We have come to understand that we just don't get to have a white Christmas. We don't get to have snowball fights or build snowmen or make snow angels. At least in the traditional sense. We decided that we needed a few snowballs at home. The kids picked out their materials from our collection of scraps. The kids traced the pattern onto paper. The bigger kids cut out their patterns and even helped a bit with the sewing. The kids stuffed their snowballs.
Let the snowball fights begin! These are a perfect alternative for us. **AND** they don't freeze your hands while throwing them. **AND** they don't melt which means they can be used again and again and again (pros and cons to that one...).
Zeb was recognized during the trimester awards assembly! He forgot to tell me about it, so I wasn't there to see. Luckily we have wonderful friends that realized I wasn't there and they made sure he still felt special and sent me a picture. Hooray for friends!
Zeb was awarded for his outstanding character. His teachers always tell us how they enjoy having him in class. He gets along well with everyone and is respectful to the teachers. He is such a good example to us and we love watching him grow into such a fine young man!
Day 1 of December begins our countdown to Christmas. We love our tradition of getting new Christmas jammies to wear all month long!
Those grins!
Why is he getting so big? His pants had to be in the adult size this year. I´m just a bit sad about the fact that my oldest is almost my size.
Poor little Oliver took a plunge! He was tired of waiting for his turn in the bath, I guess. Luckily we were right there to get him out (as soon as Bryan took a picture, that is. I mean...you´ve got to have your priorities?!). We shed the pjs and let him enjoy the bath properly before getting ready for church.
We found Olaf! We made the wet trip (it just had to rain that night!) over to our association clubhouse to visit with Santa and Olaf was a surprise guest.
It was a very welcome distraction while waiting in line for our turn inside. We obviously don't know how to dress appropriately for the weather (no jackets, sandals...geez...who parents these kids?!), but Margaret was such a sweet and kind sister. She noticed that Elizabeth was shivering and offered to take turns with her jacket. Maggie has such a big heart! She makes this momma's heart melt on a regular basis.
It's Santa!
It was definitely worth the wait to see all the smiles. We also got to enjoy popcorn, hot chocolate, crafts and music for dancing. The only thing that could have made the night better would be if Daddy could join us.
Tis the Season for Nativities. We love attending live nativity performances (we saw 3 this year!). It is so amazing to see the different productions tell the same story.
Each has a slightly different feel, but they all share a focus on our Savior and remind us why we celebrate Christmas.
Maggie lost her first tooth! We have been looking forward to this day for quite some time. Maggie does not have the best teeth (our family dentist wouldn't even see her, we had to take her to a pediatric specialist...boo!) but her adult teeth look fantastic according to the x-rays, so it gave us something to hope for. It was a relatively pain-free experience for her and she can't hardly wait to lose more.
I keep forgetting that Maggie Belle is getting older -- and then she does something like lose a tooth to reminder me that she's not my cute little toddler anymore. She is growing and growing and becoming quite the little lady. She is almost big enough for her personality. Almost.
We finally made our Christmas Wish Lists on December 10 (after we'd already seen Santa...maybe next year we'll flip those things around). It was a good thing we waited, because that meant that we got to have Gpa and Gma Downs join in on our fun.
Zeb had originally made his list based off of a few catalogs that we received in the mail. After we started talking about why we truly celebrate the season and how can we Light the World this year...he made some adjustments.
I love reading what the kids wish for. They are typical children for the most part, but Zeb and Abby were quite thoughtful and included things that we had been talking about as a family while trying to Light the World and refocus on Christ during the season. That's what I love seeing the most. The teachings of the Gospel sinking in and becoming a part of them. It truly helps us as parents understand joy and charity when we can learn from our children.
We snuck up to Utah for a bit to see if we could find any snow and visit with our northern cousins.
Abigail loves being a little mom and takes all the time she can with the younger cousins. She loved helping and playing with baby Gemma!
Let´s play a game. How many kids can sit on Zeb´s lap? We had so much fun playing with our cousins!
We found snow! We had to go further than Gma and Gpa's backyard this time. We gathered all our snow clothes, put Oliver down for a nap (thanks Gma for staying behind with him!) and set out on our adventure. Up the canyon a bit to Mutual Dell. We were the only car there (besides the people clearing the roads and working on what looked like a reinforcement wall). Lucky for us the people working were there. Our van would not have made it into the parking lot without the road being cleared from their work. Car drama aside, we had a blast!
The snow was taller than Lizzie and soft as a cloud!
We made our own sledding paths, made snow angels, threw a few snowballs, and just loved life.
SO MUCH FUN!
After a few fun hours we were very grateful to have a nice warm car to drive back to a nice warm home.
Bowling at BYU has become a habit during our trips north.
Everyone tried their best and can't wait to go again.
Zeb got to do one round of his science fair project while at Gpa and Gma Sagers's house (more on the project in a later post). He was observing which type of liquid would dissolve the color coating on skittles the fastest.
