Christmas

I never sleep well the night before Christmas.  I wake up every couple of hours, thinking I heard kids out of bed, and get all jittery and excited.  So I always end up heading down to take a picture in the peace before all the presents are ripped open.

I adore that tree.  The glowing lights bring a wonderful spirit into our home every year.

This year, though, I had an extra reason to head downstairs.  Since I knew what my husband was getting me for Christmas, he let me open it and charge the battery overnight so I could use it Christmas morning.

A new camera!  I told him it was too big of a splurge, but as he pointed out, it isn't like I'm not going to use it.  I have put my old DSLR through everything imaginable.  It looks like my shutter count is at  . . . 21,315 pictures on that camera in the last six years.  It is an entry level body, and at this point, I have actually picked up quite a bit of business taking pictures for people.  My old Rebel has been great, but it does lack some of the new awesome features out now.  One of the biggest ones is that it doesn't take video, so anytime I wanted to take still pictures and video, I had to bring two cameras with me.

Of course, figuring out a new camera is always on a learning curve, but I took it for a test drive once the kids came down to unwrap presents.

It turns out you don't focus while shooting video the same way you focus while shooting still.  I'm still figuring that part out.

Tyler's dreams did come true after all- both of the kids got new Kindles from Santa.  They also got notes from Santa talking about how they should use them to read books and learn, and not just play games.

Jasmine was in love with her new "A-fia a-first amulet", tiara and dress up shoes.  She puts on that dress at least once a week (leaving it on all day), but has wandered the house constantly looking for her amulet.

Kaitlyn loved the fan!  I don't know where her obsession came from for fans, but she makes them all the time out of paper, so this one was a huge hit.

And of course, Tyler loved the blow up sword and other dollar store fodder, but had one thing to truly adore all day.

 He played on that nearly the entire day, but when I inspected it as he went to bed, it looked like he had only used the Plants vs. Zombies app.  The entire day.

Thankfully, one of the things I really liked about getting these new Kindles is that they have great parental controls.  I can decide how long they can play games, or how much educational time they have to put in to unlock the games.  I'll be making use of that soon . . . but we'll let him have his fun for now.

For me, a big highlight of the day was Skyping with my family in Ohio.  My mother absolutely loved the locket I picked out for her, since I put old pictures of her parents about college age in it.  My kids got to open the presents Grandma picked out while she watched, and my brother had a grand time rubbing it in that I bought him a game he already owned.  (I even asked Mom!  She had no idea it was already sitting in her garage when she told me he would like it.)  I was sad that I wasn't with them that morning, but goofing around with everyone really made the day complete.  Tyler even showed off his best impression of the ninja gingerbread boy on his jammies.  I should have gotten a picture of that- it was awesome.  In fact, I picked out those pajamas from a Black Friday ad and stood in line just to get them because they were totally perfect.  They match his sisters' sweet gingerbread girls, but in a very Tyler way.

They stayed in the jammies the entire day, in fact, which is just fine by me.  We played all of the board games we got, and had a nice dinner, but mostly we just let everyone roam.  We did leave the house to go see Great-Grandma Clark, but no one there minded the Christmas jammies with snow boots!

We had a fair amount of snow at home, but of course, there was even more when we headed to the cabin the next day.  I didn't take my camera, since conditions made me nervous, so I apologize for the phone pictures.

When Christopher talked to our neighbor about a huge wind storm that came though a week ago, he didn't quite realize that it would do this.  This tree was the "foot" for our hammock, sadly.  And until spring thaws everything, it is now a climbing gym for the kids.  Later, firewood.

It was too fluffy for a snowball fight, but Tyler didn't let that stop him for getting his sisters covered.

Thankfully, Daddy was able to get the Argo up and running! I have been nervous about that since the middle of the summer when it stopped turning left.  He had a lot of frustrations with it- he would get nearly done and need one more part, or this time he dropped the tiny screw in the snow.  But the girls were excited to head out on the test run.

