Christmas 2008

We had a fun Christmas this year. It is always a busy week leading up to Christmas day. We had our Christmas eve eve White family party at Geoff's parents home. It is always fun to see everyone and have our usual talent show and nativity story with the little ones.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Johnson's with all my family. We of course had our traditional chicken balls and it was so good. That is a dinner to look forward to every year. I left the memory card for my camera at home so I didn't get any pictures but we played a fun game with gifts and then my Dad shared a Christmas message. We came home before it was too late and got our home ready for Santa. After cookies were out and oats were left on the sidewalk for the reindeer, we read a Christmas story and the kids went to bed. I love starting to make our own little family traditions with our kids. Christmas morning started around 6 am. The kids were loving all they got this year but I was happy to see that they were most excited about what they were giving each other.

Joey and his new bike.

A bike for Nicole too!

Katie got a FurReal puppy from Santa.

Maddie giving her dog a kiss. Her favorite thing about Christmas was the candy canes. It is so easy to please them at this age.

Katie and her new Barbie.

Katie was the one to plead and beg for a Wii. She was so excited. Nicole was a little shocked that we got one for them. She said, "What! We got a Wii, I thought we were broke?" I think I must have sarcastically said that one day and she remembered it. Oops.

My mom made them each a marshmallow gun out of pvc pipe. They put a small marshmallow in one end and blow through the other. They have had so much fun with them. There are sticky marshmallows all over outside but at least they aren't shooting them in the house (too much).

After our own Christmas morning we went to Geoff's parents for round 3. The kids had fun playing with cousins. Wil and Josie even came from Utah this year. (Heather and Kelly made it too). They all got to have a fun hat from Grammy Jo.

Grammy Jo telling the kids how much she loves them. So sweet!

Joey finds the pickle. He gets to open the first present.

Nicole in Grandpa's silly hat.

We had a fun relaxing day just being with family, playing games and eating. We ended the day with the kids swimming in the hot tub. I think it was a perfect day for us. I am so grateful for my family and the chance we have to make Christmas memories every year.

Christmas Best Dressed!

We took pictures of the kids after church in their Christmas clothes. Maddie wasn't up for it.

She is a little happier here.

But this is her idea of posing for pictures.

Getting ready for Christmas

One night the week before Christmas I had to do something to keep the kids busy because Geoff would be teaching at home. He has taught his online classes at home before and it usually works out okay but it isn't always easy when you have to keep 4 kids quiet in a small house. We started out the night decorating our gingerbread house.

I did lose track of Maddie for just a minute while I was in the bathroom and she thought I was the one in the office with the door closed so she began screaming and banging on the door. She can't stand to have me in a room with the door closed. So all of Geoff's students heard that little tantrum. We got settled back down and had fun with our project.

After our gingerbread house was done, we decided to write our letters to Santa. When I was little we had a tradition to have our letters to Santa be sent by the "fire fairies." We always had a fireplace so after we wrote our letters we would throw them in the fire and the little sparks that fly up when you put paper in would be the fire fairies taking your letter to the North Pole and then they would put it back together. I remember it being such a fun and magical thing. We have done it with my kids before but not every year because we don't have a fireplace. Well, this year they wanted to try it. We lit the first letter and had it burning over a cookie sheet but it kept going out before much of the letter was burned. I lit about a dozen matches just on the first letter. I started to notice that it was pretty smoky in the house. Then I realized that it was pretty likely the smoke alarm would be going off any second. Geoff was already not happy that Maddie had been screaming to interrupt his class. I new I would be in so much trouble if the alarm went off. We hurried and opened the back door and tried to get all the smoke out. Luckily we didn't have that false alarm and we burned the rest of the letters in the backyard. It is just so much better in a fireplace. I know in AZ you really don't need one but it would be nice around Christmas time. At least we made memories.

Silly Girl

We were trying to get a family picture this year for Christmas cards and when I was looking at them later about 90% of them Katie had a face similar to this. She is so silly! Never a dull moment with her around.

SHE WALKS!!!!!!

It finally happened and she couldn't be happier! A whole new world has opened up to her and she is loving her freedom. About the second week in December she finally let go of our hands and took those steps all on her own. It only took 19 months but she got there. I doesn't matter how many kids you have, it is always so fun to see them grow and take their own steps for the first time.

There are still lots of falls but she just gets back up and starts again.

Her sisters and brother are just as excited for her a I am.

The Secret Weapon

Joey finished another soccer season. He loves to be part of a team. He is learning to go after the ball more and get in the game. He has always been so timid and doesn't want to do the wrong thing. He had a great coach this year that made him feel like he was an important part of the team. He ran up to me after one game and said,"Mom, guess what the coach calls me? He says I am the secret weapon!" He was so excited!

Great job Joey!

Field Trips

Joey and Nicole both had field trips in December. Joey was nervous about going without me so I came along as a chaperon on his trip to the Wildlife World Zoo. We had such a fun time. This is a great zoo. I like it so much better than the Phoenix Zoo. It is a lot smaller, so not as much walking and you see way more animals here. They have a place to feed the giraffes. Here is Joey with one.

I love how long their tongues are.

I don't remember what he was looking at here, but it must have been amazing!

My group of kids to keep up with. Not an easy thing. I am glad I wore my running shoes.

My favorite animal we saw was this baby monkey. He was only six months old and was the cutest thing. The kids wanted to stay and look at him for the longest time.

We also liked these baby deer. They were all over the place.

You can take a train ride and they take you right up to the animals. They just wander all around you.

I had a fun time with Joey at the zoo. It was a little far but so worth it. Hopefully we can go back soon with the whole family. They just opened an aquarium that is supposed to be huge. Can't wait to go back.

Since I went on Joey's field trip Nicole wanted me to go on hers. It was really hard figuring out sitters for my little ones but I am glad I got to spend time with my big kids. Her class went to a mining town out by the Superstition Mountains. I don't remember the name but I was a fun place to go and see what a real mining town would have been like. Her class just finished studying Arizona history and so they got to go and learn hands on. We even got to pan for gold!

Nicole picking out the gold, fool's gold and garnet. She got to bring it home in a little jar. All the kids thought they were rich.

We went down into the mine where it was pitch black.

They have a main street that has shops and a church, jail and courthouse. I'm not sure what this is for but the kids thought it was fun.

I love spending time with my kids and it love seeing them with their friends from school. I am glad they were so happy to have me come along with them. I better take advantage of it now while I can. They are growing up so fast.

Nicole is 10!

Nicole turned the big 1-0 last week. Wow! I can't believe she is growing up so fast. Someone recently asked me if I realized her life living at home with me was half over. No, it really can't be. She is such a joy to have around, I just can't think about how fast time is going by. She did have a really fun birthday.

Happy Birthday Nicole!

She had a birthday party at the new Polar Ice. She is a great ice skater. She was skating backwards and doing spins and jumps by the end of the party. She has such fun friends.

Katie gave it a try too. It was a lot of work skating with her. She didn't seem to mind falling all the time, which was good because we spent a lot of time on the ice.

It was a good work out for me. Skating with Katie was a funny adventure. She did love it and made the comment that she was the "best skater ever".

Birthday parties are so fun!

"Take a picture of me, Mom!"