::Christmas rewind::

Papa Guitar came to visit us on New Year's day for his usual Christmas visit, which we love. He tries to come visit us as close to Christmas as he can, either before or after. Usually our tree and all our decorations are down by then, but we left them up a few extra days just to make it feel Christmassy a little longer. He was only here a couple of days, but he stayed with us for 2 nights, which was super fun, and the kids looooved that!

He played games with us, built some lego towers with us, played some play-doh with us, watched some football with us, and some basketball with us. We talked had a couple of dinners all together, and it was a lovely visit.



We did our little Christmas with him while he was here. We gave him some fancy glasses from Crate & Barrel. I painted the bottoms with chalkboard paint so when he entertains (which he and Gayle love to do and they do a lot) their guests can write their names on their glasses and not get them mixed up--plus I kind of like the look of the black bottom. Anyway, I hope he liked them.


He brought us lots of fun stuff too. For the kids, he brought some books and all new snow clothes(but not Avie-she got some jammies and little baby stuff)!! They got snow pants and coats.


(the little boys were so excited to wear their new coats. Too bad Papa didn't bring any snow to go with them ;) )

On Monday we had my brother and his date over for lunch with us and Dad.  His kids couldn't come, they were with thier mom.  It was kind of weird.  I don't think we've ever had him over without his kids...weird!  Just one of those things I guess (He and Suzie got divorced this past summer).  Anyway...the lunch was great.  I made.......Aunt Jeri's spaghetti!  Surprising, huh?  What can I say, it's one of my faves.  We all ate too much, played Brain Quest with Chloe and Port, talked, and said bye to Billy and Gloria about 5ish.  Dad left early Tuesday morning.  It was such a great visit.  Hopefully we can go out to see him sometime this year.

In other news...

Avie had her 9 month check up yesterday.  She's growing like crazy!  She likes to babble a lot.  She says "Mamamama" and "Dadadadadada" and also just "Mama" and "Dada" and "bababa" and "papapa" and other similar "words"  She likes to ask lots of questions.  Like she'll say "adaaah??" or "ehh"  Her inflections always sound like a question, and it's so funny!  She knows her name.  She crawls everywhere, and she's fast!  She stands up to all the furniture, and walks along it.  She can climb the stairs-all 13 of them, all by herself (we just follow her just incase she tips backwards or tries to sit down and falls).  She doesn't love her carseat.  She lilkes to eat.  She likes juice, fruits, not veggies so much.  She likes to be held facing out so she can see what's going on (but she's kind of always been that way).  She loves her brothers and sister.  She knows her brothers are a little rough, so she squeals in anticipation.  She doesn't like to be left out...if a door's shut, she wants in or she gets mad.  She's getting long little baby hair, and I love it.  I like to fluff it up after she gets out of the bath, then i dry it to the side.  She still smells so good.  I looooove her smell.  Sometimes when I'm driving in the car, I can smell her, and it's lovely.  She's such a doll, we all love her so much.

Her 9 month stats:

weight:  18lb (28th)

height:  29 3/4" (97th)

head:  44.3cm (54th-aw, no more tiny little head)

She didn't have to get any shots, which was a big relief.  I hate when they have to get shots :(  Her next appointment is her 1 year (1 year!) and she has to get 3 shots. Poor Bebe Ava.

::new year's eve::

We celebrated new year's eve with some of Matt's family in Mantua.  We had lots of unhealthy food, played lots of games, kissed at midnight, lit a few fire crackers, and called it a night.

(I was in charge of the veggie tray.  How great is that??  I mean really.)

So welcome 2012!!  I love a new year!  Every time it's a new year, I get this horrible urge to redecorate my whole house (this year is no different).  There's a lot I want to do!  I always make resolutions.  Sometimes I keep them, and sometimes I don't.  I have quite a few resolutions this year, but my most important one is to mellow a bit.  I tend to stress about things and get a little worked up and upset rather than just sort of let things happen and know that things will be ok-especially when it comes to little things the kids do (making messes, waking up Ava, thinks like that).  Like is it really that big of a deal if Cooper wakes Ava up when she's been sleeping for over an hour?  Probably not.  I just feel like we try SO hard not to wake her up, and when he runs yelling down the hall right in front of her door, my first reaction is to get mad about it.  Anyway...  So, I want to be a little bit more mellow and no so reactionary.  How's that?  We'll see how I do.

