Christmas Eve and Christmas

We had a fun filled Christmas Eve. We cleaned the house, I did some baking/cooking for Christmas dinner, we took the kids sledding, we had our traditional Christmas Eve Beef Stew, we let the kids open a present, we left cookies and milk for Santa, and everyone went to bed in their new jammies.

Also, on Christmas Eve I got a phone call from my little sister Alison. She called to say that she had her baby girl (6 weeks early), and so far everything looks good. I still have not seen any pictures, but I'm sure little Bristol Kay is super cute.

Christmas Day. We started off the morning with opening stockings. Our kids were very patient and waited till almost 7 am, thank you kiddos.

Then we had scones for Christmas breakfast.

Next, it was time to open presents.

This is how it looked before.

And here is the after mess.

We spent the next while cleaning and organizing the before mentioned mess.

Then we had Kevin's whole family over for dinner. Food was yummy and the company good.

Then it was off to bed, it was a long day, so sleep was good.

Here are some more Christmas memories.

Santa

I have promised my kids that we could go to see Santa at the mall. The weather has been bad or other things are going on, so we haven't been able to make it. So this morning we woke up (and although it had snowed in the night) it was not snowing. So we went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and then off to the mall. While at the mall it started snowing and by the time I left 30 minutes later the roads were horrible, so we said a prayer and drove very slowly. The kids were excited to see Santa, so it was worth it in the end.

Isaac Noah and Tanner with Santa

Isaac Noah and Tanner on Christmas Sunday

Just My Luck

So yesterday I mentioned that I finished my Christmas shopping, well ... I had gone to Old Navy to get some things and noticed they were having a big 60% off sale on lots of sweaters and stuff. So I did some extra shopping. Well as they were ringing me up my kids were climbing where they shouldn't or crying, etc., so I was paying attention to them instead of prices. So I get home and realize that one sweater was not in the bag and several did not ring up at their discounted price. Frustrating.
So today we headed back to Old Navy and as we were driving there we got rear-ended. Fun for us. Luckily, we were hit by a car that had been hit by another car, so impact was not that hard. No one was hurt, except a slightly sore neck. Unfortunatly our quick trip to the store took an extra hour and 20 minutes and we now have a cracked bumper and our back up sensors are damaged. Yeah, happy day.

Christmas is Coming...

and Audrey's getting fat. Seriously, but that is not what I'm blogging about. Just wanted to update on what has been going on with us. Obviously getting ready for Christmas is time consuming.

Thanks to my wonderful big sis (she is a digital master) , we got our Christmas cards sent out. For those of you who are not on the card list, sorry, it is only that I do not have your address or you are my neighbors. I will post the card on my blog, promise.

Last Saturday, I spent my day making white chocolate popcorn for neighbor gifts. I sure do love my neighbors. The boys had fun helping deliver. It snowed that day, so they got in their snow suits and had a good old time.

Today, I officially finished my Christmas shopping. Not only that, I have wrapped all the presents as well. YEAH.

I got Christmas packages all sent out in the mail for those who do not live close by.

For family home evening this week we made our traditional ginger bread house, yes it is the kit from Walmart, but it is so much easier that way. This is always fun for the kids.

Yesterday Isaac had his preschool Christmas program. It was cute to see the kids up front singing all the songs that they had worked so hard to learn. What wasn't cute was that Isaac was being a goof ball the whole time and not really singing, o-well, we are not a singing family, so I can not blame him.

Yesterday was also the ward Christmas party, so the days leading up to that were pretty much spent getting ready for that. I decided to go with the story book theme. We had a very small budget this year so we had ward members sign up to bring soups and pies. We supplied ceasar and spinach salad, apple slices with dip, pumpkin bread (I made 12 loaves), garlic-cheese bread sticks, white and wheat dinner rolls and ice cream for the pie. I think it turned out really nice. I wish I would not have been so busy so that I could have actually taken some pictures. We had people sign up to decorate tables based on their favorite Christmas books, some of the tables were really creative and cute. For the rest of the decorations, we wrapped lots of big boxes to look like Christmas present and I made "books" out of poster board. The primary did a cute little program, it was so organized and the kids all behaved and it turned out really cute. I was able to take a picture just as they finished and all the kids started standing up (like I said I was busy). We also had some crafts for the kids and the bishop read Christmas stories to some of the kids. Unfortunatly we were unable to get Santa to make an appearance (trust me I tried), but still... I think we had about 240 people show up. This morning Tanner came into my room to tell me how much fun he had at the Christmas party, then he asked me if I had fun. uhhh, it is not my job to have fun, my calling is to make sure that everyone else has fun. Hopefully they did. Thanks to everyone who helped, you were great.

