Tuesday, January 6, 2009

December Recap

Soooo, December is crazy. We all know that. Some of us are more prepared than others. I was not quite as prepared as I had thought, and therefore, I was running like crazy trying to get everything done! Anyway, as a result of the craziness, my blogging became sporadic at best. Not that nothing was going on, but I had no time to spare. And now I am playing catch-up. Big time!

So, I am warning you right now....this is one big long post. One of my favorite accomplishments of the year was getting my blog printed into a book. It turned out great, and I am thrilled to have it. It is my journal/scrapbook for the past year. I plan on doing this every year....hence the catching up.

And now on to the goods.

First, there was basketball. So what's the big deal you may ask? Basketball is like an everyday thing around here. But this time, it was Syd playing. This year she decided to cut back on dance classes so she could play basketball. She absolutely loved it. She loves to run, and she is afraid of nothing. She was tenacious on defense, stealing the ball often. She chose her own attire, which was often times quite unique. While the other kids were wearing basketball shorts and tennis shoes, Syd would wear her capris and crocs. She informed me that she could run much faster in her crocs.

Syd is all about being fast. This picture, though dark, captures the real Syd. Whenever she had to run from one end of the court to the other, she would sprint. What fun!






The next event was Maddy's school program. The first graders did a Christmas program, and she was so excited about it. She was mostly excited to have everybody come watch her. As she walked into the gym and took her place, she began looking around. As soon as she spotted everyone, a huge smile spread across her face and she waved and waved. Very cute!




Then there was a quick photo shoot of the kids so I could send out Christmas cards....late, of course. I told the kids to run in and jump on my bed, and I started taking pictures. They were there for maybe a total of 3 minutes, and I am amazed that I actually got ONE semi-descent picture out of the million I took! Ben was pretty much ticked about the whole thing, and the other kids just wanted to make crazy faces, poke each other, and stick their hands and feet in the air. Anyway, here are a few pictures to show their true colors!




This was the one and only picture of the bunch that turned out OK...with the exception of my screaming baby!



Syd and Maddy are taking ballet (only) this year. For their Christmas concert, they got to perform part of the Nutcracker. They were thrilled! Josh ended up being a part of it as well when their teacher asked for any brother volunteers to play the boy parts. Scott said NO WAY, but Josh is always up for anything! I love that about him, and he still continues to surprise me.

Along with his original part, he got to be in a Russian dance, which was very cool! Sydney definitely has a flair for performing and we loved watching her. Madelyn is more shy on stage, but she always has the cutest smile on her face!




Finally...on to Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent in Twin Falls at Cory and Kelly's house. Kelly's home is always so beautiful, and she always has so much yummy food. We did a Christmas program with the kids. All the kids participated, except Luke. At one point in time he did have a costume on, but quickly decided he would much rather continue playing upstairs, and discarded his costume. Brandon and Emily (brother and sister) were not exactly thrilled to be Joseph and Mary, but did as their grandma asked.

There were violin and piano musical numbers, and lots of singing. Then the kids all opened their traditional Christmas Eve gift...PJs. (Shocker, I know.) Finally we loaded up and headed for home, excitement growing by the second!










Once home, Ben went to bed, and one of my favorite Christmas traditions began. Each year in our family, we draw names. Then you must make a gift for that person...no store-bought gifts. This has been such a great thing for our family. It is always hard trying to help everyone get their gifts made, but it is ALWAYS worth it! We exchange those gifts on Christmas Eve (separate from all the craziness on Christmas morning). It is the gift everyone is always most excited to give. This is actually a tradition that was begun by my mom.

Here is a quick overview.

Sydney made for Josh. She took all of his papers, letters, cards....any memorabilia I had saved from the time he was born, and compiled them into a book. This was quite a project, which required much help from me. It turned out great!


Scott and Josh made for Madelyn and Sydney. They each made the girls a cute magnetic board for their bedroom. The boys weren't too thrilled when I dragged them to Elise's super Saturday to make their gifts. But they survived and their gifts turned out very cute!



Madelyn made me a coupon book, full of all sorts of great things like cleaning her room, unloading the dishwasher, giving me hugs, etc. She made the whole thing by herself. She cut the pages, came up with the ideas, wrote on and illustrated each page. Very cute!


Brek made Scott a wake skate. I know....who makes a wake skate?! Well, Brek does. Brek is the type of guy who can pretty much figure anything out. Scott loved it!


And last but not least, my gift for Brek. I made Brek a CD of myself playing the violin. You may think this is wierd, but Brek loves it when I play the violin and I knew this would be something he would love. Brek's friend Brian recorded me and borrowed some amazing mics from his friend. It turned out so much better than I had expected! So many people helped me....accompanists, people who watched my kids, people who gave us the use of their home to record, and of course, Brian. I was SO excited to give my gift to Brek, and he loved it!


Once we had opened our homemade gifts, the kids happily went to bed, knowing Santa wouldn't arrive until they were sound asleep!




Finally, Christmas morning arrived. I heard the kids calling my name. I had instructed them that anything before 6:00 was too early, and to check the clock before waking us up. They were obedient and woke us up at exactly 6:00 am. We usually gather in the guest bedroom upstairs (where the boys sleep on Christmas Eve) and all head downstairs together to see what surprises await us. I headed up with the kids and we waited for Brek. They had already woken up Ben, but he didn't seem to mind. They were SO excited they could hardly stand it.




Once dad showed up, we said prayers, then made our traditional stop on the stairs so I could take their picture one last time. Apparently, the flash was quite bright!



FINALLY the kids ran down to see what Santa had brought for them!

Madelyn was thrilled. She had received not one, but two hula hoops! All she had hoped for and more!


The first gift Luke opened was a book, and he was thrilled. In fact, he had no desire to open any other presents until he had read his new book.


Santa gave Scott a new air soft gun, which apparently was a bit more powerful than we had anticipated. Brek was wondering what Santa was thinking?! Perhaps Santa will get a bit more help next year!



Oh man! It doesn't get much better than this!!



And finally, last but not least, here are a few pictures of the huge drift in our back yard. The week of Christmas was snowy, freezing cold, and windy! I love snow, but I could do without the wind. The combination of the two makes for lots of drifts. The drift in our backyard went almost to the top of the fence, making it possible for the kids to step right over the fence then run down the other side. The drift was hard enough they could walk right on top of it!

As they looked out one day, they discovered this huge drift, and next thing I knew they were all throwing on coats and running outside. The wind was still howling.



I had no idea Madelyn had run outside barefoot until I looked at these pictures! What was she thinking?! No brain, no pain I guess.


By morning, the drift in between my house and the neighbors actually did go to the top of the fence (a good 6 ft.), completely covering it. (I wish I would have taken a picture then!) Roads were blocked everywhere. Brek spent a whole day trying to help people clear their driveways with one of his blowers. It was crazy!

So, there you have it. December in a nutshell....

or in one very long post!

1 comment:

Marilyn said...

Some nutshell! Looks like you all had a great time! I miss seeing your kids and now they are all so grown up. Kaden really wants to come see Josh...when is this house going to sell so we can get back to our Burley life? Who knows!?