Christmas Party

After the basketball madness, we came home to play in the freshly fallen snow. I can't remember too many times we've had snow in December!

The sledding hill still stands up to its reputation for good times. My favorite part is that I can watch all the fun while I whip up the hot chocolate.

Next, we headed over to the church for the ward party. Pops, Superkid and Abizella came right after their swim meet. Luckily they got there in time for the Christmas program. Superkid was a shepard, Abizella was in a chorus of Angels, Pops was a wiseman and Tadpole, LC and Jaws sang, "Away in the Manger".

Jaws was determined to fix my previous faux pas with Santa. He marched right up to Santa and told him that he really wanted a Mermaid Horse, not a Mermaid Pony.

Santa was grateful for the clarification.

Jaws was satisfied and even came away with his favorite treat, a candy cane!

LC repeated his list for good measure...

Sporty Saturday

Today was Superkid's and Abizella's first officially timed swim meet. Pops spent the day with them and documented the occasion for us. It was really fun to receive updates throughout the day and also see the footage of their awesome swims.

Superkid stretching after warm-ups...

Abizella lining up for her first event...

 Superkid coaching Abz on race strategy...

 Aren't they the coolest?!

 Abizella is a force to be reckoned with!

Superkid is a torpedo...

Meanwhile, the boys and I were participating in a mega-basketball day! Since we can no longer swim while the big kids are at swim practice because the pool is closed, we have started shooting hoops in the gym. We happened to ask a town friend when basketball season started and we were able to sign up and start a couple of days before try-outs. It is amazing how fast these boys have gone from not being able to dribble to capably managing a ball.

 Little Chief's game was first. We rooted for team red!

Then we hauled across town for Tadpole's game where we rooted for team white!

 It was an action packed day!

I Just Love Him

Pops loves Christmas! 

It is very important to him that the kids enjoy the season as much as he did when he was a kid. The family Santa hats were his idea. I think it is cute that he wears his all over town. Thanks for spreading the magic and cheer Pops!

Sister Lauretto

Our dear friend Sister Marcia Lauretto passed away this week. She was one of our favorite Primary teachers and friends. When the kids were really little we would go visit her and Brother Lauretto and play with the toys they kept on hand for visitors. A couple of years ago, Brother and Sister Lauretto were sick at Christmas time so we offered to come over and help them get their house clean for Santa. Sister Lauretto sat on her bed with the kids and they folded laundry together while they chatted. She was always so cheerful. She was diagnosed with arthritis when she was 10 years old. My kids would not recognize her without her wheel chair. The kids in Primary loved taking turns pushing her wheel chair to and from their classes.

We pulled the kids out of school to attend her funeral and to sing in the Primary choir. Our kids have never gone to a funeral before so we explained that Sister Lauretto's body would be laying in a coffin in the Relief Society room. Because she died, her spirit would no longer be in her body. Jaws was particularly interested in the mechanics of death and the separation of the body and spirit. A few days later while driving around he asked, "Mom, when you die does your heart stay in your body?" I replied that it does. He asked, "Then your spirit can't feel the Holy Ghost when you're in heaven?" I then tried to explain that your spirit has a heart too to help you feel love and the Holy Ghost. So if he tells you that he has two hearts- you know where that idea comes from 😉.

Because Moms Are The Coolest

This is Jaws' Mom impersonation:

Nailed it.

Saint Nick-o-licious

Hello friends, that's right, I'm back to write another blog post. After Pops spent 21 dollars on Santa Hats alone. And sources say that it was totally worth it. "It bottles in the heat!" Pops said. (10 seconds before I wrote this) Jaws says his favorite part about the hat is that its warm. I like the hat because its Christmas-y. I have also wanted one for a few years now. Thanks a ton Pops for the hats.

In other news, we finally got the tree up.

Isn't it beautiful?

And tinsel will be around our house until 2019.

Here's the boys tree upstairs that they decorated.

 And here is my tree, that I decorated. 

Call me biased, but I think its the best tree in the house.

We are only on the 5th and I'm totally hyped and in the jingle mood. 

Until next time, this is ya girl, Abizella.

Oh Christmas Tree!

It is time to DECK THE HALLS!

The first decoration to hit the scene is always the Advent Calendar- but only because Abizella preps a months worth of fun!

Before the rest of the decorations appear, we have to scrub the house!

After everything was spic and span, we headed off to the tree lot.

We considered getting a Christmas Gorilla instead...

We talked it over with Santa, we weren't sure if he was ready to break with the traditional tree for present placement...

And, while we were at it, we also gave him our wish lists...

On Little Chief's List: 3Doodle Pen and Star Wars Droid Robot Kit

I think he just may get it too!

On Abizella's list: Ugg boots, Hufflepuff Jacket, and Ranger's Apprentice books

On Tadpole's list: Star Wars Legos Captian Rex's AT-TE, Clone Turbo Tank and Clones

Jaws was a little nervous about approaching Santa, so I did all the talking. I told Santa that Jaws would like a Mermaid Pony. When we got a safe distance from Santa I was informed that I got it all wrong. Jaws really wanted a Mermaid horse! We'll just have to try to find him later on this month to try to remedy this faux pas.

As for Superkid, he was so busy hunting down an appropriate tree that he had to send his Christmas wish list to Santa through telepathy. He would like an iPhone. He is obviously a true believer 😜.

 

In the end, we decided to go with a tree instead of the Gorilla.

But only because it was the perfect one!

We spent the rest of the night setting up the train and watching our favorite Christmas movies...

And of course, making something delicious treats!