Christmas

Christmas Eve is always the party with Tom's side of the family. The group is getting so big that we used the church this year for the party.

We first made gingerbread houses (this is the best picture I have. Cedric spilled water all over his clothes which is why he is pantless.)

We then ate dinner and then did the Nativity. Lily was Mary (she takes the role so seriously, it's sweet) and Jeff was Joseph.

Tom and Cedric were shepherds.

Then we did the tradition of singing around the Christmas tree.

Then we did our gift exchange.

After the party the kids got to open one present, pajamas! That night the kids went to bed surprisingly well. However, at 4:30 in the morning Lily turned her light on and was ready to get up for the day. Luckily she went back to bed. I was up with the boys a few times after that, so when Lily came in a little after 7 to get us up, I felt like I was just falling back to sleep. Thank goodness I was able to take a good nap that afternoon.
Cedric was a little grumpy and didn't know what was going on. When we had the kids line up youngest to oldest, Cedric was holding his eyes shut out of rebellion.

However, once we made it downstairs and he saw all the toys, he was a lot happier.
Lily's loot...

Jeff's jackpot...

Cedric's stash...

After seeing what Santa brought and opening presents, we headed off to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the traditional Christmas breakfast. It was delicious as always, and the only time we let our kids eat cookies for breakfast. After breakfast we stopped off at Tom's parent's house for a bit, then headed home for an afternoon of play and naps. It was such a nice day the kids were even able to try out their new bike and scooters.

Later that afternoon we headed over to my parent's house for another gift exchange, then off to Grandma Great's house for dinner.

It's always sad when the busy Christmas day is over, but we were able to enjoy another party with friends on Monday and we took the kids to Build-A-Bear with the money they got from Grandma.



Today's our 11 year anniversary and tomorrow is New Year's Eve.
The Holiday's are almost at an end, but it's been a good year for us. We've been very blessed, and are mindful of the greatest gift, reason for the season, our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that because of Him we have the gift of eternal life.

Christmas Events

We've been able to do a lot of fun Christmas events this year so far. Here are some that we've done...
Family pictures at Trolley Square. Our great photographers were Tom's brother, Eric and his wife, Carlee (Thanks guys!)... Visiting Santa... Seeing the lights at Temple Square... Going to the Festival of Trees with some friends... Hunting for Elves at Gardner Village... Lily and some neighborhood friends had a Christmas party... The Ward Christmas Breakfast... Including stories from Mrs. Claus (I love Cedric's arm around Jeff) Coloring activity And seeing Santa... again Sunday Dinner at my parent's house... This included a talent show with all the grandkids...
Lily played the piano



Jeff hula-hooped



Cedric told a knock-knock joke (knock knock. Who's there? Grandpa. Grandpa who? Grandpa you!)




And acting out the nativity... Lily was Mary Cedric was a shepherd (although he told us he was Spiderman) Jeff was a Wiseman Preschool party...
Unfortunately Lily was sick and missed her school party and Christmas program (I think she has a little anxiety like me. And when sleep deprived, excited and nervous all at the same time, gets sick).
However, we still have another family party tonight, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas itself to look forward too!
Merry Christmas!!!

1st Recital

Lily just had her first piano recital. I'm so proud of how good she's doing with piano. Way to go Lily!

Turkey Day

Deck the halls once again! Another Christmas season just started. The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a nasty cold/flu bug come through our house. Luckily we were feeling much better for Thanksgiving day. We also had a crazy snow storm which blew in, dumped a few inches of snow within a couple hours and blew out again. They were closing down everything and telling everyone to stay home because of the blizzard. It was crazy, but Tom got off work early so we got to enjoy the snowy evening as a family. We got another couple FEET last night so we are definitely feeling the beginnings of winter. Here's Lily standing next to a snow pile as tall as her.
Here she is touching a very long icicle!

Thanksgiving day started out with the traditional Turkey Bowl. That is, a tradition for Tom and anyone else that wants to play football (this year it was in the snow and the temperatures were in the teens). I'm so bummed I don't have a picture of Tom playing football, wearing his old high school football jersey from 18 years ago! It's a little snug, but it's tradition!
We had Thanksgiving with my family this year (we alternate every other year with each other's families). The kids had fun playing toys in Grandpa & Grandma's basement, as well as a Christmas game Uncle Mike made. Jeff even won the game!
Cedric was showing off his new trick. Let's see you lick your nose.
My parents were great hosts.
We also enjoyed the presence of my brother, Nate via Skype.
Nate currently lives in Germany so it was fun to have him with us, even if he couldn't eat the food.
And of course it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a football game to watch.
I love Thanksgiving!
Friday, Tom had to work so it was a pretty normal day. I did do a little Black Friday shopping and that night we had a second Thanksgiving dinner with Tom's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., followed by Tom's guy friends coming over to play Wii until all hours of the night. In fact, Tom got up at 4am to try to hit some unsuccessful Black Friday deals and didn't go to bed that night until 4am after his "Guys Night Out". Crazy boy!
Saturday was also crazy with another football game for Tom to play, this time with the ward guys, more shopping for me, a trip to the temple for Tom's cousin's sealing, and topped off with a Christmas show, featuring the Rockettes from New York's Radio City Music Hall.
My favorite dance was the soldier one where they got "hit" by a cannon in slow motion.
Poor Tom missed all of the BYU/Utah game, but he wasn't excited about the end result anyway :)
Sunday we finally had time to decorate the house for Christmas. The kids had fun decorating the tree.

And Cedric even turned the ornament box into a hat.
Overall we had a very fun Thanksgiving weekend!