Christmas Light Lovin'

Camilla's bedroom door closed and her lights flicked on well before 6:00am this morning. 

I stayed in bed listening to them giggle and whisper.

Joe started singing shortly after that. 

We all went down to the family room and turned on the Christmas lights. 

Camilla and Hyrum quietly watched a show on the iPad while Joseph drank his bottle and 

admired the lights in a fresh diaper. 

It was too cute not to photograph, even that early in the morning.

Santa's Reindeer

This afternoon I came downstairs to find Santa's lead reindeer training hard. I have done about five loads of laundry today to catch up on last week. Camilla found an empty basket and decided it would make an awesome sleigh.

 She then said, "You know why reindeers have antlers? They stand up real tall on their heads and help them keep their balance!" Who knew? Apparently reindeer also like sliced apples and sugar. It helps keep their "energies" up.

 

Joe had a lot of fun being pulled around and would cry each time she would stop. I sure love her imagination!

The Magic of Christmas

Today was one of those crazy Sundays that you bear with a smile and can't wait to end. Church went fairly well for the most part, but Mr. H has become SUPER independent lately and doesn't understand the word "walk". He bolts from point A to point B and refuses to hold a hand or have you hold onto any part of him or his jacket. Sometimes he's good about the holding hands thing, but after church he was so quick that he was almost out the door without a jacket! Instead of arguing with him about the jacket thing, I ended up wrestling him into it and having Mr. Stannix wrangle him out to the car for me. Mike had to stay and do some things for his calling, and I got to listen to Hyrum scream all the way home, and for another half an hour after we got home. "I want out!" "I'm not coming!" "I'm staying outside!" "I don't want to take my jacket off!" "I wanted a cracker!" The thing that makes me the most crazy is when I ask him something like, "Hey, wanna come help me stir the soup?" and he gets this glimmer of mischief in his eye while he complains and whines and screams "No!". It's not until after I toss the whisk in the sink and divvy up the soup that he wants to stir it. Or when there's only three crackers left and I ask him five times if he'd like a cracker. It's not until after I eat the very last cracker that he decides he actually wants one. Bah! He didn't end up eating any lunch, instead he and I snuggled up on the couch and fell asleep. At least it was a happy ending. 

I was telling my friend the other day how I just wasn't feeling the Christmas Spirit yet. I've just been so busy with the kids that I haven't taken time to feel it and teach them. The First Presidency Christmas Devotional always seems to kick off the Christmas season for me, along with a book of stories counting down to Christmas that my Mom gave us our first year together. That book was lost for a year or two, but when I found it amidst packing in June, I made sure to stuff it in with our Christmas box so that it wouldn't get lost again. We read our first story last night. There is something about reading those stories out loud that always makes me tear up. I had to pass it off to Mike to finish up, and even HE had a hard time making it through. Anyways, we finished off our afternoon by setting up the tree with the littles. 

 Still the same little old tree that I had growing up! Next year when we are actually home for Christmas we will probably get a real tree.

 Joseph was so intrigued by the whole ordeal.

 But his favorite part was definitely the lights!

 Once we got Cj out of her Grinchy mood, she enjoyed helping Daddy. Our tree is very "full" this year thanks to her awesome decorating!

 Hyrum just played pretend with the Nativity pieces, making boyish sound effects and all that good stuff. I was mostly just glad he was happy. And his socks were totally festive too!

 Camilla pushed the chair over all by herself so that she could put the tiny ornaments up high so Joe wouldn't choke. She also requested to help put on the star this year!

 I still got some snuggles in with Joe. Hard to believe he was only a month old at this time last year! Time goes by way to fast!

And Daddy requested a cute little shot with his little men. Do they ever look alike! I sure am grateful for the Christmas Season and the joy it brings. I am also super grateful for a husband who gets so excited about Christmas each year and helps bring a great spirit into our home. I am blessed.

Christmas Crafting

The Stannix's have kind of been out of commission for the last couple of days. Both Mike and I were down and out with a nasty flu bug, leaving the littles to kind of fend for themselves. Luckily they are pretty independent and Camilla managed to get cereal and milk for the two of them. Hyrum is also pretty self sufficient and managed to open the fridge and polish off five little yogurts that I had just picked up the night before. Oh well, at least they were happy and fed. 

Friday was kind of a catch up day and now the house is almost in order once again. I also managed some crafting with the older two while Joseph had his morning nap. I picked up a cute little nativity kit at Michaels and it was super fun and easy to stick together. I didn't even know it made two sets, so that was even better! Both Camilla and Hyrum spent the day putting on puppet shows. Great fun.

And here's a cute little shot of our messy haired little guy at lunch the other day!

