Wise Girls

Isabella was in an all girl pre-school class at Miss Caroline's. But November 1 one of her little friends moved away so now she is in a class with 6 girls & 1 boy. So she got to be a wisegirl in the pre-school nativity play. Even though we are still in the middle of ARCTIC BLAST 2008 (said in an extremely serious voice) and the bigger kids' school was cancelled. There really was NO snow on the roads so she still had pre-school. And I was so happy because they were SO CUTE and they feel so special to get to do fun things like this.

The cute wisegirl with her gift
Bella & olivia waiting for their turn
Gabby is a very serious Mary & Kailey peeking out of the inn

Mary dragging Joseph to Bethlehem

The Star
And lo the wisegirl followed the star

Singing sweet songs
And jingling bells

Merry Christmas love the cute little pre-schooler!

Snow Days

Due to the ARCTIC BLAST 2008 we have had our very first snow day. I read on my cousin Kjrsten's blog that her kids turned their pajamas inside out and it magically snowed so I told Savannah that & she tried it last night. And of course, the snow came! The kids school was cancelled this morning, we got a whole 1/2 inch of snow, but of course it was cancelled way before that appeared. Still it was fun.

Crepes for breakfast a la Grandma Raquel. *She always made those for us when we visited her in Tacoma or on Christmas morning when I was very small & they lived here in Vancouver*

The mad dash through winter clothes box to find boots, hats & gloves and then a romp in the snow. Snow angels were made & Savannah wrote no school yeah in the snow over & over.

Then in for some hot chocolate. What a fun morning.

The snow had all melted by the afternoon, Bella still had pre-school so the rest of the day went normally except for the two bigs tagging along everywhere I went.

Snow days are magical!!

The big 10 on Tuesday

Every one of these lovely friends is WAY ahead of me, and I am loving it...

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I am really having a scroogish, bah humbug kind of year. And I don't know why, maybe it is because my shoes are too tight...or that my hat is not screwed on just right. Whatever the reason...I am WAY behind on everything this Christmas season.

I feel overcommitted-10 steps behind and being behind puts me in a very scroogish bah humbug kind of mood. Even Dave was commenting on my struggles this year and saying how unlike me I am being because I neurotically get things done early in the season so I can enjoy it. But not this year. LAME LAME LAME. SO here are 10 things I need to get finished or caught up on before Saturday-the magic last day of school for 3 of my children-the day when the real job of entertaining & fabulous fun can begin.

1. Laundry-it is never ending!! Piled up, waiting to be folded & put away and washed....oh the laundry you are my daily bane.

2. Christmas cards. I LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS. I read every letter & look at every face of friends who live close & those who live far away & I miss. It is seriously one of my very most favorite things about Christmas. They receive a spot of honor on our closet door so I can look at them every time I go upstairs or answer the front door. And I RELIGIOUSLY get mine out by December 10th because the 15th is the last day the post office will guarantee to have the cards there in time for Christmas. And I know this because that date was circled in bright red on my calendar for the 3 years we lived in Germany. I have NEVER in the last 6 years gotten my cards out after the 15th. And today...December 15th...here they sit...as a testament to my lateness! I have even scaled down the craftiness I was going to put into our Christmas letter in an attempt to get them done on time...but alas it was not to be.

Here they sit all piled & sad! Waiting for cheery stamps!

3. Fixing broken ornaments & decorations. They are sitting in a very cute gift bag on top of our computer hutch...waiting sadly for their turn to be put on the tree. But first they need to have a little crazy glue lovin.

5. Gift projects...don't even get me started on the amount of crafts I have done this year for gifts. Talk about overscheduling....and one craft that was supposed to be so simple has turned into hours of work & frustration. It is almost done...a few holes to sand bigger and then it will be wrapped & placed under the tree.

6. Christmas shopping. Seriously, I just barely made lists. IN years past if I didn't have it all done by the 1st of Dec it wasn't going to get there in time. But now that I can be lazy & just drive to toys r us instead of ordering everything. Dave & I just did our big shopping trip today for the kids so now I just have a few stocking stuffers to get, plus gifts for his assistants & two things that they don't carry at my favorite one stop shop stores like fred g meyers or Target-I have to actually go to the mall!

These presents are wrapped because Dave wanted to do it, notice there are no bows or embellishments, purely a man's wrap job!

7. Cookie platters for neighbors/visiting teachers. We actually took 2 cookie platters over to our next door neighbors yesterday but I still need to make a big one for my aunt who lives down the street because they are such great neighbors. They get the extra special cookie platter. And my companion & I just can't get it together this month. We've had two dates set to go visiting teaching & drop off gifts, but both times something came up for one of us so we need to do that soon!

8. Sleep under the Christmas tree. This is a sacred tradition at our house. The kids & I just love it, to turn all the lights out & camp under the tree. We usually do it fairly soon after putting it up, because I don't want them shaking presents all night long. But I think this one will have to wait until school is out.

Bella is still way obsessed with the tree...I find a chair scooted up to it every day so she can rearrange ornaments. She must have some personal decorator in her blood!

9. Finish my talk, that is right I am speaking at the Christmas sacrament meeting for our ward. ANd I know what I want to talk about but still have to rough it out and then smooth out the rough edges so it isn't a horrible talk, and I don't stand up there and bawl.