We've gotten even more snow since then, so New Year's should be a lot of fun!

Christmas prep

This year, we were pretty on top of presents and actual Christmas preparations.  I made our Christmas cards in early November.

I make calendars for my family and Christopher's family, but siblings were very late getting their pictures to me, so I just took it easy on those.  

Somehow, I made my own chaos.  

First, I decided that rather than buy presents for Tyler's teachers, I would make them.  He has ten teachers and aides, so this wasn't a small decision.  They often wear utility belts to carry the radios and pencils and everything else they need, so I thought I would make them.  Honestly, it was an easy project, until you multiplied it by 10, but I did make it.

At this point, it was crunch time for something I hadn't been able to figure out since almost a year ago.  I found red and gold curtains in a clearance bin at Wal-Mart for $1 each.  Naturally, I knew they had to be formal dresses for the girls.  (I know this is not normal.)  At first I wanted to make Easter dresses, but the colors are very Christmas-y, so I put it off.  Meanwhile I collected more fabric.  A gold shimmery sheer was on clearance at Jo-Anns, and a friend gave me a neat red diamond-gathered red from her stash. 

I was having a tough time figuring out how to make the colors work though!  I knew that Kaitlyn's needed to be made from a pattern my mom got for me- Simplicity 2463.  She love dresses that "go all the way to the floor", and this pattern was a princess dress all the way.  Jasmine's pattern was a free one I got online- the Party Dress.  I knew that, since I didn't have an endless supply of either fabric, one dress needed to be gold with red accents and the other red with gold accents.  I had a panic attack when I saw how much the red overpowers the gold on Kaitlyn's dress, but thanks to a quick call to my mom, we were able to sort it out.

I know that sewing is silly, in many respects.  I could buy fancy dresses for . . . $20?  $10 on a great sale?  So yes, I know that the fabric costing less than $10 for everything doesn't make it a great deal, because it took about two days non-stop.  But there is something about a handmade gift that means more.  Even as young as these girls are, they have been treasuring these dresses more than any others in their closet, and part of that is that they saw me working on them so much, I think.  I taught Jasmine the names of the colors, and she was so proud to point out which parts were red and which were gold.  And she constantly asks for her red dress to wear.  Kaitlyn wore it to two weeks of church in a row, and countless times in between.

Well, it was 9 pm Saturday night when I finished Kaitlyn's.  Then I quickly put together a bow tie for Tyler to match.  If there was more time, perhaps he would have gotten a vest, but bow ties are nice and quick.

And when I handed it to Tyler, Christopher said "where's my tie?"  I warned him that if I made him a matching tie, he would have to be in the "matching clothes" picture after Church the next day, but he persisted.  "I want to match Tyler!"

At which point I realized that I would be the only person not matching if I didn't think quickly.  Since I was the one putting in the work, that seemed wrong.  

Whew!  I made it!  I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw this picture.  My kids even all smiled nicely for me!  

Once I got past that day, Christmas preparations were a breeze.  On Christmas Eve day, I even made a to-do list in crayon for the kids to follow along with all the treats to make and such.  Their favorite was the Gingerbread houses, of course.

Tiny ones are always SO elated when you give them free reign.  They get so tired of people helping them, and they don't care if it looks perfect.  They just want to know they did it!  I don't let her do things all by herself very much, but in this case, Daddy helped for a while, and then she was off on her own.

Mostly she squeezed out the frosting and then ate all the candy.  But she was really happy about it!

Kaitlyn was very focused on her little village, though.

And Tyler has his own creative direction to go in.

 In many ways, gingerbread cookies are still the way to go, I think.  They are easier for the kids to decorate, since you don't have to worry about them collapsing, and then you can just eat them afterward.  But tradition is what it is!

Which of course meant that we were headed over to Grandma Skarda's for the biggest party of the year.

The kids got really into their parts in the Nativity play.

Jasmine didn't want to keep the donkey costume on, but I bet she will get into it next year.

Then we had the talent portion of the night, since Grandma didn't want to leave out the kids who don't play instruments.

