Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Papa's house. The Proffits and Picketts joined us for a Texas-style feast of fajitas and queso! We watched The Christmas Story, read from the Bible and watched a few spiritual videos set to music.

When asked what Samantha wanted for Christmas, she would say: a suitcase, a helmet and a dog. Huh? That was a completely uncoached answer. Luckily, Sam got a new rolling backpack from Deesh.New PJs...and lots of new games to keep at Grandma & Papa's house.We tracked Santa's location all day...he was heading our way, so we had to hurry home to beat him to our house! Sam made her favorite cookies for Santa and put out carrots/celery for his reindeer.

Sam's favorite Christmas song this year came from the Polar Express movie. I kept trying to remember to get her recorded while singing it. The only clip I have is while in the car...so it is really, really hard to watch...but still super cute. Hope everyone enjoyed our CD.

Playset Set-up

For Christmas, Samantha is getting a new playset. Santa Claus delivered it early so we could set it up...gee thanks Santa. We knew it would take awhile...so the fun begins! This is what the finished product will eventually look like.

Grandpa and Blake opened up the (4) 160 lb boxes and got to work. They did say they were having fun...sure looks like it!After a few days and only a couple hours into the project, we called in reinforcements. We were all assigned roles. Grandpa is the project manager...complete with work apron.I am the parts manager and set up all the "work packets." Sammie is my assistant. She is great at finding missing pieces.Blake, Uncle Brian, Cousin Laura and Jamie are the buzz-buzz worker bees...busy, busy busy!We got SO much done in just a few hours. Thank you everyone for your help. The entire fort was built with the ladder, rock wall and picnic table. We are still needing to build the swing set, monkey bars and lookout tower. Also, Sam noticed it was missing a slide! She decided to write a last minute letter to Santa. We'll see if Santa pulls through!

Bake Day

"Dis mornin" (as Sammie would say), was cold and rainy. Certainly not a day to venture out. So, Sammie and I declared it bake day. We pulled out a jar of Christmas cookies that someone gave us, last year (oops!). We discovered a new favorite cookie...it was like eating a brownie, my favorite! Then, we dipped pretzels. Sam got a little distracted during this activity. She pulled out the Little People Nativity and spent the next hour playing. We made homemade macaroni & cheese and are snuggling up to watch The Santa Clause (Tim Allen) movie. Eventually we'll get dressed and brush our teeth...maybe.

Series of Negotiations

I remember hearing stories from other mommies about when their child decides to be independent enough to pick out their own clothes...and constantly changing outfits throughout the day. I remember thinking, "how cute and funny!" Now that Samantha has discovered her opinion....it is NOT cute OR funny! She insists on wearing this crazy blue ballerina skirt ALL the time...not to mention the fact that it is part of pajamas AND it goes with nothing. This is what we compromised on today. It took bribing her with candy to put on pants...and letting her pick out her sparkly red shoes to put on a shirt. I didn't even object when she insisted on wearing her hair down. And that was a smile I got...can you imagine how our family photo shoot went?

Ward Christmas Party

Can you believe it? We actually attended our very first Ward Christmas Party. I am getting really good at getting Blake involved! It helps when the activities are centered around kids.

What's better than a visit from Santa?

That's easy...pretending to be Santa!

Such a sweet girl! Too bad she is into picking her nose. It really ruins an otherwise, perfectly good photo op.

Last Day of School

Well...I survived 4 weeks of Joy School! Honestly, it wasn't too bad. If only Samantha wasn't in the class, it would be heaven. She is such a distraction! She pretends to play joy school all the time...On an actual school day...she doesn't understand why I am in charge. She wants to be the teacher! It's very endearing and very annoying.

For the last day, we were supposed to visit a rest home and present our Christmas program. That just wasn't going to happen with 3 year olds and mommies with newborns. Instead, we made Christmas Countdown Chains. The kids really did a good job with this. Some of them ended up with a lot more days to tear off then necessary. We made snacks of Pretzels-Rolos-M&Ms. They loved eating all the broken pieces...I didn't realize a Rolo could break!We sat down to watch a Christmas Movie with our treat bags. They sat great for about 10 minutes...Then decided they would rather play Duck-Duck-Goose..for an hour! They like to remind me who is in charge.

Joy School Christmas Program

Today at Joy School we prepared for our special Family Home Evening to present the nativity scene. We invited all the siblings to help us. Then the girls sang Christmas songs for their families. We spent the day making invitations... creating gifts to give away (reindeer ornaments)... and making treats (caramel popcorn balls & brownies).