We celebrated with a combined party at Grandma Colton's and then for Family night we went Roller Skating at a local rink... the kids LOVED the roller skating... the adults... not so much. Either way it was a fun night.
The last week of school before Christmas Break, Sarah had her 1st Grade Christmas program. She was so cute up there with her class. G &G Colton came to see it along with Grandma Nilson. Here are a few of the photos and a short clip from it:
Emma also had her Recorder music program. A neighbor called it "music only a Mother.. or Grandmother could love" :) It actually was really cute they all did a great job preparing and presenting the program. They also presented it for a care center for the elderly nearby. Emma really liked doing that.
This year the kids had an entire 2 weeks off for Christmas break. So they had to work hard the week before Christmas. We managed to get the baseboards and walls in the basement all clean and many other little jobs done. We went sledding one day and out to see a movie another day.
We also celebrated our usual "Santa Clause Party" with the Greater Lee family (my mother's family) the kids liked that and got to see and sit on Santa's lap and get an early present. they all got a radio-controlled car from him, except Joey who got a regular toy car.
Christmas Eve was a sad and happy occasion this year as my Grandmother is usually presiding over that party. Since she had passed away so close to Christmas she had already set aside money for Christmas and the party so we continued with the party as if she and my grandfather were still there to be with us. This was the last time we would celebrate Christmas Eve with my uncle's family, a tradition that has continued for I'm guessing at least 40 years. It was a special night and we all had a great time. At the end of the evening we each took an ornament from my grandmother's Christmas collection home with us to put on our own trees.
The pinatta...ie, lots of kids with bats diving for candy
Opening one last present from Nonni
This one is for the record books... Dan is playing a game of musical chairs against Bryan. (Sort of an inside Joke... Dan would never play any of the Christmas Eve games)
Unfortunately this was Zack's year to work Christmas Day and he had to get going bright and early to work. So to change things up a bit we decided to invade my parents house and have Christmas there. We watched the nativity story before bed and sent the kids to bed. Leah kept sneaking up but I don't think she realized Santa was trying to work. We were up at 5:30 to open presents so Zack could get off to work on time. Santa sure found us there and also decided to leave stuff for Grandma and Grandpa too. I'm not going to mention what everyone got because it doesn't really matter much, lets just say that everyone got what they wanted and more. We are very blessed to have each other and the joy of spending time together and remember Christ's birth
We went to G&G Nilson for Christmas dinner and gathered with the family there. We had an enjoyable time with them. Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the kids a savings account... where each Christmas and Birthday they would get a deposit from them. At the end of the evening, I was sure glad to head home. The lack of sleep/ stress and wound up kids had done me in... I think I slept 14 hours straight ( that only proves the kids were tired because they slept that long too) The day after Christmas was nice, we got to relax all day and play togther.
We finished off the month with our usual New year's Eve party! Our friends Jason and Sarah came (but had to leave early) Nick's family and Angie's family were all there. We had a good time eating, visiting and watching "Mr. Bean" episodes.
I only have one picture to sum up that evening.... out with the old in with the new??
Friday, the kids were out of school for teacher prep day. So we spent the morning carving pumpkins. Leah insisted on a "Sad" pumpkin, Sarah did her pumpkin almost completely by herself. I was impressed at her independence in the task. Emma copied a spiderweb pattern on hers and cut it out, she did a pretty impressive job. Bekah had fun this year and actually touched the pumpkin insides, which I couldn't get her last year to do.
Sarah and her pumpkin
Monkey Boy!
Indiana Jones
Tinkerbell refused to wear her wings :)
On Halloween, we went trick or treating while Zack stayed home and answered the door. Afterward we had hot chocolate, doughnuts, and watched a movie. Emma invited a friend to join us for the festivities. They all had a great time and ate WAY too much candy
So a few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Melanie Cameron,who is from Washington where we used to live, was looking for someone to go to Los Angeles with her. She half-heartedly asked if I wanted to go, not really thinking I would take her up on it, but the more I thought about it the more I couldn't stop thinking "that would be sooo fun!" So I took the bait and told her I could make it.
After a nice date out with my hubby (before sticking him with 5 kids for the weekend). I flew out to LA for 4 days of happy fun. We spent 2 days at Disneyland and CA adventures. It really is the "Happiest place on Earth". We went to Medieval Times for dinner another night. I thought it was awesome, and really enjoyed that show. Melanie had her baby, Summer, with her, and because of her medical equip we were able to fast pass most of the rides and the ones the baby couldn't ride, we could do the stroller swap/single rider deal so we really didn't have long wait times anywhere.
It was great to have some "me" time for a bit where I could be goofy and laugh and not be in charge. We dubbed the vacation "dumb luck" because we had a lot of airhead moments of getting lost, running late, etc. But we still made it where we needed to go and had a great time doing it.
I even went a bit Crazy Chicken as I worried about getting checked out, fighting traffic to the airport and getting the rental car turned in. I guess Melanie will still be my friend after seeing me get all worked up , HAHA
The kids weren't too sad to find out I went to Disneyland without them, they liked all the fun stuff I brought home for them. Someday we'll get the whole family there...
Melanie and Summer
Yup, you guessed it. These are the Chip and Dale dancers we saw...
Melanie is heading off to jump in the Brair patch with Briar Rabbit
