Happy New Years Gingerbread Houses!

You know my complaint drill by now.  The change in the school calendar (smashing finals in the week before Christmas break) robs our family of any time for holiday traditions.  I hate it and it stinks.

So you aren't surprised to discover we did not have time to build gingerbread houses before Christmas.  No big deal...grrrrrr.

We got to work on houses on New Year's Eve.  It was a nice Sunday activity.  We used gram crackers this year and instead of the kids going for a traditional house design I help them build, I let them each build and design their own house creations.  They were thrilled, I had less work to do, more importantly, we all had a nice time.

After gingerbread houses were done, we toasted to the new year and put the little kids to bed.  Happy New Year!

Must be Santa...

Well, whatever we've been doing this year must have been right because Santa showed up and left us all presents.  No one got coal...even though some of us deserved a lump or two.

We all got lovely gifts from each other too.  

Colter unwrapping his Turbo Tank...it will probably never be built.

Lorien was still feeling crummy but managed to have a nice Christmas day too.  Clare got Adell a sewing machine for the sibling gift exchange.  Adell was over the moon!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Eve Traditions!

We went over to Dave and Angela's house for Christmas Eve celebrations with Uncle John and Aunt Betty Jo too.  We had a great time playing games, opening presents, and eating treats.  Per another separate tradition, I misinterpreted something in a text and ended up making an idiot of myself.  But that happens all the time...not just at Christmas.  

Adell wanted to be in charge of a few of the games.  She made up a holiday Pictionary where the person drawing had to be blindfolded.  She also made the saran wrap ball for the unwrapping of goodies and treats.  She loved making the games and explaining the fun we would all have.

Unfortunately, Lorien ended up getting the barfs this morning.  So she stayed home from the festivities and we left a little early (skipping white elephant and the nativity).  We got home in time to track Santa for a bit on NORAD, watch a Christmas movie, leave out cookies and milk and get to bed!

Heres hoping we haven't been too naughty this year and Santa will stop at our house!

Never Ending Barfing...

Oh dear, this was one for the books...or the blog for sure.  Well, it started this morning around 4:00.  Clare came in to tell us Adell had a tummy ache.  I thought it was just gas so I got up and gave Adell a gas-x and some water.  20 minutes later she was barfing in the toilet.  20 minutes after her, Clare started barfing.  Will and I got the girls settled as best we could with buckets by their beds and crawled back into our beds.  20 minutes later the girls were barfing again and I needed to go downstairs for an extra bucket.  As I came up the stairs I met Colter and Will in the bathroom with Colter barfing in the toilet.  I thought: "I hope everyone wakes up barfing now...we can just get this over with."  

Sure enough, an hour or so later Wyatt got up and started barfing.  He set himself up in the downstairs bathroom and stayed there all night.  The rest of the night/morning was spent up and down catching barf and praying that Lorien wouldn't wake up barfing (she has finals this week).  And so it continued into the day, with someone barfing every 20 minutes until about noon.  It was rough!

Thankfully, mercifully, blessedly, Lorien is not sick yet.  Hopefully, she can make it through finals and then get sick...if she has to get sick.  

For now, we are all camped out in the family room, watching TV and trying to eat simple foods that are easy to barf up.  

Pray for us.

It got better over the next few days.  Less barf, still feeling crummy.  Most of the kids were able to go back to school for the last day of the week.  Except for Colter, who had the barfs come back later in the week.  Not fun. 

December 16th...I've got a lot going on...

First up: the Ward Christmas Party!  The Relief Society was in charge of pulling the party together this year.  The previous presidency signed up to do it and then go released...bummer for us.  However, we rallied and pulled off a lovely "Breakfast with Santa" party.  Thankfully, we got to wear our pjs for the party!

Beth Thompson, Brigitta Hair, Abbey Gillespie, Kara Porter and ME!

Will was gone...I cannot remember where now?  A wrestling tournament or for work?  So I was on my own for the fun.  Lorien helped out by wrangling kids and then being the helper elf for Santa.

December 16th is also my Dad AND my brother, Ebin's, birthdays.  So I had to wish them a very happy day today via facebook. 

We ended the day with Clare and Adell's Merry Little Christmas Show.  Clare and Adell have been practicing their routines for weeks and were ready for the show.  Adell got to be in the same number as her cousin, Sadie.  They made a heart with their hands at the end.

Adell also got to play Mary in the manger scene.  It was lovely.

Clare was a sparkly jazz dancer.  She has so much character and spirit when she dances.  I love watching her spunk.

Great job girls!

Last Holiday Tradition Sharing in Kindergarten...

In Kindergarten here parents can come into the classroom around the holidays and share a family tradition.  When Clare was in Kindergarten, I started making these golden-noodle-wreath ornaments with the kids.  Wyatt and Lorien had made a similar ornament in Kindergarten at Orion when we lived in Redwood City.  I decided I wanted an ornament for each kid (I'm sure I've talked about this before) so I signed up for a holiday tradition sharing.  I decided to show the kids our measuring tree and make an ornament.  

I've been sharing the tradition for each child's class since.  Today was my very last one!  It was a little bitter sweet...  Mostly, I am happy it worked, I have a Kindergarten ornament for each kid!  

Also, a family from New Zealand came in and taught the class how to do the Haka for their holiday share.  Colter showed it to me after school and it was awesome!

C-C-C-Cold!

