Quote for the day

I was giving Luke a list of things to do and Luke gives me this big grin and says

"Mom, I only have so much room in my head, and you're filling it up fast!"

Christmas Eve

Was full of fun, spent with good friends and family.

We played games


Visited and ate way to much food.

Got pj's from Santa's elves

the kids with their new jamas on
Had a program filled with music, stories and reading of Christ's birth in Luke 2.

Frosted cookies for Santa

Got a little goofy

and before long, the night with good friends was over, and we were going

going

Gone
(except for those adults who were up until 4am and then back up again at 6:30am) UGH!

Christmas

Having my dad here with us this Christmas was the greatest gift. He came a couple of days before Christmas and will stay through the 1st. It's the first time we have had a grandparent at our house for Christmas and we loved every minute of it. I did especially.

Our good friend Jean (or adopted uncle) has stayed over at our house on Christmas eve the last 2 years and this one wasn't any different. Since he is now engaged I thought this year would be different, but he wasn't willing to break with tradition either, and we were all glad.

Christmas morning started early and then we spent the day, in our jamas, building, constructing, playing games, designing and creating. You'd think we were raising little engineers.

It was a special day, a wonderful two days really, and will be one that I will never forget.

Playing in the snow

Great multi-tasking when you can sled and exercise the dog at the same time.

We gave our YW these really cool scarves for their Christmas gift this year. The scarves represent the service project that we just performed, donating food and winter clothing (including 3 garbage sacks of hats and scarves that either we made or a lady in our ward made). The colors on the fringe, represent each of the 8 values, Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue, and reminding to work on achieving their personal progress awards. I like the way they turned out.

Snow day

Our Christmas program was cancelled last Sunday due to a winter storm. That seems to be a tradition in our ward. We haven't had a regularly scheduled program since I've been in this ward. Anyway, we held our own church meeting at our house. I love it when we do that, it brings such a simple spirit into our house. Afterwards, the kids spent some time playing in the snow. Can I tell you, my dog LOVES the snow.

Lost tooth

Josh lost his tooth last Sunday. He is the cutest little toothless wonder ever. Every time I smile my heart melts, with a little reminder that he is still my little boy.

Quote of the Day

Mom frosting cookies and Josh decorating the cookies

Mom "Hey Josh, your getting behind on the decorating"

Josh "But I'm not behind on my eating." :-)

Gingerbread houses

A couple of weeks before Christmas we had our traditional FHE of decorating gingerbread houses.

The evening started with Mike reading his traditional "Cajun Twas the Night Before Christmas". He got this book while he was serving his mission in Louisiana, and now reads it every year at Christmas time.

The amount of candy consumed by the kids is a little scarey.

But it's all for fun!
Michael is about the fastest GH decorator around. His mom and dad helped him with his wonderland. His little imagination kept working as he kept pileing on the candy.

Kent, Kayla, Grace, Luke and Josh built Fenway park. Very cool! If you look, they added all the important Fenway park details. The people waiting in line to get in, the green monster, the coke bottle, the Citgo sign, people sitting in the stands and on the wall, and of course the pesky foul poll.

Rebecca, Christina, Caroline and Wesley, made the candy store. It was so cute, with frosting ice cicles, candied christmas lights, candy cane polls and gum drop walk.

The engineers of the bunch and also each the proud owner of 68' Camaro's, made of course a Camaro. Ben and Thomas helped some, but Mike and Wayne became very involved in their little project. They didn't leave out any details.

The night ended with a little air hockey tournament, while I took the time to throw Grace and Josh in the air. We had such a fun evening. Everyone was so creative this year, I can't wait until next year.