First Tooth

This little lady was super excited to lose her very first tooth!

Merry Christmas!

Santa left the stockings by the fireplace at Nana and Papa's again this year. So we went up there and opened the stockings and had breakfast. They were so sweet and made everything. (This pregnancy stuff is tough!)
After we ate and opened the stockings, we went an opened the gifts under the tree. The kids again filled the tree with gifts they had made for each other and for us. They each got one present from Santa and one present from us---the rest was all stuff from them that they had made. It was amazing! These kids have hearts of gold!

Christmas Eve

Oh how I love this holiday. It is hard being pregnant during it though and so some of our traditions went by the wayside, but in the end it was still enjoyable. I love my kids!
We had a special request this year for homemade pizza and we watched "Elf" for the first time. And unlike most Americans, it was probably the last time we will watch it too. We worked on a puzzle, and just had a very quiet and laid-back evening. (To the point that we almost forgot to put the cookies out for Santa.) Lucky for us, Grant and I didn't even have any presents to wrap after the kids went to bed. It was awesome!

Winter Wonderland

We got a bit of snow today, and so the kids had to go and enjoy it before it melted. Merry Christmas Eve!

Potty Training in One Day

With homeschooling the kids, potty training has never gone well for Piper. I have tried on several different occasions and it has obviously never taken. Finally I decided that I needed to wait until Christmas break and just go for it. I found an article online about how to potty train in one day. And really, that is all the time I have to devote to it--so we set off today to do it in one day--and it had to work. Basically it entails drinking tons of liquids so the child has to go to the bathroom every few minutes (so they have tons of practice) and rewarding with treats. We drink water and occasionally the kids will drink milk on a normal basis. We only have pop and juice on Birthdays and other special occasions. So when the kids all got Hi-C and other myriads of drinks--they thought it was pretty cool and helped to be Piper's cheerleaders. We did nothing all day except go to the bathroom. And so far it seems that it has worked. It has to work. She will be out of nursery in less than 2 weeks. There is no other option. Wish us luck!

Elys Christmas with Santa

For the last few years, Grant's parents have had their annual Christmas night. We all get together and do a very simple gift exchange (White Elephant-style) and Papa dresses up as Santa. It is so much fun every year.

Favorite Pastime

This is one of our kids' favorite pastimes. It is not necessarily our favorite pastime. But one we should remember. They take all the toys that have wheels---the big red car, a dump truck, and a walker--and race them down the hall. It is loud. Usually people don't get hurt, but the walls are a different story. It is not confined to age as Ben still does it, and Piper has already been racing for a long time. Did I mention it was loud?

Christmas Party

Grant's work has a party every year for Christmas. And I need to remember that we should take pictures before we leave to go. It is the one night of the year that we actually dress up to go out (although Grant is often already dressed up from being at work for our dates). And then we think to take pictures when we get home, but I am so tired by that point that...well let's just say they would look better if we took them earlier in the  night :) I was pretty excited about this dress. I didn't want to spend really any money on a dress this year since I knew I would only wear it once, but I found this one at a thrift store for $12. This year's Christmas party was fun. Grant is a pretty good date!

Thanksgiving

We headed up to the cabin this year for Thanksgiving day. It was nice because Gretchen was there again. I love that! I wish I could see her more often. We had fun hanging out with the kids and playing games. And I think the boys secretively enjoyed watching football. It is the one day a year that they do that. There was tons of food as always, and it was nice to visit with family

On Saturday we went over to Kim's house and celebrated Thanksgiving with Grant's family. Lydia and Piper loved being at Aunt Kim's house, and Lydia loved seeing Keys while we were there. I love that we live so close to family so that we can (try to) get together often.

Decorating for Christmas

Wow. This year decorating for Christmas was interesting for me. The kids are old enough that we just got out the boxes, and they went at it. I just kept telling myself that when we get to take the decorations down, then my house will feel so clean because it will be so not cluttered in comparison. There are decorations everywhere, but they had so much fun and they loved it. It is a magical time of year.

 This is how I felt:

 And apparently I wasn't the only one feeling this way:

 But at least I have this cutey to calm my nerves:

 Karmin is already filling her sibling's stockings with her Halloween candy--something they do every year. Santa really doesn't need to bring much to put in their stockings because they put so many things in them for each other.

 Really. My sentiments exactly.

