The Eleventh Day of Christmas

It was time to celebrate little miss's birthday with my family, so we had them over for a Spanish fiesta. Mike made paella, I did salad and we had chocolate birthday cake. We don't know how to make any Liberian food, but she loves this paella because it has lots of seafood in it, and her favorite food is shrimp.

She got a new jacket, a Barbie and some makeup and perfume.

We gave her an Africa doll.

I am still in denial that she is seven. She loves being seven. My job is now to help her enjoy being seven and not seventeen.

The Tenth Day of Christmas

Today was the first day in months that we have been able to sleep in, and we did, until 10:30. It was heavenly. I worked on some projects and Mike took the kids shopping. Then we saw Arthur Christmas. I didn't have high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a cute Christmas movie.

I try to get a new Christmas book every year, and as I was looking for one, I realized that I had not exposed my children to this one. As we read the first chapter tonight, I remembered just how good it is.

The Ninth Day of Christmas

Today after the girls' tumbling, we visited our other pets at the cat colony.

We then picked up Mike from work and went to This Is The Place for the Candlelight Christmas. I highly recommend it. The Father Christmas was so cute. We also loved the square dancing, the silent nativity and the puppet show.

Christian was able to rattle off a long list for Santa. His list includes Skylanders for Wii, some DS games and some Ninjago Legos.

Drew asked for a Wii game and Harry Potter Legos.

Bev asked for art supplies and earrings. (She is gonna be so easy to please this year.)

Jessi asked for Barbies, stuff with sparkles and Strawberry Shortcake toys.

Each night we read our book together and then Mike has the kids play the piano for him. When they were done, I decided to play a little. They must have been really tired because all of my mistakes didn't wake them.

Jessi was playing with her new Barbies and the boys were playing Mario and Sonic London Games. They have had a blast trying different games from Redbox while off track.

The Eighth Day of Christmas

Last night we hosted Mike's work party. We did the food, so I brought out my own little labor force to help with the prep. Andrew did the artichokes. He warned us that he might begin dry-heaving at any moment because of the smell.

Christian arranged crackers and cut olives. (And yes, he wears Andrew's old cub scout uniform every day.)

Bev cut mushrooms and got them all stuffed.

I guess Christian was sick of hearing the complaints, so he got Andrew a mask.

The party went well. Mike works with some nice people, so it is always fun to get together. The kids hung out in our room. Mike took them up some food and they watched a movie and played Electronic Monopoly, of course.

The Seventh Day of Christmas

While we all watched Survivor tonight, Jessi said she had something to work on upstairs. This is what she came up with.

Last week, she wrote a rap song, so it looks like she is in her blues phase right now. Also, I am guessing that the "not even a mouse" comes from all of the "Night Before Christmas" we have been reading.

Then, after tumbling, Bev worked on her DARE essay.

Jessi and Christian often want to play completely different things, but sometimes, they play together, and I could watch them for hours. It is quite hilarious. Tonight, they each brought all of their stuffed animals out into the hall and the animals battled each other. At one point, Jessi said, "it's not fair, you have all the mean animals--mine are pretty, but yours are tougher."

He picked his shark for a battle. She first chose her little white fluffy porpoise.

Then her little glittery pink sea turtle.

And then a cute little octopus. Finally they decided to change from "stuffed animal fight club" to making a stuffed animal neighborhood where they could all live peacefully together. (It went well until Christian's animals started getting the urge to eat their neighbors...and poop in the other neighbors' yards.)

I called Drew upstairs. When he didn't come, I discovered that after scouts, and some Legos, he just crashed. When I woke him and told him to go to bed he denied being tired.

This is a familiar scene--Bev doing homework and her spoiley-cat waiting and whining for attention.

Not much Christmas-related happened today.

The Fourth Day of Christmas

Today after church, we got to go with Christian to his Baptism Preview. I can hardly believe he will be eight in March. He is very excited to turn eight--not necessarily to be baptized, but to be able to play tackle football and to be in scouts. Mike is the Cub Master and my Primary calling involves me in Cub Scouts, so he gets to come to Pack Meeting every month. Mike brought Drew's old uniform to the Baptism Preview to teach the upcoming boys about Scouts. Christian has worn it every day since.

tragedy

Ever wonder what the inside of a lens looks like? Well, we found out.

At the end of the Primary activity on Tuesday night, I handed Mike my camera to take a few more pictures. Apparently, right after I handed it to him, a child ran by him and bumped the camera out of his hands. He came to find me and showed me the damage. I was a little sick to my stomach, but then the words of my wise mother rang in my head. "Things can be replaced, people can't."