Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas this year.  It was probably one of the best Christmases that I remember.  It was full of happiness and joy with little complaining and fighting and it was wonderful.

The kids woke up about 7:00 and that was nice of them.  We went downstairs to see what Santa had brought.  At our house, Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves so we explored Santa's presents and then we had a short Devotional to remind ourselves once again about the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of Christ's birth and mission on the earth.  After our devotional we opened the rest of the presents. 

I love how our kids have very modest wants.  Kimball DID ask for an iPod touch, but other than that the things on his lists weren't toys.  It warmed my heart to hear the things he asked for.  He didn't get an iPod, we just don't feel he needs one right now.

Santa brought Kimball and Joseph archery sets so they can learn to shoot together.  

Kimball checking out his stocking.

These next three pictures take some explaining.  Throughout the month Kimball mentioned to Joseph at least 3 times how he wanted a Syracuse scarf for Christmas.  We looked casually for a scarf, but didn't get him one.  Then a week before Christmas, Kimball came home from school with an assignment talking about what items might be in various shaped boxes.  On the page with a long box Kimball mentioned that it might hold a scarf and on the last page of the assignment Kimball wrote that he hoped a box on Christmas morning would contain a scarf for him.  After seeing this assignment I told Joseph that we had to find a Syracuse scarf for Kimball because I didn't want to disappoint him.  Joseph and I spent the next week looking for a Syracuse scarf.  Even living in Orange country, that was easier said than done.  The scarves we saw weren't exactly for use by a 6 year old, but more for decoration so we went to 8 different stores before we found a perfect fleece Syracuse scarf for him.  We wrapped it in a long box and had it waiting for him under the tree Christmas morning.

Kimball wondering what was in this long box.  It wasn't heavy at all!

Opening...

Kimball with his scarf.  He was excited about it, but not as excited about it as Joseph and I were. 

 Even though toys weren't on Kimball's list, we knew he would want some toys.  Kimball got a neat battleship building set and he spent about 4 hours on Christmas getting it put together.

Shipyard...man at work.

I was very impressed that Kimball was able to put this together.  He had just a little bit of help
from Joseph on one part, but he was probably faster at it than I would have been.

Rebecah's list was pretty short...princesses.  She didn't really care what form they took, she just wanted Princesses, preferably Ariel and Rapunzel.

 Santa brought Rebecah a Princess castle.  Mom and Dad were in on the secret so we could get her some princesses to go in the castle.

I recently started painting Rebecah's fingernails.  I personally am not a fan of painted nails and I haven't painted mine in over 25 years.  BUT, Rebecah bites her nails and since we started painting her nails she has stopped biting her nails.  We paint nails once a week and now she can choose between pink and purple. 

A Rapunzel doll.

Hello Kitty puzzle book.

Magiclip Princess set.  Four princesses + 8 dresses=Princess heaven.

Joseph expressing excitement over the Princess.

Happy as can be with her castle and princesses.

I didn't get as many pictures of Joseph opening presents and none of me, but really, Christmas is about the kids and their excitement. 

Joseph thanking Rebecah for a new tie.

Joseph practicing with his archery set.

Awesome gift from Heather.  Heather gave Joseph his Priesthood line of authority nicely presented;  I added the frame.  

After our presents, we enjoyed playing games, playing with new things and eating yummy food.  We also enjoyed talking with family since we didn't have the opportunity to spend the day with family.

Christmas Eve

I'm breaking our Christmas events down into two posts so it isn't too much of an overload.  We had a great Christmas season.  We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful month as we celebrated the birth of Christ.

The last few years we have done a 24 days of Christmas activity where we sing songs, watch video clips and read scriptures dealing with the events that surrounded the Savior's birth.  We did that this year and it was so fun to have most of our nights end singing an array of Christmas songs dealing with Christ.  I was excited this year to have religious Christmas songs be the favorites for the kids instead of just Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph.  Kimball really liked God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Rebecah liked Joy to the World, Angels we have Heard on High and anything with Hosanna in it.

Joseph was lucky to be off Christmas Eve and Christmas this year.  He works New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so he does get his share of holidays to work.  I would much rather have him work the New Year's holidays than the Christmas ones.

We decided to start a new tradition this year and go on a sleigh ride on Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, there really wasn't any snow for a sleigh ride so we just rode in a wagon.  It was still fun though.  It was chilly, but not so chilly that we couldn't enjoy the 20 minute ride.  Everyone enjoyed it and hopefully next year there will be more snow.  We arrived early so we didn't have to wait for seats which was nice.