::St. George::

Ahh, yes, the annual St. George/Mesquite, NV golf trip.  We go every year.  The last two years we've switched to staying right in St. George instead of in Mesquite because there's nothing (NOTHING) to do in Mesquite.  So that makes it a little more fun.  

So on the 26th at about 10:30ish, we headed South.  It was our first long trip in the bus, and it was really nice.  I wish the kids all would've slept a little longer in it, but they did pretty well.  Snacks, movies, books, Chloe had her iPod...life on the bus was good :)

Matt golfs for 3 days, and the kids and I try to entertain ourselves.  It's a little rough.  We try to explain to him that it's not a vacation, and I'm not sure he understands why.  It's totally a vacation for him, he gets to golf for 3 days!  We don't run around doing things all day when we're home, but down there we have to because the alternative is staying in a smallish hotel room (nobody likes that), so we don't love it.  We like to be with Matt and see him every day, but it's just too hard. 


So one of the days, we (Susan and I) took the kids to the Fiesta Fun Center.  They have lots of stuff to do there.  We mostly just did the soft play and some of the games.  We're too little to do the go-carts and some of us are too little for putt-putt.  It was fun.  Even Avie Mavie liked it!!




The next day we went to lunch at Kneaders and then saw Chipwrecked.  Bubb and Avie weren't too good in the movie.  Bubb wanted to climb on the railings and Ave just wanted to crawl around.  They both liked the lobby better.  Matt and the kids swam (I forgot my suit!) in the hot tub every night.  Our hotel didn't have a heated pool, just a hot tub, so the kids would run from the hot tub to the pool to get some ice (because it was iced over) and bring it back in the hot water to see how fast it melts.  

It was one of our rougher trips down South.  We've definitely had better ones.  It was hard to keep us all busy and happy at the same time, but probably the worst part was that Chloe and I both got sick.  She came down with that GI bug early early Wednesday morning, and gave it to me (I remember her drinking out of my water cup at Kneaders on Wednesday afternoon, but I didn't think about it until it was too late), and then I got sick Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  It.Was.Miserable.  Throwing up is about the most awful thing in the whole world.  I never get sick either!  Never.  The last time I was this kind of sick was 8 years ago (it was actually the day we got home from this very same trip 8 years ago).  It was short lived, but pretty awful.  So Thursday morning, Matt packed up the car for us while I laid around feeling sick, the men went golfing, and Susan and the kids and I made the long drive home-sick and all.  We got home when they were just a little over half done golfing, and we were SO glad to be home! 

::Merry Christmas::

Christmas morning!!  The kids came in at about 7 to tell us that Santa came!!!  They were so excited!!  Matt told them to wait 'til he and I were completely out of bed, awake, Bubba had gone potty, we had Ava, changed her diaper, and gotten the camera-which took all of about 2 minutes, but to them was a lifetime, and Portie might have snuck down the hall ahead of us.

I couldn't even get out there to get a picture before Chloe had passed out half the presents!  She was SO excited!

Avie Mavie totally knew what to do with her little presents (she had a little practice before Christmas).

Santa brought us lots of fun stuff!  And the kids got what they asked for:  

~Ava got a cute little baby skirt, a ruffley little baby dress, some baby bowls, some binkies, a Learning Purse, Learning Puppy, some sippy cups, and a pretty hairbow.  

