What a Year It's Been

We had some close friends and family over to end this year with us. We had a buffet of soups and rolls along with snacks to feed the entire block. The "older" kids had so much fun playing poker and the card game Bang. While the little ones basically did their own thing playing XBOX.

Daesha and Desirae watching TV in their jammies on our bed....

The "older" kids playing Bang.
The girls pretty much killed the guys at poker. Our friend Kaisa ended up winning it all after the last 2 put in all their chips and she won with a straight! Funny thing is she was a bit apprehensive playing poker but because we convinced her that it wasn't actual money we were playing with she decided to play. By her smile and the celebration dance that followed her winnings I think she enjoyed it :)

At 11:30 everyone headed outside for the first annual Christmas tree burning. We have an artificial tree (which I love) but this year we went with our home teachers to a Methodist church and got trees for 30 bucks! Ours was completely dead after 2 weeks. My husband is somewhat of a pyromaniac and was eager to burn the tree. It was engulfed with only one match and took 56 seconds to burn completely. We sang a round of "O Christmas Tree" while it burned. We are sick I know....


The trunk of the tree with it's own natural glowing star at the top....

With 2 minutes to midnight we passed out glow sticks, blow whistles, confetti poppers, and SILLY STRING! We all went in to watch the ball drop in New York City and count down the last 10 seconds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

It was very noisy and completely out of control for several seconds. Daesha plugged her ears and became the sitting duck...

Keegan cried because he couldn't spray his silly string. He ended up throwing it behind him and shouting "I hate silly string!"

I helped him spray his bottle and let him pull a couple string confetti poppers. He was much happier after that.

We had some mini disco balls to add to the celebration. I thought it was funny that some silly string had wrapped around the base of the spinning ball.

Lizzy was not happy about the noise and commotion. But she stayed right in the room with us.

Because Daesha plugged her ears at the beginning she was the only one at the end to have silly string left. So she went around getting each person and then she would apologize. The girl to the left of the photo just got soaked with the kitchen sink spray nozzle. Some adolescent adult taped the trigger down!

The adolescent adult had to do the clean up as punishment...


It was a great night spent with friends!

Christmas Day

Ted and I had a few gifts for the kids. But we were blessed with Santa Helpers. The bikes came from our elf Thor! (not from us)
The kids making a game plan....
Keegan decided to do the unthinkable and open his gift from Santa first! He got what he asked Santa for. A monkey Happy Napper.

He was very pleased.

Here is Daesha opening her Santa gift. She also asked for a Happy Napper. She got the Lady Bug. I couldn't get this girl to look at me for 2 seconds. She was far too excited to pause for a picture.



Finally I got them to look at the camera!

All the gifts unwrapped and on display. I love this idea of taking a picture of what they got instead of listing every single item.

Keegans gifts.You can still see the excitement about the Happy Napper. Of all the gifts I wouldn't have thought that one would take the favorite!

I got exactly what I wanted! A camera, Kinect Micheal Jackson dance game, stuff for my new library, bracelets from Daesha, and the green cup is from Keegan ;)

Ted got another Xbox controller, Xbox games, A movie from Keegan, and a football piggy bank from Daesha.
After everything is unwrapped we take a break and have breakfast and get ready for the day. Then it's play all day!!!!


Daesha was really excited to get her friend across the street to play with all her new Monster High dolls.



Daesha's new bike is slightly too tall. She was using the curb to get on but still had a hard time pushing off....

I felt bad and went out to give her a hand. She was so thrilled with her new bike once she was up and going. By this spring I am sure she will have grown enough that she can get on without any help.
Later in the afternoon we had a visit from Ted's Mom and Dad. They wanted to see what the kids got and they also had one last gift for Ted and I. A bullet to mix our healthy chocolate drinks everyday!

Christmas Eve

First of all I have to say that I am grateful for this time of year. Those who are willing to serve others in celebrating this joyous season and bring those who are a little bit stubborn (me) to humble themselves and enjoy the love of mankind. This Holiday season was yet another year when our family was running on a single income. It was hard not to worry about getting the kids the things they wanted. This time of year gets hard for many parents because we want to get our kids everything on their wish list. Plus seeing their excited faces as they tear open the paper hoping it's what they had been hoping for is pretty much fun for everyone. But I shouldn't be surprised that each year they don't get EVERYTHING on the list and I always feel grateful that under the circumstances we couldn't afford this or that. I feel blessed that my kids always are happy with what they get. I just have to remember as a parent I don't have to get it all.
What I am learning (and it really takes every Christmas to remind me), that getting the kids involved and doing things together as a family is what I hear them talking about to their friends. It's in my children's actions and childlike wonder that brings the true celebration of Christ's birth.
So hopefully next year I can remember this fact and all I need to do is feel the true spirit of Christmas and I am sure we will be guided to make each and every Christmas a memorable one.

First on the list of things to do together were ginger bread houses.

Then visit Santa. We also had Grandma and Grandpa come with us this year.


Daesha wanted to make some earrings from these plastic beads that you melt together with an iron. I thought that she did a really great job. She is planning on wrapping them up and giving them to her friends.
I loved doing these hole punch pictures when I was little. So I got online and printed off a few Christmas coloring pages, taped them to some card stock paper and used a easy grab thumb tack to punch the holes.

Here Deasha is working on the manger scene. Then below they are displayed on our french door. Daesha did the elf with the present and the angel and of course the manger scene. I did the reindeer and Santa. Keegan did a fantastic job on the Christmas tree.
Of course we always participate in a random photo op


Most don't know that this picture above taken at 1 in the afternoon completely describes my kids. Daesha still in her pajamas and enjoying the comforts of home. Keegan in his best dress and eager to go do something with his friends.

Then came one of our favorite family get togethers. The Christiansen Christmas Eve party. Our family new tradition is Navajo tacos and lots of other great things to eat. This year my nephew Josh made the best chicken and white bean chili. I can't wait to try out the recipe myself. It was so good! And for dessert we have a chocolate fountain and everyone brings something to share to eat with the chocolate like strawberries, oranges, bananas, apples, cherries, pineapple, marshmallows, cheese, graham crackers, rice crispies, and cookie dough.
We always do a game were we have to unwrap several boxes to get to the prized small box inside. This year my nieces friend won a coveted quilt my sister-in-law made.

We also play the candy bar game and do a white elephant gift exchange. The kids love playing in all the paper and confetti after the unwrapping is done.



For Daesha's white elephant she got these sweet grills that wouldn't fit in her petite mouth. Daesha was missing in action during this game. Once she came back down I knew exactly were she had been... notice the chocolate all down her shirt? Yup she was doing exactly what she wasn't allowed to do with out an adult helping her. Chocolate fountains and kids do not work well together. Ever.
Keegan got some monster like teeth. But this picture just looks like he has old man yellow teeth and a super huge tongue.

Daesha's cousin Josh tried wrapping her back up in a box.

She almost fit!

After all the games it's time for the real gift exchange. Grandma and Grandpas gift to the kids and grand kids!!! Here are the kids waiting for the mark. get set. GO!