Christmas Vacation

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy... fun, but busy. Here are a few pictures from a few of the activities we have done over the Christmas break.

Every Christmas Jason's parents have a night where they make candy trains with each of the grandkids. This year we joined in with Terrell and Cindy's kids to make them. Sam was in heaven since this night included most of his favorite things: candy, trains, Grandma and Grandpa, Joshy, and Joshy's toys! (Joshy is the cute little red head standing next to Sam. They are about 6 months apart, and Sam LOVES him!)
Here's the final result: (clearly he had plenty of help!)
Livia was fine with a few M&Ms.
The post-decorating mess:


We also went to my sister, Ronda's house for a little Christmas Party.
Ron and Ronda:
Leesa and Addison:
Livia, the victim of daddy's silliness:
An attempt at a kid picture. (why is it always my kid(s) causing the problem?)
Livia got a pop-up toy:
Sam got a barn with several animals.
Livia starting young with phone calls.
Liv just being Liv.


The gift that Jason's parents gave to each of their grandkids was a night at the Family Fun Center. It has a jungle area and a bouncing area, among other things. I didn't think Livia would care to join in, so we just decided to hand out and watch others. Too bad the floor was so nasty!
Sam learned how to climb up to the top of the slides rather quickly.
Here he is with Josh:



After we ate all sorts of pizza, root beer, and doughnuts, most of the kids lined up along the wall that bordered the skating area surrounding the bouncy toys, and did a high-5 line up.


Jason has been wanting to see this movie since he first saw previews, so we went to the 3D version yesterday. Both of us left with a headache from sitting in the second row, but it was a really good movie, and we're excited to see it again... but maybe we'll stick with the last row and 2D next time.


We went with some family to go sledding. Sam was a little hesitant to go down by himself, so he just ate the snow instead.

Finally Jason convinced him to try a little hill.




It's been so nice to have Jason home these last couple of weeks, we've had a lot of fun and been able to spend a lot of time together.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas Season and a Happy New Year!

We're excited to see what 2010 brings!

Santa came....

Here's a little recap of our Christmas Eve and Day:

Livia (as usual) was uncooperative once the camera surfaced.
Sam was happy to get Buzz and Woody PJ's. Too bad they are 3 sizes too big. (Thanks to the selfish boy-PJ-hog-lady on Black Friday, that's the only set of PJs I found.)
Sam and Jason thought a long time about where the milk and cookies should be left for Santa so that Maggie wouldn't get it before he got there. The mantle was agreed upon.
I guess this means that Santa made it down the chimney safely.
Here's a shot of the bootie he left behind.
Livia's stocking supplies.
And her clementine after only a few minutes.
Daddy told Santa that Sam loves sticks. So I guess Santa was trying to be funny.... and he wrapped it so that mommy was surprised too. But.... Sam loved it.
I must have been on the Nice List.... Santa spoiled mommy way too much!
(Minus the tutu, that was for Livia.)
Sam's stocking stuff and the awesome trains and table Santa brought for him.
Even Maggie got to join in on the Christmas fun. Santa brought her two bags of treats and a couple of bouncy balls...
We gave her another bed and 4 small fleece blankets. I had hoped they would each last a little longer... but that's why I cut it into four blankets!
Here is the first one:
This was later that day:
This was a little later still:
Now there are bits and pieces throughout the house.

Since we had Christmas Day to ourselves, I was not about to cook a ham.... and since Domino's was closed... we went all out... and had hot subs (just like we eat about once a week.) Maybe someday I will plan on making a nice Christmas dinner... but probably not.

We had a great Christmas, it has been so nice to have Jason home... even though he has already completed his Assassin's Creed 2 game. (He reassured me there are many more options he can do to still play it and enjoy it though.... so don't worry!) We've enjoyed just hanging out at home... and not doing anything productive!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year!

silent prayers

One year ago today was a difficult day for me. It was the day that my carelessness lost me my engagement, wedding, and anniversary rings.

Looking at them on my hands now, I am thinking again of how blessed I am to have them returned to me. It is a reminder that there are still good people out there who are eager to answer another's prayers.

I want to share a short portion of this month's Visiting Teaching Message from the Ensign by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

Disciples of Christ throughout all ages of the world have been distinguished by their compassion..... In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers.

What have I (or you) done lately to answer the silent prayer of another? There are so many opportunities available.... if we but open our eyes and listen with our hearts.

This week, as we celebrate our Savior's birth, let's all take an extra second to listen for a silent prayer... and then cheerfully do what we can to answer it.

one more project completion.... check!

Once upon a time, we had some friends over for dinner. We had some yummy rolls. The rolls were served on this platter:
My friend asked me if I painted the plate. I laughed at her confidence in me... but later as I was washing it... I thought, "hey, I could paint this!

So I did.

On the wall.

And I had a lot of fun doing it.

Since we moved in almost two years ago, I have been wanting to do something fun and creative with this room. We have been using it as a toy room for a while, but it is pretty cramped in there, since it's just a little closet under the stairs. So thanks to Brittany, I made my decorative decision... and then I actually did it!

This is the view from the family room with the door open:

Since the room is so small I had a hard time getting good angles with the camera. Just use your imagination to turn them all into a panoramic view:






Here's the view if you lay on the floor and look up:

Here are a few close-ups of the smaller paintings:





I added a few little wooden decorations from Roberts:


Our boring white closet under the stairs that evolved into a toy room has now become a mini children's library....
set up with a movie area and all.

It took a lot longer than I planned since I usually only had a chance to paint during nap time, but I had so much fun doing it, so it was worth it!