Christmas Tree Party

We didn't get to sleeping under the tree until December 23 this year (the last possible day!) because Matthias and Hannah were basically sick from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day. And having a kid in school kind of threw things off as well since we had to wait for James' break...that hasn't happened before since he was "homeschooled" all last December. =]

We drove around looking at lights before hand, then watched a movie and crashed. Everyone was asleep before 9 (including adults) and we didn't get up until 8...it was lovely!

Christmas Eve 2011

We had a busy day of making sugar cookies for Santa and our yummy dinner feast. We decided to have lamb for dinner this year (as per Matthias "so we can remember the shepherds"), roast potatoes, beans, rolls, and homemade chocolate pudding...like made from milk and cocoa and not a Jell-O box. Mmm. Love that stuff. The lamb turned out well (Taylor was the chef). None of us have had lamb before, it smelled like venison while cooking, but had a completely different taste when eaten. It was fun. Maybe we'll do it again next year, maybe we won't. We're free and fun like that.

James organized a sing along with the kids earlier in the day while we were cooking (we spent a lot of time in the kitchen...good thing Taylor and I both really enjoy cooking). We have a Christmas Children's Song book with hymns and Santa songs along with pictures so the kids hauled the book around and sang a ton of them.

We also watched the Veggie Tales St Nick Christmas special which we did last year as well. I really like those Veggies and the St Nick one is fun.

After dinner we did the Nativity. Hannah was Mary, Matthias was Joseph/Shepherds/Wiseman, Taylor Narrator, Me Shepherd/Wiseman, James was the Angel. And he memorized his lines that he says to the Shepherds and it was really great. He had worked on them the couple weeks proceeding and nailed every word!

Then we sang some carols which was super awesome this year because all my kids know the words to several Christmas hymns (probably at least 6) and even multiple versus of some. Hannah is great with memorizing songs, really good, and loves singing them! And the boys are getting to be old enough they have learned quite a few. It was a dream come true.

Pjs were opened next and James had asked for slippers a few months ago so those came with. I sewed all the pajamas this year and that was fun. Hannah's match her baby she got for Christmas. And she was thrilled (the next morning obviously when she actually got the doll...)

Taylor and I then stayed up way too late wrapping presents and talking to family via video chat (probably at least 2 hours of it) which was wonderful and makes me so happy for that amazing technology.

Christmas Party & Gingerbread House

So there are hundreds of pictures to upload (literally), but these two are in my inbox so they get done. And maybe the others will later. And maybe not.

James and Hannah at 1st grade class party:


Taylor next to the giant gingerbread house at Whole Foods. We thought the kids would enjoy the picture since James and Hannah made gingerbread houses at the class party that morning. Taylor and I go to Whole Foods each December on a date to see all the amazing treats and goodies. And to drool over all the wonderful cheeses. This year we even stopped at the Seafood Restaurant inside and had some yummy salmon, crab cakes, and lobster/butternut squash bisque. Mmm...we love food.

And the boys each allowed me to take a picture of them so I could prove they were around too...

Christmas Dress

So Hannah and I took about 50 pictures...these are the best. She is so stinking cute. I love my baby girl!

(that beautiful headband lasted about 3 hours until all the kids in nursery decided to take turns trying it on...)

New Floor

So last summer we had to have the middle of our house lifted to match the perimeter that was lifted when we first moved in. The middle of the house started sinking. Long story short...it was a nightmare. Luckily the kids and I were in Utah for most all of it. Our main room ended up with a large hole, about 2 feet by 3 feet and 1 inch deep, right in the middle. I put a rug over it for 4 months. Taylor tried to fix it the day after Thanksgiving. It didn't work. We had searched for months for matching laminate to fill the hole. So the first weekend in December we ripped out all the old and put down new. It't beautiful and I LOVE it. Took longer than we thought to lay *surprise* but it's been lovely. I do have to vacuum every day because it shows everything. But honestly I like vacuuming every day. Because I'm me.

This makes it so that we have replaced every floor in the house. Besides the master bathroom because we have only ripped out the old floor and not replaced it. Bare concrete with random glue and stains on it is really awesome.

Before:

The kids were great helping break the old laminate apart...





My best after picture is from Christmas Eve which shows that I didn't actually blog this the first week in December after we did it, but hey I always post date my blog posts.

Magical 5

Matthias turned 5 this year on December 5th. We had a great celebration, James and Taylor both ditched school...started the day opening presents. (I'm not sure if we can continue this tradition much longer now that we have kids in school...)

Crepes were Matthias breakfast of choice, yum. Played with his gifts...knights, remote control car ($5-best deal ever!), and a game.

Headed to the Lego Store about 30 minutes from our house. Big hit! The kids had a great time looking at all the new sets coming out. There is a station where you can put together figures so Matthias made 3 that we bought for him.

That night he requested lasagna for dinner and a Christmas cake. It was such a fun day and we had a great time celebrating as a family!

We love our Matthias. He is still full of energy and fun. He is doing well in gymnastics, he's in the boys' invitational class at his gym. He love having preschool with his friends at their houses. He is reading really well and is a pretty intuitive little guy. He brings so much excitement and intensity to our house!

He's 5

And it was his Magic Birthday...more details and in depth looks later.



For now some quotes...

Me: I really want you to remember your Magic Birthday.
Matthias: I know you do.
Me: Do you think you'll remember it forever? Was it the best?
Matthias: Probably when I am old I will forget it. Like when I am a grandpa and grandpa.
Me: But we have lots of pictures and videos so you can see it.
Matthias: Probably I'll forget it when I am like 19 or older. But I can see the movies. You should have taken a movie of the whole day.



Last night while looking at a nativity picture
Matthias: This is the picture of Angels We Have Heard on High
Me: Yeah, it's a good nativity picture huh?
Matthias: Here are the angels and the mountains and they are pretending the stars are planes.
Me: What? Oh, like air planes?
Matthias: Yeah.
Me: Actually those are just stars. The song is talking about different plains.
Matthias: Star planes.



Matthias: I can't wait until I'm the oldest in the family.

Random Pictures

of Matthias and Hannah and James and preschool.

Thanksgiving

We had the Mattox family for dinner. Watched the parade on live camera on the computer. Put the tree up after dinner. Pie party the night before was a huge success...about 55 guests this year. Got some Black Friday deals on everyone's new sleeping bag for Christmas.

Both boys had Thanksgiving parties with their classes. And Matthias, Hannah, and I made a Thanksgiving feast with Legos...Harry Potter, Voldemort, Qui Gon Jinn, Hagrid, Kai, skeletons and more were all in attendance.