Christmas 2009

These past two weeks have just flown by. We've gone to so many Christmas parties and been so busy...I hope I'll be able to catch up. Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We had a Christmas party with Damon's siblings and mom the Sunday before Christmas and that really got things going. We had another party on Christmas Eve at Damon's dad's place. And a third party on Christmas night at my parents home. Busy, busy, busy!
Damon got stuck working Christmas Eve and Christmas night. I guess it was just luck of the draw. We still had our annual Christmas Eve present of pajamas. The kids loved them and even held still long enough to take a pic and send it to Damon at work. Damon got off work at 6:00 am on Christmas morning so when he got home we woke the kids up (except Cole who woke up when he heard the garage) and did the Christmas morning thing. I guess all three kids were good this year because they all got what they asked for from Santa. Ellee asked for a new baby doll and crib for the baby. Santa did one better and even got her a high chair and stroller for her baby doll as well. She also got another doll for Christmas that is almost as big as her. She sleeps with it and dresses it up in her old clothes that she has outgrown. She was so fun to watch this year. I didn't realize that it is protocol to squeal every time you open a present, but apparantely I've been doing it wrong. She got so excited with each present, even new socks. It was hilarious! Luke asked for a dragon castle and dragons to go with it. He ran right to his present and immediately started playing with it. He didn't even want to go through the stocking, he just wanted to play with his new castle. He is so fun to watch with the toys. He makes sure to play with all his toys. It's almost like he's worried about hurting their feelings if he doesn't play with them. He loves all of them! When I checked on him in bed on Christmas night I couldn't help but giggle when I saw that he had just about all his presents in bed with him. He couldn't even move because they were all around him. He's still been sleeping with a firetruck garage that his cousin River gave him for Christmas. Cole asked for a Nintendo DS, a game for the DS, and a bag of bells (???) He got all three. He must've been really good this year. At the Romig Christmas party everyone kept talking about how quiet Cole was being, and that they've never heard him so quiet. He wouldn't put the DS down. Mama and Papa made his night by giving him Super Mario Brothers...he wanted it so bad but somehow Santa had not realized that he really wanted that game. We are definitely going to need to put some restrictions on how often he is allowed to play. That will be a fun battle! Cole was so cute opening presents. He would close his eyes until the wrapping paper was just about gone so he would be able to see the entire present...not just a corner of it :) My highlight this year was opening a present from Cole. He took money with him to school because the PTA offers a store the students can go to and purchase gifts for their families without any help. He bought me a silver necklace that said #1 Mom on it :) He got Damon a package of football cards and a pen that went with a globe pen holder. He bought Ellee a big ring and Luke a pull back truck. It was fun to see what he picked out for each of us on his own. After all the presents were opened and the house looked like a tornado hit it, Damon went to sleep to get ready for another graveyard shift Christmas night and the kids spent all day breaking in their new toys.

As a family we got a kitten this year for Christmas. We've named her Kit or as Luke lovingly calls her Kit Kat. She is super cute. There are a few allergy issues right now so we'll see if this is a permanent thing or a fun little visit. We'll see if things get better or worse. She is awfully cute and a cat is definitely the kind of pet that fits our lifestyle and home. We'll see what happens.

This was the first year that all the kids really understood what it meant to give presents to others as well as getting new presents for themselves. It was fun to watch how excited they got as they watched others open their gifts. It was good to see! We had a great Christmas and have really enjoyed the time off together.

Temple Square

We decided to venture out in the freezing temperature and head down to Temple Square for family home evening last Monday. It was soooooo cold-or as the kids would say Cold-Daddio. We got up there before the lights were turned on so went through the visitor's center and over to the conference center. Damon had a great idea to take hot chocolate in a thermos with us. The twins didn't know what to think of the hot chocolate...except the marshmallows...which they loved. Cole, Damon and I couldn't get enough of the hot cocoa! The lights were awesome as usual. We had lots of fun, despite the cold temperature.

Time to Play Catch Up-Halloween

So, our computer died on us so I've been unable to post any blogs. Sorry...it's time to catch up.
Halloween was lots of fun this year. Cole decided he was going to be a zombie for Halloween all the way back last spring. He never changed his mind and stuck to it. Papa came to his Halloween parade at school and it was fun to watch him play it up and drag his foot and make his "dead" look.
Ellee and Luke went back and forth changing their minds. Ellee originally decided on being a witch, but then went with Teresa and Ashlyn to look for butterfly wings for Ash to wear on Halloween and the final decision was made. She was going to be a butterfly...just like Ashlyn.
Ellee also got to dress up for dance the week of Halloween so she felt extra special since she got to wear her costume before the boys.
Luke was dead set on being a shark for Halloween. I tried and tried and tried to find a cute and inexpensive shark costume but had no luck. So we started helping him think of different ideas...Frankenstein, a monster, a dinosaur...but the minute we got out our old costumes he saw the Spiderman costume and he had his answer. Luke and Ellee had a parade at their preschool. They got to hold Mama's hands and lead the parade around. They were so happy and thought it was fun that all the mom's and dad's were gathered to watch them march around the school.
Damon got stuck working Halloween this year. No fun for us! I decided that since I didn't have his help maybe it would be a fun chance to head down to Cedar City and spend Halloween with the Williams. Ashlyn, of course, was a butterfly like Ellee and Alyssa was a dancin' monkey. The kids were so cute together. Plus, you can't help but smile when you see Chase going hippie.
The cousins get along so well and had never been together on Halloween so I kind of invited myself and luckily Teresa said that sounded like fun. We had a blast. Teresa and Chase even talked me into going to a couples party with them...even though my hubby was at work. She even found a lovely hot dog costume for me to wear :) It really was a lot of fun. We did the trunk or treat thing at the church and took the kids around trick or treating in the neighborhood.
Teresa and I even made time to work on some crafts that we've been wanting to get done. It was lots of fun for me and the kids. The only downfall was that Damon was at work instead of with us. Thanks for letting us invade, T!

Jack-o-lanterns!

Okay-my only excuse is that volleyball has been all consuming. It is now over so now it is time to play catch up with my blog. We had a great Halloween week. We loved carving pumpkins on Wednesday night. The kids had been asking every day about when we would carve pumpkins and we finally couldn't put it off any longer. Cole went through a book and found a fun fiery face that he wanted on his pumpkin...he traced it onto his pumpkin...and cut quite a bit of it-just needed a little bit of help. We gave Ellee and Luke a marker and let them draw their faces on and then we cut out a face with most of the characteristics they wanted. The funnest part of that was trying to make eyelashes for Ellee's princess pumpkin and make googly eyes for Luke's silly monster pumpkin. I loved that they came up with ideas on their own for what type of pumpkins they wanted. Cole was a trooper this year. He dug right into the pumpkin guts and cleaned his out really well. It took a little bit of prodding to get Luke going, but once he got started he just kept going and cleaned most of his out by himself. Ellee was a little diva the entire time. We got her to reach into her pumpkin maybe a handful of times. We got big scoops probably twice and then daintly little pinches the other times. She wouldn't even attempt to finish so we got to help take care of that. It was much better than last year when we had to clean out all the pumpkins and did not enjoy it much at all. I was very proud of the final result. We had a good time as a family and got some super cute pumpkins.