New Years Eve

Our New Years eve was fairly quiet this year. My sister and her kiddos joined us and she whipped up a giant batch of donuts to celebrate! By the time we had finished frying and dipping, we estimated around 100 donuts were made. We ate until our tummies ached and then spent the rest of the evening playing games and visiting. It was so great! The big kids all stayed up to ring in the new year and it was fun to sit and visit with them around the table. 

Happy New Year!

 

Spruce Green

After a night filled with contractions every fifteen minutes, I woke quite tired this morning. While the children watched TV and raided the kitchen, I finished knitting the baby bonnet I began a few days ago. While I wouldn't mind if this babe waited until after the New Year to arrive, I am ready to not have a big belly in the way anymore. Now that this kiddo finally has something mamma made, maybe he will decide it's time to come. The spruce green color reminded me of New Years for some reason. It turned out beautifully.

 

Boxing Day

On Boxing Day we were able to sleep past 8:00am and it felt wonderful. We didn't get up to much. The children played with their toys and laughed together on the video game system. It was nice to have a lazy day, though our whole break has felt kind of slow. My brain is in baby waiting mode and I'm afraid a few traditions have slipped and I haven't been much of a planner these days.  

The full moon is set to rise tonight. It is the Cold Moon. It has been showering me with it's silver light for the past few nights as it's grown more full. Our entire room is illuminated for most of the night as I walk the aches from my legs in the middle of the night. 

 

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we woke to the "chirping" of a smoke alarm low on battery. It was thankfully after 6:30am and not in the middle of the night. When I went to investigate, I could hear the children whispering downstairs. They had moved the bunk bed mattresses into the playroom and had a giant sleepover on Christmas eve (the chorus of snoring when I went to check on them will never be forgotten). Turns out the smoke alarm that needed it's batteries changed was literally the only one in the entire house high enough to need a ladder. So we listened to it go off every five minutes until we had finished gifts and breakfast. I'm sure when we watch the videos of Christmas morning in the future the sound of the smoke detector and the computerized woman's voice saying "low battery" will make us laugh. All in all, it was a pretty chill morning, and everyone had a great Christmas!

In the afternoon, I donned my apron to finish cooking Christmas dinner as I didn't want my new sweater to get stained. Lily saw me, scrunched her nose and said, "Mom, you look like a kitchen cleaner". 

We hosted my Uncle and the Sister Missionaries for Christmas dinner, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing, and listening to the children scream and giggle together over their new video game. It was nice to hear everyone getting along so well.

Here are some snippets from the morning...

Camilla and Hyrum both used their own money to buy each of their siblings a small gift. Lily was very grateful!

Camilla MADE me this beautiful cutting board with her own two hands and excitedly wrapped it and put it under the tree for me. She couldn't wait for me to open it. She did such a wonderful job. She burned the word "Homemade" in it because she and I always listen to that song by Jake Owen. It's so nice that I will likely never cut a thing on it, but it will make a great cheese and cracker board! 

And that's a wrap!

 

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve Sunday we were blessed to attend a beautiful church service filled with wonderful messages and a gentle Spirit. Since Daddy didn't have to go to any Bishopric meetings, we were able to have the morning all together as a family. The night before I had mentioned to the children that I'd like a family picture, so they all came up ready to go by 9am. 

 

We all arrived home from church feeling a little bit more of that Christmas Spirit that we've been seeking.

 

In the mid-afternoon Daddy donned his Grinch onesie and began the hours of making Grampy's Tacos. He's become quite the pro at it now, and having two pans going at once made things so much quicker this year! The children love to watch him toss and flip them in the air. It's really the best part of the whole process!

Once they were all stuffed with meat and folded together with toothpicks, Daddy fried them once more on each side, making the edges nice and crispy.

Camilla and I set both ends of the table with taco toppings and our special drink for the evening.

And once Daddy had fried the entire double batch, we all sat down to eat.

There was lots of "cheers" going on!

Once dinner was all cleaned up we gathered around the tree to open our Christmas jammies! Everyone was pretty excited (except for one who shall not be named).

We snapped a few pictures, and then cozied up to watch The Polar Express. Lily was sooo into the entire movie as she had never seen it before. 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

 

A Double Date

After spending most of our day up in Edmonton for Sawyer to get some dental work done, we decided a date night was in order!

I made the kids some mac and cheese and then we invited my parents to join us in town at Cucina's. When we arrived it was very busy (and we hadn't made a reservation), but we frequent this place quite often and the hostess knows us well, so she snuck us into the back room. 

We enjoyed visiting with my parents away from the rest of the crowds before they head to my Sisters for Christmas. 

And the food was delicious!