Christmas Eve Dinner with the Shephard's

We were invited to the Shephard's for Christmas Eve dinner and it was marvelous. I was feeling a little sad about not being home for Christmas...you know with family. I was even just thinking I wanted to stay home and pout, but I am so glad that we got to go to their house, it was just what we needed. They taught us their traditions and the kids got really excited and we thorougly enjoyed ourselves. The kids table, with Chris and Jenny and Ryan and Melanie.

Menu:

Martinelli's sparkling apple cider, salmon, steak, potatoes, salad, jello,

bubble bread and hot artichoke dip.
Delicious!

The "adult" table with Sam, Noah and Brent.

Emma found a christmas garland and Hillary helped her get all

"decked out"

She was so funny!... Lookin'!

Max was given "Flarp" Goop that you push into a jar and it makes farting

noises. It was quite disgusting, but the little boys thought it was really funny.

Max even said "too bad for you, you'll hear it all the way home in the car."

Yeah, too bad for me.

The little girls(Mara and Emma) and the Big Boys(Sam and Brent)!

We brought along the girls pajamas so that they could fall asleep in the car on the way home.

Good thinking on our part! They did and thankfully they were in bed at a decent hour.

(Ever since I took Emma's crib down, the girls both think that they don't have to go to bed

until we do! Not good.)

Christmas Traditions~Christmas PJs from YiaYia!~

First off, has anyone ever thought about what a funny word PJs, Pajamas, or P-jammas is? Where did it even come from?

Anyway, off the side note!

The kids were all really excited to open their pajammas this year. After looking at all the presents under the tree for so long, it was finally time to open one! Yeah!

It didn't matter that they already knew it was pajamas, they were just excited.Every year Ryan's parents get us all pajamas to open up on Christmas Eve. It is such a fun tradition that we all look forward to.
The opening begins!

Pink Gingerbread jammas for the girls and plaid flannel for the younger boys.

(don't know why Emma had to have that "little people" in her mouth...she is so wierd)

"Grown up" jammas for the older boys.

Sam's shirt says "Cereal first, questions later."

Noah's shirt says "10 minutes more."

They love them of course.

Christmas Traditions~The Nativity~

We bring to you on Christmas Eve~The Nativity~Director(Mel) and Narrator (Ryan)
Cast of Charactures:
Mary: Mara, Joseph: Noah, Donky: Miya
Shephards:Sam, Noah, Caleb,Max
Angel: Emma
Wisemen:Max, Caleb, Sam

It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Ceasar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David which is called Bethlehem; to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, beign great with child. And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought fourth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold an angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round them

and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of DAvid a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.And when the angels were gone the shephards said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And wisemen from the east came bearing gifts of Gold, Frankinscense and Myrrh.

And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

May we, like Mary, ponder all these things in our hearts.

Christmas Tradition~Nut in the Pudding~"09

last year we started the nut in the pudding tradition.

Sam made the pudding, I put the pudding in the cup and placed a nut in one of them.

I covered it so you couldn't tell which cup it was in,

Max mixed up the cups with no one else in the room,

Then Noah put them on the tray with no one else in the room.

Ryan then got the tray and served them.
Then we eat the pudding. The person who gets the nut gets a special gift just for them.
This year it was tickets for two to the movie(it had to be for two in case one of the little ones got it and they needed to take someone with them.)
Guess who got it??????????????
Me! (Melanie) yeah! Date night here I come....now who to take?;)

The Sunday Before Christmas 2009

Today was a big, no HUGE day. I had to lead the choir for the entire sacrament program, be with Sam as he was ordained and do a nativity production for sharing time in primary.

It was a lot, but planning ahead works wonders and I was able to get the kids dressed and their pictures taken before church. I love this Sunday. I fell in love with the girls dresses after going to look at them only 5 times. Ryan said they looked like wall paper, so I was so iffy... but I am so glad I got them, they were pretty cute and the girls thought they were princess, so that was great. What do you think? Wallpaper or doable? Big Sam, getting ordained today! What a day! So proud of him!

Noah...Love that kid...doesn't his smile just make you smile?

It makes me want to.

Caleb thinkin' he's all grown up...I won't believe it!

He will be baptized in two weeks, can it really be possible that I

will have three of my kids over the age of 8?

Max just can't be serious...it just isn't in him.

Love this Lady! She is certainly a HAM

And she is my Precious ANGEL!

Girls

Boys

The whole CREW!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

12 today, Twelve, 12, 1-2!

Happy Birthday to Sam! I cannot believe that he is twelve, and I do not think it fair that I am dated by his age, But I do count my blessings everyday for him!

All the kids are gathered around to see just what he will open next. They are thinking...will it be something that "I" will like? Will he let me use it? How can I convince him to let me play with it.

You know they all are thinking that. But we all are thinking:"we hope he has the greatest day ever because he deserves it!

Sam was so excited for his birthday! He was so excited that he had to go to bed early so that it "would come sooner."

Does that make any sense? It made perfect sense to him.

We truly are blessed to have Sam in our family. I mean any kid who tells you it is a privilege to tend the kids is a keeper. And one who asks daily "Mom what do you need help with?" deserves the best birthday ever.

I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for another day that I get to see him grow.

He truly is a JOY!

Caleb's Constitution

Each morning for devotional, we recite the pledge of alligence and the preamble to the constitution and the first two paragraphs fo the Declaration of Independance(that's as far as we have gotten) While we were learning it, everyone would take a turn saying it, but since that takes lots of time and we know it now, the person in charge, picks one person to say it. Today Noah picked Caleb to say the Declaration of Independance. It really goes like this:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the

political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers

of the earth the seperate and equal state to which the laws of nature and Nature's God entitle them,

a decent respect for the opinion of mankind requires that they should declare the causes

which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self evident that all me are created equal, that they are endowed by

their creator with certain unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.

Well Caleb started out and says this:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the

political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers

of the earth the seperate and equal state to which the laws of nature and Nature's God entitle them,

a descent respect to the opinion of mankind requires that they

become converted to the gosepl of Jesus Christ.

I got quite a chuckle out of that.

He got it mixed up because we have recently been memorizing the Duties of the Aaronic Priesthood as well.

He is hilarious, it took quite a while to get everyone settled down after that, but truly: A descent respect to the opinion of mankind does require that you become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, when you think about it.

Sam's Long Hair is Gone

During the summer, I was bugging Sam about getting a haircut, and he said he wanted to see what his hair would look like long. I told him he didn't have to get a haircut until he was 12 if he didn't want to. The truth is he has the most beautiful thick hair, and I wanted to see what it would look like as well. He made it, with just a few trims from me, this is how long it got. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 we headed to the barber, and she worked her magic.












Here he is in the barber chair, getting ready! He was such a good sport. To be honest, I was probably sadder to see it go than he was. But it looks great now!

What a great kid he is. He is always so willing to help and often mindful of what needs to be done, and does things without being told to. I am so glad to have him as my own. He truly makes our family happy.

Funny Things!

MARA:We went to the annual Great Falls Christmas stroll and watched a light parade. It actually wasn't too cold! Santa came down the street and lite the lights on the huge tree in front of the civic center. I was showing Mara how the tree had so many lights and she pointed to the tree and said "That tree...the one with the all lights?" Yep, the one with the ALL lights!

CALEB: We were eating spagetti for dinner tonight and Caleb says hey mom, this new tooth is coming in handy. Watch this...it can bite my spagetti into a smaller piece. What a concept I say! A tooth in the front that you can bite with. I wonder what it would be like to not be used to teeth in the front, and then to finally get them. He thinks it's pretty cool.

I have been dreading teaching Caleb cursive. I was just getting finished teaching Max all his letters, and it has been a little difficult, so the thought of starting another one was a little painful. It had to be done though, so I told Caleb we were going to start. He "complained" as usual, and I was dreading it even more. Great, I was going to have to force him to do it. As he was having a fit about it, I wrote his name in cursive and said "look, there is your name." That was all I had to say. He promptly wrote his name and spent an hour with me learning all the letters. He loved it, all that dreading for nothing. It was a piece a cake. I needed that in my life right now.

Doesn't it seem like when it rains, it has to pour? We have had a few problems with our boiler, and the serviceman said that it just needs to be replaced. YUCK! not what I had planned to do. It will only be $9,000.00. What! $9,000.00 YIKES! Oh, but don't worry there is a tax rebate for $1500.00. Oh, good. I'm glad, only $7500.00, that's a relief~not! Okay, what are our choices..oh yeah, we don't have one. You can't really just do without when it frequently is -30 outside.
So with that in the works, I was a little behind (okay, a lot behind) in laundry. We desperately needed whites. So Ryan starts a load only to find out the water pipe is frozen. We had left it running, left the doors to the cabinet open, and it still froze...now that is cold. So for four days I couldn't do laundry. This brings me to funny Sam.

SAM: "Mom, I need underwear, I am out."
"Well Sam, the washer doesn't work." I say
"What!" he says "I had to wear Noah's underwear today, that is just wrong"
I say "at least you have someone to share underwear with, If I'm out, I'm out."
Thinking about that Sam says "Can't you borrow dad's?"
I wonder "Is he serious?" I hope not, doesn't he know that's were babies come from? ;)

The washer works now, I am over the fact that for the next 9 years I will get a boiler for Christmas, and life is good!

Searching For That Perfect Tree!

We decided this year to be the "Griswalds" and trek to the mountains to find that perfect tree.

We went with our friends the Shephard's and they led us to a perfect spot.

We packed all our winter gear, hot chocolate and sandwiches.

The weather was so beautiful though, most of the winter gear was ditched quite quickly. Isn't this a beautiful spot?

She could be the little angel on top!

Max found a stick right off, of course!

Searching, Searching, Searching!

Down the ravene, next to the river...

...across the field...

...the boys by the river....

...packing a sweet baby face...

...holding the hand of a energetic little girl...

...sledding down the hill of ice...

...enjoying the perfect winter day....

...kids galore!...

...the perfect tree was finally found...

Ryan actually said he had a "Clark Griswald" moment. He came around the corner and

AHHHH! the sun was shining a beam of light on our perfect tree.

We actually found it so fast the kids were all complaining because they weren't ready to leave.

We drank hot chocolate, played, ate our sandwiches, played, played some more and then headed for home to set up our beautiful evergreen.

It was so much fun, kids and parents loved it and hope it will become a tradition.