Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, so we better hurry up and do the Nativity....luckily, we have a golden dress in the dress-up box for Anna and her cute little haircut, as well as a Mat's big brown coat to transform him into a donkey that seems particularly enraptured with the angel's news. 

I found the perfect Nativity book at the library. I wish I had written it down, because it told the story perfectly and had gorgeous pictures. I'll have to get on the hunt and figure it out. 

And finally, it was jammy time!

A sparkling owl for Anna!

Heart pants for Laney!

Dark purple for Mom...I hope she liked them!

Bruce Lee for Mathew :)

Cubs for Mark (always Cubs for Mark).

Golden unicorn for Everly!

Understated grey for Meg (Always understated for Meg...she has her mother's style).

And super soft red fleece for me! (Mark is consistently excellent at picking pjs! And he never hesitates to include fuzzy socks)

Soft, thin grey for Ethan, destined to double as school pants...

When the jammies are all on, Megan ran outside with the littles to sprinkle reindeer food on the driveway. She's a good little mama.

I love the glow of the tree. The countdown begins!

Shepherd's night 2017

ha ha ha....I can't get over how excited Megan looks to be sleeping on the floor. Maybe her Shepherd's Nights are numbered?

On the bright side, we got Mathew back this year!

A Clarke Musical Christmas!

The Clarke's organized their 3rd Annual Musical Christmas.

Mom was happy to attend, especially since it didn't involve standing outside in freezing weather in the wee hours of the morn. I concur.

Mari and Martin did a rockin recorder duet! I have recorded it for posterity and possible future blackmail needs....he is the bishop, after all, and I am terrified of being called as the choir director. I need insurance.

Then Charles got up and sang a very charming old-timey song about Grandma's feather bed. It was adorable and I started to get a sick feeling in my stomach.

Fred and Dylan made us all laugh. They were funny. And very prepared.

Why do I forget to prepare something every year? This isn't a sing along! What is wrong with my memory? Everyone showed up with a well thought out musical number and I figured I'd just join in with a little harmony on Silent Night....

oy.

Even sweet Megan knocked it out of the park with her "O Holy Night". It really was fantastic. She doesn't seem to have inherited my performance anxiety.

Next year! Next year I'll remember. Maybe I schedule my phone to give me a reminder in 11 1/2 months.

Candlelight Tatertots

It's our candlelight tradition! This is one of my favorites...because even if you are having sloppy joes and tater tots, if you eat them by candlelight, you can count it!

I just want to say again how much I love having my mom here. Even candlelight tatertots seem awesome when she's around.

Gingerbread freestyle...with Pizelles! And Grandma!

Well, I'll tell you. 

I'm plum out of original ideas for the Gingerbread houses/forest/train/village. 

So this year we bought loads of not-so-delicious graham crackers from Aldi, made a double batch of royal icing and let the kids loose. 

Although, this year we did spot some very cute pizelles at the store and they made adorable accents for our structures. 

Mom took her time and built an adorable classic gingerbread house, complete with little wheat chex shingles. (And isn't her shirt cute?? It really POPS!)

Everly won the Tallest Gingerbread Tower award. Also, pizelles are pretty tasty. They kind of remind me of a flattened sugar cone.

Laney was wise and patterned her house after Grandma's.

Megan's reminded me of a movie theater. I just know they are showing a chick-flick in there.

The boys all popped in at the last minute. Just in time to put something together for our group photo and make fun of my gingerbread pagoda.

Gingerbread houses! 2017

Ice Skating Party...mom takes the plunge

It's Ice Skating party time. And it's still at 9 pm...ugh. 9 pm is too late for everything. Except for maybe my kids to be asleep and me to be up watching multiple episodes of Parks and Rec. 

But this year I am going. Grandma Kathleen isn't going (lucky!) and so she was able to keep an eye on the little ones while Mark and I took the three oldest downtown. As the official "swing kid", Laney had the choice to come with us or stay home with the littles....she is a smart girl and decided a super-duper-push-the-beds-together-drown-in-stuffed-animals-slumber-party was the way to go.

Megan has been waiting for 364 days to step out onto that ice again. She may have been a world-class figure skater in another life. We'll never know because she's already taking piano lessons and we can only handle one thing at a time around here.

Ethan and his best buddy, Reuben, getting their skates on.

Megan was whippin around the rink in no time.

Ethan and Reuben found a prime spot to scoot around....near the girls.

Mark went in for some hot cocoa while I clutched desperately to the side of the rink. All I could think about was that time we went ice skating in Young Womens and AnnaLisa Clark took one step onto the ice and broke her wrist 3 seconds later.

No thank you. I fiercely guard my ability to feed myself these days.

But! I will say that it was fun, I am super glad I have warm coat, next time I'll bring a blanket to sit on, and I think the little girls could handle it.

Next year we'll bring the whole family!

She's here!!! Let's make bread.

Mom arrived yesterday and we quickly inducted her into our advent rotation. Finally, I can give her that box of mint shortbread cookies that I have eaten three times and had to drive back to the store to replace. I need help!

I've noticed that I've let a lot of our old traditions fall by the wayside this year. I think it's because what I really want to do is just hang out with my mom! Why run to the plaza to battle the traffic and look at the same old lights when I can have the expert teach the kids (and me) how to make braided bread the REAL way. 

We discovered that a teenage man-child is key in developing the necessary elasticity for awesome bread.

He can really SLAM it!

I love having her here and I am relishing the opportunity to relive some of the traditions she started for us when we were kids and that have become a part of my own children's childhoods.

I can't think of anything better.