I need to remember that the first few weeks of December are the coldest times of the year here in Northern California.  It is not negative or single digit degrees or anything but the temperatures get down to freezing.  If we got any moisture we could get snow!  However, in addition to being the coldest, they are also very dry.  I always save warm clothes for Christmas presents...and by the time Christmas rolls around, the freezing is gone.  Maybe I need to make warm coats a Thanksgiving present?

On our partial walks to school (from the parked car to the school) Colter, Adell and I like to admire the frost covered grass and leaves.  Adell found this cool leaf with fuzzy, frosted spikes on it.

Adell's Baptism...

Adell was baptized yesterday!  It is a big deal.  When you turn eight you can choose to be baptized or not.  If you choose to get baptized, you officially become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you agree to try and be like Jesus.  You also get the gift of the Holy Ghost to be with you always.  

Adell has watched her older siblings get baptized and was ready for her turn.  

It was a lovely ceremony and we were happy to see her first grade teacher, Mrs. Aplanalp there as well as two of Adell's classmates (Aviva Feder and Maggie Rossini).  It was a special day for Adell.

I had planned to buy Adell's white dress online and save myself a little work as the holiday season was kicking off.  But Tuesday Adell told me she would like her dress to be homemade like Lorien and Clare's dresses were. 

Sigh.

I couldn't say no.  So I made my way to the fabric store and got to work.  Thankfully, I've made this dress two times before and it turned out PERFECTLY!  Adell got to wear a different dress in the water.  In fact she was the first one to get to wear a dress in our stake.  Usually, kids wear a jumpsuit.  She felt pretty special. 

Happy baptism day Adell!  We love you!

Oh, this is a sweet memory I want to document.  Adell is in a primary class with four other boys (Wes Edgren, Seth Shelton, Wyatt Macdonald and Ezra Crockett).  She is the only girl and those boys can be rowdy.  She used to have a girl with her, Julia, but when the ward was split last November, Julia's family ended up in the other ward.  Then a new family moved into our ward...but their child Adell's age was a boy!  So she has been tuffing out every Sunday with a class full of boys.  Moreover, Adell was going to be the last one baptized this year in her primary class.  One Sunday, Ketura Shelton (Seth's mom) was subbing in their primary class.  Ketura said on Adell's baptism all of the boys should bring Adell a single rose for putting up with them in primary every Sunday.  Adell remembered this suggestion.  As her baptism date drew closer she would ask me if I thought the boys would bring her roses?  I told her not to get her hopes up.  That was something a kind mom would remember...not an eight year old boy.

Well, on her baptism day none of her primary classmates were able to attend.  The time got moved up and it was a Saturday in December...too many other things were going on.  However, the next day at church Seth Shelton gave Adell a full bouquet of pale pink roses!  She was so stunned and happy.  She had to give a talk in primary that day.  As she came back to her seat from her talk, Seth handed her the roses.  I turned to see Seth smooth his hair like a cool guy and Adell's bright red, grinning face.  It pleased her to no end to be given roses.  It was beyond sweet.  She picked her favorite rose and insisted on holding it for our family photos later.  Cute girl.   

Starting Christmas Traditions...

Last year, I felt robbed.  Our school district changed the instructional calendar so first semester finals come right before the winter/Christmas break.  It sounds good for kids to not have to study over winter break and just be able to relax...but I did not like it.  My biggest complaint had been that I wanted July and August for summer vacation.  It's silly, but I'd rather be in school in June and out for all of August.  No point...just what I would prefer.  Now, I hate the change for what it does to my holiday lead up.  Because of finals, there is no time for family traditions.  Every evening is promised to end of term concerts, projects, studying or tests.  It stinks.  Last year we didn't get to do most of our usual holiday traditions.  We didn't see the lights at the temple.  We didn't take in any theater or ballet performances.  We didn't do our 12 days of Christmas Secret Santa.  We didn't drive around looking at Winter Wonderlands (house lights in our neighborhood).  We didn't see the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto.  We didn't...we didn't...we didn't.  I kept saying "as soon as school is out..."  but then school was out and two days later it was Christmas.  There was no time for traditions.  I hated it and it made me sad.  Additionally, I wasn't prepared for Christmas.  I kept thinking there would be time once the kids were out of school...but Christmas was there!  So I was rushed for shopping and felt stressed and annoyed.  

This year, I knew finals were not changing.  I knew we'd have kid concerts and projects to attend to every night.  I was determined to be ready early.  So, I've been shopping and planning and trying to be ready.  We still wont be able to do most of our traditions because finals take precedent...but hopefully, I wont be so stressed and annoyed.   

We got started the second weekend after Thanksgiving.  The first weekend was Adell's birthday so we needed to give that its proper due.  

First we got the tree!  

We decorated the tree and put the measuring tree up.  All of the kids picked out an ornament they were satisfied with (except Adell) so we figured we'd get the actual measuring done!  Last year, it happened in February! 

We measured the kids middle out, so we started with Clare. 

Then Adell:

Then Wyatt:
And for the first time in his life, he was the tallest ornament on the tree!

Then Colter:

And finally Lorien:

Where we discovered that Wyatt was no longer the tallest ornament on the tree...but he and Lorien were the exact same height!  Exciting news.  If we had waited until February, maybe Wyatt would have been taller. 

Lorien tried to get a kids only photo of tree decorating but Colter wouldn't cooperate.  So she photo shopped him in.

Our tree is lovely and I have confidence in my Christmas Matrix.  I will be able to get everyone's presents and enjoy the holidays before Christmas actually gets here.