Count Down to Christmas

On Thursday and Friday, Hailey and Jaden still had school. Daniel was home then too, but he left on Saturday morning, for a quick trip with his family on the west coast. The kids had a cute little Christmas tree downstairs. I started putting a small gift for each of them there each night, for them to open each morning. Things like stickers, coloring books, a hat, some craft projects, window clings, etc. The kids were usually up before us and spent some time entertaining themselves each morning. When I cooked food for dinners, I tried to cook extra to go in the freezer. Plus people from church brought food too. On Saturday morning, Ron and I took the kids and went to breakfast at the church- the kids got to see some of their friends there. On Sunday afternoon, we took the kids to church. Ron also took the kids to a place to play on some big slides- very HAPPY pics.

Mason's favorite pass time...watching TV from mom's bed.

This is how Mason plays with the cat.

This is how Ron plays with the cat.

 

Wednesday, December 16

After we got Hailey and Jaden off to school, and someone came and picked up Mason for pre-school, I went shopping- lol. I arrived back home, mid afternoon, with a birthday cake, ice cream, groceries, and had finished some last minute Christmas shopping. We were planning to take the kids to the hospital after they got home from school, but since Ashley, Daniel, and Hazel were coming home, we quickly changed to plan "B"- I cooked dinner and we had birthday party at home, for Jaden. (and welcome home...new baby). Here are pics from Jaden's birthday celebration. Happy 11 years!

UTAH...December 15.

Our flight left SA about 2 pm. We left the mustang at Audrey's house about 11:30 am and she took us to the airport. Not only was that less expensive, but there was very little parking even available near the airport. Our travel day was perfect. The flight was on time, our bags arrived quickly, no problem getting the rental car. There was snow in Utah and it was pretty cold, but clear roads. We stopped at an IHop in Logan for dinner, then found the "Pete house". Daniel's friend, Mike, had taken Jaden, Hailey, and Mason to the ColorVibe Christmas party for the evening. They arrived home shortly after us. Ashley had Hazel early afternoon, that day. They came home late Wednesday afternoon. No time lounging around at the hospital, after she was born- hehe. Here are the first pictures of Hazel and the other kids... and papa.

Ready...Set...Go

Not only get everything ready for primary 2016, but get Christmas all ready in two weeks. My December got cut in half, since we leave on December 15 for Utah. I decorated our house for everyone that would be at our house while we were gone :) Reminding myself, that some of those people would be small children- "don't put out too much stuff"- ha. We added extra shifts to the Home Instead schedule for Dec.15-31. Andersons came out on Christmas Eve. Andersons and Fishers had Christmas dinner at our house. Before we left, we had a few neighbors come for a Sunday evening dessert. We had friends come for lunch and we had other friends come for dinner, twice. We packed as much as we could into the first two weeks of December, in order to be gone for the last two weeks of December. We got most of our home teaching and visiting teaching done. I did have to send out 3 cards, to families that we couldn't go see. I mailed gifts to all of the kids and grand kids- plus we sent money. I sent two boxes to Ashley's house, with a label on the outside, "Don't open until Baba gets there". I left Christmas gifts for mom and Andersons in a closet up stairs. One of my last projects to finish, was mailing out Christmas cards. I finished everything just in time to spend a late night on Monday, December 14th, packing.

Primary Boards

I had many projects to get done for Primary, before we left to go to Utah, since we would not be back home until the first of January, I had to have almost everything ready to start a new year. Everything from lesson binders, picture sorting, class assignments, presidency assignments, etc. We also did a fun sharing time, where we made red and green hands. Those made a cute bulletin board, called, "We Will Be His Hands". I also did a sharing time where the kids colored paper ornaments for a tree. And then did a sharing time with "gifts" for Jesus, to be placed under the tree. 

Food Storage

When I was working on my Christmas decorations, I kept finding little...or maybe not so little...stashes, inside my boxes of decorations. Some little...or maybe not so little...mouse had lots of food storage in our attic. It had been moving black sunflower seeds and little round red seeds from the bird seed in the garage to it's storage places.

Christmas Trees

I have two, favorite, small Christmas trees and one regular one that I put up, just because it's expected. I have a small Noah's ark tree. We had to redo the lights this year, because it was pre lit and half of the string didn't work. It took both Ron and I quite awhile to pull those off. Then my favorite tree has an outdoor/fishing/animal/cowboy theme, with black bears under it :) I started working on all of those about a week before Thanksgiving. I finished all of the decorations the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. We invited 5 other couples (neighbors) to come for dessert on Sunday evening. My December this year is cut short, because of our trip to Utah. Between Christmas, my primary calling, and stuff at home...I am running out of time.