Christmas Traditions I Loved as a Kid

1. Reading Christmas stories every night from the book "Christmas I remember Best".

2. Getting to wake up the parents at the specifically appointed hour, and coming up with ever-increasingly innovative ways. My favorite- to the Jurassic Park soundtrack played full blast.

3. Making gingerbread houses. Trying to outdo each other for the best looking or most creative house, while sneaking candy into our mouths- good times!

4. Candy making! Okay, my mom made the candy, but it sure was yummy! I thought she was the most amazing mom ever, when she made her chocolate covered nuts and caramels and peanut butter cups. Sometimes I still get some. Now, when I make candy, I have to be careful since caramel is the only thing I can do well and I tend to eat all the fruits of my labors . (Although this year I successfully made toffee and even managed to get 75% of it bagged and given away.)

5. Delivering goodie-platters. The only problem with this tradition is that my parents made us go caroling when we delivered them. I was not a fan of caroling. I'm still not fond of it, and haven't done it without severe leaning from my folks, but I do love the platter giveaway.

We apologize in advance....

I apologize for the lack of cohesiveness or theme in the following post. I just wanted to get the pictures out there for my parents and I'm short on time and creativity this evening. And without further ado, here is what our weekend was like.

Rylee thought she was all that. She can climb up on the box Grandma and Grandpa sent and this time she brought a snack!

Okay, this one is out of order. The kids were having a blast this morning, dragging each other around the house in on the blanket. They wanted the picture taken. I love how they are all playing together and having fun.

Last night was our Ward Christmas Party. We had good food, a Talent Show and Santa. It was a lot of fun, and look! Delaney found a friend! She was so enthralled with this kid, who is a month older than Rylee.

Dinner was yummy, and these rolls were quite popular, as were the desserts. There was an amazing spread of deserts!

Then Joshua played his trumpet in the Talent Show and did a great job. He is not a shy boy!

Rylee entertained herself during the activity and had a marvelous time.

Of course, there was Santa. A slightly questionably attired Santa, but the kids didn't care. Rylee really didn't care, since it was late and she was 2 breaths away from being completely sacked out when I made Dan plop her on the lap of this stranger just so I could get her picture.

Delaney was so excited, she totally cut in line and barged to the front. Look at that face. She is such a funny girl!

Callie was more excited right up till she got to the front of the line. Now she's not so sure.

Santa asked Marian if she had been good. She was honest and said a little bit. She was cute.

And this next set of pictures needs a preface. I really wanted a family picture. This morning I got all the kids bathed, dressed and ready early so I could get a picture. Delaney had about 5 screaming meltdowns (something to do with a party last night and 2 parents who had to stay after, resulting in an after 10pm bedtime), and ultimately it didn't happen. So after church, I asked my fabulous friend, the Primary President, if she would take a family picture for me after church. She did a great job, given what she had to work with. Here are the results of her efforts:

To my surprise, Rylee was very consistent in the pictures. Actually, Marian and Joshua were too. Callie's Diva look kinda tanked this shot, but I fear this is the picture where we all looked um, mostly the best.

This was good, except for Delaney. I do NOT know what she is doing! Oh yeah, and it gets better.

This shot had me busting a gut, once I saw Delaney. This will be my new need-a-laugh shot! I can't look at it without cracking up!

And the promised silly shot.

I guess I should just be happy that we have a picture with the entire family in it.

What Happens.....

*** What happens when you are in charge of the goody bags for the Ward Activity and need 80 of them done?

You put the kids to work in an assembly line and let them think it is FUN! They were awesome and cranked out all 80 in the time it took me to get dinner ready.

***What happens when you miss "Survivor" so you can attend Scouts with your son?

You get to see him make a tool chest!

And when he notices you have the camera, you get shots like this!

*** What happens when you have a cold and it won't go away?

Your face gets covered in crusty green gunk and you look nasty. Poor Rylee. I was going to take her to the doctor, but life got in the way. Maybe tomorrow... if there is school for the big kids.

*** What happens when the weatherman is right?!

You get snow!

And little girls think they want to go out, but don't want to wear their hats.

Those little girls suddenly realize snow is not fun and being outside is not fun when snow is falling everywhere.

*** What happens when that snow keeps falling?

The school has 2 hour early release and Mom gets to sit in the Kiss & Ride line for 20 minutes. Then the kids come home and race outside to play.

The snow was just cohesive enough that Marian was able to make a snowball. And she wasn't the only one!

***What happens when you go outside to take pictures and your only son has a snowball?

You duck fast!

