Christmas Vacation Fun

So we have been enjoying our time off.
Jacob got Yahtzee for Christmas. What a blast.
so we decided to play together as a family.
Actually it started with just Winslow, Jacob, and I.
Then Rachel came to play. And then Abby.
Rachel rolled the dice for Winslow. She's GOOD!
I was impressed by Abby's math skills.
Jacob...he beat the tar out of us. 3 Yahtzee's in one round.

We went to Albequerque to exchange the camera we bought over Thanksgiving weekend. The one we opened and found that everything was in the box, BUT THE CAMERA!
We thought they would only let us exchange the camera, instead they let us return it. So...we upgraded. he he he. It only took 2 hours, multiple phone calls, and some great help from a friend who looked up reviews, to decide.

Then we went to the ALBQ...please don't make me spell it again...Botanical Gardens for their Christmas light display. We met up with Lisa, Evelyn, Ian, Julie, and Tess. It was sooo gorgeous. (Too bad my camera didn't have a charge in it yet!) I put David in snow pants to keep him warm. He had the best time. He squeled with delight over and over again. I think his happy screams were my favorite part.
Spent the night with Winslow's parents. And the kids opened presents from Lito and Lita. Too much fun!

Finally got around to all the boring paperwork I have been putting off forever. Cleaned my room. Put on new flannel sheets on all the beds. OHHHHH HEAVEN! Ate lots and lots of Chocolate. YUM!

Christmas

so Christmas here was
Peaceful.
We had a good Christmas Eve.
The kids helped tidy the house.
I made a Ham Dinner that was extra yummy.
We had a fun family activity.
We read from Luke 2.
We opened pajamas and slippers and presents from siblings.
We had family prayers, and the kids went promptly to bed.
Magic was spread thru the house. Even Santa got help from an Elf this year.
And Winslow and I were in bed before 10:30pm.
This was so nice because Santa was TIRED!!
(The Elf had gotten the stomach flu the night before and no one slept very well.)
Christmas is such a magical time.
Winslow and I woke up early. The kids were all still asleep.
Winslow made cracked wheat for breakfast and we ate in the front room by the toasty fire and waited for children to awaken.
They came out one by one and saw their gifts. Magical!
We opened gifts from eachother and had such fun.
David had to crumple each piece of wrapping paper before he could move on to the next.
Rachel was disappointed that she didn't get any clothes. HA!
Jacob was suprised by every gift. (He always guesses wrong. And I love surprising him!)
Abby jumped for joy over her new little pet shop toys.
David screamed. Woow! Woow! over his Tonka truck.
Winslow and I had way too much fun buying gifts for each other this year.
We sat around in our jammies. Ate tons of chocolate and pepermints.
The boys watched the Suns game.
The girls played with their new toys.
And David bounced off the walls from all the candy!

ESPN

ha! I bet you thought I was going to post about Christmas. I'll do that later. For Now I have to tell you of the new found love in our house. ESPN 360.com. We haven't had television for right at 3 years now. We enjoy Netflix, and we watch some current shows on the internet, but really we don't have a ton of time to have tv anyway so what's the point. However, there are some bummer points. I really missed watching Christmas movies this year. So we bought a few classics and that had to do. The Other thing we haven't had is of course SPORTS. I actually like to watch sports. Not always, but I do enjoy watching most of the time. So I've been a little bummed that we haven't been able to watch during these last few years.
Well... earlier last week I was talking to my brother Mike about the BYU game. He said they were at a friends house watching on ESPN. Well I wondered if maybe we could watch it on BYU tv. No luck! So I went to ESPN.com to check the score and there was this link to press to watch LIVE! Our server pays for ESPN 360 as a bonus to our internet. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW!!! So anyway, now we have sports! Hurray. We screamed and cheered on BYU, then UofU (I know, we're weird we support both teams.) Winslow and Jacob watched soccer, we caught a Suns game. Lots of fun. So we are happily enjoying the Wonderful World of Sports once again!

okay Jen, these pictures are for you, so you can see my hair. I love having my hair short. I just do. I love long hair, but on me, well lets just say we don't get along. This is our christmas tree that has a serious "leaning tower of piza" thing going on. We put only the non breakable ornaments on. David loves touching the tree. And then there is the snow. keep it comming! I went to the store to get dinner and groceries, and when I got to the checkout the snow started comming down. I had to keep my self from jumping up and down in the line. Totally giddy with excitement! By the way, the reindeer is the only outside lights we put up this year. KISS, definitely keeping it simple this year!

