Christmas 2012

We had a nice Christmas this year despite all of us suffering from colds and congestion.  At least we were all miserable together!

On Christmas Eve Joseph worked about 4 hours in the morning and was home with us the rest of the day.  We broke a little with Johnson family tradition and we didn't have seafood bisque for dinner.  We did have cheese, crackers and a spinach artichoke dip.  The kids didn't care for the cheese ball or dip, but they made up for it eating Christmas treats after our Christmas program. For our Christmas festivities we moved our small tree to the middle of the floor so we could have more room to enjoy the presents.  

Kimball and Rebecah enjoying their treats.

Kimball with scissors and glue stick in hand to finish the last day of The Best Christmas Gifts from the Friend magazine. 

 The kids had a first this year.  They woke up at 2:30 and thought it was time to open presents.  Since we were all sick Joseph and I were less than excited about the early morning wake up.  We made the kids go back to bed, yes we were party poopers, and once the kids finally fell back to sleep they slept until 7:30.

Santa did find us in Syracuse and he brought presents for everyone.  Kimball got a Transformers mask that makes sounds and Rebecah was given a Princess tent. He also left watches in the stockings.  Kimball has wanted a watch for a long time and Rebecah enjoys her new "bracelet".

Kimball modeling his new transformers helmet from Santa.  It makes wonderfully loud noises!

Kimball in a fighting stance.

Ninjago Pajamas

Kimball modeling his new Ninjago pajamas and Cars slippers.

More Legos for Christmas.

Rebecah emptying out her stocking from Santa in her tent from Santa.

Rebecah showing off her watch from Santa.

Joseph helping Rebecah with her new Hello, Kitty purse.

Rebecah's very own Lego set.  She was SO excited to have her own mini figure.

 Rebecah is always wanting to play with Kimball and his legos and he frequently would just tell her no.  Well, when she got her Legos Kimball was so excited about them despite the girl colors of bricks.  He asked if he could play with Rebecah's new Legos and she needed no prompting to say "NO!" without hesitation.

Playing with her new Legos.

Rebecah with her new Jenna doll.

Christmas dinner was so colorful this year and I didn't even plan it that way.  We were going to have a guest for Christmas, but when we all got colds we decided to postpone hosting a guest.  We did have ham, potatoes and gravy, asparagus, butternut squash, and cranberry salad.  For dessert we had a chocolate peanut butter chess pie.  We also had special "juice" at Kimball's request.  I mixed orange juice, cranberry juice and Sprite together.  I was glad dinner was colorful because it tasted a little off since I was sick.  It was much more enjoyable to eat the Christmas dinner leftovers because my tastes were returning to normal.

Christmas Dinner

We did get our wish for a White Christmas.  We got about 8 inches of snow the weekend before Christmas and then we got another foot two days after Christmas.  We are not without plenty of snow.  It is a good thing Joseph and I got snow boots for Christmas, we need them!

Christmas Crafts

This month we have been busy making Christmas crafts.  Syracuse didn't have a Christmas parade so the kids were disappointed that we couldn't attend a Christmas parade like we have the last few years.  We also didn't make it to see Santa either.  Instead, we tried to make our house more festive by making our decorations since our decorations were in storage.

We bought a 4 foot pre-lit tree from Walmart this year since our 7.5 foot tree would be too big for our apartment.  Our ornaments were buried in storage so I made all of the ornaments for our tree.  It was fun to make them and we can use them for years to come.

Our Christmas tree this year with all homemade ornaments.

We also made reindeer hats one day, colored and put together snowmen and elves, and did a Christmas tree.  The kids enjoyed the crafts and I have realized that Kimball will take more time if I am doing the coloring crafts with him so I made my own snowman and elf and then Kimball would try to make his look like mine.

Reindeer Hat with Kimball sticking his tongue through the window in his mouth.

Rebecah's Reindeer hat.

Snowmen that we colored and put together.

Elves that we colored and put together.

Christmas trees in the snow.  I liked Rebecah's tree interpretation.

Christmas Program

Our church had a fun Christmas program this year.  We had a dinner and then the children put on a program.   It was a fun night and I was so glad it started early...4:30...so we could stay for the entire program.  So many times church socials start too late (6:30) for our family and we have to leave early to get the kids to bed on time.  I have learned that it's not worth having grumpy kids to stay for the entire activity.