Picking My Battles

Since Grant is in the Bishopric, I have the privilege of getting all 6 of the rest of us ready and to church on-time by 9:00 in the morning. This is different from school days, because I definitely don't get Piper and myself ready to take kids to school. Being pregnant, I'm not too anxious to get up early and get going. So on Sunday mornings, I have everybody get themselves ready. And truth be told, I have tried influencing Piper on her clothing choices, but in the end she wants to wear what she wants to wear. So I have to figure out the balance between letting her make her own choices vs. being too distracting at church with their outfits. The last few Sundays it has seemed worse (maybe me looking at the clock in the morning thinking "I can stay in bed for 5 more minutes," isn't the best habit I have gotten into). Last week this was Piper's outfit:

It consisted of a pair of pants, a skirt, a dress, two swimming suits (yes you read that correctly), and two shirts. She also had to take her backpack (which I usually don't let the kids bring any toys to church). At least she *brought* shoes with her that day. Usually she goes barefoot (I wonder where she gets that from?). 

This week, Lydia decided that she wanted to wear all pink to school. The only problem was that she didn't have pink pants (only shorts), and her pink shirt was somewhere in our huge pile of laundry that is waiting to be folded. So our usually fashion-forward child wore this to school this week: 

 Today, I was running the latest I have been since Grant started his new assignment at church. I sent Piper out to the garage to find her shoes thinking that she would at least find one shoe and I could find the other one before we left. (Yes, where we store our shoes and coats in the garage matches the room where our ever-unfolded pile of laundry is.) I was so pleased and relieved that she found both shoes and started getting in the car all by herself. This was saving me! When we got to church, I was amazed we got there on time. Lydia had left her shoes at home, so was going barefoot, and Piper actually got dressed in a somewhat reasonable outfit (consisting of a dress, a pair of pants, and Karmin's shirt). I was feeling pretty good and on top of things. Then I looked down and saw Piper's shoes---both were different. At least we were there. At least we sit in the back, so not as many people see us. 

Disney On Ice

Grant's parents took his whole family to Disney on Ice as part of our Christmas present this year. It was so much fun. It had been a few years since we had been, so it was fun to watch the kids--especially the girls. Piper and Lydia were so excited. It was fun to be there with all of their cousins too.

Date Night

This month it was Lydia's turn to go on a date with us. She chose to go to a pottery place. She found an owl mug, and the three of us worked on it together. This girl cracks me up. She can talk our ears off the whole time, but we love it. It was fun to work on the one project together.

And so it begins...

The teenage years should be fun!!

Baby

My growing belly!

Ben's Birthday

We are now the parents of a teenager. How crazy is that?
With Ben's birthday being on Sunday this year, it was more low-key. He didn't want to have a party either--which made it seem that much more quiet. We did have a little mini family-party last night with pizza and a movie. But today we celebrated in other small ways. We had his favorite foods for lunch and dinner, and hung out as a family.
Ben has shined this year in his service to our family. He babysits for us every week so that Grant and I can go on our dates. He also has helped around the house while I have not been feeling the best. I'm not sure if Ben has Piper wrapped around his little finger, or if Piper has Ben wrapped around hers, but those two get along so well. Ben is a natural leader and pulls a lot of weight in the happiness of our family. This year he has been on a quest to figure out what he wants to be "when he grows up." The one job he wanted for several years (the CEO of the local electric company) seems to have gone by the wayside. But that's okay, he'll figure it out. We love Ben and couldn't have had a better oldest child!

Halloween

As always the kids were really excited for Halloween, and I think it made it even better that it was on a Friday this year. Lydia went to school, and had a lot of fun in her parade and having her first school party. Then that night, we went over to Jim and Theresia's house for chili and mummy-dogs. After we had full tummies, we went out trick-or-treating to a neighborhood that Grant grew up in. It is a fun neighborhood because the houses are a little bit more spread out and so the kids get a lot more exercise and there are definitely less people. The people answering the doors seem genuinely pleased to see the kids because they don't get many kids there. (Although, I think this year our 10 kids all together might have been a bit overwhelming!) After we called it a night, we came home and watched the new Studio C  that was Halloween-themed. It was a fun night!

Pumpkins

We didn't get around to decorating for Halloween this year, so Grant and I made a point to make sure that we at least carved pumpkins. Karmin had no trouble digging right in and getting everything out, but the other kids weren't so excited about it. But they did it, and it was fun. The pumpkins turned out perfect. And they matched our kids' personalities.