Christmas 2022

We wrapped up our Christmas season last night after celebrating for a wonderful two days.  After a slow Christmas Eve morning of baking and an afternoon nap for everyone except the two middles, we headed off to the grandparent's house in the afternoon.  Since it was Natalee's turn to be with her family, Chris' family was not there this year.  We still enjoyed a pleasant evening with my parents and Eric's family eating a delicious dinner and participating in the traditional, Christmas program.  We left by 8:30 and were home by 9:15 to get the kids in bed before Santa came later that night.  

Ella was the first one to walk into our bedroom at 7:15 Christmas morning to point out that we forgot to put out cookies and milk for Santa for the first time ever.  Logan and Emmett joined us within a half hour.  I waited until 7:52 before I went and woke up Lia as the three younger children just couldn't wait any longer.  We then spent a wonderful morning watching the children enjoy all of their Santa gifts and eating our traditional breakfast in the dining room.  Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we had to stop everything and get ready for church before heading off to our 11:30 service.  After attending sacrament meeting, we came home to open up all of our gifts under the tree before eating a late lunch and putting Emmett down for a nap.  My parents then came at 4 p.m. and spent the afternoon with us to open more gifts.  Since they no longer stay for dinner anymore since it makes the day too long for my dad, we enjoyed a relaxing evening of watching the new Matilda musical and eating a late Filipino dinner at 8:30 p.m. which is unheard of for us.  Since I didn't get the dishes done until 10 p.m., I crawled into bed absolutely exhausted about 30 minutes later.  Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas season this year and I am so grateful that everyone stayed healthy and happy and could celebrate together!

Our annual family picture that we always have someone take in front of my parent's tree on Christmas Eve.

This year, Lia played Mary and Emmett played Joseph for the reenactment of the nativity story.  Emmett was absolutely adorable.

Ella played the angel bearing good news to the shepherds that didn't exist this year as we didn't have enough people since Chris' family was missing.

The group photo I took of Vivi the star, Ella the angel, Logan the wise man, Lia as Mary, and Emmett as Joseph after we finished reading the nativity story.

Ella was the only grandchild to perform anything during the program.  She played a few Christmas songs that she learned in the past few weeks since she returned to piano lessons.

We then sang several Christmas songs and then lit the candles on the tree to honor my dad's German heritage.  We then sang "Silent Night" in both English and German before letting the kids snuff the flames out on the candles.  Emmett was absolutely blown away by this as his mouth just dropped the first time he snuffed out a candle.  It was so cute!

Ella snuffing away.

Logan's turn!

Lia finishing off the last few candles at the top of the tree.

On Christmas morning, I managed to take pictures of all of the kids' Santa chairs and couches before they came downstairs.  Here is Emmett's chair.  His favorite gift was a small, remote control car that he promptly drove down the heat vent (that I didn't have covered) in the kitchen and lost it in the bowels of the house.  Ron spent almost an hour trying to find it in the heat ducts by using several tactics, but sadly, none of them worked.  Luckily, I had an extra one in my gift closet since I had bought several of these remote control cars over a year ago to use as birthday gifts for Logan's friends.  So, I was able to replace it the next day after I covered up the heat vent!

Ella's side of her couch that she shares with Logan.  Her big gifts this year was the historical, AG Doll, Samantha, and her beautiful bed.

Logan's side of the couch.  His favorite gift was the Nerf stratobow that is laying on the ground.

Lia's small couch sporting all of her presents including a trip to Arizona with me to visit her pen pal, Lauren, in a few weeks.

The kids all eagerly running downstairs to check out their Santa gifts!

Emmett holding up his large, hamburger Squishmallow that he got since Aunt Blanche's nickname for him has always been Emmett Burger.

Ella hugging her beloved Samantha doll with her new elephant blanket.

Logan showing off his Nerf bow while wearing his new hoodie.

Lia holding up a picture of Lauren and a postcard of the Grand Canyon that were both included with a copy of her plane ticket itinerary in an envelope that was laying on her couch.

The family sitting down to our Christmas breakfast of bacon, eggs, and a cinnamon bread roll.

The four kids all dressed up and ready to head to church.

Mom and the kiddos in front of the tree.

For the first year ever, I only wrapped up three gifts per child to place under the tree and all twelve of these gifts had a number on them to tell the kids what order to open them in.  In addition, every gift was a clue for the big trip that we are taking this summer.  We will be gone over two weeks and are going on a Disney cruise to the Western Caribbean, Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, and a road trip to South Carolina to visit Robbie and Austin.  The first gift Emmett opened was a little toy, Disney cruise ship.

Ella's first gift was a pirate costume since there is always a pirate night on each Disney cruise.

Logan's first gift was a captain's hat with aviator sunglasses and a corn cob pipe.

Lastly, Lia's gift was a beautiful pair of Minnie ears that are Descendants theme (since she just finished performing in the play last month).

After these first four gifts, Emmett opened up a pack of custom, pirate-themed magnets to hang on our cruise ship door and then Ella opened up a bag with puzzle pieces in it.  The kids immediately set to work putting the puzzle together.