The boys enjoying the ride.

Group shot.

The girls enjoying the ride.

                                           

Rebecah really wanted her picture taken with the Grinch.  We read the story at least
15 times this month and watched the movie twice.  It's probably one
of my favorite Christmas stories to read.

After our ride we returned home and the kids watched a movie while I started our Christmas Eve food preparation.  We had our traditional meal around the fireplace and Christmas tree.  The kids seemed extra excited this year for Christmas so for the first time we opened a gift on Christmas Eve.  It was a family gift from my sister called Pass the Pigs.  It is a great game and we have enjoyed playing it many times already.

After our game we had a Devotional where we sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story from the Bible, again, and used the letters M-E-R-R-Y-C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S to talk about different words that help us reflect on the Christmas season.  We also watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then the kids were off to bed.  We have great kids.  They went to bed at normal time and slept all night and got up at their normal time.  

Rebecah and Annette getting ready for our Christmas Eve feast.

Visit from Bill and Karen

My aunt and uncle came for a visit over the weekend.  I haven't seen Bill and Karen since my dad's funeral, almost 15 years ago.  The sad thing about extended family is that at least in my family, we live so far apart that we don't see each other very often so when we get together it is like visiting with strangers even though we are family.  Since I hadn't seen Bill and Karen in 15 years I was apprehensive about the visit not sure how it would be and if I would find things to talk about, etc, but the visit was great.  They were able to stay for lunch and we had nice conversation and we were able to get to know each other better.  I also enjoyed hearing that the house my dad grew up in when he lived in Rochester is still around.  One of these days we will make a trip to Rochester to see the house and I'll take a picture of it.

Joseph and I were both pleasantly surprised how excited Kimball and Rebecah were about the visit.  Usually kids don't care when unfamiliar family visits, but they loved having the company.  Even after Bill and Karen left, Rebecah mentioned multiple times how much she loved having them visit.  I think it helped that Karen is a big Disney fan so she talked with Rebecah about all of the Disney princesses and told Rebecah that she had even met the princesses.

I just wish my own kids had an opportunity to see their aunts, uncles and cousins regularly, but with our family so spread out my kids will probably feel like their extended family are all strangers, too.

Coffey Family with Bill

Bill and Karen with Annette and the kids.

Joseph asked me if Bill looks like my dad and I honestly don't think he does.  The closest similarity I could find was in their eyes but it was a stretch. Sometimes it makes me a little sad that Joseph and my kids won't know my dad in this life or won't know an able-bodied Heather.  Thank goodness families are forever.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year.  It started off by being "white", meaning we had snow for Thanksgiving.  I don't remember ever having a white Thanksgivings, but when I asked my mom she said we had a few when I was really young.  We got 2-3 inches of snow and it was pretty.  The kids and Joseph enjoyed playing out in the snow and working on the snow fort.  I got my exercise in for the day by shoveling the driveway. 

About mid-day we went over to have dinner with friends.  It was a lot of fun.  Kimball and Rebecah really like playing with the boys at this house.  It is their "go to" place when a play date is an option.  We spent all afternoon and into the evening with our friends having a nice time.  All 13 kids played really well together and gave the adults time to visit and play games.

On Friday, Joseph worked for a few hours, but we had our own family Thanksgiving with turkey and other dishes that we didn't have the day before.  We also decorated for Christmas.

Trip to Panama

Earlier this month Joseph spent a week in Panama.  The company Joseph works for does Operation Walk each year and Joseph was invited to go this year since he speaks Spanish.  I really wasn't too excited about Joseph's trip because it meant he would be gone for 8 days and that is a long time to have him gone.  We survived his trip and the kids did fairly well.  The weekend was the hardest, but we made it through.

Joseph enjoyed his trip.  He loved using his Spanish and talking with the Panamanian people.  On a light day of work he was able to take a tour of the Panama canal.  

At the  Panama Canal

City Life:  The following pictures show some of the city.

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Panama City cityscape

Typical little street.

This quaint little church was built in the 1500s.  

Buying souvenirs.

Hospital Life:  Operation Walk provides free joint replacements for people in need.  The Op Walk team performed 60% of the operations that this hospital provides annually.

Making rounds.

More rounds

In action.  Joseph is dead center.  It was fun to see pictures of him in action
since I never get to see what he really does at work.

 We are very glad to have our Daddy back home.  I'm very glad Joseph doesn't travel regularly for work.  We are still undecided if he will go next year if he is invited.  It was tiring for Joseph and it was especially hard on Kimball not having Joseph around.  

