Merry Christmas!

Our last day with Jolly he gave us a nice reminder about what Christmas is all about.

Our traditional candlelit Christmas Eve dinner. Ham, twice baked potatoes, salad, and rolls. We also drank some sparkling cider. Ollie didn't want to eat a thing, but that's nothing new. Our kids were SUPER wired and crazy for dinner time. We were both going crazy wondering if we'd survive the night. 

So before our lesson we had our family prayer to calm things down a bit and that helped. We had our Christmas lesson where we read from Luke and summarize in toddler terms so the kids understand what was going on. We also did kind of a puppet show for them with our Fisher Price Nativity. It's the our third or forth year we've done that, it helps they have something to watch while we read. We then always watch one of the short LDS nativity clips so they can tie it all together. 

After we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book and put out cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer. We then were tempted to start the tradition of the Christmas Eve sleeping drink, but we didn't. We might have to next year though. We know quite a few parents that do. Our kids were all over the place with excitement, but luckily fell asleep super fast. Adam and I watched the nativity movie like we always do, and then went to bed so Santa could do his thing. 

Stockings stuffed-check, presents under the tree-check! Camera ready-Check!

We were so spoiled this year. Most of the stuff on the right were from people. Then the rest from Santa.  Our kids woke up at their normal time of around 7:30. Milo of course decided to sleep until 8 so the kids were super anxious waiting in our room for him. Ollie kept asking if we could just wake him up. 

We wanted to start this sign tradition last year and forgot, so hopefully we remember to do it from now on. (Minus the stairs and dressed kids) We just made them do it on our bed before they could come out. 

I love how excited they all are in the pics

Ollie was in awe. He kept asking which ones were his. Kids only care about the big ones. 

Milo's oohhh face was what we saw most of the morning

He had to make sure everything was finished off

Opening presents with Milo was so fun

Ollie said after every gift, "It's just what I wanted!"

Gabe makes everyone more excited by her enthusiasm for it all.

Gabe's still VERY into dress up stuff. So that's what she got. It was nice cause we got most of hers on clearance sales. So 3 dresses costed the price of what 1 normally does. Wahoo!

The boys were so intrigued by each other's gifts. It was so cute. They didn't care so much about examining Gabe's even though they still were excited for her. But they were right there to watch each other's gifts opened. They both got cars, trucks, and Jake stuff. 

Surprised by some much wanted bike tools 

I told Adam some gift ideas but told him I wanted him to just surprise me. I LOVED everything. He did wonderfully. Although, this year we had some shipping issues. One package for me was supposedly delivered to our house and we never got it. It's been a mess trying to sort out and still isn't solved. Another one was ordered and told it'd be here long before Christmas, and it will come tomorrow. Luckily they were my gifts, and not kid ones. So we had to buy some cheap ones to improvise with for the unwrapping part. Although, I chose my cheap ones, and was very stoked about them all. :) I would say next year we won't online shop so much, but I can't. We love online shopping. It's not easy or cheap to make trips to St George. 

Anyway here are some pics with our Goodies: 

I think we now own every Jake themed toy there is. Ollie couldn't be happier. 

Milo also got a bunch of clothes not pictured. 

We love just lounging, munching, and playing at home for the rest of the day. And that's exactly what we did. 

Thanks to all who spoiled us! We love you all and hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Around the House

So I figured I'd type out some regular happenings among all the holiday craziness we've had around here. Things are going well in our "normal" lives. I was supposed to have a break from watching the Wadsworth kids this month cause their mom, Heather had surgery and can't work. BUT I think they need the money she gets from working. She begged her boss to allow her to come file or answer phones. She's a dental hygienist. So she asked if I wanted to watch the kids this month even though it was the plan not to in December. This was super hard for me to want to go back to so soon. I was planning on enjoying the holidays with a break and just with my kiddos. I said yes, cause extra money is good and they're good kids. The only trick is that they're out of school so it makes for a REALLY long day for everyone. Usually come two o'clock they are asking if their dad will be here soon. We are used to more things breaking up the day, without school it feels like a really long play date. Oh well we'll survive.

Milo started nursery. He's been wanting to go for weeks. He cries and throws a fit that we won't let him go in. First kid that cries cause he wants to go in. About time we get one of those. He knows there are fun toys in there. He goes in fine, but doesn't want to stay in after a while, so they have to distract him. So far so good. It's nice to have a kid that doesn't look back when we put him in and wants to go. We'll see how long that lasts once Ollie goes into primary. Cross your fingers. Ollie is SOOO over nursery it's not even funny. We have to bribe him to go. He's just too old for it. They aren't super structured in our ward, so they end up playing with toys most of the time. The toys are super lacking, and it leaves Ollie super bored. Luckily one of his teachers has been bringing these wood building blocks from home to try to help him pass the time. It's worked pretty well. He's super excited to go to primary and be a big kid like Gabe. Seeing Milo in nursery makes him feel like a baby. :) We hope come the new year everything will transition well. Adam and I on the other hand are weirded out by being able to go to Sunday School together. Ollie has had issues with nursery so much, and then we had Milo that we haven't had that lesson time together often in a long time. It was an odd/nice feeling.

