The Christmas Dance

This morning in our dimly lit kitchen, Camilla looked out the window into the darkness of the morning and exclaimed, "Mom! It's SNOWING!". She was so excited for the fresh blanket of snow! 

After school Camilla and a friend got ready for the youth dance in Red Deer and I drove them in after dinner. Daddy was going to come along, but was struck with chills once more as we were preparing to leave and tucked himself back into bed. The big boys were put in charge and we left for Red Deer, blessed with clear roads and nice weather for the evening. While the girls were at the dance, I got some Christmas shopping done and then hit up Wendy's and waited in the church parking lot for the dance to end with a frosty and fries in hand. It made for a pretty late night, especially after a crazy week, but the girls had fun and were glad they could go!

 

The Christmas Plague

This morning I was into town twice before 8am. I got home at 8:30 and laughed at the sight of my fleece jammies paired with Mike's crocs as I slowly swung my legs out of the car. We have a few more kiddos down for the count with fevers & chills & sore throats. Daddy is still out sick. I spent the morning tidying the kitchen and made some chicken noodle soup for lunch. Sawyer spent the day wandering around the house and sleeping wherever it was convenient for him. 

Lily seemed to be feeling pretty okay most of the day. She played dolls and told me her doll was "her sweetie". She's hilarious lately! She's been singing Christmas songs and I am a Child of God all day long. Around dinner time she took a turn and asked to be tucked into bed. 

I ran in to pick up Ollie and Camilla from Piano, and grabbed Camilla a bite to eat before dropping her at Basketball practise. Then I gassed up the pathfinder, dropped eggs to a customer, and went to Hyrum's parent teacher interviews without him since he was home sick. 

I came home and pulled out leftovers for dinner. The kitchen I had worked so hard cleaning was now covered in dishes once again. When everyone had eaten, they took turns either bathing or showering before tucking in early to bed. I went back to town to pick up Camilla from practise and didn't arrive home until 8:30 pm. At this point, I'm just praying no one else gets sick, and I have energy to make it until the weekend!

 

Thirty-six Weeks

This week I have been the one running Camilla to seminary each morning at 7am while the other kids pack their lunches and get ready for school. Mike has been very sick with fevers, chills, and migraines all week and has literally been bed ridden because of it. I've been waking with the children, teaching Come Follow Me at 6:30, getting everyone fed, rushing Camilla to seminary, coming home to get everyone on the bus, and sometimes running back in to pick Camilla up and bring her to the school afterwards. 

Today Hyrum stayed home from school sick and Joe probably should have also stayed home, but he didn't want to miss his tests. After school Fin had Piano, and there was a hockey practise. After practise, we rushed over to the middle school for parent teacher interviews. Afterwards I ran everyone home along with the groceries I bought while one of the boys was at Hockey practice, and the other boy sat in the van with a sleeping Lily and Sawyer. 

We unloaded the groceries, cut up the pot roast from the crock pot and served dinner (to those who were hungry enough to eat). I invited Dad to grab a plate full as well, since my mom has also been very sick and without energy. 

I then filled Mike's water bottle with cold water and brought him some advil before leaving the house again with some of the children for a Nativity play practise at the church. We arrived home shortly after 8:30, and I tucked everyone into bed, and then waited for Camilla to arrive home from her Basketball game in Stettler. The boys and girls teams took a bus together and she wasn't scheduled to be home until after midnight (since they have to stay and watch the boys play too). We are only half way through the week and I feel exhausted.

In a few more days I will be thirty-six weeks along with this little one. While my pregnancies are relatively easy to endure, this last part always hits the hardest, mostly because it's getting more difficult to sleep at night and my body aches at days end. Even so, this always feels like such a privilege, to create life, especially after loss. Each new babe is such an added and wanted blessing for our family.  I can't wait to meet this little one and see if he ends up being the night owl I think he is.

The Reason for the Season

Tonight we were blessed to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional as a family. We like to cozy up around the tree in the dimly lit room to enjoy the music and talks that have been prepared. It always focuses our attention back to the real meaning of Christmas and starts our holiday season off right.

Near the end of the devotional, I put the kettle on for hot chocolate and lit my German Carousel. As I watched it slowly spin with the heat from the candle, my eyes were drawn to the little manger and my mind was filled with gratitude for my Savior.

Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in the chaos of the Christmas season, especially when trying to prepare a successful Christmas morning for so many littles, that it becomes easy to lose sight of what is important. It's been my new goal this week to slow down, take notice of others, and live and serve as the Savior did each day.

"Christ can transform our Christmas beyond the ribbons of kindness and affection, and wrap our celebrations with charity...Re-centering our focus on Christ during Christmas will provide us a more significant measure of His love in our lives, and a greater capacity to love and serve others around us."

