And so this is Christmas...

We opened some presents and had a good time. Jack got a bike and a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Maxine got a bike and some lip gloss, slippers and some other stuff.

Then we ate a big breakfast, complete with Christmas Carol Roll (a tradition from Merril's family.) It's the huge cinnamon roll in the corner.

On Saturday, we went tubing with some friends. There was so much snow and the plow hadn't been up yet. It took a little longer than we'd hoped to get there but the kids played in the snow drifts while we waited for the plow.

Maxine and Jack liked to slide down the hill on their rear ends. I slid down on my rear end with Juliet a couple of times. It helps keep from going too fast. But we took the kids down on tubes as well.

We also brought a tube, a knee board and a snow board. All provided great entertainment to the people who were watching. Here's Merril going off a jump on the tube.

Maxine liked going down the hill. However, she didn't like climbing back up the hill.

Here's my shot of the day. Juliet and I were sitting on the knee board, watching people biff it in the snow.

Christmas Eve...

We celebrated our Christmas Eve with going out to dinner. Hee hee. I'd been cooking, wrapping and buying for weeks and I didn't want to make dinner. So we went out, looked at some Christmas lights, and came home to perform our nativity.

Maxine was Mary, Jack was Joseph, and Juliet was an angel. I made costumes this year and was please at how they turned out. Maxine insisted that the Mary costume be blue.

Merril was the donkey. ;)

I got to be the narrator but at some point, Juliet stole the baby Jesus, the manger was knocked over and we were all laughing so hard that the wise men, also played by Merril, showed up and just started handing out pajamas to open.

But we had fun and really enjoyed our Christmas. I would post about Christmas, but I need to go finish my Mom's cake because it's her birthday today! Can you believe 2009 is right around the corner????

Hey, I found my camera...

I like to take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree every year. I might have missed a year or two but this morning was the time for the tree picture. I was using the tree in my bedroom so I was trying to get enough light. So lighting was an issue but I actually got 3 or 4 good ones. Including this one of Juliet and Maxine. Juliet's a little soft. They were goofing off while I wrangled Jack into the frame. Ummm...what's the deal with the open mouths, girls? Maybe they were saying, "Santaaaaa!"

Merry Christmas!!

2 things...

I just finished a huge sewing project last night for Christmas! Whoosh! I can't post pictures yet in case the intendee might read but I'll post after Christmas. My sewing machine is on the fritz too but Merril and I finally worked something out and it sewed the last half of the project like a dream.

I was going to post some pictures but I can't remember where my camera is.

Anyway, a few days ago, I was awakened at 5:30 a.m. to what sounded like a child whining. After stirring out of my slumber a bit, I listened more and realized it wasn't one of my children at all, it was a cat meowing/whining. So I settled back into bed and tried to ignore the cat. The cat won't be quiet and I start wondering, "Where is that cat?? It's really loud." Then I start to realize that the sound is coming from the garage. I open the door and look in the garage and there's a cat meowing in my garage. I don't have a cat so I open the garage door and he runs out. Silly neighbor cat. I just hope he wasn't stuck in there for very long. We'd come home late from Salt Lake and I'm guessing he was only in there since 1:00 a.m. or so. Merry Christmas!!

Snow Day!!

We don't get much snow in our fair town but it's been snowing all day long! It's even sticking! So after Maxine finished school, we put Juliet down for a nap and bundled up.

Kids! Don't eat the snow!

Seriously, don't eat the snow!!! Like they're listening....

And we made a snowman!

The snow has really made it feel like Christmas and I'm glad we have it. Wahoo! However, I'm glad it only snows once in a while! Oh, I went to kickboxing this morning and I feel whooped.

I feel productive...

I've been really trying to get things done after the kids go to bed instead of just watching TV. One of my goals for this holiday season was to finish a ceramic tree that I inherited when my Great Aunt Jan died. One of her talents was painting Christmas village houses and other things of a ceramic nature. For my wedding, she gave me a Christmas village that she'd painted by hand. She gave one to almost every niece and great-niece before she died. (Which thinking about now, I should've written a longer 'thank you' letter because they take a ton of work!!) I've painted a couple of houses, in her style, to add to my village, and this year the ceramic tree was on my list!!

It stands about a 1 1/2 feet tall and is fitted with little plastic pegs. A light is inserted inside and causes the plastic pegs to illuminate. Anyway, I finished with the pegs and the light base this evening and here it is!

It doesn't normally lean so much to the left. I didn't quite sit the tree on the red base correctly before I took the pictures. The base has circles molded into it so I painted a candy cane, a snowflake, a wrapped present and a snowman in each of the 4 ovals. And here it is in the dark.
My Great Aunt made one for my Mom a LONG time ago so it's been kind of fun to make something that reminds me of Christmas as a kid. Thanks Aunt Jan!

Up, Up and...

Today at lunch, Jack was playing with a car and said, "Up, up to the way!!"

Listening in, I said, "Jack, the phrase is 'Up, up and away.'"

He paused for a second, smiled and said, "No. It's up, up to the way! To the milky way!!"

Pausing myself for a second, I thought, 'Well, at least he's thought about it and his rational does make sense.' Good job Jack!

And to show a little OCD, we got a book today called "How Big is a Million?" A penguin sees 10 fish, a group of 100 penguins, 1,000 snowflakes and 1 billion stars. Anyway, on the snowflake page, the seal says to the penguin, "but I'm sure there are a thousand. (And there really were!)" So wondering if the book was telling the truth, I copied the pages and marked off snowflakes as I counted. I actually counted 1,005 snowflakes but I'll account for a margin of error. (But I'm not counting the page with a billion stars...I'll just take their word for it.)

Yummy chocolate...

My sister-in-law, Megan, is on a mission for our church in Sweden. My mother-in-law gets the weekly letter and then forwards it onto the rest of us. Maxine likes to send pictures and I try to write letters. (I should write more, sorry Megs!!) So anyway, Syster(that's how you spell Sister in Swedish) Megan sent me a package today with a HUGE bar of CHOCOLATE! The kids and I already opened and ate some of it! It's soooo smooth and has crispy, crunchies in it!

But anyway, that's not the point of my post. The part that cracked me up the most is how she sent it!! It came in, what I can only guess because I don't know Swedish, a milk carton. I was able to discern 1.5 liters and that it's 1.5 %. I can't think of any other liquid that comes in percentages. And there's some little cows on it. So thanks Megan!! It's been one of the highlights of my week!! We love you!

Say what??

In the last couple of weeks, Juliet's started saying a bunch of new words. Last weekend she learned peanut butter, pillow and Santa. Santa is my favorite. Our yard decorations include an inflatable Santa and when I pulled it out, Maxine and Jack ran over to it and gave it a big hug yelling, "Santa, Santa!!" When we're outside, Juliet walks over to it and says "Santa!"

I'm just amazed at how many words are coming along!! At Wal-Mart, she had some Skittles in her hand and to make conversation and pass the time, I asked her, "How are your Skittles??" She said, "Good!" I just laughed. Kids are funny. FYI, this isn't a fall, she just likes to be like this.

Oh one more thing, I was teaching on Sunday to the Young Women about the The Family: Proclamation to the World. I said that the very first commandment given on the earth was to multiply and replenish the earth, which means to have kids. One of the girls said, "Are you serious?? It's a commandment??!!" She isn't into the whole kid thing yet. I'm still working on it too.