10. Read piles of Christmas stories to my kids. I love sitting on the couch & reading Christmas stories, especially the 3 trees which always makes me cry, I can barely get through a page or two without choking up. Again, this will probably have to wait until they are out of school & I can focus all my energy & lovins on them.

Blog Absenteeism

I know you've missed me blogging the last few weeks. Here is a sampling of some of the things we've done. Add to that dental appointments for all the kids, a fun trip to the temple with Dave & my new calling as a Webelos Cub Scout leader and you can see why I've been so busy:

Cookie baking day with the sisters & grandkids. The kids had a 1/2 day at school so we got together to make cookies, everyone made 2 kids & we all went home with trays full to have & give away throughout the holidays.

Time for samples!
Christmas shopping...with kids (YIKES)The PUD annual Christmas party
Every year my dad's work has a Christmas party for the employees kids. We loved it as kids, treats fun & a visit with Santa. Because my brothers are so much younger than me, I went every year even until I got married. Then when David came along & the rest of the cousins, my dad started inviting all his grandkids. This year all 14 grandkids got to go. The last time we were able to go was when Dave was in Iraq & I flew home from Germany with the 3 kids. David was 5, Savannah was 3 & Bella was just 6 months old. So this was really a treat for all of us.

Grandpa & Benj visiting with friendsCrafts & games

The girls & Rudolph

Ben didn't want to be held right then by David...

Then he noticed Santa and wouldn't take his eyes off of him.

His shirt says: Dear Santa, I've been really good this year (just ask my mom)

The girls asked for a dollhouse (savannah) & a jewelery box full of jewels (bella). David told santa he would give him a list on Christmas eve but it would take too long to ask for things today and there was a big line so he was saving him time. He is such a little character!

I promise to be back for 10 on Tuesday this week...it is my favorite thing to do that I totally copied from my friend Jen. Tune in!

Oh Tannenbaum Oh Tannenbaum

Saturday the 6th we went to a tree farm that is literally 2 miles from our house. Apparently, we live on the edge of tree farm ville...there are probably 5 or 6 tree farms within a 6 mile radius. As a kid, I LOVED going to the tree farm, walking among the evergreens, picking the perfect one, visiting the barn full of animals, getting a candy cane and then taking it home to decorate. We have never cut our own tree before so this year I really wanted the kids to have that experience, and it was fun.

Bella is ready...cell phone, check...pen for taking notes, check...snack for car ride, check

Here we are searching for our favorite tree

David is doing his big foot impersonation

There is something very sexy about a lumberjack, especially my lumberjack...
The kids of course have to help decorate, which is why the ornaments are clumped in one area and there is no strings of beads on the tree yet...Mom fixes it a little when they go back to school on Monday...shhh don't tell. And now for some celebratory dancing...joy joy joy

happy happy happy

Decking the Halls

We have a tradition of putting up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. It always helped keep me in the holiday mood after spending Thanksgiving away from family-sometimes alone. And it is something that the girls REALLY look forward to, they love to help and find fun places to put everything. The last 3 Christmasses we have been in new homes (well new to us) so it is always an adventure finding the right place for the right special things.

This year, Thanksgiving vacation was marked with a lot of bickering and squabbling in our family...and putting up the decorations was NO DIFFERENT. So much bickering that I in a bout of frustration told the children I wanted to resign my post as mom for a while....which of course was really mean and I felt so bad. Especially after Savannah started to cry and said that she thought families were forever. We finally had to pull out the "Santa doesn't come to kids who are mean to their brothers & sisters" card which seems to have done the trick.

So needless to say it has taken a while for us to get the house ready for Christmas. We are getting our tree this week....we are going to a real tree farm to cut our own which is one of my favorite childhood memories. And the lights have yet to be put up on the outisde of the house. But the inside is done and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The stockings were hung...

My favorite holiday wreath...that has about seen its last days...the words say herzlich wilkommen which means hearty welcome and the church is a replica of the church where silent night was first played

Every day I find these trees in a new arrangement, Savannah and Isabella just can't agree on how they are supposed to go

My excuse for getting kisses all day long...

Bella stands under it and demands "someone come kiss me" at the top of her voice

This mantle still needs some fresh greenery from our tree.

Some of my nativity collection

My mom gave me this awesome advent this year because she knows how much we love advents. Doesn't it look like an old German house?

Can't post without pictures of the littlest...his face is changing every day, not looking so much like a baby anymore.

New Things

You may notice a few new pictures on my blog. These were all taken by our uber talented friend Kailey. If you live in the PNW, you MUST check our her website, she takes beautiful family photos and we were so excited, not only to have a great photo shoot, but to spend time with the Larsens who are basically family to us. We just love them, and love that we can get together, have fun, and laugh and laugh, even though it's been over a year since we've seen each other. We even had a picture taken of Dave & I, which turned out great. But I just LOVE the picture on the sidebar of us in front of the fraunkirche which was about 15 minutes from our home in Germany and was built in the 1400's, it is such a romantic view. The family picture on this post, was the end of our photo session and classic kellers. Big kiddos messing around, little ones bawling, mom & dad reveling in the chaos. LOVE IT.

Another new thing. Savannah has been wanting to start a blog for the longest time so this weekend we got around to creating one. She wanted to post all about her friends. Her blogspot is http://www.savannahsweetheart.blogspot.com/ go on over and check her out!

It's finally Christmas time around here and we are getting all our decorations out, seeing what fits, what we need and finding treasures we forgot about. I love this time of year because we can think of the Savior and think of others every single day!