Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning!!!  My camera is having issues focusing--one of the reasons I was sad about the camcorder, because I already wanted to buy a new camera.  Anyway, not so early Christmas morning.
The little kids got a swing set that Santa left in a safe spot for Leo and I to pick up this spring.  And then they got a bunch of legos.  And there's some various other things.  I got an Ott lamp for my sewing desk.  Leo got some shirts and a thing to mix chocolate milk.  And Ana got cooking utensils, silverware, cups, and an all important ice cream scoop to take to college.  And a mirror for her room. Its been a really great Christmas!



And we got snow for Christmas!

Christmas Eve

In no particular order because they loaded funky, here's all the kids opening their Christmas Eve pajamas.  I love fuzzy footy pj's on little kids.  I don't think Ana was as thrilled, but she's a good sport and wore them all day Christmas.









I was kind of a grump Christmas Eve--I discovered early that some kid had busted the card reader in our camcorder, so no camcorder.  And then I was tired.  I need to go to bed early all the time.  Anyway, Leo saved the day and played with the kids and they had a good day, I think, for the most part.  Luckily by the end of the day it kind of turned around.  

We did a low key nativity with scarves and Wolverine??!?  as costumes, and watched the Claymation Christmas.  Then we played a game of Pass the Pigs and lit our nativity thingy--best 5 bucks ever spent at a garage sale.  The kids love that thing.  The heat from the candles makes it spin around.  I love the expression on Jubal's and Lando's faces.  So adorable!!!


If the night had ended there, it would have been perfect.  The little boys went to bed and then we played Rook with Isabel, Elena and Ana (Leo and Isabel were partners).  That was fun too, and then the girls went to bed.  Only the boys had never fallen asleep, and then the girls never went to sleep.  Leo and I started watching a show to wait for them, but 11 PM they were still thumping around upstairs and then the power went out and they were all crying.  And then by 1:30 AM Elena was still hysterical because she was upset that she was still awake and would be tired in the morning. She finally fell asleep, but then Lando fell out of bed and woke up Jubal at 2 AM, and well, you can see how our night went.  Plus, I already get up 20 times at night and my hip aches so that always wakes me up.  What I'm leading up to is that we didn't wake the kids up in the morning and so we didn't get up in time to go to church.  Shame on us, but I was exhausted.  I still love Christmas though.

Ana and her baby Frodo

Busy Christmas Time

 As always, December is hugely busy.  We had an activity at the school--making gingerbread houses. I took the 5 youngest by myself because Leo is studying all the time for the Professional Project Manager licensing test.  Joy.  Isabel and Elena made this one.

 And Nicolas and Sebastian made this one.  The kids were actually really good and well behaved.  Only a few minor fights.  :)  Jubal spent his time looking at the pictures of balls on the gym wall.

 Then the next week I went to a concert every day for 4 days straight.  This was Sebastian's.  Again, I took all the kids but Ana and Elena.  It was absolute chaos.  Jubal was CRAZY.  And Sebas, not such an enthusiastic singer.  Hee. Hee.

 Isabel's was the next night.  I went by myself.  Which was nice.

 Oh my goodness though, I only want to got to preschool concerts from now on.  HILARIOUS!  Lando is the opposite of Sebas--he loves to sing and was very serious during their 4 songs.  He was one of the only kids following the actions, and the only kid I could hear singing during the Rum-pa-pa-pum part in the Little Drummer Boy.  SO cute!!!  And then his bells fell off during Jingle Bells, and he was so lost on what to do.  Hee. Hee.

 Elena's was actually my second favorite.  They sang some pretty cool songs.

And this song, where she played the xylophone was really good. I was impressed!

 And Gandalf the Grey disappeared after I locked him in the garage for a week to give her antiobiotics.  Maybe she'll come back Gandalf the White?!?  Either way, Pippin (weirdo Pippen) was sad, although not quite as sad as when Merry died, and it was half off at the shelter to adopt cats, so we got another cat.  (Yes, I was worried they wouldn't adopt to us anymore. We've gone through kittens kind of fast.)  But I really like this kitten, he's way nicer than Gandalf.  We named him Gimli.

 Pippen is now a much happier cat.

 My friend Karen from Houston sent Elena, Isabel and Sebastian the treat bags from her kids' Harry Potter birthday party.  So nice!! My kids loved them, but Lando especially loved the glasses and wore them ALL. THE. TIME. for 3 days straight.

 I finished the tree skirt for the kids' tree downstairs.  Yay!

 I also made neighbor gifts.  Shortbread.  Yum.

And then after all the concerts, we had the ward Christmas party on Friday, and the Sinclair Christmas party on Saturday, which we didn't realize was a show, the invite said 1-4, and we showed up as 3 and they were basically cleaning everything up by then.  Whoops.  Anyway, it was a busy week.  I'm glad it's over.  Plus I don't think Jubal would survive the week much longer.  He thudded into a church bench on Sunday--very audible thunk.  Then one of the days, he was climbing onto my lap while I was on the computer, slipped, and clunked the side of his head against the desk--his ear is sliced all the way to the inside and it's nasty purple and bruised.  And then he fell face first off the back of the couch  on Saturday--major goose egg on his forehead, and I think he got a concussion that time.  It took a while for him to be his normal Jubal self.  Yeah, that kid.  Oh, and I finished a maxi dress for Ana.  But I forgot to take pictures when she wore it to church on Sunday.  Next time.

Bathtime

Or in other words, Jubal is adorable!!!  Seriously, so stinking adorable, and a good thing too, he might not survive otherwise. He squeezes his eyes shut to "smile" for the camera.