Before school starts again...

As my Christmas break winds down I come to the realization that I have not blogged about any of the happening in our family since early/mid November.

With a birthday, a baptism, a ballet recital, and of course, Christmas, we have been fairly busy.  It was quite fair for me to say, on Christmas Day, that my break was really beginning (9 days after my last final).  So here a month by moth explanation of what has been going on here.

NOVEMBER

Josh turned 8 in mid November and he was one excited boy!  He always feels that he has to wait the longest for his birthday to come around (Kate is in June and Eric, October).  I try to explain to him that he waits as long as everyone else, but, well, you know how logic works with kids.

His favorite part was, obviously, the gifts, and he sat by them while everyone else around him played.  He was patient, while being impatient.

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and when a child turns 8 we give them the opportunity to be baptized.  Josh made the choice to be baptized and we did this special event on November 20.  Josh was baptized by his Dad.  It was such a special day.  Brandon and I sure are lucky to have such a great kid like Josh as our son.  We are so proud of him for making this decision.

 For Thanksgiving, Brandon's Grandma came from Ohio to spend some time with everyone.  Here is a picture of her with all of her great-grandchildren.

DECEMBER

December brought in Katie's first ballet recital, the reality of finals, the threat of snow (at the same time) and Christmas!

Katie took ballet with Miss Sarah over the fall and LOVED IT!!  She tries really hard to do her best at each class and was so excited for her recital.  She even performed a solo!!  I was amazing to watch her dance with confidence and with pride.  She was not afraid and we all loved watching her.

The very next week brought my finals, the kids last week of school (with all of its accompanying parties/gift exchanges) and SNOW!!!!!

Thursday afternoon, the day before my last final it started to snow and it never let up!  The picture of the kids playing is from that same afternoon/early evening.

Don't you just love Albuquerque snowmen?  All in all, we received 6 inches up in the highest part of the northwest section of the city (where we live).  I studied while watching the news hoping for a delay at UNM so that my final would be cancelled.  UNM has a policy that if the final is cancelled for a delay or a school cancellation then your grade stands as it was on the last day of class.  I was good with that since my final was with my hardest professor in my hardest class at 7:30 in the morning.  No such luck as UNM was the ONLY thing running in the city on that Friday morning.  But, whether it be a gift for showing up to the exam or my incredible knowledge on the subject, I discovered that I did EXTREMELY well on the test and managed a B+ in the class (I had an 84 before the final).  I don't normally acknowledge my grades (because I doubt anyone really cares) but this professor is very difficult and hardly ever hands out A's.  I was happy!

Next up came Christmas. I had the great idea that I would make a lot of gifts for people and the kids.  Not sure that I will do that again.  So stressfull when you cannot devote a lot of time to making them before the 17th of the month.  But all went well and we had a nice Christmas.



So that is just all the big stuff that we did.  I also...baked through several pounds of butter, flour, and chocolate, took kids to various play dates watched a TON of college football (quack quack) and hung out with friends and family.  I also finished painting the bottom half of Katie's room and sewed some curtains for the half bath (that I messed up on and must redo), cleaned out closet and small rooms.  I read books that I did not have to report on or remember in anyway.  Brandon and I finally made it to Harry Potter and had some other time together (thanks Steph) to take care of things that needed to be done.  I also watched a ton of tv and learned to digi-scrap (thanks Steph).   It was busy, but it was good. 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled life.

Santa Came!

The big jolly elf came and filled the stockings...

ate the cookies so lovingly decorated by the kids...

and left them presents.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gingerbread Houses

The Saturday before Christmas we made Gingerbread house with Aaron, Marissa, and the kids.  Actually, we made graham cracker houses with lots and lots of candy!

The kids really enjoyed creating the houses and eating all the candy.  Sugar highs for all!

Our cuties

Brandon was so sweet the Sunday before Christmas.  While I was getting ready for church he took the kids and snapped a few pictures.

Our handsome Eric.

Our (very) busy Josh

Our excited Kate

A good looking group a kids, if I may say!

Crafty Christmas ~ Cupcakes

Well, I guess that this is not super crafty, but more creative. 

Eric wanted me to make cupcakes to bring to his class on their last day before the Christmas break.  This is what he had in mind.

Well, I am just not that talented.  So I got creative with a cake mix, Wiltons food coloring, and sprinkles.

Good ol' Pillsburry white cake is what I use for the cupcakes.  I have it on hand so I used it, but overall I am not a big fan of it (by accident I only put in 2 eggs instead of 3 and it improved the quality of the cake a ton).

I added "leaf green"coloring and got this.

After I baked them I whipped up some frosting (I always make my own from scratch) and added "christmas red" food coloring.  After I frosted the cupcakes I rolled the edges around some green sprinkles.  This is the result.

Eric said all the kids loved it.  Success.

Crafty Christmas ~ Ornaments

So, like most of America, money is very tight in our house.  It really hurts to have me back in school (but so worth it!).  To compensate, I have been making a lot of our presents this year. 

This is what we gave to the boys' teachers.

This is so easy to make.  I even had the sense of mind to take pictures for a tutorial.

This is what you need.

1. clear ornaments (I bought mine @ Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon!)
2. scrapbook paper in a holiday theme; two different kinds.  If you can find some that is double-sided, even better!
3. cutter
4. pencil
5. ribbon

Cut the paper into thin (or thick) strips, whatever your heart desires. 

Then take a pencil and start to wrap the strip of paper around it, like so.

When you are done wrapping it, slide it off of the pencil, and hold it for a moment or two.  This is to keep its shape.  Then slide it into the bulb.  (sorry, I did not get a picture of this.)  It will open into the curls that you see.  Fill it as much or as little as you like, put the top back on, and tie a ribbon at the top.  So easy and so cute.  A great little gift for anyone!

Christmas Day

We had the best Christmas Day! The kids had a wonderful time opening presents. Brandon and I enjoyed spending the day at home; NO ONE HAD TO WORK!

The highlight of the day (for the kids) was the arrival of Santa. The kids where so excited!

At our house there are no gifts placed under the tree until after Santa comes. This helps us keep our sanity. Here are the before and after pictures.

First the kids dove into their stockings. The boys were excited to find Bakugans and candy

Next came a fury of gift opening. Only one gift was set aside to be opened last and so I got pictures of the reaction. Eric got was he wanted most...

... a NINTENDO DS! Can you tell the he was excited?

Josh got moon shoes. He loves them!

Kate was given a Tinkerbell chair.

Then we had out traditional BIG breakfast. Afterwards we relaxed until that afternoon when we went to Grandma's for a wonderful Christmas dinner! It was a perfect day.