Christmas!

Well we had a new development this week at our house: Max learned how to climb out of the crib. I had put kids to bed and was very tired for the night and was in my house just reading. I heard a noise, but couldn't imagine Lily and Ryan being awake since they were so tired and sleeping in Lily's room. All of a sudden my door opens up and in comes Mr. Max. I was absolutely shocked! I talked to him and sent him back to bed. He came out a few more times and I finally was so tired that I just went to bed and told him to do the same. Although one time he came to me saying that Ryan's paper was wet. I went to the room, looked around and didn't see anything. I asked where it was and Max opened up the humidifier. He had put the paper in the water and then acted surprised that it got all wet. Anyway,  it was quiet after a bit and I thought for sure he was sleeping. I opened my door to see his door closed but the light on. I open it and see him in the crib with a gingerbread man and he is eating all the candy off of it. He told me he was hiding from me because he was eating candy. I finally took him out and decided to wait for Jeff to get home (he was seeing the new Star Wars movie, Rogue 1). Jeff was so surprised to see Max awake. We had him show us how he got out of the crib. He proceeded to say that I had shown him how to get out, that I kept waking him up, and that I said it was okay for him to have candy. Jeff said he has a distortion of reality. He then proceeded to take his pajamas off and tried to get his clothes on for the day. I kept telling him it wasn't day yet since he hadn't even slept. I honestly don't even remember how he finally went to sleep this night. What a great development right before a new baby joins our family. 

This didn't last too long...not quite ready for a toddler bed. 

He woke up the same as the other kids even though he went to bed so later...all ready to help clear the snow. 

It was in the negative temperatures so the boys only lasted a few minutes outside. Ryan did get one snow angel in. 

The kids had so much fun picking presents for each other at the dollar store. They would find something, ask their sibling if they liked it, and then we'd "sneak" it in the cart. They also got a present for each of their friends. 

Lily saw me writing notes to my primary class and saw that some of my class members had written notes to me. So on her own she wrote a note to her teachers. It was so thoughtful and sweet! The kids were sick and didn't go to church, but she was thrilled to know I would give it to them. Since they were sick Jeff and I took turns going to church. Jeff went to another ward's sacrament meeting and then choir practice. He came home so happy and said how wonderful it was to enjoy sacrament meeting alone. He felt inspired, uplifted, edified, declared the church is true, and felt such an abundance of the spirit. He said we should take turns going to another ward's meeting once a month by ourselves so we can enjoy church without distractions. I got to experience the same thing by going to church by myself, so we each had a nice experience. I taught my last class and the kids like their notes I gave them and several of them said they would miss me being their teacher. I was touched by that and felt like it was a good ending.

Since Max was having such a hard time going to sleep, I didn't give him a nap. After reading the grinch (for the fifth time of the day to Max), he fell asleep before 7 before the story was over. He transferred very easily to his bed and while I was sad to not have him take a nap, it was nice to have a much shorter bedtime ordeal. 

Kasey Henry and her mom donated their time and ingredients to make these beautiful cookie plates. The money paid to them went directly to a refugee organization. Kasey's sister helped start Go Jane Give which encourages women to donate their talents and time and the money they raise for their services will go to a non-profit organization. What a great movement this is!

Ryan worked really hard on his letters to his preschool teachers. He looked at a picture of a nativity on my computer and then drew this. I was very impressed!

I was happy to be able to volunteer at Lily's school for her Christmas party. I got to be at the cookie decorating station. 

Paige, Zoe, Lily, and Amelia

The kids love going on "adventures." They pack up their backpacks and create scenarios and give each other new names. It's pretty fun and creative, although I have learned that if I can't find something, it is often in their backpack. They fit a lot of stuff in there.

Max saying "cheese!!!"

When my mom heard about my crib dilemma she immediately ordered us this crib tent. Max loved it at her house and he was really excited about it on his crib, but when it came down to it he did cry a lot. We will see how it works. 

Having a very fun farewell dinner for Emily Thomas who is moving to Georgia. We haven't all been together since my birthday. I love this group of women as we would often sew together or have book group together. 

Singing Christmas carols I feel so blessed to have a husband who can play so well and brings music into our home constantly. We are a very lucky family. 

Lily had a hard time going to sleep ("if I close my eyes  I think I will have a nightmare"). She was in her bed for awhile while Jeff and I wrapped gifts in our room. Every time we finished a gift she would take it out and put it under the tree. She LOVES helping. 