The Nursery kids dressed in elf costumes and sang "Christmas Bells" while ringing jingle bells.

Rebecah is on the very end in green.  Her hat was way too big for her, but she was cute.

 The Primary children did a Nativity scene.  All of the children had costumes which is amazing since there are over 50 children in the Primary.  There were angels, cows, lambs, shepherds, wise men, innkeepers, and Mary and Joseph.  Kimball was a shepherd.

The entire Nativity

Shepherds, angels and wise men.

Shepherd Kimball

First Job

Kimball with his first "paycheck".

Kimball has his first job.  Our neighbor is an elderly woman who needs someone to take her trash out every day.  We volunteered and even told her she didn't have to pay us, but she did anyway.  We thought it would be a good opportunity for Kimball to learn responsibility and after listening to Elder L. Tom Perry's talk from General Conference about helping kids learn to earn and manage money, we thought the responsibility would be good for Kimball.  .  

Every morning Kimball goes to this lady's door and knocks and asks for her trash.  Then he brings it back to our apartment and then we take it out when we leave.  Kimball carries her trash to the outside door of our apartment building and then Joseph or I usually carry it to the dumpster since it is far from our building.  I'm so proud of Kimball doing this by himself.  I didn't know if he would be brave enough to knock on this lady's door by himself, but he does great!

Kimball lost his second tooth yesterday so the tooth fairy came as well. 

Friends

Kimball and Rebecah are good friends.  They definitely have their moments when they don't like each other and they want to "give" each other away, but for the most part they are friends.  While we are living in an apartment we only have two bedrooms and two beds.  The kids sleep in the larger bedroom in a queen size bed together.  They sleep with their bodies lying the short way so they have more space between each other.  I check on them every night before I go to sleep and this is how I found them a few nights ago.

It warmed my heart and I risked waking them so I could take this picture.  

And So It Begins

We woke up Saturday morning to about an inch of snow with snow still falling.  We ended up with less than 2 inches, but the same thing happened Sunday and Monday.  Each day it has snowed 2 inches or less but we have probably had 5-6 inches of snow in the last 72 hours.  It is pretty and the kids have been SO excited.  So far the snow has melted the day it has fallen, but before too long I think it will start piling up!

I took Rebecah by surprise so her mouth was closed.  Here the kids are
sporting their winter coats with their new snow pants and boots.  

This time she was ready for me with her mouth wide open!

Joseph, Kimball and Rebecah out on a snow walk.  

"T" is for Turkey

This month we have tried to be festive for the season with our preschool activities.  

One week we made headdresses.  

Kimball and Rebecah wearing their headdresses.  This is Rebecah's typical smile these days for pictures.

 We also made some Harvest decorations since we didn't put up our harvest tree this year.  

Leaf Garland

Give Thanks banner

 One week we focused on the letter "t" and we made two different types of turkeys.

I thought the turkeys made out of leaves were cute until the leaves dried and the leaves started to crumble all over the carpet!  I was glad we could find colorful leaves around our apartment complex.

For Thanksgiving, Joseph had to work 3 hours in the morning and then in the afternoon we had dinner with 3 other families from church.  Our kids enjoyed playing with other children and we all enjoyed being out of our small apartment, although we are grateful that we have a place to live.

Wearing my new apron a friend in Russellville sent me.  It arrived the day before Thanksgiving.  Thanks, Eva!!

Picture break during our Friday Thanksgiving feast.  

Joseph worked the day after Thanksgiving too, but we had our own Thanksgiving dinner made with the foods and flavors that we are used to having.  We are looking forward to a lot of turkey leftovers since our turkey was almost 22 lbs.  

We also made a lot of pumpkin foods this month and we broke with tradition and we had our cranberries and pie early.  Joseph was commenting that we eat Christmas treats all month in December, but in November we just have one glorious day to eat our fill of the Thanksgiving food so I gave in and we had our cranberry salad and pie early...With 3 different desserts for our small family meant we weren't exactly suffering from a lack of sweets.  We had a caramel pecan pie, pumpkin cake, an apple crisp.  For my family-- don't worry, I haven't changed...I still don't like baked apples and I didn't partake of the apple crisp. Joseph requested it so I made it for him.  Joseph said the apple crisp was excellent though and now wants it as a permanent part of our Thanksgiving menu.