And this is what the puzzle said:  "Surprise!  We're going on a Disney Cruise!"  The kids were so excited!

Logan then opened up a custom ornament that I ordered that included the name of our cruise ship and the date when we set sail on the front of it.  Here are the girls posing with Logan while he holds up the ornament.

After Emmett opened up an official invitation from Disney Cruise Lines welcoming us aboard and Lia opened up a copy of our flight itinerary (that mysteriously informed her that we were flying back home out of Atlanta), Ella opened up a gift that included an invitation to each of the children inviting them to Disney World.  Logan then opened up his last gift that contained a train ticket on the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 3/4.  This gift actually got the biggest reaction out of all three older children.  Ella started jumping up and down and Lia just gasped and put her hand over her mouth.  I managed to get a photo of her reaction which is just priceless to me!  She and I have literally been waiting years to go to Universal Studios in Orlando JUST so that can go play in "Harry Potter Land" as I call it.  Needless to say, Lia was so excited and I absolutely loved seeing her reaction!

Logan holding up the Hogwarts Express train ticket with the small, Gryffindor scarf that I had wrapped around it.

Lia opened the 12th and final gift which was a framed picture of Aunt Austin and Uncle Robbie and their two boys and the first book from the Serafina series.  This is how we let them know that we are going to finish off the trip by driving eight hours to South Carolina to spend five days with their aunt and uncle and meet their three cousins (baby #3 is due April 1st) for the first time ever!  The Serafina book was included in this gift because we are going to drive over the state lines one day during our visit to tour the incredible, Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC since that is where all of these books that Lia has read take place.  Here is a picture of all four kids holding up one or two items that they received as part of this huge group gift!  This was such a happy moment for all four of them!

The group photo Ron took of the kids, my parents, and me after they spent the afternoon with us.

And the adorable group photo I snapped of the kids while they were watching Matilda on the floor of the family room while I worked on making our Christmas dinner.  I hope that this is a Christmas that my children will never forget!

A Family Ski Day in Zero Degree Weather

After looking at the calendar weeks ago, I realized that there would really only be one day during Winter Break that would work for the five of us to go skiing.  Due to Lia helping out with the Rudolph play on  December 16 to 17, the family Christmas party on the 18th, and Ron taking the kids camping December 19 to 20, December 22nd was the only day to go skiing if we wanted a "buffer day" after camping and another one before Christmas Eve.  So, I asked my mom and dad to watch Emmett and purchased our tickets to go skiing at White Pass.  Since it has been such a busy week, I had not found any time to watch the news and was totally oblivious to the fact that the temperature was forecasted to drop to unbelievable low temperatures on Thursday.  As a result, my mom called me yesterday afternoon and asked if we still wanted to go skiing when the temperatures were predicted to get down to zero and even into the negatives with the wind chill factor up on the pass.  After talking it over with Ron, we decided to just go for it, especially after skiing in temperatures this low last year at Schweitzer.  

After driving all the way to Issaquah to meeting my dad off of Hobart Road last night during Ella's gymnastics class, we managed to get everything packed up and ready to go by the time we put the kids to bed around 9:30.  After our alarm clocks went off at 6 this morning, Ron and I were in full swing and getting ready to go when Ron found a voicemail from our friend, Noel, who was planning on meeting us at White Pass with his daughter, Elle.  Noel announced that White Pass had decided to close due to the extremely low temperatures forecasted that day.  We couldn't believe our bad luck as this was the one day this entire week when the temperatures were supposed to get this low!  After weighing our options, we decided to pay double the price to go skiing up at Snoqualmie since they were still planning on being open and since it meant that we could easily pick up Emmett in North Bend on our way home.  So, we woke up the kids and moved forward with our morning.

After some slow driving on I-90, due to some crazy winds, we made it up to the resort around 9:30.  After getting everyone ready, we braved our way up to the ticket booth to pick up our ski cards and then spent the morning and the afternoon skiing on the bunny chair as we decided to purchase the lower mountain lift ticket.  I was blown away by how cold the air felt as I do not remember it feeling this intensely painful while at Schweitzer last year.  I barely took any pictures and never even asked anyone to take a family picture since it was so painful to take my gloves off for even a few seconds.  Everyone managed to power through the morning except for Ella who hit a wall a few minutes before our lunch break.  She then had a full blow melt down in the lodge and it took her almost 30 minutes to calm down with some hot chocolate before we made it back to our car for lunch.  After a 1.5 hour break (which is unheard of for us), we rallied and headed back out for the afternoon.  Ella managed to pull it together and did a great job in the afternoon as well as Logan, while Lia threw in the towel after a few runs and went back to the lodge due to her toes hurting so much from the cold.  We stayed on the slopes until almost 3:30 before calling it quits for the day.  Although the freezing winds and cold temperatures made the day less enjoyable than it would have been, I was so happy to see that Ella picked right up where she left off last year and was skiing down the hill while making short turns the entire day.  Logan also did the same and spent the afternoon working on his turns.  So, I was grateful for the chance that we had to get out on the slopes as a family one time during our break and to give our two middles the opportunity to continue to work on some basic skiing and boarding skills.

