While the older 2 kids were away....

(graciously invited to several days away with friends at their cabin - thank you, cute friend!) .... we remaining girls definitely played.

Sunday evening -- Painted nails, complete with polka dot designs from the new nail polish pens for Christmas; made eggnog popsicles; had a pseudo-slumber party in my bed (the giggling and cuddling lasted until mom got slightly claustrophobic and wanted to actually stretch out and sleep).

Monday -- Lunch at McDonald's (Elle's request, of course), spent a few hours at Kangaroo Zoo (big bounce house place), continued down to Gateway for a free smoothie while I shopped for Nook accesories at Barnes & Noble, met daddy for a free dinner (score!) at Costa Vida, watched Elf together.

Tuesday -- Cleaned frantically so we could continue the fun without mommy losing it a little; invited 3 little friends to a dollar movie with us. After dropping them back home, I asked my girls, "Anything else you girlies want to do or should we go home?" to which Paige cried, "Let's go get pie at Marie Callendar's!" (definitely her favorite spot lately). So we did. :)

The older kids are back and had a ball. And thankfully, my little girls had a ball, too. What else is Christmas break for?

Christmas a.m.

My camera is on the fritz, so grainy camera phone pictures are all we got this year. I took far fewer pictures this season as a result, but better that than nothing.

Christmas Eve at mom's. Small group this year - just Kelly's fam and mine.These little fur coats are an inside joke with mom. Suffice it to say, tho, she loved them.Christmas Eve jammies. Nice smile, Christian.Love picking out my own jammies.The kids all slept downstairs, and are only allowed up at 7am. Sleepover in the toy room.

They usually call us on a cellphone to beg if it's time to come up yet. This year, Mike and I called them at 6:50 and said to come on up. A whopping 10 minutes early.Sportin' a new fluffy skirt. As if she needed one more.Cute bag from my cute friend.We had a pretty relaxed Christmas day, playing with toys, me not hounding the kids about eating something healthy. That evening, we joined most of the Mayfield family for a nice dinner and gift exchange. I was in bed by 8. Right now, I'm sitting in my front room, music playing on Pandora, laptop on my lap, ready to watch Arrested Development (best show ever). Great Christmas.

It was a little emotional this year, thinking back to Christmas last year when these were our visitors.Makes me cry just looking at this one.

Snapshot on Christmas Eve morning

MIKE: Out running last minute errands with Noelle (we've been using her full name more this month). He's wrapped presents in our bedroom behind locked door,been to the carwash to wash away the remnants of the guys' roadtrip to Vegas for the Utah bowl game (bad game, fun trip), delivered a couple of last neighbor gifts and is now at the grocery store for a few forgotten items.

MISTY: Spending the majority of the day in the kitchen baking (chocolate peanut butter balls, chocolate peppermint cookies, eggnog pie, basil couscous salad and Thai potsticker soup -- oh baby), Christmas music playing on Pandora.

CHRISTIAN: Playing laser tag outside with friends. I love that he's not old enough to want to take off with friends 24/7. He's content to hang out at home and outside.

HALEY: Recently found out the secret about Christmas; thought that all of the magic would be gone but is the only child continually checking www.noradsanta.org to find out where Santa has been so far today. She's my biggest helper in the kitchen, today and always.

PAIGE: Spent the morning making individual signs for Santa's reindeer.Dressed her stuffed reindeer into more festive attire, dressed herself into snowflake holiday attire, too. So Paige.
NOELLE: Dad's shadow this morning, continually asking, "You mean, Santa's coming tonight?", looks just plain adorable.

Other activities today.... early dinner with mom, back to our house to build a fort in the family room downstairs where the kids will all sleep tonight, fry up sausage for a breakfast casserole in the morning, enjoy the quiet with Mike before the mayhem tomorrow morning.

Now if it would only snow about 6" tonight ....

the Village Day Care

A few more pictures of December happenings...

Elle found this fun lady in a hotel lobby. They chatted it up for awhile.Our first time ever to see Zoo Lights. I'm not a huge zoo fan normally anyway, but in the cold and dark?? I was cooerced into going (just kidding, Steph) and was actually happy that we went. It all starts with a magical moment when Santa walks through the courtyard area with 2 live reindeer. Pretty cool.I love the homage to the lion drinking fountain (kind of hard to see with the tree in the background). I remember it from my childhood and it's still there.One other holiday tradition is going to Modern Display downtown to see the village displays. We always follow it up with a trip across the street to Hires Big H -- mmmm, frosty rootbeer floats -- but I digress. My little girls are always in awe of the villages and love to point out every detail.Wouldn't it be cool to live in a house like this?
There's even a poor guy shoveling his walk.But my favorite find this year was this...Seriously?

Festivities

This Christmas season has definitely been a little more kick-back than other years. I usually pack our holiday with 'happenings' (as my mom would say) .... Polar Express, the Nutcracker, Festival of Trees, etc. We've been out and about some but I've been more content this year to just mellow a little. Here's some of the fun we've been having, though...

*Dance performances*Train rides through the mall*Spending Christmas $$ from Grandma & Grandpa (on a mission in Africa) at Build-A-Bear*Ward Christmas party, where Christian was the Charlie Brown tree.*Checking out the lights all around town*Voting on our favorite gingerbread houses, both at Festival of Trees and at the Grand America Hotel*Other fun so far: seeing a large group of Santas (75 or so) walking around downtown together, Temple Square, having fun doing the 12 Days of Christmas, multiple advent calendars around the house, candy making & delivering, gingerbread house making .... I love, love the season.

And all of the fun definitely takes its toll. :)

Nativity

What do you get when you have a bearded 11 yr. old girl/Joseph, an ecstatic 'if-I'm-not-Mary-I-think-I'll-die' 7 yr. old,an adorable cow and happy little wise man,an angelic little angel,an extremely good sport of a 13 yr. old donkey,two other wise men, one of which has a bird because we were lacking in the myrrh department ("gold, frankincense and bird"),a little bit too eager bad Nephite, throwing tin foil rocks at Samuel the Lamanite,and a multi-talented and amazing organizer for a neighbor? You've got a fabulous Nativity.One that I won't forget for a long time.

4

She's totally 4.
It was such a fun day. It started out great, with several inches of new snow on the ground and presents from mom & dad.Had a birthday bash at her favorite hangout -- the new McDonald's playland. That was all she wanted for her party. Awesome for mom.Had some fluorescent cupcakes....... one of which had some black detailing. LOVE the goth look on a 5 year old!And finished the day with dinner of her choice, which of course meant Chuck-a-Rama.She was exhausted tonight, but fell asleep holding several new toys and had a smile on her face.

My favorite quote from today: When people asked her what she received for her birthday, she said, "Mommy gave me a doll and Heavenly Father gave me snow."