Monday...what does it say to you that I can't even remember Monday this week!~

Tuesday...RS carolling which I ended up missing, although I did spend my lunch hour at work picking up hot chocolate, and other miscelanious goodies for the night. Ran home and worked on a veggie tray for work. Winslow whipped up a masterful dinner. And then a training at work followed by our department party. So glad I went to the training. It was all on transitions and I learned a ton!

Wednesday...Went to the Dr. with Rachel and David.
Rachel had totally lost her voice and i was concerned about her cough. Dr. snuck us in, so I had to race out of work to get her there before he left to his clinic on the other side of the mountain.
Rachel wasn't too bad.
He heard David coughing coughing and took a look.
Poor kid had a FLAMING ear infection.
"I am suprised he's not screaming his head off!"
4 perscriptions later (2 for each kid) we headed back to work.
Spent my lunch hour mailing Christmas packages. That evening was our program for the Childcare Center @ 6 followed by Jacob's choir concert @7.
--- left work at 4:45
hit Sonic on the way home
was supposed to be back at work at 5:30
scarfed down dinner and got to changing kids into church clothes
things were going according to plan until David pooped EVERWHERE!!! All over him, got on me, Not a happy moment. Had to ask for forgiveness of a few choice words grumbled!!!
Threw David in the bath. Thankfully Winslow made it home and took over bathing, while I whisked the others to the Center.
Jacob had a headache. Gave him a huge pepsi and kept telling him to drink it. (I'm sure the other parents thought I was a stellar Mom!)
Program went great. Kids were so cute. Totally forgot the camera~!
Rachel sang her heart out.
Winslow and Jacob rushed off to drop him at the auditorium while the rest of us finished up at the center.
Went to Jacob's program. He plays the bells in the bell choir. SO AWESOME! It's his second year doing this. He is such a talented kid. I am so proud. His headache got worse and you could tell. Spent a lot of the night pacing thru the back of the auditorium with David who was tired.
DID I MENTION I TOOK AWAY HIS BINKI THIS WEEK>WHAT WAS I THINKING@!!! He is doing great, but it's hard on mommy!
whew what a day!

Thursday...Came home on lunch to make spanish rice for Winslow's department party, and hooked David up to the Nebulizer. Started feeling not so hot~ After work, rush to the stake center with the kids for caroling on a wagon. drop them off. Take David home to Winslow (cause he is coughing like crazy!) and then rush over to the assisted living center to meet the primary kids. Sing, sing sing. Get my kids into my car. Abby is dancing like crazy!!! She had to go to the bathroom so bad, and I have this thing about public toilets. Race home. Lie on the couch and feel crazy exauhsted while Winslow makes Poppers. Go to Winslow's department party. Lots of food. Fun people. SOOO tired. Winslow can tell I am wiped. Takes me home by 7:30 and puts me to bed! Sleep forever. (totally ignored my CRAZY DIRTY HOUSE....when did all this dirt and junk take over!)

Friday...wake up early clean the kitchen. Make cookies for the hospital potluck. Drink some hot herbal tea to soothe my throat. Winslow is Superman again and finds 2 more rolls of toilet paper. We were down to a half roll. (how did that happen, we always have an extra CASE!! I am totally loosing it!) Run run run. Come home totally wiped. So glad it's friday.

Tomorow Abby and I will drive to Snowflake to get our hair done. Girl time! Then we will meet Tami for an exchange of goodies! Hopefully I can get some laundry done. I am SOOOOO behind. then we will clean the church building.

Aren't you just tired from reading all this! Maybe we will put up the christmas tree tomorow night~

I don't know if this will work, but this video is hilarious. Laundry is NEVER ENDING at our house. Makes me crazy. I'll wash, I'll dry, I'll even fold...SO WHY DO I HAVE TO PUT IT AWAY!

Stinkin Cute

My Kids are stinkin cute. I know I am biased but I think they are. So I went to decorate for Christmas and decided I definitely need more room! We don't even have a place to put the Christmas tree this year. Maybe if we cut all the branches from the back of the tree we can place it flush against the wall. Oh I can hardly wait till we finally add on. (ONE DAY!) Jacob and Winslow are out cutting more wood today. The girls and I made COOKIES! YUM!! Got the Christmas music on and I am still chilling in my jammies. LOVE IT!