*** What happens when the kids play outside for hours on end?

They return to the house covered in snow and you can't figure out where it came from, until you recall this sort of thing. Callie had a marvelous time making snow angels!

And this is my favorite thing to see. I love it when they pull each other around in the sled. And I think we had all the neighborhood kids in our street for a while. Then they ran off to someone else's house. Right now, its almost dinnertime and I still have 2 outside. I know some kids who will sleep well tonight!!

***What happens when 4 children spend the afternoon coming in and out of the house to play in the snow?

No picture for that mess!!! 10 pairs of wet mittens, 5 soggy hats, 4 saturated snow pants, 6soaking jackets, 4 snow crusted boots, and a frosted partridge in a pear tree!

So proud!

I have the funniest girls. Cute ones too. Today I'm going to spotlight Callie! She is such a great girl.

Callie loves to play with her little sister. Here they are laying with their dress-ups. What lovely ballerinas! Earlier they were puppies. Ballerinas are a little quieter, but the twirling can get a little out of control.

I find Callie sleeping in the most interesting ways. Tonight she was asleep atop a huge pile of pillows and blankets. Earlier this week, she and Delaney had "Slumber Parties" and slept on the floor. This, was my favorite though. I love to read, and I love that Callie likes to read before bed too!

I am now going to brag on my little girl. She is a neat kid, and in our ward, when the children memorize all 13 Articles of Faith, our Primary President will bring them a cake. (Joshua got his cake last month.)

Callie got her cake on Sunday! She was so doggone cute!

Yep, that's my girl. She was smart enough to ask for a white cake with vanilla frosting, so I wouldn't at it all.

Last of the Quiet Books

I have spent my spare time in the last 3 months diligently working on my quiet books. (I have completed a grand total of 5!) The ironing board has taken up semi-permanent residence in the living room, as has the card table, which is covered with fabric markers, 3 feet of felt and 5 books on how to make quiet books. Dan has been oh-so patient with me! I have had a very good time making my books. I really enjoy doing them and I am kind of sad to have to put my stuff away. But I think the time has come.

But first, for those who may care, here are some pictures of pages I haven't put up before:

I like a cute cover. And I thought this picture in a coloring book was SO cute! Plus, this book is going to some boys, so it seemed appropriate.

The signs are all velcroed to the page and can be changed up. I ended up putting an eye hook on the garage to keep the car from falling out all the time.

I finally gave in and did a page with a zipper on it. I fear zippers, so I was really happy that "The Quiet Book Tutor" Blog (link on the right) said she did her zippers by sewing the zipper to the felt and then cutting the slit. Wow! SO much easier! Marian saw this page and informed me that Indians did not decorate their teepees like that. I am glad that she is paying attention in school! (They are studying Indian tribes right now.) Anyway, this was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

I wanted to try a different face. The face in the book for this page is goofy. However, it is nearly impossible to find a picture of a face in silhouette, so I thought I would try this. I decided I like the goofy face better.

I like the red hair better than the blond, and I did a pocket to hold hair stuff.

I took a chance with this one. Usually I only make pages that I know my kids will play with, but the girls told me this was a great page. It was more work than I anticipated, but that's because I had to make my cupcakes. And the oven stumped me on a few things. I guess I'm into the simpler pages!

I really liked this page, but it has some issues. I didn't quite center it properly, and after making it, I found a cuter gumball pattern. Still, I like this. There are 10 gumballs in there, behind plastic and they are numbered 1-10. So you can take the gumballs out and use them for counting.

I think this is just cute. I used the template from a book, but the star fish and jelly fish were borrowed from another QB blog. The fish are from a fish fabric. They all velcro to the page. Snaps would work also, but I hate sewing them!

This was in the Quiet Book Tutor book, but I couldn't understand how to make it. (I'm not that bright unless its all spelled out for me sometimes.) I saw it on someone else's blog and it clicked. On the blog though, she had a snap closure, but the template called for a lock and key. I married the 2 designs of the chest and it needs a lock. Who knew it would be this hard to find a cheap luggage lock?!! Until I find one, the ring is holding in the pirate booty! Oh, and there is a sting there to tie the key to the page, so it won't get lost.

This seemed like a cute, easy design. I had trouble with sewing the yarn on. It was thicker than I expected. I had wanted to go with 6 strands but I didn't think I could sew it on. I do like this one though. Its not so girly as braiding hair. My 9 year son has been enjoying it.

And there you have it; All the pages I have made! And I am done. So let it be written, so let it be done! And now I have to go clean up all my craft supplies and put away my markers and the card table......