Christmas Eve PJ's

We spent Christmas Eve day just hanging about.  We had pizza for dinner and then watched the movie "Dolphin Tale 2".  We then opened up our traditional Christmas Jammies.  They weren't Christmas themed or matching, but the kids seemed to love them!  Trying to get a picture of all of them was a little hard.  Preston wouldn't hold still at all, but I managed at least one in front of the tree.  The older kids all wanted to sleep in Carson's room so we made a bed for Livy under his loft bed and the older two kids slept on the bed.  They went right to bed and we didn't hear a peep out of them until they woke up the next morning.  

Cookie Time

We decorated cookies after dinner on Tuesday.  We opted for the cookie kit over the gingerbread house kit this year and it was awesome.  Everyone got to decorate 2 to 3 cookies a piece and did a great job!  I hardly had to hep them.  I was pretty impressed on how well the older kids were able to decorate their cookies.  Check it out!

The kids also enjoyed eating them!  They were a little hard, but with milk they were great!

Christmas Break!

Christmas break started on Monday which means all the kids are home all day!  We spent the morning doing chores, after we slept in a bit.  That felt great!  After Nick got home from work early we headed down to Discovery Gateway to let the kids play for a bit.  They had a blast.  It had been a few months since we had been down there so it was fun to see Preston be so involved in everything.  He was climbing in the balls and loving seeing them go through all the tubes.  All the kids had fun and didn't want to leave, but we had to get home to have dinner and have time to pass out Neighbor Christmas Gifts for FHE.  

 Tuesday, we got to sleep in again!  That is the one perk about no school!  I started the insanity workouts this week and they have been kicking my butt!  They are so hard, but I feel so good about myself when I am done.  When I got done Tuesday I came up stairs to find the Carson had gotten dressed, unloaded the dishwasher and had started cleaning the floors for me.  It was a nice surprise!  He can be such a great helper and I love how responsible he is getting.  I wore my naughty or nice shirt, which the kids thought was funny.

The kids have also watched probably way to much tv the past three days, but it's Christmas break so I guess that's ok!

 Grandma came and visited last night and had dinner with us.  The kids always love seeing her and it was fun to let her open a few of her presents.

Today was also pretty low key.  It was fun answering the door often to receive neighbor gifts.  All I can say is that we have amazing neighbors and friends.  We got so many goodies!  We had a fun evening of pizza and watched Dolphin Tale 2.  Preston also loved playing with Livy's shoes.  He wears them often and it just is so funny to see how well he can walk in her little heels.  I had to get a picture of it!  Well, the kids are in bed and ready for Santa to come!  I will blog more about our Christmas Eve later, but for now, I gotta go to bed myself so Santa can come!

Gifts and Date Nights

The kids took a gift to their teacher on Thursday.  We got them jelly roll pan lids.  I know it sounds weird, but I think practical is the way to go!  They were all excited to take them to their teachers.  

 Kaylee had her class party on Thursday, and made this cute gingerbread house.

 Carson has been working on crafts all week in his class and made this cute tree and talking reindeer.  He also did a Christmas Tree pillow like his pumpkin pillow, then came home with a scarf he made from fleece on Friday.

Friday night, Kaylee and I had a girls night of shopping at Farmington station while Nick stayed home with the other kids.  We had a ton of fun and enjoyed doing some shopping and stopping for some chocolate at Harmon's.  She was so good and didn't complain once about going to another store or waiting in line.  It was so much fun.

Nick worked on Saturday, I took family pictures for a friend, and then I was lucky enough to get a date night with this handsome boy.  We did some more shopping (I needed to pick up bags for the subeams, ctr rings for the CTR 7 class, and do some more shopping).  He also was so great and didn't complain once about going to another store.  We got all the shopping done and hit Arby's for dinner on our way home.  Funny story, we were trying to figure out where to eat so I got out my little coupon holder to see where I had coupons.  Every coupon I pulled out was expired.  It was hilarious and Carson was laughing so hard every time I pulled another coupon out all excited just to find out it was expired.  It was quite the ongoing joke of the night.  

 We had a fun day at church today.  The ward choir did the Sacrament meeting program, which I was a part of.  I even had a solo.  I sang Sally Deford's song "When Mary sang her Lullaby".  I usually don't get nervous when I sing, but I was nervous today for some reason.  But it went well and I was glad it is over!  Tina did a great job with Sharing time.  Kaylee was Mary when they put together the Nativity scene.  It was cute.  Next year's sunbeams got to come in and sit through singing time just to get a feel for what it will be like next year.  That included Alivia.  They were all so cute, so I had to get a picture of them too.  Alivia loved it, can you tell?  

We had a yummy turkey roast and baked potatoes for dinner and cookies for dessert before putting the kids to bed so I could get caught up on blogging.  I feel so behind and I am sure I am forgetting a million details that would be fun to share, but my brain is so full from trying to remember and think of everything that I just don't remember well unless I have a picture of it.  Maybe my new years resolution will be to blog daily, even if I don't have pictures so I can remember more of the details.  It could be fun down the road to read about the little things we do daily.  But for now, this is what you get. Merry Christmas!

Lights at Temple Square

It was such warm weather the past few weeks and I have wanted to see the lights at Temple Square before it got any colder.  We have been so busy we just haven't had a free night, but we lucked out last Wednesday and had a free night to go!  On the plus side it was still not totally freezing cold!  It was still cold, but not so much it made it miserable.  We got to City Creek early and had an early dinner at Johnny Rockets.  I always dread taking the kids out to a restaurant since sometimes they are hard and don't always hold still or eat their food.  But they did great that night and everyone ate great.  It was actually enjoyable!  After dinner we walked around a toy store, saw the candy windows, and then finally made our way over to Temple Square.    

We had such a fun time and the kids were great!  (For the most part...Preston and Alivia both had very short moments of whining, but then got over it quickly).  I was so glad we made the effort to go.  Sometimes the thought of leaving the house with all the kids is overwhelming and so we don't leave the house.  I think as the kids get older it will get easier!