Kaitlyn demonstrated her crab walk.

And Tyler showed off an interpretive ninja dance of some kind, which was actually kind of hilariously awesome.

Then we got to the music.  Kaitlyn played Christmas Bells are Ringing . . .

. . . Christopher and I played a "O Holy Night" piano and Euphonium duet we worked on, and then it was the annual horn concert.  

Given how much all of them practice, it is partly for laughs.

And then Santa came!  

Other kids jokingly asked Santa for candy or gum for Christmas, but Tyler carefully explained that he needed an iPad, because the other one is dead.

Kaitlyn told me afterwards that she was pretty sure he wasn't the real Santa. "Oh, really?"

And then there was the tiny stinker.  Jasmine told me, in no uncertain terms, that she was not going to go to Santa.  I got angry grunts any time I mentioned that I was willing to carry her, or whatever else I thought would help.  But then after ten minutes of this, Daddy walks up and asks if she wants to see Santa.  "Yup!" she said happily, holding her hands up to be picked up.

Stinker.

Then we unwrapped the Christmas jammies, changed, and headed home!  

SO behind

I am so behind on here!  I actually started this post a month ago.  In fact, the tab has been open on my screen ever since, just hoping I would finish it.  But the part I had written got more and more out of date, and I guess I just got busy and gave up.

And today, when I decided it was high time I caught up, I went through all of my pictures and calendar and found a long list of things that go back months.

Here goes!

*In October (yes, I have to reach that far back), we took the kids to the BYU Homecoming parade. We barely made it as the parade started, but the kids loved it.  Honestly, candy per minute, it can't be beat, even by Trick or Treating.  Every float throws out candy by the handful.  And it turns out that if your kids bring buckets for their candy, the college students all try and throw the candy in the bucket as a game and your kids get more than anyone else.

After that, we took the kids on a hike at Cascade Springs.

No one could guess where we had been that morning, I tell ya.

Someday I hope to have more than one child that knows how to look at a camera.  Someday.

*My sewing table has been booked for months!  Tyler's school did a huge Gala fundraiser the first week of November.  Rather than beg random businesses to give donations, I decided I would rather sew things to donate myself.  At first I commited to sewing an Elsa dress, but after I got a few hours into my fifth (!) Elsa dress, I just couldn't do it.  Everywhere I looked there were Elsa dresses on every shelf for Halloween, and to be honest every parent I knew was a bit over the movie by that point.  I'm fine with putting in the effort if people will appreciate it, but I realized that if I put in all that time and no one bid on that thing, I was going to be fuming.

So instead, I quickly made a few tiny things that . . . no one really bid on.

I made an Elsa purse and a Little Mermaid purse, and a Toy Story crayon fold up.  I don't think what they sold it for covered the materials cost.

*Once I got that off of my sewing table, it was on to ballet.  I added some tops to the snowflake costumes, and learned the hard way that dance costumes must always be out of stretchy fabric, no matter how cute the snowflake fabric looks.  ("Are you making and Elsa costume?" the Jo-Anns lady asks as she cut it for me.  "No, a snowflake ballerina this time."  "Oh, thank heavens!" she replied.  "Something different!"  I couldn't agree more.)

Every picture I have of Kaitlyn is of her looking intently at her teacher in the wings.

After the snowflakes got their yoke and scarves, I turned to the more fun project.  Kaitlyn's teacher couldn't find a Clara costume anywhere near her price range, so I got to make it from scratch.  It was so much fun to add all the pretty lace and ribbons!

I wish I had a better picture, but the ones that the photographer that night took aren't back yet.  I also wish I had a picture of Abby's face when she first saw it, because it was adorable how much she loved her dress.  That makes it worth it!

*Kaitlyn also had a piano recital.  Her teacher gave her a really easy song to play, so when Kaitlyn had it memorized quickly, I told her that perhaps she could play it upside down.  Then the challenge was on, and sure enough, she was thrilled to surprise her teacher at the group practice with her new trick.