Like I said, I was busy and did not get to take many pictures, these are the only 2 I took and they are not that great.

In non-realted Christmas news, in all 3 of my previous pregnancies I have failed the glucose test and always had to take the yucky 3 hour test. With Noah I even got put on the diabetes diet and had to test my blood sugar 3 times a day. Not fun. Well the time came to take the test this pregnancy and I convinced my doctor to let me take the 3 hour test from the get go, it was inevitable in my mind (and in theirs). So Monday I spent a chunk of my day hanging out in the doctors office gettitng blood drawn every hour, FUN. The next day they called to say that my blood sugar was perfectly normal. I actually would have passed the one hour test this time, but alas, no diet for me, so I am HAPPY.

Still to come this holiday season: Christmas Cookies, spending time with family, eating yummy food and treats.

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

Today is my hubbies birthday. He is turning 32 (yes, I married a younger man). Hope your having a great birthday honey. You're the best.

I'm 33!

Yesterday was my birthday and for the most part, (until about 7 pm) the day went really well. I got a new camera which I really wanted (nothing fancy, but much much better then what I had). I also got a Dairy Queen cake (my favorite from growing up). Here I am blowing out the candles.

I decided for my birthday I wanted to go to Temple Square to see the lights. So we did. We went to eat at the Garden (on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Building). The food there is just okay, nothing spectacular, but the view is amazing. You sit and stare out at the temple, it is a beautiful sight. Then we went to look at the lights and they were beautiful, the kids really enjoyed seeing them.

At 7 pm we decided to leave, and this is when things started to go bad. It took us about 1 hour to get from Temple Square to the freeway. Yeah that was fun. People wonder why I don't like to go to SLC, that would be why. We got home at about 9pm, that is when my bro called to wish me a happy birthday as I was talking to him I started to feel sick. And lucky for me I didn't actually "get sick" until 12:10 am, so it actually was not my birthday anymore.

Anyway that was my day. Not horrible but could have been better.

Catering for 180 People

Yesterday I had a big catering job. I am realizing that the further along I get in my pregnancy the harder it is to do stuff like this. I can't move as quickly as I would like and my body gets tired faster. All in all everything went well. This is what we served:

Top Sirloin with Portabella, Cremini, and Sun-dried Tomato Saute

Almond Crusted Chicken with Raspberry Citrus Sauce

Parmesan Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Balsamic Vegetables


Assorted Bread with Cran-Raspberry and Sweet Cream Butter

Christmas Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinagrette

For dessert:

2-Layer Chocolate Cake with Almond Whipped Cream

New York Cheesecake with Strawberry and Mango Sauce

We did a soda bar for drinks. Five different sodas and five different flavoring to choose from. People really liked this, it was a big hit. Kevin got to be our bar tender for the night and he stayed busy the whole time. Thanks to Lori for the job and all my happy helpers Kevin, Amara, Kate, Kelli and Jen. I couldn't have done it without you.

Anne's Party

On Tuesday my friend Anne (a roomie from college) had a little favorite things party. Everyone came and brought a food item on a christmas dish and then 10 of one of your favorite things to give to others. Since I was also working on a big catering job at the time, I made cran-raspberry butters and put them in cute little jars from TaiPan. It was so fun because I came home with lots of fun things plus we did a little exchange game thing to switch Christmas dishes. Although it was fun to get lots of new things it was great to see Anne (who I only see like once a year) and another old roomie Kristin (who I had not seen for about 3 years).

Anne, Audrey and Kristin

I've Been MIA

Sorry I have not posted in a bit. It has been a busy few weeks. We went down to St. George for Thanksgiving (we were gone from Tuesday to Sunday). We had fun spending time with family and the kids loved playing with their cousins. Some of the highlights for me were: of course turkey dinner, Black Friday early morning shopping, playing Rock Band, seeing Twilight for the 2nd time. I was horrible about taking pictures while we were down there, but here is one of the boys with their cousin Asher.

Tanner is a RAD Kid!