Halloween Fun

We had a busy month full of many different Halloween and Fall related activities. Here is a run down:

Pumpkin Patch:  We didn't have much time for a pumpkin patch this year so we were glad we found one just a few minutes from our house.   It wasn't as extensive as I was hoping it would be, but the kids had fun.  Maybe next year we will have time to find one more to my liking.  There was a corn maze and Kimball enjoyed leading us through it.

Climbing on Farming machinery.

Driving the tractor.

Farmer Kimball

In the Corn Maze

Kimball was off school for Columbus Day so we made Candy Corn out of paper squares.  We also made other crafts throughout the month:  bats, pumpkins, Frankensteins, and skeletons.

Kimball hard at work.

Rebecah hard at work.

The PTO at Kimball's school hosted a Halloween party.  There were over 700 people in attendance and it was very crowded.  The kids had fun and I was glad Kimball could see some friends from school and show off their costumes.  There were games to play and food.

                           

Joseph and I aren't super into carving pumpkins, but we did remember to do one this year.

Rebecah removing the innards.

Kimball working on the eyes.

 

                                       

Our ward had a Trunk or Treat activity on October 30th so we went to that.  I was glad the kids were able to get candy there since there was a strong percentage of rain in the forecast for Halloween.  I didn't want them too disappointed if Trick or treating got rained out, but I also wasn't going to go house to house in the rain either.

 Rebecah's preschool had a little singing performace on Halloween.  Her class sang about 3 songs for the parents at the end of preschool.  It was so cute watching Rebecah sing the songs and do the actions.  She loves preschool!

There are only 4 girls in Rebecah's class out of 13 kids.

Rebecah with her friend, Riley.  

Kimball's school doesn't do individual class Halloween parties, but the 1st Grade did do a Harvest festival part of the day where they went to the different 1st grade classes and did various educational activities relating to the season.  I was able to go and help at one of the stations and it was fun to see Kimball at school.  It made my day when Kimball told me the best part of his day was seeing me at school.  That meant a lot because I was expecting him to say Trick or Treating was the highlight.

This year for Halloween, Rebecah wanted to be Rapunzel so that was an easy one.  I made her some yellow hair, but I could only convince her to wear it for the pictures.

Princess Rapunzel.

Kimball wanted to be something "scary" this year, but I'm not into scary costumes for Halloween.  I think costumes should be "fun" not "scary".  I convinced him to be a pirate and he was fine with that.  I really don't think Kimball would have enjoyed being something scary because he gets scared when he sees people dressed in scary costumes.  

Rapunzel meets Blackbeard the Pirate!

Joseph, unfortunately, had to work Halloween evening so I took the kids trick or treating by myself.  We went about 8 houses and Rebecah got sick.  It may have been nerves, but that spoiled her night.  We had to finished our little loop to get back home so Kimball went to another 8 houses or so before announcing that he was finished getting candy.  Most houses gave out multiple pieces of candy so he had a pretty full bucket. We skipped the rest of the houses and headed home.  I was so proud of Kimball for deciding when he was finished gathering candy without being greedy.  He even offered to share candy with Rebecah since she didn't feel well and when we got back home he gave her about 6 pieces of candy...he gave her good stuff too so I was proud of him.  We got home just in time because it started to rain so it was a win-win situation for everyone.  We now have a lot of candy around the house, but the kids are very willing to share their booty.

One Year Older...

Last week I celebrated my 34th birthday.  Don't tell Joseph, but that means I'm now in my mid-30s.  Before I always felt like I was in my early 30s, but not any more.  I think I'm okay getting older because I don't feel any older than I did when I was in my 20s.

My birthday was a low-key kind of day.  Kimball was at school and Rebecah had preschool.  After preschool, Joseph, Rebecah and I went out for lunch.  The kids picked out presents for me with the assurance that I could "take them back if I didn't like them."  I admit it...I did return their gifts.  I just couldn't justify keeping the items when I wouldn't wear them so the kids went with me to choose different items and they seemed okay with it.

Presents from my kids.  Kimball picked out a necklace since he
knows I like wearing them, but it just wasn't me.  It is hidden, unintentionally,
under the gloves.  Rebecah picked out gloves since she knows my hand
 hurts when it is cold, so I just exchanged the gloves
for a color that matched my coat better.

I know I mention food a fair amount, but the highlight of my birthday is always the chocolate truffle cake that I make.  I only make it on my birthday so I look forward to having it every single year and I savor each piece that I eat!  It is a piece of heaven!