Christmas Day

This year we actually slept in a bit. John came in at 7:00 am and by 7:30 am we were all downstairs and starting to unwrap gifts. The chaos was finished by 9:30 am and the building of 6 Lego sets, and numerous girl toys began. We never got out of our pajamas! We had a nice day together and received a lot of wonderful presents.

John with a Nerf gun Mark got from Santa

Alison going through her stocking

Mark with his 2 Nerf guns from Santa. How did Santa know we would need 2?

The chaos of unwrapping and waiting your turn

Building one of 6 Lego sets

Having fun with new toys

Makeup artist in training

So beautiful

My new look courtesy of Alison

Finally playing with the new Legos. Yes, it really floats!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent eating food, playing games and of course, reading the story of Christ's Birth. When it was time for bed the kids got ready so fast! They were excited for Santa to come. On a side note, I know that all of you are jealous of my Christmas Sweater. Mark absolutely can't stand it! I made it when I was a teenager and so for pride reasons, and the fact that he can't stand it, I keep it. I proudly wear it every Christmas just to hear him casually ask me yet again, When did you get that sweater? Is that what you are wearing today? It also comes in handy when your friend tells you that she got invited to a "ugly" Christmas Sweater party and "do you have any thing I could borrow".

Joseph, Mary and Wise Man

Angel, Mary and Wise Man

Our Christmas Eve dessert: giant Fortune Cookie, Gingerbread Man

and other cookies

Yum!

Poor Gingerbread Boy, we caught you!

Arctic Blast Continues

Day 9. We are cold. We are tired of each other. We are tired of the house. We have over 15 inches of snow! It is still snowing and has been snowing all day long. Mark tried to get us out. He shoveled the driveway. Chained up my car and went halfway down the street. It is to deep, just to get out of the house. Not worth it. Car is back in garage. Shovel, regular one by the way- not a snow shovel- is put away. Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas tomorrow? That way kids can have something new to do. We are in desperate need of sunshine! Please send some ASAP!

Arctic Blast 2008

We are now in day 7 of Arctic Blast 2008! The awesome name was invented by the news channels. School was canceled all week, that means 3 weeks of Winter Break! It has been in the 30's all week and no sign of warming up until after Christmas. Sunday's snow freezed and lasted until Wednesday. By Friday the roads were clear and all snow was melted. When we woke up this morning, the ground was covered with a few inches of snow again. It snowed all day long! Then we got freezing rain! The top left picture shows the 2 inches we got of freezing rain on the fence top.



On Sunday we went outside for a while to crunch the ice and sink into the snow beneath it. It was a fun experience and time spent outside the house. We can now say with confidence "Cabin Fever"!

Snow Day

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"! We woke up to snow this morning! We had a lot of fun playing in the snow together. Of course church was canceled. Snow here on the valley floor is not a common occurrence. So most things shut down. They do not plow or sand neighborhood roads, so you are left to your own devices. We had fun making snow angels, building a snowman, and having snow ball fights. Okay, I was not to willing or happy to participate in the snow ball fighting. I don't like to be cold! I just want to take pictures of everyone else having fun. I do like to go sledding though. Our friends came over to use our driveway, the best one for sledding in the neighborhood. So we got to use their sleds! A wonderful trade. Any time of the year I would tell you I have to much padding on my bottom. But going down an icy driveway in a plastic saucer, I would have to say that I do not have enough padding on my bottom! The kids had a blast! After about an hour in the driveway, we headed across the street to the community college to sled down the hill there. It was fast and fun! It started to blow and snow ice so we headed back home. What a fun day!

Church Christmas Party

Today was our ward's "Elfish Christmas Party". The kids could dress up in whatever holiday costume they wanted to wear. Everyone got to make an "elf house" and Santa came! They served waffles with ice cream and strawberries and whipping cream for breakfast! The kids were so excited to go to the party! John had decided that he was going to wear his Rudolph nose and had me make him some antlers. Of course the morning of, he decided that he did not want to wear the costume or even go. Hence the frown in most of the pictures. Finally about 20 minutes before the party ended, he found his smile. Alison went as a Sugar Plum Fairy. She had so much fun making her house and saying hello to Santa! She loved singing Jingle Bells really loud so that Santa could hear us and come to the party. After breakfast, the icing had set and so the kids tried to "blow" their house down. We had an enjoyable time together and spent the rest of the day inside, it was to cold to go out!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Trimming the tree!

On the First Day of Christmas

my mom and dad gave to me, my own advent calender! This way we can open a present every day and mom can actually put presents under the tree all month long! It has been the best thing for the kids! They love coming down to the table every morning to open their window and see what new toy they get. John has a Lego advent, and Alison has a My Little Pony advent (and her two black eyes, poor thing).

John gets ready for school so fast now! I may have to do this all year!