~Cooper got some Hot Wheels cars, Hot Wheels wall tracks, Flip remote control car, a play-doh picnic set, a big Luigi, a squishy lizard, color wonder paints, Diego movies, and a Lakers shirt.
~Port got-a big Mario, a big K'nex set, a Lego City set, Hot Wheels wall tracks, some Hot Wheels cars, Play Doh dentist set, paints, paint brushes, a squishy lizard, Paper Mario Wii game, Lion King toys (Mufassa & Simba), and a Lakers shirt.  

~Chloe got an iPod!!!! (ok, not a real one.-Santa was a little nervous about giving an 8 year old a $150 piece of electronics, so he gave her a little pink Philips mp3 player, and she LOVES it!), a dock for her "iPod," some sparkly boots, a Lady Antebellum CD, a Barbie doll (the bride one), dentist play-doh set, a barbie movie, some nail polishes, nail polish stickers, and some little hair things.  

Santa gave all the kids a Brain Quest game (which is really fun), a big ol' box of play-doh, Just Dance 3 for the Wii, that Crayola crayon tower (it has tons of crayons and they don't get messy).  Matt and I got some fun stuff too.  My fave was a new camera lens.  It's the f1.8.  There's a bit of a learning curve to using it, but I kind of love that about it.  His fave would probably be the Lakers tickets :)  Sare and I decided we'd Santa would get them Lakers tickets and not tell either one that the other got some too, so when they came over on Christmas morning (because they always do, and we LOVE it) they'd be all surprised.  J looked at Matt's "gift" and was like "dude, you're sitting right next to us!!"  They were excited.  It's Feb. 4th.  Hopefully Kobe won't get injured or suspended or anything crazy like that for the game.

So, after our presents, we got all showered and dressed and went to church.  It was packed!  We had to sit in the overflow, and we were lucky to even sit all together.  We heard a really nice story about the Christmas spirit and heard the primary kids sing (only one song though), and then we were done.  Short and sweet-perfect for a busy Christmas Day :)  We came back home, ate some cinnamon rolls, J and Sae came over and played for a while, Grandma and Papa Snowman came over, then we packed up for my parents' house (and also our trip to St. George on Monday).


Our theme this year was a German Christmas.  Mom and Kevin were in charge.  So the menu had lots of meat (sausage, bacon, roast beef, ham (for the kids)) and also some German side dishes and desserts.  It was interesting and tasted pretty good.  We cooked out-on Christmas day.  Weird.


Here's our table.  Isn't it pretty.  That's my  mom.  She always does a beautiful table.  Look at the little stocking silverware holders..aren't they so cute?


After dinner (and lots of dishes-no paper plates at this house.  Grandma's too fancy.)  We opened some presents.  Grandma and Papa gave us lots of fun stuff.  Some stuff they brought back from their trip they took to Hawaii earlier in December.  They gave the kids lots of fun toys and even some huge solid gummy bears.  They spoiled us all, and we love it :)  And we love them. 


Merry Christmas to all!!

::Christmas eve::

December 24th is SUCH a busy day! But it's so much fun! It started out with Bubb not feeling too hot. We were so worried about him. We didn't know what to do with him. In hindsight, I probably should've stayed home with him, but Matt hated for the both of us to miss everything, so we went to all the activities. Luckily, he didn't end up getting any of us sick (a couple of us ended up getting sick a week later, but not from Bubb(usually that GI bug's gestation is a matter of hours or a day)-it's just going around.  Lots of people have had it, and it's YUCK!)

So first off we met with all of Matt's brothers and sisters at his mom and dad's house for a gift exchange. Adam and Krystal drove in from Minnesota to spend Christmas with all of us and her family in Idaho, so it was fun to see them. We read a few scriptures on the birth of our Savior, talked a bit, (sort of) did our usual gift exchange, talked some more, and then headed down to the church for the big Halling (Matt's mom's side of the family) family Christmas party.




