December

In December, we:

*tried to participate in the Church "Light the World" Christmas campaign. We started off the first day by donating food to our Ward food drive.

I was grateful for the special ways that it reminded us to be like Christ. Looking back I wish we had done better at making it a priority.

*decorated for Christmas. Notice how all the lights are working? That was no longer the case by Christmas morning.

I like this one because it has everyone except Ed in it (who was taking the picture). Can you find me and all 5 girls?

*had the annual Red and Green Party with the Andersons/Belnaps, this time with a sweet nativity. Here's the cast:

There was also lots of good red and green food, a fun scategories game, and some playing of bells. Mostly we love being with all the family.

*had our annual Gingerbread House party with the Laws.

Ed is pretty sure his Trump Tower won the day, but my vote was for Sarah's manger scene.

*celebrated all things Christmas! Ed had to work on Christmas Day again (of course), so our Christmas was the 23rd instead. "Christmas Eve" Grandma and Bonka came for shishkabobs.

And then Christmas morning was simple and sweet. We did the 4 gifts again (something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read) and didn't do any electronics this year. It was quite peaceful and very low-stress.

We lost half of our tree lights. Oh well. We don't have matching pajamas. Oh well. We didn't get pictures of the girls actually opening presents. Oh well. It was a wonderful Christmas. We are grateful for all who were so generous with us.

We had our traditional breakfast of sticky buns, breakfast casserole and hot chocolate, then whisked Ed away to the airport to start work.

The 24th found us at the Laws for Christmas dinner.

We are truly grateful to live by all our family so we can spend all these fun moments together. I love the memories my girls are making here.

In December, Ed and I:

*ran away together again! Ed's Christmas trip for Delta worked out perfectly for me to join him while he worked. On Christmas Day I took the girls to church, then left them with Grandma and Bonka (Merry Christmas to us!) and headed to the airport. The flight from Boise to SLC was completely full - it didn't look like I'd get a seat. But SLC was getting heavy snow, and our plane was stuck there in the de-iceing line. The nearly 2-hour delay caused lots of people to jump ship, which meant I very easily got a seat on that flight. 20-30 minutes after I arrived in Salt Lake, I watched Ed bring in a plane from Seattle. Then I hopped on his flight from Salt Lake to Washington, D.C. So fun to fly with my hubby!

Do you see that cute pilot under the wing? No, not the guy in orange refueling the plane, the cute one doing the walk-around in the snow. He's mine.

Ed had a 30-hour layover in D.C. so we spent the next day walking everywhere.

The National Gallery of Art was pretty dang cool.

 Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889

Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment

The National Museum of American History was pretty dang cool too.

Abe Lincoln's top hat

And of course we walked around all the memorials.

And then we could walk no more. So we rested at the hotel, then took a tiny walk to Bobby's Burger Palace. Thank you Bobby Flay, our burgers were fantastic.

The next morning I miraculously got on Ed's flight back to SLC, then managed to fly standby with him home to Boise. It was amazing. Once all these little people leave the house, I'm going to work with Ed all the time! He's gonna get so sick of me.

In December, Kimberlee:

*got Copic markers (want), a big fuzzy blanket (need), boots (wear), and 2 years of photo books (read) for Christmas.

*was way more excited for what happened after Christmas:

Before...

And after:

She's been begging for this cute pixie cut for a long time...I was nervous about it and was holding her back. Our neighbor gave us the name of the perfect person to cut it and I couldn't hold her back anymore. How cute is she? She wears headbands and dangly earrings and is so dang cute. She loves how easy it is and may never grow it out again. Sigh.

*finished her quiet book pages. Don't mind the blurry pic.

In December, Keira:

*got a Bath & Body Works set (want), a big fuzzy blanket (need), a shirt and cute socks (wear), and 3 years of photo books (read) for Christmas.

*was excited to do more pet-sitting for our neighbors (she's done it several times before)...until the snow started falling and wouldn't stop. Feeding those outdoor dogs was not so awesome in all of this:

In December, Krista:

*got a soccer ball (want), a bulletin board (need), a shirt and cute socks (wear), and 4 years of photo books (read) for Christmas.

*doesn't seem to be phased by cold and snow at all - she still would spend all her time outside if she could.

In December, Kassie:

*had a birthday! With her birthday being over Christmas break, her teacher celebrated her a little early. She didn't mind being the center of attention for a day.

Kassie has never had a birthday party with friends (unlike all her older sisters), so last year I promised her that this would be the year. No big deal, we were going to keep it low-key...but as it got closer and closer I realized how much I hate throwing birthday parties. And I hate that it's kind of expected. My parents never gave us friend parties growing up, and I never felt like my birthday was lame... So I made an announcement to my kids: no more friend birthday parties. We will still make a big deal out of their birthdays, and they will probably be able to have friends over, I'm just not throwing anymore parties. Sorry Kass and Karoline, you two get the short end of the stick here. Kassie was pretty upset at my announcement. She started telling anyone who would listen that she was going to have her "first and last birthday party" in a pouty voice.

BUT, that party was pretty great, if I do say so myself.

Keira actually planned the whole thing. She made these cute cupcakes for everyone.

6 out of 8 invited friends could come. We started off making Christmas tree ornaments.

Then they played lots of Minute-to-Win-It games.

Then there were treats and Kass opened presents.

The kids finished off by playing in the backyard in all the new snow we had gotten. Short, sweet, simple, but lots of fun. It was a good "first and last" birthday party.

This year, with our Christmas being the 23rd (and Christmas Eve the 22nd) we were able to make Kassie's actual birthday (the 24th) all about her!

On her Christmas/birthday list, some of Kassie's requests were: a big stuffed penguin, diamonds, a diamond crown, and a pet with a cage. We couldn't find a penguin, but she was pretty happy with the blue duck (or platypus???). She truly believes the diamonds in her crown are real. And she loved her robot mouse and her cage - she has dubbed her Pinky. 7-year-olds are the best - still pretty easy to please.

We adore this big girl and all her big feelings. Just can't imagine our family without our Sassy Pants.

*had her 1st grade music program. It was cancelled due to weather on it's original evening, so they moved it to during school the next week. Kassie was sad that that meant her entire family couldn't go. Life happens sometimes.

She did great on her speaking part. I assume she did well singing the songs too...the group sitting in front of me kept switching seats, so I never really got to see her. No worries though, she performed the whole program again at home, and Karoline has sung all the songs over and over ever since.

*got Pokemon cards and figures (want), a bulletin board (need), a shirt (wear), and 3 years of photo books for Christmas.

*got pretty sick for her birthday and Christmas and the rest of Christmas break. Horrible cough, fever, aches...poor thing was pretty miserable.

In December, KK:

*loved playing in all the snow. She mostly just loved wearing her boots and snowsuit.

*got Frozen coloring books and crayons (want), 24 cans of play-doh (need), boots (wear), and her very first photo book (read) for Christmas.