On Wednesday I went to Tanner's school for Rad Kids graduation. I really had no idea what this meant. I thought I would go and they would explain the program and the kids would get a "diploma". When I got there they were putting helmets, knee pads and gloves on all the kids. So apparently it was not going to be what I thought. Rad kids is a saftey program that teaches kids all about saftey, the graduation itself focused on Stranger Danger. They have taught the kids some self-defense techniques to help them if someone tries to take them and they actually got to try it out on "the red man." It was fun to see and it made me happy to know that he would know what to do in a situation like that. Our school offers this program to all first graders for free, so thanks to all the volunteers who make that possible.

Sorry the pictures are not super clear, I am not awesome at taking action shots.

Parents Visit

Last week my parents came to visit from Pennsylvania for a long weekend. They got to be here for Isaac's birthday and for the ultrasound. It was fun to see them and to get to spend a little time with them. Isaac thought it was super cool that they came all that way for his birthday. Thanks for the visit.

Boy or Girl???

So as you all know, we have 3 boys. Today is the day we found out what we were having and if everything was okay with baby. This will probably be our last baby and so the last chance to have a girl. I had a lot of anxiety, not that I would not love a boy, but this mama wanted a daughter. Anyhow the results are in and the baby is healthy, everything looked good and we are having a GIRL. Very excited. I already went out and got myself a pink and brown diaper bag. I've got lots of shopping to do, can't wait for that.
For those of you who are waiting for a call, sorry, I have not told the kids yet and so I can't talk about it out loud. Call me tommorrow and I can tell you all the details.

Dino-Mite

Isaac's birthday is on Monday so we had his little party today. Overall everything went well. We went with the dinosaur theme. This was great for me because you can buy dino stuff everywhere including the dollar store, so definetly not the most creative I've been, but still fun for the kids, and that is what matters most.

Isaac with his big blow-up T-Rex

As the kids arrived they each got a dinosaur mask and then they painted little dinosaurs. This was a big hit with the kids.

Next we did the Pin-the-tail on the Triceritops and then we did a dino egg hunt. (I bought these from Oriental trading, spikey eggs with little dinos inside.) After that we went out to chip away at "rocks" to find fossils. This went a lot better in my head. I buried dino skeletons in plaster of paris and painted them. The kids each had a pointed dowel and a rock to chip away at them. I thought they would break apart a lot easier, but this took some time, we ended up sending the kids home with them to finish. I think most of the kids really thought this was fun (except the 2 that got their fingers with their rocks).

Next we had lunch, dino nuggets and grapes and then cake and ice cream. For the cake I just bought this cake pan from e-bay (like I said not super creative, but it works).

Then we went and did the volcano. I have always wanted to do this. I made it out of modeling clay and soda bottle and paint. Then you put baking soda, dish detergent, water, red food coloring and vinegar and the "lava" starts pouring out.

Next we did the pinata. Isaac's b-day is so close to Halloween so we normally don't ever do a pinata, but this year he said, "Mommy, how come I never get a pinata?" I felt so bad, so we had to do it.

We finished things off with opening presents and a dinosaur bone race. All in all it went well. It is a challenge to keep 12 young kids under control, but thanks to all my friends and fam that helped out with crowd control. I always appreciate it.

Isaac's Snowman

The other day it snowed here (yuck) and for one day the kids got to enjoy the it, before it melted. Unfortunatly that day Tanner got in trouble and was not allowed to play, but Noah and Isaac had a great time. Isaac made a little snowman all by himself, he was quite proud of himself.

Noah also enjoyed himself, he just didn't stay out as long.

So apparently my kids grew a ton this last year, because the snow clothes are all to small. Yuck, now I have to go buy more. Not a cheap thing. O-Well.

I Didn't Think I Would...

but I did. I voted. It was a last minute decision for me, although I care, I do live in a state that is already decided. However, I kept thinking that I would regret it if I didn't, so I did.

Trick or Treat

So obviously you know (because of previous posts) that we did the Disney theme with the kids this year. We went to a costume party at a friends and costumes were required, so I borrowed a Captain Hook and Wendy costume for Kev and I, unfortunatly for me the whole pregnant Wendy thing did not work out, so I ended up wearing a big fat bumble bee costume, which did not fit with the Disney theme. While there my very skinny friend said that she had a Cinderella costume that I could borrow if I wanted to dress up for trick-or-treating, I said sure I'll think about it. I my head thinking does the skinny girl really think prego is going to fit in something that she could wear, so I never called her. On Halloween she called me and asked why I had not picked up the costume, and she assured me that it was roomy enough, so just in case you were wondering what Cinderella looks like 4 1/2 months pregnant, check me out. So thanks Kristin for the costume, it was fun to dress up.