Milo has finally been getting more back teeth in. He is miserable and hasn't slept for weeks. It's been kinda nuts. I end up most of the nights with him, even if he's had meds. It's been rough. We both have been extra grumpy from it. He just wants to be cuddled ALL day. It's tricky.

Adam has had issues with his Crohns lately. I am aware that it could be worse and that we have been lucky. BUT I am also aware that it will continue to get worse the rest of our lives and it freaks me out. Also seeing him sick and pale in the face with severe stomach pains throwing up every day all day FREAKS me out too. I don't love it. We got him into the doctor who prescribed him pills for the rest of his life. He can't escape it any longer, he gets permanent meds. He told me he feels like an old man already cause he will have to take like 8 pills a day. So we went to go get these pills of his and they told us it would cost us $800 a month for them. Yeah, you read that right. It's nuts. And of course Adam argued that we should wait to buy them till January so it can go towards our deductible. He was volunteering to have a painful flu the rest of the month and not eat. Stubborn crazy man. SO we called his doc asking for a generic brand. They don't make one. There is this other medicine that they use for something else that is an anti-inflammatory too that he was prescribed. We are kinda on a "test" run to make sure it works like the other one. We pray it works cause it $100 compared to $800. He has to take this steroid with it for a few weeks to help it work better. Gabe has already been making sure her Daddy takes his pills each day, cause she doesn't want him sick.

We were going to wait to put the boys together in the same room, but we finally did it. We kinda got sick of boy toys all over both rooms. So we put Gabe by herself in her own room in Milo's old room. Then we moved Milo in with Ollie. Is it gonna be hectic? Yes! Should we have waiting? Probably! BUT… we just did it. Wish us luck. Hopefully it all goes well. :) So far Gabe is loving the independence  from the boy world, and the boys love having a "boy zone" to play in. So now we have a girl room and a boy room for stuff to go.

Anyway, there is an update on the latest and the greatest with us.

More December Happenings….

Jolly our Elf has been around of course. He's done a few fun things this year, but mostly a lot of things like last year. Mainly cause the kiddos don't remember. He has left notes, and goodies, and video messages from Santa. He's also left a lot of Be Good warnings for the kids. More than he probably should. Ollie isn't phased by the not getting presents threat. I finally took away presents we actually already have under there. That finally got his attention, so that's what we do. It's a visual thing with him. 

Gabe has been tricky this year cause she likes to quietly ask him questions about his favorite color, or about Santa, or about his elf life. He doesn't always hear cause she's so quiet. So we had to start asking her each night what she asked him to make sure he got the message. Ah! It's also funny to see the kids tattle to Jolly instead of me when their sibling is naughty. Ollie also believes if you touch him he'll probably die. He told me, "Go ahead mom touch him, then see if he brings you any presents." 

My hubby spontaneously got me some roses. Love this man. 

We made some awesome gingerbread houses this year. Love those kits they are all sorts of convenient. We usually have the boys do one and the girls do one. Ollie crake us up with how he wants to do things. 

Ollie wanted a car design on his roof

He also wanted a smiley face on the other side

Gabe was more worried about making hers pretty and festive. We decided to put Santa on our roof. 

Gabe has made some amazingly cute pics this year. This is a nativity one that she drew for Kay. She had me write what each thing was in case she couldn't tell. 

Enjoying Nana's advent

We went to Tuacahn to see the nativity and Santa. 

Santa wasn't our favorite. Gabe now decides when a Santa is real or not. The one that came to her school wasn't, cause his beard was fake. She is sure this one is the real deal cause his beard was real, but she noticed he didn't look the part well. We kinda agreed. :/ Ah well. Gabe also decided last minute to tell Santa that she REALLY wants a yo yo for Christmas. It's all she's talking about, cause she told Santa she wanted one and he asked her what color so that means he's bringing her one. Ah! Guess he's gonna have to. 

More Tuacahn Fun

Ready for the show

We took some pics Sunday, cause we all were festive. I know it's kinda crazy red overkill, but it's all we had. I didn't buy anything new this year so I used what we had. It all happened to be read. So I sported green, and Adam did too with his tie. :)

Love this one of our cute kids

These are some pics Gabe and Ollie drew for people. I thought they were wonderful.