Christmas 2010

It's getting harder to capture Daniel's natural smile, he's developed a pretty brutal camera smile. Here is the one I love. He has a great laugh too, very distinct and full of glee.

This family started out big and grows exponentially by the year. Darius is the latest addition putting the grand kid count at 8. Everyone was present for Christmas Eve dinner.
Auntie Nikki read all the kids a story, trying to create some calm in the madness. It was a great trick for a while. But by the end of the book, Vincent was the only one left, sitting there listening so nicely....

While Dominic and Gavin wrestled...


There was a lot of running around the loop at my parents house, through the bedroom and the bathroom, through the office and the living room...kids and more kids running around and around.


Nikki baked homemade ornaments so the kiddies could all work on a craft while Grandma prepared Christmas Eve dinner. It was a great idea and lot of fun painting the ornaments. They turned out great too.

The boys performed "Away in a Manger" quite a few times this Christmas Season. I loved it.
In keeping with one of their favorite shows, "The Cat in the Hat", the boys got Thing 1,2 & 3 shirts from Auntie Tracy and Uncle Paul. They are a big hit.

Melody and Faye looked so beautiful in their Christmas dresses. Such sweet sisters and cousins.
We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with Papa Dan and Grandma Bdoe, then we had some birthday cupcakes and pecan pie.

What's Christmas without a pinata? Gavin insisted on striking one-handed.

Gavin has also been wearing his new Lightning McQueen sweatshirt from Auntie Megan every day.
Dominic turned two Dec. 23rd and Megan's birthday was Dec. 21st. So

Christmas Happenings

We saw the Living Nativity this year! It was on a night George was working, so after we stopped by to see how his job was going and bringing him some sugar cookies we headed out to see the Living Nativity with Brenda Madsen. It was a lot of fun. I didn't realize how long the whole thing would take. By the time we waited in line and got all the way thru all the different scenes, it had been a couple hours. All three boys hopped in the front seat with Brenda and I. Gavin did a lot of the steering. (You stay in your car and drive from scene to scene where they act out the scene and listen to audio on a short wave radio.) Sticky peppermint fingers abounded. The people in the Living Nativity powered through the rain to put on a great show.

Nikki's family arrived early this morning so all of my sisters gathered at my parents house this afternoon. There were kids everywhere, even some extras that Robyn was baby sitting. What a scene. So much excitement today.

Dominic turns two! Happy Birthday little buddy (: I love this guy. He has such a great personality, such a character. It's so much fun watching Dominic and Gavin play together. He loves giving hugs and kisses. So sweet.

As we were leaving, Uncle Paul loaded everyone in the back of his truck. The kids tested out his shocks. So much laughter here today.
There was a total lunar eclipse the other night. It was really cool to see. The moon turned red around midnight. I watched for awhile, then thought Daniel would really like to see this. I tried three times to wake him up, but he was out for the night.
It's pretty cool that 2000 years ago, people were also looking up at the sky in wonder at a star declaring the birth of Jesus.

Christmas Productions

Daniel's 4 year old preschool class put on a Christmas show. There were a ton of kids and a lot of fans there to watch. Daniel's class sang two songs and although he was nervous, Daniel did a great job singing.
I think this might be the first time the boys have taken a photo with Santa. He came to visit the kids after their Holiday show. The boys were pretty excited about the candy canes he gave them.
Vincent was a little scared of the big guy, so he took a little longer to hop up on Santa's lap.
Vincent's much smaller 3 year old preschool class put on a fantastic Christmas production. They sang, they danced and did a very cute nativity play. It was so much fun to watch and the kids all did great.

Busted Lip

After our angles got quietly tucked into bed, we heard a disturbing cry coming from their room. Gavin is said by his brothers to be the party guy in the room after the lights go out. As best we could tell from our interrogation from the 3 and 5 year olds, Gavin slipped on the ladder to Daniel's bunk. At any rate, I entered to find blood everywhere. It looked like a crime scene from Law & Order. The poor guy bit all the way through his lower lip. His chin was covered with blood and it splattered as I carried him past George to the kitchen to clean up. The bleeding didn't last more than a couple minutes and then we could see where the injury was. As we cleaned up Gavin, his brothers kept yelling from their room about the blood being everywhere...on the floor, the changing table, the bed, the sheets, his jammies. Crazy amounts of blood.
This picture was taken about 10 minutes after the incident. It didn't seem to need stitches, so he went back to bed and slept soundly.

These photos are a couple weeks old. On Thanksgiving Day, we took a family bike ride. It was beautiful and cold.

Gingerbread and Christmas Trees

We began making Gingerbread men yesterday. Come to find out, the dough needs to chill 24 hours before you can finish making these guys. By the time 24 hours rolls around, we're no longer available to bake, so tomorrow we plan to finish. The boys will be excited to have a second set of utensils that need licking.
I wore my Grandma's Christmas apron for the baking. I can't imagine how many hours she spent cooking and baking for our family of 9 each holiday. She made wonderful meals and handmade name plate holders every holiday. She's been gone for a year now and the memories of her grow sweeter with time. I no longer remember her as she was those last couple years after Alzheimer's had taken it's toll. Now I remember the Grandma I grew up with, who made so many Christmases so special. I miss her.

We had a very memorable Christmas Tree shopping experience...okay, so we don't drive to the coast to cut down the perfect tree. Home Depot is our tree lot and we purchased the first tree we looked at followed by a really long wait in the car at Costco while George and Vincent ordered pizza and churros. We probably should have thought that one through a little better. We're still working on establishing our Christmas traditions. They boys were super excited to decorate the tree once we finished our dinner and only a handful of ornaments had to break before I laid down the "Nobody touches the ornaments!" rule.

Thanksgiving with Family

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice this year...and on two different days this time. On Monday we had George's family over to celebrate Thanksgiving and Gavin's birthday. George's dad smoked a turkey which was delicious and we had a great time around the table. We borrowed Sean & Jordan's matching table and chairs from next door and we all fit perfectly. It was also the first time we've used our china in the 8 years we've been married. We hope to make this a tradition.

The boys enjoyed watching "Cars" on Thanksgiving. Gavin was really into the racing.

Grandpa has a fun reindeer hat.

My mom found this picture of me at age three. Looks like another 3 year old I know.

Classic "Mom in the kitchen" pose.

We have so much to be thankful for. We are surrounded by loving family and friends. We have three beautiful, healthy kids who are amazing gifts from above. We are blessed. Thank you God.