Christmas 2013

Here's the documentation of Christmas 2013. Jared's family had their Christmas party on the 14th and all 22 grandchildren were there. I think 17 of them are age 7 and under so it's pretty crazy with all those kids. I'm so glad that my kids have cousins their age to play with though. My parents got to come home for a week from their mission, since the Family History Center was closed in L.A. It was great to see them! We went to their house for Christmas Eve and I was the only one of their children there until Emily got home from work, which was really weird. We exchanged presents and then went home to open one present that night.

 

Okay, pretty obvious that they were new pajamas. I was excited to find matching pajamas for all three girls since their sizes are so varied.

Hallie immediately tried to put the pants on her head

 The girls (with Alex's face behind)

The boys (not sure why Connor is smiling so weird)

Hallie's pants wouldn't stay up. She's still so skinny!

 

But so cute. This is pretty much all I got as far as pictures for Hallie. She wasn't awake yet when the other kids opened their stockings and she was cranky the rest of the day. And I was so tired and had a headache mid-morning that I stopped taking pictures all together.

 

Like I said, we were up pretty late that night, which is lame because I had all the presents wrapped two days before. Setting everything up just took a while this year. I got Jared and myself bikes and a bike trailer. I had to go get them from the neighbor's garage, pump up the tires and wipe everything down since they were kind of dusty (they were used). I hid them in the living room until Jared went upstairs and "surprised" him in the morning. He had pretty much figured it out from all my clues though. We've been talking about getting bikes for a long time and I thought it would be a good time to get them for family bike rides. This is what half the room looked like after Santa came. Oh and you can see my new rug. I got a good deal a couple of months ago and I like it so much more than the old one.

My parents and Emily came over Christmas morning to watch the kids open gifts and have breakfast. We got to use our fancy dishes that we never use, so that was fun. Unfortunately, when I dished out the breakfast to my kids, they all just sat there looking at it. It was just a breakfast casserole that I thought people would like. Evidently I was wrong. At some point during breakfast I turned around and saw that Marissa had creeped over to her new easel and was writing a message that read:  i hate the brekfust. That was the point where I made her erase it and forced her to eat the breakfast that she hated, while trying not to laugh at her. Then after being forced to eat, she threw it all up (a response that she has demonstrated many times over my cooking). In case you were wondering, when a child throws up because they think the food is gross and not because they are actually sick, they are responsible for cleaning it up.

Here the kids are opening their first presents, before it got way too crazy. You can also see my present in the background. It's a new air compressor. Santa also got me three pneumatic guns. Yes, three. One is a finish nail gun, one is a brad gun and one is a staple gun. It was funny because I kept opening them and asking if it did staples too and Jared kept saying no, until the actual staple gun. They will come in handy with all the projects that I have planned. I'm excited to use them!

These first presents were kind of interesting. Marissa opened up an empty box with just a paper in it. Her exact words were, "What the?" The paper read "Too big to wrap, look in the closet" and then it had a picture of what the present was. It was a bean bag chair and she was so excited about it once she finally saw the real thing.

Erin's box was really heavy and big... and also a big disappointing. It was our old cd player/radio. We had ordered one for her but it didn't arrive until after Christmas. She was excited anyway.

Erin got everything she wanted:  new dry erase markers, mechanical pencils, a stamp set, wood masks to paint, books, new gloves, lip gloss, tights, new clothes, some hair stuff, a butterfly barbie and magnet earrings. She wanted magnet earrings forever. That was the main thing she wanted this year, and after wearing them for about 15 minutes, she was in big time pain from those dang things. They really pinched her ears. Oh well.

Oh yeah... and fake nails:)

Marissa got an easel and she loves it! Now she doesn't have to feel bad when Erin won't let her draw on hers. She also got the bean bag chair, maracas, clip on earrings (which also hurt but not as bad as the magnet ones in case you're wondering), new mittens, tights, a headband, new clothes, some markers, dry erase markers and chalk for her easel and a butterfly barbie with a barbie car.

Alex got a lot of what was on his list:  a new ukelele book, a small Lego set, new gloves, new socks (which he said were so tight compared to his old saggy ones), Skip-bo, a new tie and some clothes, books, remote control cars, walkie-talkies and Bop-it, which he mastered in like three days--like up to the expert level. His dream also came true of getting a gumball machine. I ended up giving it to all the kids and it is sure a hit. They ate all of them in three days. When I refilled it I taped the bottom shut so they couldn't just get the same coin they just put in and use it again. They also have to do their jobs before I let them have one. I like it for decor purposes because it just looks cool. I think I will put it in the boys' room eventually.

The boys shared these gifts since there were two in each. Jared had a lot of fun playing with the remote control cars until the batteries got too low. If you bump the other car the man flies off (so right up Jared's alley). He also played a lot of "Try to hit the kids with the car" and the kids loved that one too.

Connor got his Jake sword (which is now broken, how long has it been?), some new mittens, a new tie and some clothes, some glow in the dark stars, another sword, a dinosaur, a picture of him and Alex (awww-they're so cute together), some animal magnets, and a Spider man house which is way cooler than I thought it was going to be. It's got secret passage ways and stuff like that. That's always a pleasant surprise.

Hallie got some good presents too, like a new coat, new tights, a big stuffed dog that is super soft, some alphabet toys, a new puzzle and some stacking toys.

The kids also got the electric piano they wanted which is also cooler than I realized. You can record your song, including your singing and play it back in a little hand held thing with or without headphones. We also got Clue. I like my games and also the fact that I now have other people who like playing games with me (since Jared's not much of a game person).

After presents we went up to Jared's parents for dinner. Lots more chaos with so many of us (or maybe it just felt that way because I had a headache), but it was fun to see everyone again. It was a good Christmas, but I am so glad it is over! No matter how hard I try to not make it stressful, it always ends up being that way.

It was a good two week break off of school. We didn't really do any fun outings, but we had fun doing stuff, playing games and laying low at home. Sometimes I feel guilty for not going out and doing stuff with our kids, especially since we have the Pass of all Passes and a Thanksgiving Point Membership that would be so easy to use, but at the same time, staying home is a lot less hard than going anywhere. And I feel like they have fun playing with friends and each other here. Maybe I'm just a home body. Jared and I have been working on some projects at home:  framing the basement (we're on a one wall a week kind of schedule), painting walls and ceilings (me), and fixing the car (Jared--he took on a big fix it project of replacing a hard to get to fuel pump. Time for a new car in 2014!)

Other than that, we are looking forward to the new year, to new projects, and to new adventures. I especially welcome the new year because, for some reason, I've been writing 2014 since new year's last year. I'm ready for 2014 for real.