Christmas Eve

We had such a fabulous Christmas!!! We started out Christmas Eve Morning with our traditional breakfast with My Grandma Bowden and my family. Then being the unorganized person I am, we spent the afternoon out doing some last minute shopping and delivering gifts. That night we went to the Millers for a yummy dinner and a fun game of Bunco. The kids always get to open their Christmas pj's and have fun tracking Santa on the computer. It is so fun to have little ones at Christmas. They make everything so magical!!!

When we got back home our kids exchanged gifts with each other. They have a Santa workshop at their school and the kids earn money and get to shop by themselves for each other. Emilee gave Lucy these Shrek ears... cute! Another favorite was a Jazz ball Max bought for his sisters to share. (He was hoping that he might get to use it if they didn't like it.)

Then the highlight of Christmas Eve was Max finally lost one of his front teeth. They were crisscrossed and were driving us all nuts. But he wouldn't let us touch them. Jason and Max were throwing the football that afternoon and I told Jason to aim at his mouth. It wasn't one minute later that the ball bounced up at hit him right in the tooth. It loosened it up just enough that Jason was finally able to pull it. So we didn't just have Santa visit that night... the tooth fairy made it to our house too. You should have heard him sing "I'll I want for Christmas is my one front tooth."

Happy Holidays!!!

Thought we'd shared some of the things our family has being doing to Celebrate the Season!

Max & Jordan at the Christmas sing along at school.

Sitting on Santa's lap at the ward party.

One of the highlights of this Christmas has been going to ride the Polar Express. A big Thank You to the Anderson Family for sharing this magical night with all of us! This is Em & Lucy sitting on Santas lap at the North Pole.

Thank You Carters for letting us in on the Christmas fun at your house! Good Food, Crafts, Games, & even Santa!

Jason doing the Rudolph dance.

Making our Family Gingerbread House.

The kids have to wait patiently as there dad constructs the house. They are lucky if they get to add a treat or two because he is very particular how it is done.

We went Tubing up at Soldier Hollow with the Milllers. It was a freezing cold night and the tubing runs were faster than ever! After we warmed up with some yummy Chili up at the cabin.

Playing in a Winter Wonderland

This weekend was so fun with all of the snow. It really feels like Christmas now! Friday night we stayed up in Salt Lake and it snowed the whole time we were there. It was magical and so beautiful! Grandma Clark braved the snow and took all of the kids ice skating that night. They had the time of their lives!

After Jason's work party on Saturday night we got home around 8:30 just in time to have prayer and put the kids to bed. Jason had a different idea. He walked in and said "get your snow clothes on and I'll pull you on your sled." You can imagine their reaction. Abbie yells "Dad you ROCK!" We had so much fun! The kids laughed so hard that they kept falling off. I think they thought that was the fun of it. Fall off and then run and dive back on. Lucy and I thought it was more fun riding on the 4-wheeler.

Abbie Unsensored

I have always had to worry about what Abbie is going to say. She is just like an open book and tells everyone everything! She is always talking and I wish there was a way to record all of the funny and cute things she says. Everyday she has me laughing at something.

Yesterday at school Abbie told her teacher that her mom was half Indian and whole human. I can just imagine what her teacher was thinking.) When I asked Abbie what she meant, she told me that I have an Indian brother so that makes me half Indian but I still am a whole human. I could make a good book out of Abbie's stories & comments.

I wish my kids could know their uncle Jim, wherever he is. I sure miss Him and hope he is happy!

Neighborhood Christmas Light Parade

Our Annual Light Parade around the block. We all sat on a trailer and sang Christmas carrols as we drove around the circle to see every one's Christmas lights. Afterward we went to the McSpadden's for donuts and hot chocolate.

Em & all the neighbor boys. She is the only girl in this neighborhood, but she doesn't seem to mind.

All of the girls sat around and made Christmas ornaments while the guys watched football. It was a mad house with 50 billion kids running every direction. We all had a great time!

Our Reflection Winners!

We had some big winners again this year. Grandma Clark's talent is shining through!

This year's theme was "I can make a difference by..."

Abbie's was... I can make a difference by helping keep our world beautiful!

Max's was... I can make a difference by working hard in school so I can grow up and be an astronaut. (I will have to post Max's picture later because his picture is going on to the next level.)

Emilee's was.. I can make a difference by being kind to everyone I meet.

Max took first in the whole visual arts category. Em also won a trophy in her age division. Abbie was a big Honorable Mention winner! ( I love her and her picture is so cute! It was so fun to watch her paint, she was so excited to finally get to enter this year.) When they called her up and gave her the ribbon she said to me, "Where is my trophy?" I told her that she took first place in the whole kindergarten and that she got a winner ribbon. She wasn't sure that was going to cut it. When we got home Emilee was back from dance and saw that Abbie didn't have a trophy. She told Abbie, "They ran out of trophies so they told mom that you and I were suppose to share mine." Abbie said "it's okay, Max already told me that I could have his last year trophy, then you can have yours, and Max can have his new one, and we will all have our own."