~Jose A. Teixeira

Christmas Time is Near

Today I spent the majority of my time prepping our home to host the Staff Christmas party. It meant that my floor finally got a much needed mopping and the bathrooms sparkled. It felt nice to start off the month with a clean home!

As I was tidying up downstairs, I peeked into my big girls room and smiled. Camilla has always been our little Elf, full of Christmas spirit and cheer to share with everyone. This year she asked if she could use this spare tree we had in the store room. She set it up in her room with Lily and strung it with lights. I never want to forget!

After the staff party, the big boys wanted to try out the new VR, and everyone stayed up way too late playing. 

Here's hoping they all sleep in tomorrow!

 

Happy Birthday Mr. Stannix

Today we celebrated Mike's birthday! He worked for a few hours in the morning while I made his cake and tidied up a little bit. Shortly before lunch we took a trip to the city to pick up some things and grab lunch together. Lily and Sawyer tagged along and were excited about their Happy Meals, while Mr. Stannix and I enjoyed Vietnamese. 

When we got back to town, I went to the school to pick up Camilla and a friend and run them to Caroline for the clinic. Then I came home to pick up Fin and Ollie for their parent teacher interviews. When we had finished those, I ordered and picked up BP's for dinner as requested! I got home, quickly iced the cake, and called everyone in for dinner.

Happy birthday to our favorite Daddy who works so hard to juggle his responsibilities with his family, church service, and running a successful business. We are so grateful for the many ways in which he loves and provides each day through it all. Here's to many more adventures ahead together!

 

Christmas Baking

I am very slowly getting a head start on some Christmas baking. Along with a few dozen ginger cookies, I now have a few dozen shortbread cookies in my freezer as well. If I can bake something every day, then we usually have a nice variety to fill tins for our friends at Christmas time!

 

Full Moon

Thanks to last nights full moon, Lily was in my bed not once, not twice, but three times. The silver moonlight pouring in the windows made it easy for me to navigate my way to her bedroom through sleepy eyes. She sat on my bump, wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist each time I carried her back to her bed. She's still struggling with her cough, especially at night, so I made sure she got a drink of water each time. She would whisper "wuv you Mom", turn over and go back to sleep. 

Thankfully Mr. Stannix was really tired. Not even Lily's coughing stopped him from snoring peacefully. 

Light

Today was a day of relishing in different kinds of light...

The Christmas tree always gets turned on early in the morning and enjoyed for quite a while.

I caught this sunset on my way into town to pick up kiddos.

And enjoyed this sight upon returning home.

 

Deck the Halls

Today we had a great Sunday morning (and I can't say that happens often). The children all slept in after our late night out last night, and there was minimal fighting. For the first time in forever I was able to shower and get ready for church while they slept. 

Lily wore one of her new dresses from H&M. She has many short sleeved Summer type dresses, but not many warmer Winter dresses. I just had to snap a picture of her and her big sis before we left for church!

After dinner, we lugged up our new tree and called my parents over to decorate with us. Mr. Stannix made sure to go big, and we now have a 12ft tree in our living room. It might take us a few days to sort out the furniture situation as the tree took the place of our couch.

 

The big kids were a huge help fluffing out the branches and getting it looking pretty.

The little ones played with the nativity sets and santa hats while they waited to decorate.

Joe was a big help securing the cords (that ended up later breaking) to keep the tree sturdy.

I had to grab a shot of Mike and his girls!

Sonny also joined us for a little bit (until it got too chaotic and everyone started tripping over each other).

This little lady knows all about ladders and loved climbing to the tippy top of this extra tall ladder. 

She wasn't feeling too hot and ended up falling asleep in her big sisters arms shortly after this pic was taken.

Sawyer is such a little elf and expressed so much excitement over finally being able to decorate the tree! He was so happy to put the "bells" on the tree.

This little lady slept through the entire decorating process. Daddy was happy to snuggle her while Camilla helped us out!

Hyrum put the star on this year and was able to get it just right.

We also enjoyed some festive rice krispy squares to keep our spirits bright. The kids started loosing steam near the end.

I am grateful for this Christmas season, to contemplate my relationship with the Saviour and what it means for me.

Sawyer searched his jammie drawer for the perfect Christmas pajamas. He couldn't wait to show us all at bedtime!

After the littles were tucked into bed and the furniture was arranged and the house was still, Camilla and I spent a few minutes tidying up the livingroom together. She wanted it to be perfectly cozy for morning scripture study. I was feeling so tired, and so grateful for her help! We enjoyed the low lighting and soft Christmas music while Sonny chewed his toy and hung out on the rug. 

Just as we were finishing up, Lily came out of her bed, fever burning, and cozied up on the couch. Her sister read her a few stories before finally going down to bed herself. It was quite late, and we had an early morning. 

I waited for the bread to come out of the oven, took some pictures of Lily sweetly resting, and then scooped her up and tucked her into bed.

This was such a beautiful sight to end the day to.