2 to sleepover that night and we were going to make "gingerbread" houses the next day. Well plans change, and the boys ended up going home with their Mom and Dad Friday night. However, Saturday night the plan was for our kids to go over to Grandma and Grandpa's so that Richie and I could go on a date. I came down with a wicked case of Vertigo though, and instead of a date, I spent the night going from floor, to toilet, to tub, to bed, etc. I sent the "gingerbread" houses I had already made over to the Garner's with the kids and luckily the James boys were there too, so they all got to decorate their houses after all!



We were watching a movie one morning and in the middle of it, I noticed Gwen getting her snow gear on. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I'm going to go shovel the driveway." As if it were obvious! She has never really done this task, so I watched her out the front window for at least 5 minutes. I couldn't get enough of her efforts in her very layered and mismatched outfit. :)


We finished up our study of space for the first half of our science curriculum this year. As a last hurrah, a friend of mine and I took our kids to the newly remodeled Planetarium. They had some really fun new exhibits, including a play place for small kids. The kids and I really splurged this time and saw one of the movies on their IMAX screen. It followed the story of a few astronauts in the international space station and what it's like for them to live in space. The views were amazing! I don't know if the kids thought it was as cool as I did. Then that night at home for FHE, we painted space pictures with the "paint" inside glowsticks (which worked less well than I expected), and ate real astronaut freeze dried ice cream that I bought online. (Less yummy than expected. Ha!)

First bit of December

More windows!


Early Morning Cuties


Gingerbread man play-doh



My cute boys all matched (unintentionally) in argyle one Sunday. :) (Nice photo bomb Gwen)



Another one of Gwen's Christmas dance recitals. She did so well! Although it's extremely fun for me to watch her dance, I think my favorite part is watching her siblings support her. Lindy gets SO excited when Gwen gets on stage and just cheers her heart out. :) I have missed watching Miles dance at these past recitals. I asked him if he missed dancing, thinking he might regret his decision after seeing Gwen all dolled up and performing. He didn't skip a beat, and just flatly said, "Nope!"


We made snow globes as part of art class today. We've done this before, but it was time for some updated ones and the kids get such a kick out of seeing themselves inside a snow globe! I snapped a couple of pictures of the kids and I couldn't choose which ones to post here, so I posted them all. :)



Visiting Santa at the ward Christmas Breakfast!