pancakes

I came into the kitchen and found Ellie with a whole train of plates and bowls (a Christmas present- don't you love the colors?) She had taken her bowl of cereal and spread it out among the other bowl. The funniest thing is that she told me she was making pancakes.

Christmas Eve

We were so blessed to recieve a quick stop visit from Oma Great and Uncle Neil on Christmas Eve. Here Neil is teaching McKayla a perfectly ridiculous poem about that man on the stair who wasn't there.

After our special Christmas Eve Dinner, (a meal similar to what was eaten in Jesus time) Lamb, rosemary bread, cusco's etc) we all gathered again for the cousin gift exchange.

Oh, the anticipation - How can they wait any longer?

Jake personifies the excitement - - The thrill of giving a gift to a cousin to open- -The thrill of getting to open a gift.

Aspen's expression is priceless.

It's just fun to feel the excitement as the kids show mom's and dads their treasures.
Finally it's Jake's turn. Opa help me get the paper off. Then all the families went to their homes for their own Christmas eve traditions. We participated with Kim and Deven as Deven read the scriptural account of the Birth of our Savior from Luke- and then we loved the dramatization.
Joseph thought it was not fun to have his sister be Mary. Next year he wants to be the shepherds and wise guys. He also got to have a donkey ride, as did the littlest angel.

The angels were angelic, especially as they sang Hosannas to the baby king.

I hope your Christmas Eve was as sweet as this.

Christmas Adam - December 23rd

We have a tradition of having all the grandchildren sleep over on Dec. 23rd. Parents get the night to do what ever they want. Some time some where the kids started calling it Christmas Adam (you know, Adam comes just before Eve) and it sort of stuck. This year we started early. Some of the kids went skiing with Opa, Kurt, Carlee and Jed- well, the Starites were already up there because they were camped out in Walter already. - but back to my story. We made individual pizza's and then after we ate, we went caroling to the neighbors with our neighbor gift. We are actually starting to say all the words to "We wish you a merry Christmas" and Jingle bells. That doesn't mean we actually stuck to the melody, however we did sing this year. Jake and Ellie were right in the middle of the pack. The neighbors (who were home) loved it. The oldest kids were super help with the littlest ones. Then we went to the gym to play floor hockey, red rover, duck duck goose, tag etc. We thought everyone would be so tired that they would drop off to sleep as soon as we rolled out the sleeping bags.

Wrong. How could I have thought that? What was I thinking? It's a good thing we started early because it took a little while- Jake got banished to a bed because he kept jumping onto Emma. Christy started snoring, so she got "voted off the island" until she woke up later (3:00 am) and was brought back into the sleeping throng. By 9:45 pm almost everyone was asleep -except for the littlest angel and the two sharing her bed- so she got put into her own bed and then everyone slept. Just like the angels that they are.

This was the next morning. They all had new PJ's to sleep in and posed- except for Carter and Tyler who were too busy playing the wii to come get their photo taken. I don't even think they heard the kids tell them to come get their picture taken. I'll add it if and when they ever get together with their matching pj's.
We love this group of kids. They make our hearts smile and keep us on our toes.
They are smart. They are happy. They are really good. They make good choices. They enjoy being together. We are really blessed.

Skiing Santa

The skiers were thrilled to find Santa on the slopes. He handed out candy canes and best of all took a moment for a photo.

Birthday time

This young lady had the funnest birthday party ever. It was at an indoor play area called Jabbers. They had a huge climbing structure, giant play house, puppet stage, play house, construction road area, toddler area, bbq station, shopping center and more. Jed built the shopping cart corral and check out station (below) it was busy all evening, this is just as we were leaving.

All of Zoe's cousins on both sides came and had a wonderful time. They have a great party room- with adjustable office chairs for the kids.
Isn't our birthday girl adorable? We love her smile.

These ladies are showing off the flower arrangements inside the play house.

And here is the BBQ center.

Jake decided to help himself to more ice cream.

Aspen and kids had a great time in the climbing structure, going down the giant slide. They also had a rope swing, but I didn't get a good photo.
Kid size foos-ball anyone?

Birthday cake - complete with coins for the gumball machine.
Thank you Zoe for turning 4 we had a wonderful time sharing your special day.

gingerbread houses

Some of the kids got to go skiing, so the rest of the kids at home made gingerbread houses. We learned a great trick last year- Hot glue the graham crackers together. Then the decorations can be applied liberally. (Of course the skiers got to do a house too, just not at the same time)

Tea Party

I love it when spontaneous events happen. We had one of those events one day when we had a few preschoolers getting kind of bored. They were starting to get kind of squirrelly and bicker a little - so I said " Let's have a tea party" everyone go get ready to come to a tea party" Imagine my surprise when all of the little girls and JAKE came up with party dresses on. Jake will probably hate me for posting these photo's but he was so cute- and all boy - in the dress he had to lift the skirt up so that he could even walk. We set the table with a cloth, center piece, cups and plates. Every one was so dainty and nice.

We ate little tiny cookies and drank hot chocolate with whipped cream. Everyone politely asked for seconds. (and thirds and fourths of hot chocolate)
Next Stella had the party goers pose for a photo. We had some silly moments, but at least everyone is looking forward here.
Musical chairs is the game of the hour. Jake and Ellie didn't quite get the concept. They were quite upset when their chair got taken out of the circle. The older girls compensated quite well. Another plus is that who ever gets put out first gets to turn the music on and off for the rest of the round.
And this is one of my favorite photos because Christy insisted that she hold the photo of her baby sis/bro to be.

And then Jake changed back into little boy clothes and chased the girls.

Look who's 6 or "6 is big enough to catch a dragon"

Tyler invited cousins and a couple friends over for his giant pizza dragon party. Aunt Jessi crocheted 14 dragons so all of the kids went on a quest (obstacle course) to find their dragon. Of course you have to wear a viking hat and use your viking sword to go to the dragon cave and pick a dragon.

Then let the chaos begin. If you haven't read the books in the "How to train your dragon" series, do it. They are different from the movie and yet the movie captures their essence. Really fun books and really fun dragon party.

End the party with presents and dragon tattoo's and candy. Pretty successful dragon party I think.

I don't know who figured out that putting your sword down the back of your shirt will free up your hands for other good stuff, but these little ones had it down pat.
Kurt and Jake at the end of the festivities. Jake looks worn out, and he had a nap in the late afternoon!

Happy Birthday Hiccup. Six is going to be a great year full of fun and adventure!

Band concert

Yes, I enjoy listening to the christmas concerts. This one starred Tucker as he played the corrinet in the middle school band of his school. It's so fun to see various students in santa hats. It was a great concert. Thanks Tucker for inviting us.