New Year's Eve

We hosted the family New Year's Eve party again this year.  We played our traditional games like "Encore."  As tradition follows, the men all groaned and complained but played anyway. 

We also enjoyed a new game "Telestrations."  Lots of fun and laughs.

We added a white elephant gift exchange this year.  It was the perfect representation of "white elephant."  There were very few actual coveted gifts.  Especially when you mixed kids and adult gifts together.  You had a 4 year old getting a table cloth and my older sister Rebecca getting a toy.  It made for lots of laughter.

Miriam actually made it all the way to midnight this year.  

 The most coveted and stolen gift were the inflatable boxing gloves.  

The guys managed to work their way upstairs and watch (or sleep through) a little football.

Most of us enjoyed a long evening of games and yummy food.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

I saw a saying on Facebook before Christmas that said, "The only thing better than being a kid at Christmas, is being a parent of kids at Christmas."  

For me, this is so true.  Christmas was always so magical and exciting when I was a kid.  As I got older, the "magic" just wasn't the same.  Now that I have kids, that magic is back.  This year has been especially fun with Miriam, as she understands enough to know whats going on, but is still young enough to be caught up in the excitement.  There really is something to the commandment to "become as a little child."  They are so believing and so trusting.  And they show genuine love and excitement like no one else can.

As you can see, Santa didn't disappoint. 

These faces, that's why it's so fun.

Merry Christmas.  Hope yours was as magical as ours.

The Nativity

Since I was a little girl, it has been tradition in our family to have the kids dress up and act out the Nativity while Dad read it from the Bible.  As we've all grown up and had our own kids, we've tried to keep that tradition going with whatever grand kids are present Christmas Eve, but it's always been a little thrown together and, well...half-hearted from participants and spectators.

This year we finally figured it out--put someone in charge--ahead of time.  Genius.

The older cousins, Julianne and Sally, were put in charge.  Assignments were made and everyone came prepared with costumes.  That seemingly small effort made a huge difference.

Miriam and Eliza were shepherds.

The angel (cousin Lydia) appearing to the shepherds.

The whole crew.  Everyone did great.  I was super impressed with how well my 2-year old Eliza did.  No forcing or coercing needed.  She played her part.

And of course it wouldn't be complete without singing Christmas songs (we missed you Sara!)

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly

How can you not be jolly, looking at these faces?

This was the first year we took the girls to see Santa at the mall.  We got to spend a few extra minutes with him while the photographer changed the paper, so he showed the girls his photo book of him with Mrs. Claus and the reindeer.  He was great.

Hot chocolate at the Ward Christmas party was a hit with Miriam.  She drank two cups and was asking for more.

She even got to see Santa a second time that day.  Thankfully she didn't ask too many questions as to why he didn't look the same as the other Santa...

Snow Day #3

Today we were supposed to have one hour of church.  Then an hour and a half before it was to start, we got a message it was completely canceled because everything was still too icy.  We were already dressed for church so we decided to take a few pictures before changing.

Can you tell how much Eliza tries to imitate her older sister?

We stayed at home all day, enjoying Christmas videos, games and some quality nap time.  Here's hoping that small crew of snowplows can do something about these roads tomorrow!

Snow Day #2

Although still quite cold, Day #2 in the snow was nicer with clear skies and warm sun.  All of us stayed outside a lot longer, almost 2 hours.

Gemma LOVED eating the snow.  Must be teething.

Eliza thought it would be fun to put her face in the snow.  I don't think she thought that one through very well.

 

Her head is not really that big, she just has a lot of poofs on the blue hat :-)

The girls really loved going down the slide today.  Guess that thin layer of ice increased their speed quite a bit.

We gave up on the (non) hill in our front yard and walked down the street to the retention pond area for a little better slope.

I like these rare snow storms.  It makes it that much more fun to play in that we don't get them very often.  You have to get outside and play since you don't know when it will happen again!

Some videos for your enjoyment: