PC's Birthday

We had to have PC open his presents in the morning, because we wanted him to use them that day.  His birthday was on a Sunday this year, and the kids got him engraved collar stays.  They say, "We love you" and "World's Best Dad" on them.  I got him two pairs of cuff links--Captain America and 007.  I think he really liked them all.
I made his favorite cookies 'n cream cake.  None of us were feeling the greatest though.  We all went to bed early.

Gingerbread Houses and Cousin Gifts

We always go to Nana and Papa's to make gingerbread houses.  Poor Tink woke up with a fever the day before.  She was feeling better and refused to miss it, but by the time we got to decorate the houses, she was asleep on the couch.  She felt awful the next day too, and finally felt better after that.  It was a yucky virus, but thankfully no one else in the family got it.  Baby Girl had a stomach bug, but it was different and no one else had that one either.
Here are all the houses lined up on Nana's table:

We also did a cousin gift exchange again this year for all the cousins who live in Colorado.  The kids just have so much fun doing this.  They had a great time.  Baby Girl opened her first gift ever. She got a cute stuffed dog.  Goofy is so into Spider-Man and he got a coloring thing and container both with Spider-Man on them.  I loved his cousin's expression as she waited for him to open his present from her! (She's in the bottom left corner of the collage below.)  Minnie got fingernail polish, which she loves!  Bucko got Pokemon cards--yes, he is still into Pokemon!  Tink got Reese's and bracelets.  They were all perfect for the kids.  It's so much fun to watch everyone open their gifts.  I'm so glad we do this!

Class Parties

The last day of school before winter break, all the kids had their class parties. I am the Home Room Parent for Bucko's class, so that always makes it fun.  His teacher had to leave unexpectedly for a funeral in his family earlier that week, so I felt like I was flying solo for that.  I was really bothered also when the kindergarten teachers decided to put on a play for the parents at the same time as the parties.  I got in there as quickly as I could, but I missed Goofy's part.  I had asked Nana to come and videotape it all for me, so I got to see it later on the video.  But I was still upset that I missed it in person.  He totally lit up when he finally saw me in the audience.  He kept looking around.  You could tell he was so nervous!!  (They did "The Night Before Christmas.")

We stopped in to see Minnie at her party.  I had Johnny with me to help.  I couldn't have even made it into the school without him. I had five pizzas, a baby in the stroller, a cooler, a box of treat bags and books, and the diaper bag.  Thank goodness Johnny could help.
We did a pizza party and book exchange for Bucko's class.  For the book exchange, we did it musical chairs style, where whoever gets out gets to go and pick a book.  It was the first time I have ever seen kids want to get out!  They all had so much fun though.

Random Things

Baby Girl loves to clap! She says, "Yay!" while she does it.  When we watch AFV, she always claps when everyone else does on the tv.  It's so cute!  She also says, "Uh-uh" for "uh-oh" when she drops something.  That is one of her favorite games at the moment too. She drops something and wants you to pick it up so she can drop it again.

Here is Tink's light fixture she got for her birthday all put together.  They put it together downstairs and then took it up to her room to install.

It will get super foggy here and then freeze.  We have woken up to several "winter wonderland" mornings.  I love how it clings to everything!  Even every needle on our pine trees.  So cool to me.

New baby cousin!  She is so cute and tiny, but already has more hair than Baby Girl!

Tink learned to crochet these scarves at Young Women's one night.  She taught Minnie and they love making them!

Ward Parties

I am working as the Relief Society Activities Chairperson at church right now.  I basically plan and execute our activities every other month for the women in our ward.  For December, we do a nice Christmas dinner and a white elephant gift exchange.  We invite all the young women too.  Because of my classes, I wasn't sure if I should go to class or stay and help.  In the end, I had a lot of committee members who just could not make it that night, so felt like I really should be there.  I really wanted to go to be able to enjoy it and it was Tink's first time going, so I wanted to be there with her too.  We set up in the morning, and I think it turned out really nice.  We strung white light across the ceiling and had different ladies decorate the individual tables.  We had snowflakes all over and little Christmas trees stuck around the room.  We did a short spiritual program where we read The Three Trees and had some special music.  It all turned out really well. We had two young women play Silent Night on their violins, then a mother/daughter sang Master, the Tempest is Raging while another daughter accompanied on the french horn.  We finished by all singing "Joy to the World." It was really nice.  The gift exchange was fun too.  Tink ended up with some really cute snowflake earrings.  I got a movie and popcorn.  Usually I end up with awful gifts, but this year we did really well!

Two days later, we had our ward Christmas party. It was a breakfast with Santa.  They had crafts for the kids to do as well.  Goofy's friend and his family came.  Minnie's friend and her dad and sister also came.  We all had a good time.

December is here!

With my parents on a mission, everyone in my family has been trying to e-mail once a week or so to update all on what is going on.  Below is what I wrote for this week:
 Hi everyone,

I hope you are all staying warm!  It has been SO cold here.  For four days, the highest the thermometer on the Suburban read was 1 degree!  AAhh!  It usually hung around -2.  PC even ran in the mornings when it was even colder.  With the wind chill, it was about -25.  He is training for an ultra marathon in May, so he is running a lot and hates the treadmill.  

The kids had school cancelled on Thursday and a two-hour delay on Friday.  Minnie was home Friday as well, because she threw up Thursday night.  We have all felt a bit queasy and have had some major headaches, but not a bad sickness I guess.

PC's niece had her 1 year old birthday party this weekend.  That was fun and we took the kids to see Santa at Big R (a cowboy type store) afterwards.  Tink missed all that because she was taking the Red Cross babysitting and CPR training.  We were glad she was finally able to do that though! 

I took Baby Girl to an oral surgeon last week for the mucocele in her mouth.  He said he would cut it out, but the anesthesiologist wouldn't put her to sleep until she is one, so we will have to go back in three months.  I might still try to just pop that thing with a needle.  

We got a crack in the windshield of the Suburban driving home from Thanksgiving at PC's brother's house.  I went and had that filled before the cold weather hit so it wouldn't spread.  It is amazing how well they can fix those things. I can't even see it anymore.

We had stake conference this weekend. It was all about missionary work, Mom and Dad.  And they quoted your favorite book a lot.  They told us to pray for our missionaries by name and their investigators, and to pray for missionary experiences.  Our stake president asked us to invite someone to church before Christmas.  The kids all took some invitations to our Christmas party on Saturday and are inviting their friends.  No escaping this missionary stuff now, is there?  

Hope you are all doing well.  Two weeks left in my semester and then Christmas break!  Yeah!  Of course I start right back up in January, but it is all for the best.  I really am enjoying the classes.

 When PC ran outside in the cold, his eyelashes froze.  It was crazy cool! I tried to get a picture, but it had started to melt already.  Still looked cool though.  

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went up to Brian and Mandy's house.  We had a great time.  Joe and family were really sick, but were still able to make it for dinner.  Baby Girl and her cousin had a blast playing together.  We just had to guard the stairs pretty well.  (Baby Girl almost gave Mandy a heart attack the next morning when she was reaching for a brush on the first step down.  We got to her and she didn't fall down though.)  We set up all the food upstairs in the kitchen, then had all the tables set up in the basement.  It worked out really well.  We had lots of yummy food.  After dinner, we ladies worked on some crafts.  We made a sign post for our front porch and two signs to go on it.  We also did a cute nativity ornament out of clothespins.  We all enjoy doing crafts and it is even nicer when it's with family.  The older girls entertained us from their room with singing and other silliness.