Our Christmas cards for 2015:
I let the boys draw on the kitchen cupboards for the 1st time. Ever. It was a big deal for me. But I ended up liking it:
Running in our 1st Reindeer Romp. Dylan held my hand as we maneuvered the packed crowd and finished our mile in 13:45. Autrey and Colton finished in 15:20. Colt jogged half of it and rode on Aut's shoulders for half of it trying to catch up to us:
Crossing the finish line:
Colt was young enough to run for free, but he insisted on having his own "official" number:
Dylan: "Santa! I ran the whole thing without stopping!"
With the reindeer:
Playing in the snow globe:
New Batman ornament to represent 2015 (our Halloween costumes):
Emmet was there too:
Tony Chestnut enlisted the help of his T-Rex friend to repel and draw a self portrait on the cupboard:
1st school project with my kindergartener. Kind of fun to be on the parent side of these projects:
With Elf, Ms. Lori, at Parents as Teachers:
At our ward's Christmas party (Colt was home sick since he had thrown up the night before):
Kindergarten Polar Express Day with Matthew:
They loved the Star Wars Pez dispensers, G-ma!
The boys loved their new size 11 and size 2 boots!
Playing out in the snow:
Clearly the kids loved the headlamps Papa gave them:
Boys in their Star Wars jammies with Maggie:
Tommy got turned around going down the hill and ended up with his butt in the air and his face in the snow. He was a good sport:
Video of Colton tubing:
We got snowed in and lost power one night in the rental house up in the mountains. Autrey and I slept with the older kids on mattresses on the floor in front of the fire place so they would stay warm. The kids slept ok. Aut and I, not so much. It was an older, loud house. The kids were all up in the morning around 6ish so we made a cartoon cave out of mattresses for them to hang out watching tv while everyone else in the house slept:
At Nana's saying goodbye before we headed to Las Cruces for a few days. We ended up waiting to eat at El Sombrero for Mona's birthday for 1.5 hours, after they had said it would be a 30 minute wait. It's the only place worth waiting that long!:
From the top of the mountain behind the rental house. You can see the house down below:
Post hiking hot tub fun:
Video of Polar Bear Autrey swimming:
Video of Maggie, totally unphased by the freezing water. Girl's got ice in her veins:
Video of Dylan shrieking at the cold water:
Video of Colton being dunked:
Maggie and Hayley got 3 different cute matching dresses. I will get the pictures Allyson took on her camera from later:
Back at home, playing with the assembled Legos from G-ma and G-pa:
I love sending and getting Christmas cards. I think I am going to have to revert back to the tradition my family had growing up of taping the cards to the back of the front door. Or I need a bigger fridge to fit all the overlapping cards. A fun problem to have!
*Looking at the lovely luminarias in New Mexico.
Colt was young enough to run for free, but he insisted on having his own "official" number:
Cookies with Santa at Dylan's school:
Emmet was there too:
Fun with my minions:
At our ward's Christmas party (Colt was home sick since he had thrown up the night before):
Class party with Miss Hunter. We gave her pear body spray and a note that said, "Merry Christmas to a "scent-sational" teacher. We love you "pear-y" much!" I crack myself up.
We made R2-D2 cookies at Danielle Bakic's house at play group. They went perfectly with our family's Star Wars Christmas theme:
I have a video of them opening up their Storm trooper and Darth Vader Legos from G-ma and G-pa, but it is too long to post:
Mimi and Papa drove the boys early to Ruidoso. Aut and I drove Christmas Eve after work, got about 5 hours of sleep at a hotel in Brownfield, then arrived around 7 am Christmas morning. Hayley was still sleeping:
Me testing out my new Nikon D3300 camera (Aut got 50% off on Black Friday) on Colt's new Legos:
Another snow day. This is when the tubing began:
Video of Colton tubing:
Video of Dylan tubing:
Video of Colton being dunked:
Speaking of traditions, Maggie had asked us to send her our family traditions. She ended up making a cute gift out of them for us. Here is what I had sent her in an email:
-Autrey's childhood memories:
*Opening presents in Houston before driving to Ruidoso. In Ruidoso the kids would go look at lights on Christmas Eve while Santa came, then they opened the presents as soon as they arrived.
*Eating Mexican food, Aunt Jeanne's fudge, and eggnog on Christmas Eve at Nana's.
*They used to go to a Christmas tree farm to pick out and chop down their own real tree.
*Watching the movie Christmas Vacation.
*Playing in the snow/skiing at Nana's.
*Looking at the lovely luminarias in New Mexico.
*They did Secret Santa, anonymously dropping off bags of gifts at the door step of a needy family. (My family did that, except we dropped off smaller gifts to many families. And we dressed in all black, sneaking up to the doors with ninja moves to avoid detection. We called it Ninja Santa.)
-Shilo's childhood memories:
*We used to "sew" popcorn and cranberries on string as traditional garland to go around our Christmas tree as decoration, while watching Christmas movies and talking as a family.
*Christmas Eve caroling and delivering cinnamon rolls to the neighbors.
*Watching the Luke 2 video on Christmas Eve.
*The youngest child in the family got to take the baby Jesus from the nativity and have it "sleep" in the room with them. When we were little, my sisters and I all wanted to have baby Jesus with us on Christmas Eve so we all started choosing someone's room and sleeping in there together (and did until we got married).
*When we were a bit older, on Christmas morning we didn't leave the bedroom until mom and dad came down. They would bring Egg McMillers (homemade Egg McMuffins) and OJ to the room for breakfast in bed before we all went to see the tree together.
*On Christmas morning we opened gifts up one at a time, from youngest to oldest, so we could see everyone else open their presents and the reactions to what we gave everyone (and so present opening was less chaotic and lasted for more than 5 minutes).
*When we hung our Christmas stockings (that mom made with us) we also put out a white stocking for Jesus. When we were a bit older, each family member would write down 2 goals/resolutions on paper to put inside the stocking as "gifts to Jesus" for the upcoming year. It was fun to read the previous year goals before putting in new ones.
-Current Family traditions:
*Going to see the Christmas lights in downtown Grapevine. Also going to the ICE! exhibit and indoor sledding at the Gaylord Texan Hotel with Mimi and Papa.
*One of my favorite days is the day we put up our Christmas tree with our little Polar Express train around it. After the boys play with the train we watch The Polar Express movie and drink hot chocolate and cuddle together. It's the best.
*We do the Elf on the Shelf tradition. Our family's elf is named Tony Chestnut. He isn't mischievous, but rather adds an element of fun to the weeks leading up to Christmas. We have even found Tony reading the Luke 2 story in the Bible and doing service around the house to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.
*Each year we get a new ornament for the tree that represents the year. This year we got a Batman ornament to remember our family Halloween costume fun.
*Getting new Christmas jammies.
*Running in the school district's Reindeer Romp.
*Watching the 1st Presidency Christmas Broadcast Devotional together.
*Either driving to New Mexico with Mimi and Papa to see Nana or flying to Utah to see G-ma and G-pa/Millers/Holdaways.
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