Christmas 2017

Luke was more than excited and tried to start the day at 3:08 AM. He came into our room with the happiest, loud-whisper I have ever heard. "Dad! Mom! He really came! Santa came!" I think he was fairly concerned Santa only packed a lump of coal for him. Once we convinced Luke, Emma and Myles that nothing was going to happen until at least 5:00 AM, Bryan and I went back to sleep for a little while. At exactly 5:00 AM, Luke came back into our room and announced the time along with the promise that we could begin Christmas.
I think I have said this more than a few times this year, but it is so much fun having our kiddos all caught up in the Magic of Christmas. Having them close together definitely brings its own set of challenges, but it's also wonderful in other ways. It makes Christmas morning more fun than I would ever expect at 5:00 AM. :)

I need to capture a better picture of the 

The sugary cereal tradition continues and is a hit every year. We usually do cereal (since we wake up so early), a nicer breakfast (2nd breakfast), casual lunch and then New England Boiled Dinner to supper. 

I need to take a picture of the quilt (behind Emma) that Carrie made for Myles. She makes a quilt for each grandkid. My kids love their quilts. They are so beautiful and meaningful.

While Myles and Bryan were taking an afternoon nap (Emma and I snuck a nap in during the morning), I introduced Luke and Emma to "A Christmas Story." They thought it was pretty funny and there was only one or two things that needed further explanation from me. It was a great, laid-back Christmas. We played games, swung in the hammock, played with our new toys and really enjoyed our own cozy Christmas. We were just missing some of that white stuff outside!

Cheers to a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I love that it was on Sunday. We had such a nice Sacrament meeting filled with a variety of musical numbers and the congregation singing along. It was easy to feel the spirit and remember the Savior and think about how the world was about to receive the best gift many years ago.

Our traditional (not so traditional) picture in front of the Christmas Tree in our Sunday best. Love these three.

The kids were in full, Christmas excitement mode. Bryan and I loved it. We delivered our last 12 days of Christmas to a family. The kids were awesome helpers this year from dropping things off to reminding me if we hadn't done it yet that day. As part of our Christmas Eve, we made sugar cookies for Santa and prepped for our Family Party that night.

The kids each opened up a set of new pajamas, a few new family games (Battle Ship and Bey Blades) and a movie. We dined on our favorite appetizers, played lots of games while watching the movie. Once the party was wrapping up, we set out cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. We highlighted the night by singing a few Christmas songs and reading the Christmas story from the Bible. We tucked the kids in and waited for the magic to begin.

Christmas Festivities

We took the kids to see Ferdinand and find ourselves quoting it over the break. "I've fallen and I can't giddy-up!" is one of the favorites as well as trying to imitate the horses' accents and dance moves.

Another night, we loaded up the kids and drove to Maverick where we loaded up on hot chocolate and donuts before we drove around checking out Christmas lights. It even started snowing towards the end as we were driving back home. It was just enough snow to make it feel very Christmasy.

This is what happens when your flash goes off in a dark theater. :)

The Birthday Boy

We celebrated Bryan's birthday by making him breakfast in bed. The kids love joining him--I love washing the sheets after. He was able to catch a movie with a friend and then we went out the night before to a cute, Italian restaurant in Castle Rock. I surprised him with tickets to the Air Force vs. Utah State basketball game. I don't think I took one picture on his actual day!

I love this guy more and more. He makes me laugh when I'm at my breaking point and just nods his head when I'm overreacting (rarely happens). He is wonderful father to these three kiddos. I am always 2nd place to Bryan with Myles, it is never even a question. He even calls out for "Daddy!" in the middle of the night...there are perks to being 2nd place.

Happy Birthday to our favorite person!

Myles Round #2

Myles managed to fall into the 25% of kids that need a second set of tubes in their ears. What can I say? He's an overachiever.  With the second set of tubes, they also removed his adenoids. We appreciated them scheduling us first thing in the morning so Myles didn't have too much time to realize he wasn't able to eat or drink. Myles did really well with all of the pre-op checks and the surgeon reported everything went great with the surgery. To help balance out how well everything was going, he woke up like a crazy/angry drunk from anesthesia. Wowzer, I was glad I had seen this before working as a nurse or I seriously would have been in tears with how out of sorts he was. I was wishing I would have worn a sweat band trying to juggle this almost 3-year-old in my lap. The cute nurse was trying to be helpful and brought us warm blankets several different times. I finally mentioned that we were plenty warm and could use an ice bath instead... or more sedatives :). After 15-20 minutes, he was a little more himself and I was able to convince him to take a sip of water so we could leave.

We made it home, where a stomach bug was making it's way through the family. Luke had an unsettled stomach and ended up missing his last day of school before the break. He was bummed to miss the party. By the afternoon, Bryan was also hit by it. On the calendar, this is the shortest day of the year. In my life, it felt like one of the longest! :)

We recovered to enjoy a healthy Christmas and most of the week after, before croup struck. 'Tis the Season!