Ryan got the BB8 notebook from Blake. He was so sad when he got it and I was mortified that he wasn't grateful. So we had a good talk about how we react when we get gifts. The next day he opened it up and was thrilled because there is a picture of BB8 on each page. "I love this present!" I'm guessing his previous attitude was a reaction from being exhausted. We had gone to gymnastics open gym for an hour and a half, then the pool for nearly three hours. So these kids were pretty tired. Ryan wanted so badly to jump from the high vault. Last time he tried and tried, but ended up crying because he was so scared. Someone had left a mat on the pit, and I think it just made the ground closer to him so he jumped without hesitation. I moved the mat and he kept jumping. He was so proud and I was thrilled for him to accomplish what he wanted! Max jumped off a hundred times at least, and Lily even did a flip. It was a very fun day at gymnastics! 

Jeff practicing her choir music for our performance on Sunday. She does a great job and  has a great dad to help her out. 

Jeff reading the account of Jesus' birth and here we have Mary and Joseph, with a basketball for Mary's tummy. 

Max was happy to be baby Jesus and a good sport to be wrapped in swaddling clothes. 

Each giving a kiss to the new baby. 

They watched the church's nativity clip and loved it. After we watched and Jeff and I shared our testimonies, we asked how they felt. Ryan said he felt warm in his heart and Lily was happy. It was pretty sweet to feel the spirit and have a nice Christmas Eve. 

They opened their pajamas and their gifts from each other. It was so funny because they all knew what they were getting, but they were SO excited to open the gifts and see what was inside. Ryan loved the coloring kit Lily gave him, "I LOVE my Spiderman picture, thank you SO MUCH Lily!") and gave her a big hug. Ryan got her perfume and Max gave a Troll calendar. Ryan gave Max nerds (which he was thrilled with) and Lily gave him a coloring book. Lily gave Jeff a new cereal bowl and then chocolate for both of us. 

I got Jeff a portable squatty potty, which he's pretty happy about. 

Lily's letter to Santa.

We got this from Heather and Trevor and the kids seemed excited about it. 

It was a gag box though with other fun things inside. Lily kept saying, "I can't believe they tricked us!"

Posing in their new pajamas. Lily was so happy to have superhero pajamas with a cape. 

We did all of our family Christmas Eve activities early because we were invited to decorate gingerbread houses and eat Chinese at the Chournos' house. The kids had so much fun and it was wonderful to get them completely worn out so that they'd go straight to bed. 

Isabella and her brother Collin are in Lily's class at school, so they had fun together. 

Makenna was nice to help Ryan. 

And Brooklyn helped the girls. 

Max was not at all sad if his candy didn't stick to the frosting. He'd just eat it instead. 

Ryan's house with his garden. 

Brother Chournos reading some Christmas stories. 

Jeff played some Christmas hymns and it was so nice to carol. Afterward Jeff and I sang some more songs while the kids played, it was so fun. 

Lily's house with her garden and snow man. 

Lily got everything ready for Santa.

Ryan and Max were thrilled with everything in their stockings. Max said, "Santa gave me a sock!"

We had to wake Lily up to open presents so we could get it done before church. 

Everyone in their Sunday best since we had to be at church a little earlier. Max loved this connect four because it's just like the one at the library. He was occupied with this for awhile. 

Ryan was so happy for his scorpion transformer from Santa. 

And Lily loved her electronic notebook. Both kids were thrilled that Santa knew just what they wanted. 

I think Ryan is even more excited about this airplane transformer. 

I printed off the music for Lamb of God and Lily helped me put the pages in the book (there were 151!). She was so happy to help out and when I said, "I hope daddy likes it," she said, "do you want me to ask him tomorrow if he likes Lamb of God?" She was trying to be sneaky and get information for me which I thought was cute. Jeff loved it and we had so much fun singing and playing. It is very hard, so I'm very impressed he can play any of it. 

Lily wanted her favorite music. We have some extra iPods so lily was very happy to listen to all the Moana and Trolls music she wanted. 

Lily was so happy to be able to sing in the choir at church. She said, "I think I'm the youngest one in the choir, will I always be the youngest?" She sat next to Kim Seyboldt who let her stand on the pew next to her. Kim said she'd sometimes look up to whisper, "I love this part, or this is my favorite song." Kim would reply, "me too." She said how could it not be when it made Lily so happy and her enthusiasm to sing was contagious. One women in the congregation said she could not take her eyes off of Lily, she was so cute and couldn't believe she could read well enough to be able to sing! It was definitely a highlight for Lily and made for a wonderful Christmas memory. 

Lily was very proud of her design on her notebook and wanted a picture. 

After church we went home and packed up for Mama Baer's. The kids were so happy to come because they hadn't been since after Thanksgiving and Sarah and Michael were also there. Plus, the kids were going to stay until Thursday, so I was VERY excited for a bit of a break. 

Diana and Michael made this snowman from the wrapped presents. It was so impressive!

This is the reality of the craziness of these kids. They are very fun and very sweet.