The two degree temperature that was on Ron's car screen when we pulled up into the parking lot.

The one group picture Ron took of the kids and me at the top of the chair lift.

Ella skiing down the hill.

Logan giving me a thumbs up while snow boarding past me.

Lia pausing for a picture next to me before heading down the hill.

Logan boarding down to the bottom of the hill.

Lia in the foreground and Logan in the background.

A cute shot I managed to get of Ron and Logan on the chairlift.

A Tired Toddler & A Tired Teen

Since Emmett missed his nap the past four days in a row (he gets to skip naps on the weekend when his siblings are home and then went camping with daddy Monday and Tuesday), I knew that he really needed to take one today.  After reading a story and tucking him in, I never heard a peep out of Emmett which I took as a good sign that he fell asleep right away.  After about an hour or so, I went upstairs to check on him and was surprised to find his bedroom door right open.  After walking down the hallway, I discovered that Lia had crawled into bed with him and that the the two of them were both asleep!  I couldn't believe my eyes as this has never happened before.  Apparently, Emmett got out of bed and wandered into Lia's room after I tucked him in.  After she offered to cuddle with him, they both climbed into his bed and fell asleep.  Since Lia made the transition this fall to a kid who never naps to an exhausted and busy teen who could nap every day if given the chance, it made perfect sense to me that my tired toddler and my tired teen ended up napping together.  Since it was just about the most adorable thing that I have every seen, I quickly ran and got my camera and took some pictures.  And here they are...

My oldest and my youngest napping side by side.

A close-up for my sleeping babies.  Oh my heart!

Lia's NWTL Holiday Ball

Lia's wonderful children's theater, Northwest Theater Lab, hosted a holiday ball this evening for any of the cast members who participated in at least one of their major productions this year.  After learning that it was scheduled for the same night as my family's extended Christmas party (that we haven't had since 2019 due to Covid), Lia went back and forth for several days as to which one she wanted to attend.  She finally decided that she wanted to go to the holiday ball after learning that several of her castmates from Descendants were planning on going.  Since the dress was formal, we quickly ordered a darling red dress from Amazon that came a few days before hand.  We also asked Lia's good friend, Mollie, to come over before the party to help with Lia's hair and makeup since she is a master at these kinds of things.  Since I was in charge of a large youth meeting for my stake at 4 p.m., I took the three other children with me to the church to hang out in the nursery for over an hour while the meeting took place so that I wouldn't have to make the detour back to my house to pick them up en route to the freeway since we were already going to be late for the party.  As a result, I had to say goodbye to Lia over two hours before she left and, as a result, wasn't able to get any pictures of her all dolled up and ready to go.  Luckily, she has a new friend up the hill who participated in another production at NWTL whose mother agreed to drive Lia to the party at 6 p.m. and bring her back home at 9:30 p.m.  So, while I was in Port Orchard all evening long, Lia went and had the time of her life at this holiday ball.  In addition to dinner and a White Elephant exchange, the theater directors provided dancing and karaoke for the kids to enjoy.  Since Lia was surrounded by all of her theater friends, she felt comfortable to sing and dance the night away and just had the greatest time.  When I pulled up at 11 o'clock, Lia was still waiting up for us and excitedly told me all about her evening.  I was so happy that she made the choice to go to this holiday ball instead of my family's party as it sounded like it was ten times more fun!  Here are some of the pictures that her music director emailed me after the festivities were over...

Lia posing with her "mother," Charlie, who played the Evil Queen in Descendants.

Lia posing with her Oliva (Mal), Kaden (Ben), Sarah (Carlos), and Kyra (Jane).

Lia scowling with the rest of the "Evils" from her play.

A fun group photo with a bunch of kids from the Descendants and Rudolph play.

Lia and Olivia (or should I say Evia and Mal) reunited after a five week break!

Emmett's Preschool Christmas Party

Like his older siblings, Emmett participated in his preschool Christmas party today.  I was invited to come listen to the little concert in the chapel before joining Emmett and the other students in their classroom for a little Christmas craft.  Just like the Halloween party, this Christmas party was much smaller and simpler than our other three children's parties due to the fact that a new group of women are running the same preschool.  Regardless, I was just grateful for the opportunity to come and watch my cute boy sing his little heart out and then join him for an activity in his classroom.  Emmett was so excited to have me there and was so adorable singing all five of his Christmas songs.  Oh, how I just love this little buddy of mine!

Emmett posing in front of the Christmas tree inside the chapel of the Lutheran church where he attends preschool.

Emmett smiling at me before the concert began.

Emmett singing away!

Emmett smiling at me while ringing his bells and singing "Jingle Bells."

The group of children being led by one of the teachers, Miss Ruth, on the right side.

Emmett putting red and white beads on a pipe cleaner to make a little candy cane ornament to take home and put on our tree.

Emmett showing off his finished product.  He actually enjoyed making this craft so much that he made a second one all on his own while I talked to another mom.  Good job, Emmy!