He had fun at first, but watching the color dissolve on skittles can only be fun for so long...and this project took a LONG time.
A few things not pictured...
Playing on the trampoline in the freezing cold weather.
All the available adults going to dinner and then doing a sealing session in the Provo City Center Temple with family names.
Babysitters calling to let us know we had a puker while at the temple. The sickness hit Maggie pretty hard, but luckily didn't pass on to anyone (except Mom when we got home).
So many memories from our quick trip!
A few things not pictured...
Playing on the trampoline in the freezing cold weather.
All the available adults going to dinner and then doing a sealing session in the Provo City Center Temple with family names.
Babysitters calling to let us know we had a puker while at the temple. The sickness hit Maggie pretty hard, but luckily didn't pass on to anyone (except Mom when we got home).
So many memories from our quick trip!
After coming back home, those that were healthy met up with the Downs cousins to view the lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Since I had to stay home (recovering from being sick), I was glad for the pictures and stories from those who went.
Fun lights, fun displays, fun times with cousins. That's what we love about Christmas. Family time together.
Christmas morning finally came!
We have a rule that the children are not allowed to wake each other up on Christmas morning. We also have a rule that they aren't allowed to wake Mom up before 6:00. Next year Dad will be included in that rule. Specifically that HE isn't allowed to wake Mom up before 6:00! He's just as bad as the kids when it comes to being excited. I try. I really do. But I also know that if I don't have enough sleep then I ruin the excitement for everyone else. Maybe we'll be able to find a happy medium?
Everyone started the morning with HUGE grins.
Santa brought bikes and "flippy" pillows for the kids. Lucky!
We also got some new sporting equipment. For some reason (who could ever guess?!?!?) balls just don't last very long at our house. At least we know they are getting used!
More jokes for our comedian. He once told me (okay, more than once) that he just wants to be the funniest one in the room. We've had a few conversations about the appropriate time for joking around and that there is a time to be serious.
His laugh though. Gets us every time. BEST GIGGLE EVER!
Presenting: The Sloth.
It's bigger than her. What more can we say about that? Plenty, actually. She has named and renamed the sloth so many times that I can never remember the current name. She cuddles with it any chance she gets and tries to carry it around so she can show it to all her friends (and anyone else that happens to stop by our house). She uses her sloth as a pillow at night and claims she can't sleep without it anymore. Summary: LOVE. LOTS and LOTS of LOVE
I'm telling you...non-stop grins all day long.
Zeb had been asking, begging, pleading for beyblades since his birthday. We finally caved. It was worth it.
Lizzie is the biggest fan of the Grinch that we ever did meet. She watched the movies (animated and live action) at least 20 times each during the month of December. That might be a slight exaggeration since we do more than just watch movies...but then again, who keeps track of these things?!
She couldn't contain the joy when she opened the box to reveal her most favorite friend.
Liz flies around the house getting comfortable on her new bike. Someday we'll make it outside.
Maggie couldn't decide which gift was her favorite. She was so interested in watching everyone else open their gifts and seeing their excitement that we had to keep reminding her that she needed to take a turn.
Looking back, the jacket was the biggest hit. She wears it every day. I have to sneak it into the wash when she isn't looking just to keep it clean enough to wear.
Oliver wasn't sure about all the chaos. He just wanted the candy. HAHA!
I don't think I've met another kids that has a bigger sweet tooth than this little guy. We couldn't even distract him with him new toys long enough to hide the candy canes. Good thing they were mini!
I did it! I finished reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year.
When President Nelson gave the women of the Church the challenge in October to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, I had very strong doubts that I could finish it in time. I had been very hit-and-miss with my personal studies for the past few years. I was using the excuse that I was just too busy trying to run the house and family and keep up with our family studies (which are also occasionally hit-and-miss) and so on and so forth. Setting the goal and really focusing on it helped me realize that all I was doing was making excuses. I realigned my priorities and set aside time each day to read. I did miss a few days here and there, but having a set deadline kept me going. It was also amazing to see the change in our family dynamic. When the kids saw me sitting down to read during the first few weeks...they would not leave me alone (like normal when I sit down to do anything). After a while they understood that I needed to have some peace and time to focus on my scripture studies. Toward the end, if I was reading while they were awake, they knew to play quietly or even get their scriptures and join me in quiet study time. The kids could see the change in my focus and they started to change their focus as well. That's not to say that everything is peaceful and calm in our home now. That would just be a lie. But...the level of contention decreased. The occurrences of peacekeeping not encouraged by parents increased. The willingness to sit down for family scripture studies increased. Pretty much all the blessing that we were promised by our Prophet have come to pass. Isn't it just incredible to witness such miracles?! We think so. Having these opportunities to grow our faith and increase our testimonies is so important. We truly are thankful for a Prophet to lead and guide us in these latter days.
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