Christmas wasn't what was expected

Over the last 5 years with kids I've learned to be able to cancel plans when needed without much regret.  This year we cancelled most of our Christmas activities.  And... mostly without regret.  Mostly.  We were going to go to my cousin Christmas Eve party... which I love... and we had gotten tickets to see Les Mesirables on Christmas... we'll see it later.

Ada had a 101 degree fever for 3 days... it finally broke late Christmas (she was one emotional little girl over presents).  Jer and Sammy have a croupy cough.  I have had a sinus infection for weeks and just haven't made it to the doctor for the anitbiotic.  (Finally got there today though.  Yay!)  We did get to play with and visit our Robertson extended family Friday, Sunday and Monday we went and hung our with Matt and Marg's family.  But then we had our first ever Family Christmas.  No leaving the house, no visiting with others... just us and the kids.  It was actually pretty relaxing.  Don't get me wrong, I still did laundry, dishes, cooking, baths for fevery kids, taking out three bags of trash, etc... but I did it because I was here to do it... not because I felt it HAD to be done.  Jer made a yummy buttermilk pancake Christmas feast.  We watched Evelyn open chocolate bar after chocolate bar... she only bit each one once then was done with it.  After long naps you could tell that Ada was herself again.  Even though we missed seeing family, it was nice to just be together the whole day. 

Christmas

Here's a little of our year.  Mostly it's a sumary of my blog, but I did try to use some different pictures... not all though.  Merry Christmas all and love from us to you!



Snow

I like it when there's snow but it's sunny.  Yeah, that makes the snow go away sooner, but look at how warm it looks to play in the snow!  We went out before naps the other day, Evelyn just loved to be there, Ada was building a fort, and Sammy just kept throwing snowballs at everyone (that is until he got hit with one... then he figured out he didn't like that part.)

Marshmallow snowmen

I bought marshmallows and mini m&ms to make marshmallow snowmen at our family Christmas party.  We had too much fun and I kept the stuff to make them later... we did today.  Ada and Sam had Allen, Lizzie and James over to play, so we made marshmallow men.  They came, they made, they ate.

And this one's just cause he's cute.

Little Mommy

Evelyn was playing with the nativity set and after she was done I found baby Jesus in the baby carrier and Mary and Joseph tucked in on the straw bed with a big baby blanket on top. 

Sleep eating

After telling the story about Sam sleep singing in the car, Jer told me a story of his own.

He went in to get Sam out of bed for something and Sam was acting like he was eating an apple in his sleep.  With the chomp sound as he took a bite and everything.

Wilcox family Christmas Party

We have had fun this last week just hanging out with my family... going out to eat, going to see The Hobbit (loved it, highly recommend it), and having our family Christmas party.  My mom's fun game, pizza, games... what more can you ask for?

Ada opened up her own nail salon.

Evelyn discovered a love of chicken salad while Sam loves Grandma.

Sam was amazing at this game!

Marching while we sing "Frosty the Snowman". 

 Team "Devin"

Team "Sammy" aka "Red Team"

Team "Ada"

Team "Aubrey"

Happy Jordan starting to sit on his own.

The stacking game... Jer and Ada totally kicked trash... they're starting to take down theirs while the others were still building theirs.

Cuties

Ada "helping" Jordan.

Telling the Nativity.

We used my mom's kid nativity set to tell the Nativity this year... cute.

Check out Evelyn with her buddy Seth.

The baptism of the Rainbow

So after watching Adam's baptism we had volunteered to clean our church on the next Saturday.  We showed up, and not for the first time, we were the only family there.  This particular time was a little painful.  Usually we just give the kids dusters or the little sweeper vaccuums and they "help" us.  This time it was so hard to get them to follow along.  I finally just sent them off to play with their solemn oath not to make a mess.  At first they went to the organ and turned it on to start playing.  I was half and half on that one.  I don't mind them playing on our organ at home because they're pretty nice to it, but it's the church's organ not ours this time... Got them to turn that one off, but I let them stay in the Sacrament Meeting room to play. (yes, not the most respectful thing to do but you try to watch three kids 5 and under while you clean 5 bathrooms, vaccuum an entire church, clean doors/windows, sweep the auditorium, and take out a weeks worth of trash.)  This is what I heard when they turned on the microphone:

Ada - "Welcome to the baptism of the Rainbow.  We'll hear Mario speak and then Princess Peach.  Now presenting Mario."
Sam - "Sometimes I do bad things.  I've done lots and lots of bad things, but then once I did a good thing.  In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

Sleep singing

So I knew that Ada talked in her sleep and lately Jer has noticed Sam talk in his... but today was pretty funny.  The kids had all fallen asleep in the car on the way to my parents house.  My sister came to help me carry them all in.  She started to unbuckle Sam and he started clapping a rhythm, then he started singing "da da da da...." Yeah, it was funny.

Christmas Chocolate Party aftermath

Yep, it happened.  Our annual Christmas Chocolate Party/Jer's birthday bash was a success.  It was so fun.  A lot of friends came, a lot of treats eaten and a lot of messes made.  Jim was SOOOOO helpful.  He was our master chocolatier.  We also had help from Lorrin and from Maddy.  Our only things to bite the dust from the 100+ people that came through the house were a couple of dollar toys and a cardboard fort, so I would consider that a success as well.  Some of the guys played games but mostly we just talked and laughed.

Today I've:  vaccuumed, swept, washed cupboards, done 4 loads of chocolatey laundry, cleaned two bathrooms, done dishes, put away chocolates, washed windows, taken out all the trash, loaded the van with chairs and tables, and cleaned walls and doors from chocolatey finger prints.

Things to do: mop the floor, drop off chairs, fold laundry, clean the upholstered bench covers from the kitchen, clean one more bathroom, and my favorite... take a shower.  Maybe if I shower the rest will just go away by themselves?

McKay's graduation

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of McKay's graduation.  Here they are!