Smoothie

This little cutie loves his morning smoothies!

Hidden Treasures

I braved the roads and went to Michael's today with the littles. I needed yarn for some upcoming projects and wanted to pick up some craft stuff for Christmas to help occupy the littles on these crazy snow days. While I was there I stumbled upon some wreaths that were on sale and couldn't resist making one. All of our previous homes have been rented basement suites with a back entrance or they've had screen doors on them. Now that we have a home and our very own door, I couldn't resist trying to be a little creative and adding to the Christmas spirit in our neighborhood. It's not super pretty or crafty and I will probably add more stuff to it soon, but for now, it works!

Last night we did family home evening while eating supper since Daddy had a lot of work to do in the evening. We watched a Christmas video with the kids and then had a conversation about why we celebrate Christmas. Both the older two could not stop arguing over every little thing. We asked them to tell us what they though Christmas was about. Hyrum said Santa. Oh boy. We've got some work to do! Eventually we narrowed it down to baby Jesus. But Hyrum decided to argue with Camilla about that. She agreed, he disagreed. Then I said "Christmas is about Christ". Hyrum then shouted across the table with glaring eyes and a wrinkled up nose, "Chwismas is about CHWIST, Camilla!!!" Making progress. Mike and I were cracking up the whole time. I love those guys. Here's the cute Christmas video we watched. I cried when I watched it this morning with the littles, just a sweet message.

In other news, I opened up my corner cupboard to find lots of little treasures in my pots and pans. Joe's favorite thing to do is put the alphabet magnets (or other treasures he finds on the floor) inside my pots, pans and rice cooker. It made me laugh!

The Sparkly Stuff

 We have been shoveling and shoveling and shoveling the snow! This afternoon while Joseph was napping Camilla and Hyrum came outside to burn some energy and enjoy the fresh powder. It's the fresh sparkly kind where you can actually see the intricate shapes of the flakes as they fall on your jacket. I wish I could take a picture of each little shape. Although the snow has made driving a nightmare, it sure is pretty!

Hyrum explored the sidewalks before I shoveled breaking trail. He loves to run around outside!

 

 Camilla's favorite part was jumping into the snowbanks!

And I just couldn't get over how cute Hyrum looked all bundled up.

Daddy's Workshop

Today after church we went and enjoyed the Children's Christmas party put on by the awesome firm Mr. Stannix works for. Because it was "Daddy's work party" it turned into, "When are we going to Daddy's workshop?" The littles were quite thrilled to learn Santa would be visiting, I think the most excited of the three might have been Hyrum with his, "When are we going to Santa's house?" We got to walk through the mall on our way there and look at all of the decorations. It's a good thing the littles hold our hands because their eyes were to the roof most of the time in awe of the Christmas decorations. They had so much food and goodies for people of all ages. Camilla and Hyrum did some crafts at the kids table and had a lot of fun with the glitter glue. They also had a sweet magician come (which was Camilla's favorite part). I was so proud of the kids for sitting nicely and helping everyone enjoy the show. Lastly was the entrance of Santa and the passing out of gifts.

Camilla kept it short and sweet and Joe didn't cry!

When Hyrum's name was called (after the pronunciation was corrected) he jumped up and ran across the stage. He may have been the most excited kid there! 

He was pretty proud of his present from Santa and held onto it until we got home and let him unwrap it. I was seriously proud of the littles and their self control. When I glanced into the back seat to find him zonked with his present still clutched in his little fingers, I couldn't help but smile, and take a picture.



Birthday Celebrations

Today we celebrated Mike's birthday! It was a super chill day filled with lots of relaxing. Camilla spoiled her Daddy with cards and homemade gifts all day long. My personal favorite was the "I lobe you" card that she wrote for him with the whole alphabet inside and a picture of him as a stick man. She is such a sweetheart.

 Daddy even got some awesome snuggles and a head rub.

After Dinner of Daddy's choice we dove into a triple layer chocolate cake. The little swere pretty excited to help him blow out his candles. We all feel pretty lucky to have this guy as a part of our lives! Happy birthday darling!!



Results

Mike has been eagerly awaiting 8:00am this morning to find out if he passed his big UFE exam that he wrote in September. After waking up at 5:00am and eating some pancakes and a fruit smoothie, the time finally came to fire up the computer and check for his number on the list. It was such a relief to scroll down and FIND IT! I am so so proud of him for all of his hard work and dedication. As we drove to the office this morning for all of the hoopla that goes on there, he turned to me and said, "Well Hun, we're set for life!" I am so grateful for his dedication to both family and career. 

I honestly never doubted him, he worked so hard!