December 2013

Ahhhhh.... finally getting around to documenting my least favorite month of the year. This is when we say goodbye to Daddy and hello to the chaos that is Christmas time. Don't get me wrong, I love the spirit of giving, I love teaching my kids about the Savior's birth and teaching them about how important it is to think about Christ and others at this time of year. I just have a hard time doing all the normal traditions around this holiday with three little ones, by myself. I'm so so so tired at the end of every day, and the kids are too.  But before I get too far into feeling sorry for myself I have to say this: I know that there are families that live without Dad for all or most of the time due to work, divorce, death, military or other things. My hard month pales in comparison to all those other situations and so I will be grateful for what I consider my trial and gladly accept it over someone else's . And sooo... here is our 2013 December in Pictures.

Ready to work out with Mom.

Setting up the Christmas train.

My little baby burrito.

Cheeks, eyes, double chin. I could eat her, she's so delicious!

Well, one of them loves the other one.

Cache is blurry, but I love how Season is looking up at her older brother.

This time Season in blurry, but those faces!!!!!

Adorable.

1st time in the bumbo. She felt so big! So proud of herself.

Soooo tired!

Not sure what this is. Oreo maybe? Anyone remember?

Eyes!

On our way somewhere....

She fell asleep like this

And he fell asleep like this. It was a long day.

My heart

Merry Christmas

Love them.

Sweet big brother, but concerned look on baby's face.

Another Melt down. Not sure what this one was for. Or why I took a picture of it. I suppose it's good to document our real life. :)

They couldn't leave the train or tree alone the whole month.

Cute cold kid.

What my living room looks like most of the time. **Sigh**

Cache taking pictures again.

These kids love their peas

Ha!

Meeting cousin Maxine . They are two months apart and already love each other.

One morning. Probably around 5:30. How was I suppose to send them back to bed when they were this cute. Don't worry, though. The next time they totally got in trouble.

Every weekend in December was booked since we did get to have John most Saturdays and Sundays. One weekend we headed down to SLC for my family Christmas get together since it was our year to be with John's family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We spent some time at the Discovery Center with the kids, swam at the hotel then tried to eat at Little America. That didn't work out since there were 100 things going on in town that night and everyone else had the same idea. We ended up at a great Italian restaurant. We really loved it. Afterwards a few of us tried to see some of the lights at the nativity. Cache was pretty much falling asleep on my shoulder and Season had gone with my Sister and Brother, while my parents and John drove the vehicles around to come back by and pick us up. It was cold and pretty crazy. Traffic was a disaster again, because of the 100 events going on downtown. We eventually met up and then headed back to the hotel for a present exchange and then bed.

The next morning my parents and John and I got to go to the Christmas Concert at Temple Square. I was stressed to the max since the night before because I had forgotten my tickets back home. Ugh! But the church is amazing and has a plan for crazy people like me and they were able to verify that I had tickets and let us in. We had wonderful seats and the performances were awesome and they really brought the spirit of Christmas into my heart. It was a neat experience that I won't ever forget.

After the performance we went to a Sacrament meeting at the Joseph Smith building and then headed back home.

sleeping in church.

Asleep in the car on the way home.

Proof this baby girl actually does cry. You'd hardly know it.

I got a new vacuum for Christmas. It worked amazing for exactly 4 times. Then, it quit. :(

I got to hang out with cute little Maxi and Grahm one morning while Josh and Em went to the temple. She's a cutie!

Mmmmmm.... Snuggles.

Happy Morning face.

Cache's Preschool Christmas Program.

I realize I do a lot of this.

My neighbors are amazing and took care of my drive way lots of times this winter. So much snow!

Helping me cook lunch.

Not quite sure what this is.

Happy.

My Big Girl

Sweet Ruby

Ready for the Martin Christmas Party

Martin Talent show. LOVE IT! I was trying to get a picture of the kids Dancing to the music. This is all I ended up with.

If you take a picture of this isn't it good luck or something?

Something so cute about a cute naked baby!

Delivering Neighbor gifts.

On Christmas Eve I felt like I was pretty prepared. I did all the shopping, wrapping and everything else ahead of time so I wouldn't have to that night since we were heading up to John's parents in the afternoon. I even dropped everything off early so I didn't have to worry about hauling it all up that day. But even as prepared as I was I still forgot to bring our stockings! Ugh!

Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner. Next up was Bingo and then the kids acted out the Nativity while Dave read from the Bible. It was Awesome! Season took her role as Mary so seriously and Cache was an awesome Joseph. Afterwards we sang a few Christmas songs and then Santa came and surprised us all. Each kid got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted him to bring later that night and then he gave them each some pajamas to open up and wear.  The kids were so excited. Right after he left, Season ran to the window to see if she could watch his reindeer.  He parked his sleigh around the corner though so we couldn't see.

These kids were so fun this year. So excited about everything! The lights, Santa, presents, giving to others, wrapping, the tree, the Christmas songs. They are still singing "Joy to the World" which just happened to be their favorite song out of all them. Strange.
So, back to that night... We did baths and then put on Pajamas, set out cookies, and then the kids all climbed into their sleeping bags on Grandma and Grandpa's floor. Cache and Season were the only ones that actually stayed there the whole night. It wasn't until the kids were all tucked in that John finally came. It was a long hard day for him and he was exhausted. He went in and laid down with the kids for  a bit, then we went back home to get our stockings and get things ready for Santa.

Christmas Morning the kids (Cache and Season of course) were up bright and early. I can't remember what time. Sarah? Emily? Do you guys have better memories than I do? Anyway they were super excited. We held them off till Lainey and Grahm were woken up and then we went in to see what Santa brought us. It was a magical morning for these kids. So fun to see how excited they all were.

We really had a wonderful Christmas and are so Thankful for our Savior's birth. We are so blessed, especially with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, eternal families, and the knowledge we can live forever with them and our loving Heavenly Father and brother, Jesus.

In this month we also saw lots of wildlife in our back yard. We love where we live!

Season begged for a guitar for Christmas. Boy was she happy when she saw what Santa brought her!

Watching the Aggie bowl game.

We love getting Christmas cards

After a major meltdown Season fell asleep like this at 5:00 at night and DID NOT WAKE UP! Till 4:00 AM the next morning of course.

And one more of these. I really did this all day every day I think. And I loved every moment of it!

Yay for the End of December.

Also, not pictured to end the month and the year, was our fun New Years Eve Celebration with our friends at our house. We are blessed to have wonderful people in our lives! It was so fun to see those that could come.