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Merry Christmas 2012

The kids wanted to know what was going to happen now that we were on day 25 on the advent calendar. Luckily there was plenty of stuff given so Isabel could have her creative, fun craft for the day! Surprise! Even though Ben was on the naughty list for a few days, Santa did come to our house! Ben was surprised cause the day before, our neighbor Steve was talking to the kids telling them that he had talked to Santa and told him to stay out of our cul-de-sac or else he would haul him away in his cop car. (Someone said that Steve said he would shoot him too...) Well, Christmas morning came and Isabel rolled over and asked if it was 'morning, you know, when you could wake up' and I said yes. She then asked Ben if he wanted to go see what Santa had brought them and Ben looked at me and said, 'Santa didn't bring nothing, Steve shot him." He wasn't distraught or anything, it was just a statement..... crazy kid. I had to explain that Steve was just teasing (for the hundredth time) and we got ready to go see stockings :)
Here they are in their new pj's from Christmas Eve, looking at what Santa brought them!The first thing they saw was their snow globes. Santa put family pictures and and picture of them with him inside of it! They are also plastic! Santa is one smart cookie.
Ben was excited for his chocolate candy cane! That is all that he asked for from Santa, chocolate.
I got a picture of Isabel with all the stuff Santa brought! She loves her art stuff and bandaids and electric toothbrush!
Ben's favorite thing was a tie between the chocolate and the fishing pole. I didn't get a picture with him and his stocking stuff because he had to open and play with everything right then.... and it got scattered everywhere!
Then we opened family presents! (Notice the necklace? It's the one from Grandma Morgan from the Philippines) Brady got the kids new hats. I LOVE them. They look so cute in them. The kids got clothes, Kung Fu Panda 2, which has now taken the place of How to Train Your Dragon in Ben's eyes, a punching bag for Ben, 2 pairs of boots for Isabel, and some other stuff. The kids got Brady an angry birds card game. Brady got me an alternative down comforter. It is excellent! I got Brady and I tickets to go see the Harlem Globetrotters in February, a new pillow and some new basketball jerseys (his old ones stunk) and Santa brought him buffalo jerky and some power bars.
Brady and I decided that it was worth me waiting at Walmart on black Friday to get the kids new bikes for $30. Ben's is a little big, but with the way he is growing, it will be fine in a month or so :) Isabel's knees were almost hitting her handlebars on her old bike, so her new one fits her perfect!The kids love riding in the snow. We only have one rule.... no crying when you fall unless you are really hurt :) They tend to fall a lot in the snow. Luckily no injuries so far. You can see a pair of Isabel's new boots in this picture, and one of her new Hello Kitty shirts. Her other boots are purple sequin ones!After presents, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Yamashita's for breakfast and more presents. We were all spoiled. Ben got clothes, toys, new spiderman shoes and a cool ride on tractor with trailer! Isabel got clothes, shoes, art stuff, a tangled doll and a leap pad explorer. She loves it because it she can take pictures then edit them! Plus it came with a tangled game ;)After presents, we all went to Sacrament meeting at Grandma Tracie's ward. We got home later and Isabel looked at me and said, "It was fun to go to church with grandma, wasn't it?"We had a wonderful Christmas. It's kind of crazy to think that it is over already. We had so much fun this month with our activities each day, that it is sad that it is over. Some of the things we did, that I didn't get pictures of, were; lights at Temple Square, make treats for their primary teachers and deliver them, read Christmas stories, watch Christmas movies, decorate Great-grandma Maxine's door up at the nursing home, cut out snowflakes, make jello santas and snowmen, etc.... The only thing we didn't get to do was snow activities. It's been cold, but no snow yet.
I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and extended family that care about us. I am so grateful for my Savior and for His life and example. It's wonderful to have a time of year set aside, and special Christmas traditions that bring us closer to Him. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Speaking of traditions, here are some pictures from acting out the nativity for mom and dad on skype. The kids are a little more active than last year, but I they knew the primary songs better :) Here is our wiseman Ben. He was excited that he could kneel down in front of Jesus and give Him a present.
Here is our sheep, Sam, and one of our angels, Nara, that kept stealing baby Jesus from the manger. We eventually had to get another baby Jesus so she could hold one too :)
Here is Mary, Isabel. It's her favorite part. Next year Nara might give her some competition for it though :)
Here is Joseph (Noah) leading Mary on the donkey (Chris) to Bethlehem. Here is another angel, Ari, that got to say 'Good news'.
Jon and Tamina (choirs of heavenly hosts) entertaining the sheep in bunny clothes :)
Jen (another heavenly host) and her angel.
Kelli Ann (yet another Heavenly host) holding the angel Gabriel that got to tell Mary that Jesus was going to be born!
Our shephard, Adam. He had quite a job keeping watch over the sheep, Sam!The program went well. Next year might go a little smoother, cause we will have more room to act it out. The past 2 years we have been limited to the range of the computer for skype. Grandma and Grandpa Morgan got each of the kids some presents from the Philippines, so we had the kids open them so mom and dad could see them. The girls got a beaded purse, a shell necklace, and a seed bracelet. The boys got a wood water buffalo and a wood turtle and a racing car. The older girls (me,Tamina, Jen & Kelli Ann) got a tablecloth and Philippine pearl necklaces and bracelets. The older boys (Brady, Jon, Chris, & Grant) got water buffalo horn belts. They are pretty cool, and apparently a status symbol over in the Philippines. All the families got a bag of treats.... yum yum! I love this tradition. The kids look forward to it and so do I!

