As always our December was full of fun and festive activities. I took the girls to see Frozen II. They were all really excited to see the movie. The boys were very disappointed that it was a "girls only" outing. Everyone enjoyed the movie, although the plot was way over the heads of Annika and Eden.
We are trying to have more family games on Sundays so Monopoly made an appearance a few times in December. The little ones provide great supporting roles as the banker, realtor and dice roller.
Kimball continues with braces. I sure wish he would be more diligent about wearing his rubber bands, but they keep saying he is on target to get his braces off in 8 months.
Eden had her first trip to the dentist. She did great and felt so grown up. Lincoln and Annika also went and all had perfect teeth!
I'm not a hair mom and I don't enjoy doing hair, but Rebecah did convince me to search up hair styles on Pinterest so we tried out a few. For once in her life she was the envy of all the girls at school with one of her styles.
Santa visited Home Depot during the monthly craft. Lincoln was excited to visit with Santa. Annika and Eden were too shy to visit with him. Joseph said they actually ran to the next aisle to hide so they wouldn't have to see him or walk by him. One of Santa's helpers brought them candy canes.
We had 3 school music concerts. Kimball had his Orchestra concert. He is the only bass player in the 7th grade orchestra, but he makes himself heard! He also had a Chorus concert. Both concerts were good.
Rebecah also had a chorus concert. She is wearing a pink dress standing below the boy with the raised hand. It was nice of that boy to raise his hand so we could pick out Rebecah in the crowd!
We had a little snow and Kimball went out to shovel the walk for Rebecah. This is how we shovel snow in NY. If you own slides and are in middle school, you're qualified to shovel! The rest of us use boots.
Lincoln and Annika had a special Preschool Christmas Craft day. I was busy hosting a luncheon so I was glad Joseph was home so he could participate with the kids. They had fun making crafts and eating cookies.
Eden giving Jude a ride. We watched this sweet boy so his mom
could be at the preschool craft with another child.
Helping Joseph with a project.
We aren't exactly sure how it happened, but this huge splinter ended up in Annika's foot. She just starting crying and grabbing at her foot/sock on afternoon. She ended up breaking the splinter off before we could help her get it all out. She didn't want us messing with her splinter so it festered in her foot for over a week. After a week it was getting bigger and filling with pus and I just told Annika that we had to get it out. I had to bribe her with two Lindt truffles and then I held her down while Joseph squeezed it out. It was a little traumatic for Annika, but we got it out and the next day Annika said that it no longer hurt when she would go up and down the stairs!
Lincoln and Annika were hobbling around with their stick dinosaur and horse and I had to snap a quick pictures. I call them Tiny Tim and Tiny Tammy! They are pretty tiny!
Annika loves to draw, color, cut, etc. Ever since Thanksgiving she would go through the recycling paper and pull out pieces and make them into treasures for Christmas. She cut a football shape and colored it brown so she could give it to Kimball and she would just comment that she was getting ready for Christmas. She is very sweet and thoughtful. Some of my favorite drawings of hers though were nativities. She drew or painted at least three that I have pictures of and probably did even more than that. Here are some of her depictions of the Nativity scene:
Crayon
Marker
Water Color
Christmas Eve
Joseph was home on Christmas Eve and the kids were VERY excited for the holiday. Of course, being the mom I was in full kitchen mode trying to get our Christmas pies made and construct gingerbread houses.
Joseph and Eden taking a little Christmas Eve nap.
We decorated gingerbread houses a little differently this year. Last year the kids got so frustrated trying to build their houses that I decided to build the houses on my own, let them dry and then have the kids decorate them a few hours later. I actually watched a "masterclass" on making gingerbread houses and you are actually supposed to decorate the houses first and then after the decorating is dry put the houses together. Who knew?
With the houses pre-assembled I could just give each child a bag of frosting and let them "have at it". It worked and they were all happy with their houses. Some were heavily decorated and others minimally. I added extra cloves to the dough and the gingerbread houses made our dining room smell so good for the week they were around.
Christmas Eve evening we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and they helped us with our re-enactment of the Christmas story. The kids get so excited about their parts.
The yellow bag is the star for those who might be wondering.
After the missionaries left the kids each opened a present. One of our adopted grandmas always gives the kids presents and she fills the bags with lots of treasures. Kimball got some games, a word search and candy. The other kids all received a stuffed animal, book that went with the animal, a coloring book and candy. These bags kept the kids busy for a long time which was a blessing to help pass the time.
Grandma Bev gave Lincoln the Charlie Brown doll for his birthday and Joseph and I had talked about getting Lincoln a Snoopy to accompany Charlie Brown, but then we didn't so Grandma Bev came through for us. Now Gerald, (Lincoln's name for Charlie Brown) has a friend. Bev also gave Annika an Elsa doll to match the Anna that Bev gave Annika for her birthday.
Christmas morning!
Santa brought the three little ones tents this year. I thought the tents might be too big and would make our house feel messy, but I love them. They fold flat in a storage bag. The picture of Annika in her tent shows her matching Anna and Elsa.
Lego set from Santa.
Once again Annika's big heart shines through. She used her own money to buy a small toy for each sibling's stocking. Lincoln and Kimball got hot wheels, Eden got a can of play doh and Rebecah got some gum. She put a lot of thought into her gifts.
Most of Kimball's gifts were either clothing/footwear or books. He is definitely getting out of the toys phase.
Lincoln really wanted a Kylo Ren light saber for Christmas so we made sure that happened. It lights up and makes sounds and he loves it!! Eden is in new jammies with a princess doll.
The day after Christmas we all went to Palmyra so Kimball and I could attend the temple together. While we were in the temple Joseph took the other kids to the Church sites. The kids enjoyed looking at the various nativities on display.
Our family has gotten really into archery. Joseph got a bigger bow for Christmas that he has already outgrown. I should have known! Anyway, Joseph and Kimball set up targets in the basement and shoot. Lincoln and Annika are getting pretty good, too, and always want their fair share of shooting time.
I took the big kids ice skating for the second year in a row. We had a great time. We all skated better than last year. It didn't take me very long to get my ice legs and after 30 minutes Rebecah was even off the wall. I was so proud of her! The only downside is that our public skating is usually on a Sunday so we don't have too many opportunities to skate.
Selfie with the kids!
I made my second annual donation to the Children's hospital. This year I made 6 quilts and I dropped them off on New Year's Eve. Eden really liked the top quilt, which is a sparkly purple butterfly fabric. I told her it was a quilt for a little girl who is sick in the hospital. She responded with her 3 year old logic that she would go to the doctor so she could have the quilt.
I also helped our church congregation make 2 other quilts so my friend and I took the blanket donations to the hospital together. It was a great way to end 2019.