And so, here's the group at the Halling party, and believe it or not, there are somewhere around 15-ish people missing! These are Matt's aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and also his own mom, dad, brothers and sisters and each of their spouses. It's a large family, to say the least :)


So we eat, talk, and usually we have a few of the kids sing or play a song for all of us. Matt's Uncle Steve always plays some carols on his guitar. This year, Chloe read us all a story. It was This is the Stable. It's a story about Jesus' birth, and it's such a darling little story. We read it A LOT this time of year. The kids' favorite thing about it is that it repeats "dusty and brown" when talking about the stable throughout the book, and so they like to say that part when we read it together. Anyway, she read it to us, and she did great.

Then, after the party, we go home and open our family gifts. We got some jammies (as always), and a new blog book!! One of us slacked off a bit last year and didn't get it finished in time for Christmas, so we were WAY excited to get one this year. It's beautiful and has LOTS of pages.

(All of us in our jammies. Ava-9 months, Chloe-8 yrs., Porter-5 1/2 yrs., Cooper-3 yrs.)

This year, the Mr. and I didn't have our usual hours and hours of wrapping to do after the kids go to bed!  I (and by I, I mean I!!) did it all over the course of 2 days while they were at school and napping.  Yea me!!  The kids went to bed ok.  They were so excited!  Chloe almost couldn't even stand it!  So they went to bed, and then Jared and Sarah came over.  Matt and J played Playstation and Sare and I talked for a while and watched A Christmas Story-what a great movie!  We put some cookies out for Santa, some carrots out for the reindeer, and went to bed.  It was so nice!

::Port's class party::

I volunteered to help with Porter's class Christmas party. I had to do some kind of activity with the kids. We made Rudolph candy canes. They turned out pretty cute, and I think the kids liked 'em.


After all the activities, the kids got together in the keva (a little dugout storytime area) for a treat and a story.  Two dads told the awesomest story ever!  They dressed up, had props, ran around, and everything.  It was so fun!  I'm so glad I got to go!

Chloe's class party was at the same time, and she kinda wished I could've come to hers too.  I reminded her that I already helped in hers a week ago.  We decorated cookies.  Portie came with me, but not Bubb.  Frosting?  Cookies?  Candy?  No!  He would eat all of it!  The boy loooves his sugar!  He had to stay with Grandma, and I'm so glad she could watch him (and the teeny girl) while Port and I went.  

::in the mornings...::

...we play toys in our jammies.

This is mostly for my own documentation, but our mornings usually go something like this...

I start waking Chloe up at about 6:55 (sometimes it's as late as 7:05 depending how many times I snooze the alarm and how dark it is outside).  Usually Bubb is with me (because he comes in my room sometime around 6:30 and I turn on Diego for him until my alarm goes off.  I should just get up, 'cause it's just 20 minutes, but I want my 20 minutes!!).  She gets out of bed somewhere around 7:15-after we go the rounds about why even though school's boring we still have to go.  Usually while she's brushing her teeth, she wakes up Port (she's not the quietest person), which is ok, because he's gotta start getting ready too.  Then, it's kind of a rush to get teeth brushed, dressed, hair fixed, eat, make lunch, and get to the bus by 7:30, but we never miss it, which is really kind of amazing in itself.  After we get home from taking her to the bus stop (which is just up the street), I get Portie ready.  I help him get dressed, brush his teeth, and fix his hair.  Then we take him to the same bus stop at 8 to catch his bus to his school.

And then me and Bubby and Avie play toys in our jammies for a while.  Bubb usually says "Mom, deyuh's chrucks in my room" and that's kind of the cue to go play in his room.  We drive "chrucks" and "trailuhs" and Avie crawls all over me.  It's fun.  I love it.

In other news...
We picked up Portie's little buddy, Jaken today after school to come play (he's a cute little stinker, and a lot like Portie).  They played for a couple of hours.  So they were playing Mario on the Wii and oh my gosh! every other word was "dude!"  It was SO funny!  "Dude, go this way." "Dude, you be first player."  "Dude, I died!"  "Dude! Dude!"  Ahh, it was hilarious!  And so cute!