Of course, I realized halfway through her performance that I was holding the camera instead of recording it, so she had to do it one more time afterward so I could get it on video.  She didn't mind that one bit though!  She has been showing off her new trick to anyone who will watch.

*Kaitlyn's grade put on a "First Grade Sing" where the performed all of their Christmas songs.  I can't wait until they rebuild her school and we have a bigger gym or an auditorium for this, because that tiny gym was packed to the rafters with families and chaos.  Kaitln loved it anyway! (Middle row, far right in the picture.)

Kaitlyn also came home very excited one day, and told me all about how if they got to the school at 6:30 in the morning, she could be on TV!  The morning news crew was making a trip around various elementary schools, I guess.  I tried to talk her out of it, but in the end, we got up at the crack of dawn and headed down there.

She admitted afterward that is probably wasn't worth it.  She mostly stood there, mildly scared of it all, and watched them.

*Tyler and I got to go see "A Christmas Carol" play one day, and then Tyler's school had a big Christmas party at a nearby trampoline park right before break.  What an awesome party! It was a total miracle, but Daddy even managed to come.  Normally he is working all day about 30 miles away, but that day he had something just after the party not that far away, so he was able to just head out early and play with us.

And there is nothing our kids love more than goofing off with Daddy.  I'm never as good at that sort of thing, but Christopher gets in these places and is like a big, giant kid himself.  It is honestly one of my favorite things to watch!

Slack-lining is harder than I thought.  At least, I assumed that since it is so popular, it must somehow be easier than I would have guessed, but I don't think any of us made it too far.

Not that any of us cared too much.  It was just fun.

The tiny one goes like an Energizer Bunny when she sees a trampoline!  I got her a little 3' one in the house over the summer, and she adores that thing.  So when we got to this place, she was basically doing this for 2 hours straight.

And the best part was that we all got to see Santa!  He was SO wonderful with the kids.  He had a wonderful costume and a real beard, and apparently volunteered his time to come and see all the kids at Tyler's special little school.  They emailed us all beforehand that he was prepped on how autistic kids might react to sitting on Santa's lap, and not to worry.

Tyler was so excited that he just climbed on up, closed his eyes, and hugged him as tightly as he could.  As a reflex, I apologized - Tyler honestly has hugged random workers in Target before, so I'm used to apologizing as strangers look around to see what kid is hugging them and why - but Santa just smiled.  "You never need to apologize for that," he said gently, as he hugged back with all of his might.

What a wonderful Santa.

Tyler, by this point, knew exactly what he wanted for Christmas.  He had become obsessed with the old Kindle I passed on to the kids a year or two ago, and was playing Plants vs. Zombies every chance he got.  He plays "Zombie's brains", or Plants Vs. Zombies, every chance he gets.  In fact, the other day, I had to stop the radio on the drive to school in the morning to listen because he was singing to himself as he played.  He was making up words as he went - "Do not let the Zombies eat your only brains!"- to the tune of "Follow the Prophet".  And when I went to his Thanksgiving celebration at school, I found Tyler's tag among all the "I'm grateful for food" or family, or other typical things.

Slowly, charging that Kindle became a harder task, though.  We had to wiggle the cord juuuust right . . . and then, one day, it wouldn't charge no matter how we plugged it in.  Tyler had a week of denial, and then quite a bit of mourning.

So when Santa asked what he wanted, he said "a new black iPad", since that's what he called the old tablet.

Kaitlyn had some ideas early on, but I told her that Santa knows her really well, and they had a lesson on needs and wants at school.  Bless her heart, she told Santa that all she wanted for Christmas was a surprise and "Christmas Joy", which she told me meant she wanted a happy Christmas.

Jasmine might not have known how Christmas worked, but she sure liked Santa and his cool bells.

She loves Jingle Bells.  (Sometime she seems to think it is a song about Tinkerbell.)

I took this video after Christmas, but it makes me laugh.

Whew!  I think I made it to week of Christmas!