Blustery End to 2011

Remember a few months back when we had lots of wind and it blew cracked our fence? Today I was folding laundry & was thinking, "Man, it's really windy today" & then I heard this crack/crash sound at the front of the house. All I thought was since it didn't sound like a window breaking that I hope that whatever hit the house didn't cause any damage.

When Rick got home from running some errands for me I mentioned it & he said he hadn't noticed anything but went out to look around. And he found half of our shutter in the grass.

Somehow the wind broke that shutter right in half & I'm grateful it didn't hit any windows. But now we have to figure out how to get a new shutter. Hopefully, we won't have any wind damage to our home (or any damage at all) in 2012.

The Tooth Fairy Came

Lexie was super excited that the tooth fairy left her extra money this time because she was so brave. I think it was also because of the cute thank you note that she left for the tooth fairy. She's so sweet.

Busy Wednesday

We had a super busy but fun day today. We started off by going to the dentist. Our kids LOVE the dentist & regularly ask when we can go again. So we got up & ready & Eliza was looking particularly cute today & we needed to document that.

At the dentist we all got a clean bill of health (Hooray! No cavities!) And Lexie had 2 teeth pulled. She did not love that one bit. It was actually quite a bit harder than she thought it would be. She got 4 shots & poor girl, after the first tooth was pulled out, bravely let Dr. O pull the next. I think this is the most pain she has ever experienced before, but she did fine & our dentist was really good about being quick & as gentle as he could be. We went out to lunch after & she had ice cream, which seemed to help a little bit.

Here she is after lunch with new cotton in her mouth. She bled for quite awhile.

After lunch we headed to the zoo. We had a fun time together just walking around enjoying all of the animals & gratefully the weather was pretty decent.

Here's a picture of Lexie & her new smile! Still as beautiful as ever!

And here are her 2 pulled teeth & her treasure box to keep them in.

Christmas Day

Much like the tradition I had growing up, the rule in our house is that you can get up however early you'd like & get your stocking but no touching the presents until after breakfast (or today, after Church). True to Lexie style, she was up at 12:16 am ready to go but decided since it was the middle of the night rather than morning, she climbed into bed with us to sleep for a bit longer. Joseph then got up at 3:30 am & came in to ask me to help him get it down. So, Lexie was then up, Rick was up, & we headed down to open their stockings. We looked at everything for a bit & then sent them back to bed around 4:30. We told them they needed to be quiet so Andrew didn't wake up. Well, that didn't quite work. Lexie & Joseph were whispering (a lot) & around 5:15 Andrew was up & ready to go get his stocking. Gratefully (just kidding), Eliza woke up as well & we went through everyone's stocking. By this time, there was no use trying to go back to sleep so we got breakfast & started getting ready for Church.

I got to sing a duet today (totally not on my game & more nervous than usual). I learned that I shouldn't practice singing the song holding Eliza because I was always rocking her & so with my nerves as well as this habit for the last week, apparently I was up there rocking just a little bit. Um, awesome. Oh well, a good learning experience.

After Church we came home & got back into jammies, because that's best for opening presents, & had a little snack & then present time!

Eliza was thrilled to let us open presents while she caught up on past Friends.

It was so much fun watching all of the delight the kids got in making presents for each other this year & in watching one another open them. The only bad part was Andrew not being completely thrilled with his toilet paper roll dolphin & rocket. He hasn't quite learned the art of gratitude for everything, but I'm sure he'll get it soon. I love how thoughtful & sweet they are with us & each other though. They made & had fun wrapping so many of the presents under that tree.

Andrew & Eliza loved climbing under the tree looking for presents & just being plain silly!

Once we were done, Lexie wasted no time getting started on reading one of her new books. This girl reads like a machine & never tires of it! It's wonderful!

We had a very Merry Christmas & are grateful for all of the wonderful blessings & things that we have, but especially for our Savior, whose birth we celebrate this day.

Christmas Eve

We held our family Nativity tonight. It was fun watching the kids negotiate who they were going to be in our play but then when it actually happened, having to renegotiate it out & then just having everything just sort of happen.

Our Mary riding the Donkey.

Andrew as a Shepherd.

Joseph as a Shepherd who was sore afraid.

Mary with baby Jesus singing.

More of the frightened Shepherds.

The Angel.

The Wiseman bringing gifts for the baby Jesus.

It's also so fun getting to sing all of the Christmas songs together as a family throughout our performance. That was always one of my favorite things growing up & can tell it's quickly becoming one of our kiddos as well.

Last Sunday the Senior Primary had a Talent Show & Lexie & her best friend Haley sang "Silent Night" in English & German. (She also played "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" on the piano.) It's was really fun teaching it to them & seeing how that has now became a staple in our home. It always makes me smile when we're driving somewhere & behind me I hear Andrew singing it in German. And the other favorite Christmas song (non-religious) is "Jingle Bells" sung with all of the Joy School actions. We sing both of these songs multiple times in the day. And it always brings a smile to our faces. We'll see how long it lasts. I remember growing up that we would always choose "Jingle Bells" for one of the songs at Family Home Evening much to my mother's "delight", I can see that same sentiment here if it keeps up all year long.

And here is the tree all ready for Christmas morning.

And the stockings all hung with care.

And to top it all off, it's all done & it's not even 10:00. It's time for bed!

Under the Tree

We held our annual "sleep under the Christmas tree" event this evening. We like to do this today because it's Joseph Smith's birthday. We read the Joseph Smith story & talk about his life & why it's important to us today. It's always fun to hear the kids share their feelings as well about him & then we get to sleep under the tree! We love it!

We're Having A White Christmas

I had to convince the kids to wait to go out & play until it was at least 7 am. They just couldn't wait to get out there & mess up all of this beautiful snow!

And our wonderful neighbor gave us a very welcomed surprise this snowy day! He did our entire driveway. My back greatly thanks him, or rather, Rick's since mine is still hurting from the other day. He is an angel! Looking forward to a wonderful snow day at home (it's too bad poor Rick only got a 3 hour delay so he has to head in for a few hours today).*Update: Hooray! They closed the base & Rick does get a snow day! Hooray!