::jeppsen Christmas party::

We went to the Jeppsen Christmas party on the 17th.  We meet at the church in Mantua.  All of Matt's aunts and uncles and cousins on his dad's side meet for a big meal (this year it was brunch), we usually do a sort or an activity-this year we did a bingo game where when your name was called you had to stand and tell a bit about yourself and what you've been up to over the last year.  It was such a cute idea.

 

 

As is usual at the Jeppsen party, Santa stopped by!  He "brought" a gift for all the kids.  They were all SO excited.  Some of the kids sang some songs while we waited for Santa to come in with his bag of toys.  It was pretty funny.

 

So he brought a little toy for each of  our kids, a cell phone for Ava, a little truck and trailer for Bubb, Nerf guns for Port, and some nail polish stickers for Chloe (those Sally salon effects ones).  Chloe's little gift was the tiniest in the whole bag, and poor Port was last.  He was a little nervous that Santa forgot him (and his mom and dad were a little nervous that his gift might've fallen out of the bag somehow), but somebody's gotta be last, right?

 

At the end of the party Matt's grandma & grandpa had some gifts for all of the great grandkids (and there are LOTS of them!).  They had a little gift bag for each one with some little treats and toys for them in it.  It was so sweet and fun. 

::a Christmas carol::

When I was growing up, we went to see "A Christmas Carol" every year ever since I can remember.  I have vivid memories of Jacob Marley being suspended above the audience and flying overhead to make his entrance, the ghost of Christmas present's large body, colorful robes, loud voice and laughter, and bright red lipstick.  I know specific lines by heart.  I also remember wearing a fancy Christmas dress every year.  The tradition was kept alive up until we had kids.  Most theaters don't allow such little kids.  Now we have a couple of them that are above the age limit (at the Heritage-ours here in town-the age minimum is only 4).  We realized last year that our kids (well, so far, the older ones) like to go to plays after we went to see the Lion King (Broadway) in Salt Lake.  So when I saw that our little theater up here in Perry was doing this play, I decided it was tme to revive the tradition!

It really was fantastic.  It was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the Dallas Theater Center or the Hale Center Theatre, who put on major productions.  It was small, low budget, and completely charming.  The stage was small, so on one corner, the scene was taking place, and on the other the set was being changed.  There were no English accents, Scrooge's bed was made of pvc pipes painted brown, the bed curtains fell off at times, Scrooge forgot some of his lines, they had several actors that played multiple roles, and Jacob Marley sang-which was a first for me.  I sat watching this play loving every second of it partly because it made me think of the tradition that is so dear to me and partly because the beauty part of seeing this play SO many times, in so many different ways, in so many different places, is that it is never the same, and I love that.

It was Jared, Sarah, Chloe, Porter, Matt and I.  We all grabbed a quick bite before the play.  The kids enjoyed the entire thing--except for the Jacob Marley part, which is probably the one part we were a little worried about because it's a little scary.  Port just burrowed into his dad's side and covered his ears and eyes.  Then he'd ask once in a while if Jacob Marley was coming back. 

We're so glad we got to go!  I just can't say that enough.  We're so glad J and Sare came with us!  We hope they'll come with us again next year.  We think it might be fun to go to the Hale and see a big production just to see the difference.  I can't say that Matt's terribly excited at the idea of going again next year (and the next and the next, etc), but, as his mom said, it's just one of those things he's just going to have to dress up and go do.  Don't you just love her? 

In other news

I know this is cliche', but I can't believe that Christmas is in 13 days!!  I've still got a lot to do!  Christmas parties are coming up, the kids get done with school next week, and I feel like I'm not even done decorating my house!  I bought some garland to be hung along the top of my front porch, and the Grinch Matt still hasn't hung it!  I always have a hard time being done shopping.  Even if I've satisfied my list, I feel like we should get one more thing.  Is that weird?  I get nervous too that we'll get ready to wrap on Christmas eve and find that our piles (for each child) will be completely uneven, and all the stores are closed.  I try really hard to be organized, but I still worry.    But we love Christmas!!  Even though it's a little crazy and goes by way too fast, we LOVE it!