Merry Christmas

 

We had some fun "RACK"ing (leaving Random Acts of Christmas Kindness). The kids earned a few dollars and decided where they wanted to leave it for people to find.

Ethan had his mind set on buying some candy with his money and handing the candy out to kids in wal-mart.  I didn't know how well it would be received but he did it and he made a lot of happy kids (I loved that he pushed himself out of his comfort zone...and mine!).  He left the leftover packs of smarties on his siblings pillows.  We also had fun doing service for each other leaving behind a "you've been rack'd" note.  We did things like making each others beds, doing each others chores, and leaving toothbrushes out with the toothpaste on and ready to go :).  We still had the regular fighting also but it was nice to add in some extra sweetness.

Off to see Christmas lights

Eliza loves taking care of babies!

They called this a box picnic :)

 






Hannah accidently dropped her half birthday cake right before delivering it.  Luckily they both just laughed and recovered what they could.

Picnics were popular in December

 

Christmas Eve sibling gift exchange

Eliza wanted her own art box just like Hannah



I love how Mary is riding to Bethlehem on a giraffe :).  Hannah was so excited to act out the nativity.  She got everything set up and found costumes for everyone.

A very handsome shepherd

Remember the part when the angel takes a turn holding baby Jesus?

Christmas Eve dinner made by my wonderful husband

Santa came!

Ethan has been dreaming up all the stuff he will build with his real tool kit.  The list includes a car and a magic wand.

The kids were excited about their stockings.  Whenever anyone asked what they got for Christmas they often just said stuff from their stocking "chapstick and a flashlight and candy".

Andrew and I have already played this game a bunch, we love it.  It is us against the game and I like playing together instead of against each other.

This kid loves seahawks!

Hannah is excited about fairy books

This game is very simple but actually pretty fun.

Ethan loves the show wild kratts and loved this creature power shirt

We got a lot of games from my brother's family and we have been having a lot of fun playing them!

 

Flying kids- Ethan with eagle wings, Hannah with butterfly wings (Eliza got a pair also but she is napping), and Andrew trying to catch the snitch on Harry Potter's broomstick. I love all their expressions.  Thanks grandma for the gift of flight.

 

Looking at the Christmas full moon.




After Daniel and I got home from watching star wars this is how we found the kids.  You can't see Hannah but she is up on the top bunk with Ethan.  Eliza still sleeps in a crib but I guess she was pretty sad so Andrew asked grandma and grandpa who were babysitting if he could get her.

 Once again...these are the happy times of the month.  All of the "too excited for Christmas craziness" is not captured :).  We had a good Christmas though and I am so grateful for my family and for our Savior.  I'm grateful for his birth, life, atonement and resurrection and I'm so grateful for the joy that the knowledge of those things brings to my life.

We Are Grateful!

Oh my...there has been a lot going on.  Between Christmas and moving things have been busy but we are so grateful for all of our blessings.  We moved out of our rental house.  It was a good transition house/neighborhood and we are grateful for our year there.

Here are a couple of last pics from before we moved.  Notice how long Hannah's hair is...this is pre hair cut.

I'm grateful for all of my kids who are great friends with each other (even though they don't act like it a lot of times, I love the times when they do!)

I'm grateful for a husband who is very handy and willing to do projects like build Hopper a cage that will be good for the winter.

We spent Thanksgiving with Daniel's family and I am grateful for them.  I miss holidays with my family but enjoyed talking to everyone on the phone.



Cute matching sisters...notice Hannah's hair cut :)

Museum of Transportation



We are grateful the Fassman's live close now





Playroom at the museum of transportation



Cute boy playing on the train



My kids are grateful for footie jammies :)



I'm grateful for our new house and how much work Daniel has put into getting everything put together.  We are also grateful for everyone who helped us move.

 

Here is our house and the kids getting ready to go see santa

Back yard

Eliza was so excited to go see santa...right up until it was her turn to sit on his lap.

Our first family dinner in our dining room

Getting ready to decorate the gingerbread house.  As an early Christmas present we gave the kids a subscription to family fun Sunday packages.  They will get them occasionally on a Sunday and they will contain fun things to do together as a family that will be associated with a theme.  It is not a real subscription, they are just boxes I put together myself with things that I would normally buy anyway for a holiday or season, or things I find at garage sales or the dollar store (the christmas one had a gingerbread house, some christmas books I'd bought at garage sales, some christmas pencils and a puzzle we can do together).

I love the first presidency christmas devotional!  Andrew still loves to play with imaginext in the christmas tree :), and Hannah is often found doing art.

We love, We learn, We work, We play, We move, We believe, We are grateful

Their faces made me laugh...they were good cookie making helpers though

The most important part of being a cookie making helper

This swing on the back porch is old and run down but hopefully it will last a while.  I love that Eliza put on Ethan's shoes.

Andrew and Miranda making cookies

Our basement

dining room with the pictures up

Daniel's office

Kitchen...we hosted a hot chocolate party to get to know our neighbors.  I wish I got a picture during the party.  I took individual pictures of each family so we could write down and remember their names but I didn't get any candid shots.  I'm grateful for good neighbors.

Eliza loves taking a minute to snuggle with each sibling each night.

Hot chocolate while collecting christmas character cards

Hannah with one of the christmas characters...mrs. clause!

Lots to see

Meeting some elves

Hannah's first time roller skating at a friend's birthday party.  She loved it!  At the end she was getting brave and going without the thing to hold onto.

Bird Sitting

Playroom

Andrew and Megan playing ping pong in the basement.  We bought a couple of things from the previous owners including this ping pong table.

The girls room.  When we were looking at houses there was a house that had polka dot stickers on the walls in a bedroom which Hannah loved.  She also loved the houses we looked at which were surrounded by a forest.  We didn't buy those houses but we bought butterfly wall stickers from the dollar store and a tree sticker from amazon.

The boys room.  This bunk bed is another thing we bought from the previous owners.  The boys room was blue with an orange stripe but of course we had to paint the orange stripe green for the seahawks.

Our bedroom.  We also have a guest room and we're excited to put it to use so come visit!



Eliza gave half a cake to Rachel for her half birthday...it looks like a whole cake but it was one of the two layers.