Rice Crispy Reindeer

You can make anything with rice crispy treats.... I just know it.....dragons, towers, turkeys....! These reindeer were way cuter in my head...... they turned out alright though.....
The kids made theirs as reindeer faces. You can see Ari's reindeer face made out of m&m's. I also showed the kids that they could make a wreath to decorate, so that is the other thing on her plate. (The one with stick pretzels our the top is the reindeer)
Here is a cute one of Sar-Bear.... She loves coming to play, and I love that she will just follow me around and jabber my ear off :) She was my special helper to wrap presents and make dinner. She helped me wrap a 24 pack of soda for Brady and as soon as she saw Brady she said, " hi brady.... I helped wrap you a present. I'm not going to tell you what it is, it's a secret, and it's soda!!!" All in one breath! Luckily she loves Brady now.... that is definite progress!Ben enjoyed eating his more than making it. :)Here are Isabel's creations. The one with the pretzels sticking straight up is her wreath...
And Adam made (from left to right) Santa's sleigh, reindeer face, and a wreath. He was very proud of his creations too!
I'm glad the kids got to come play again! Tamina and Jon got to take Sam to get an EEG at Primary's. Luckily it looks like they can start tapering his seizure medicine! Hooray!!

Grandma's Elves

I went to get the kids after work one Monday and Grandma Tracie made sure to tell me that she had elves helping her all day! They loved to wear the jingle bells around over their ears so Grandma told them they were her elves!
Cute little elves if I do say so :) Speaking of elves, we had one join our house this year. The week before Christmas. (An elf on the shelf). I would post a picture, but he already flew back to the north pole to stay with Santa til next year. The kids named him Elffy. I think he really does have some magical power.

Gingerbread Houses

Another activity in the advent calendar was to make gingerbread houses. We Adam, Ari, and Sarah come over to make them with us!
Here is Isabel's masterpiece.
Adam's creation!
Here is Ben's...... the candy never made it on there.... it wouldn't even stay together because he kept eating the frosting that was holding it together...... ( luckily I found a recipe for egg-free royal icing so I didn't have to worry if he ate it or not!)
Ari really liked the orange frosting.... you can tell, can't you??? :)

And Sarah was very proud of hers. She had marshmallows, gummy bears, and chocolate chips.... all her favorite things! We had lots of fun! Thanks for letting me borrow your kids Tamina :)

Reindeer at Weber State

I set up my Christmas advent quilt this year and in each of the pockets I had an activity for the kids to do. We loved going to see the Reindeer at Weber State last year, so that was one of our activities this year. Here are the Ben, Zoey, and Isabel. Not too bad for a picture together...
This was 2 seconds later. All I have to say is they know how to push each others buttons already :) Just like I could do with my brothers!
Here is Isabel and Ben (pretending to be a reindeer) with Snowflake, one of Santa's reindeer.Here is Zoey chatting with Snowflake. I thought this picture turned out so cute.... my kids wouldn't talk to the reindeer..... Ben only wanted to act like one :)Here he is pretending to be a reindeer again. If the reindeer looked like he does here, I think kids all over the world might have nightmares about Santa's reindeer.....After we saw the reindeer, we went upstairs to do the craft (a picture frame) then I let the kids run around for a little bit. They LOVE the hills up at Weber.

Here is Isabel pretending to be a reindeer.... She makes a cute reindeer I think :)
Here's Zoey being a reindeer..... her antlers almost made it to the top of her head.....
And Ben finally made an almost normal face to be a reindeer in this picture.

Ben only stayed in that position for a second, then he was off to collect some sticks....... why you ask???So he could make himself real reindeer antlers! Very clever little boy.....And Isabel liked the idea :) On a side note, I didn't get a picture, but she got sticks and hooked them to the front of her bike, so her bike had antlers sticking out the sides of the handlebars. She did this cause she wanted a reindeer bike to ride! Clever kids......
And he's off and running, again........ like always........Then we made it up to see Santa. They got to put paper towels in Santa's sleigh and then they got a candy cane! Isabel told him she wanted a candy cane (just like last year) and a snow globe. Ben wanted nothing to do with Santa. I was actually impressed I got a picture with them all looking and smiling.... miracle!Looks like a forced smile to me, and Isabel's not looking.... the other group picture is better....Isabel has no problem with Santa. She even got to see him at school!!!! She was so excited! This is a fun tradition we will have to keep up :) They didn't give reindeer food this year, and Isabel was very worried, so I told her I had a recipe, and went home and made some for them, so the reindeer would know where to land!