Merry Christmas

My favorite part about Christmas is to see the excitement on our kid's faces, and to relax and spend time with family. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Yeah! It snowed on Christmas Day. I love having a white Christmas.



Tic Tac Toe....3 Donalds in a row

At Lauren's request, Hannah with the white boots

Another request, a Lola doll

Auburn and her Easy Bake oven...can you tell she's excited?
She said, "I've always wanted one of these!"

Auburn trying to hold up all the mixes

A new DVD player to replace the broken one

Look at their eyes

The girls both got Donald Duck sweatshirts.

This picture of Auburn made me laugh.


Stamps for Auburn from Uncle Jason's family

A new game for Lauren from Jayden

Our little "twins"

Grandma got Feliz Navidad pajamas for 4 of the girls....these 2 loved them

I'm not sure how many days they wore them

Christmas Eve

Brook and I spent part of Christmas Eve finishing up some last minute details and then we took the girls to see Bolt. They really liked it...it was a cute show. Then we went to my mom's for pizza. We usually spend Christmas Eve with Brook's parents, but they stayed down in Arizona this year. I wasn't in the mood to do too much in the way of cooking so I was thinking pizza, but I didn't know if my mom would go for that. While I was out running errands she called and said, "I was thinking about pizza." I laughed and told her I had been thinking the same thing. After dinner the girls opened their presents from Grandma Mills while she was on the phone. Brook's parents had gone to Hawaii recently so she bought them grass skirts, shell necklaces, a flower for their hair, and a top. Auburn's had a little coconut bra, but she refused to put it on even with her shirt. Lauren didn't want to put on her little bikini top either. I thought it would be funny just to put over their shirts, but they wouldn't. I guess I can't complain since they want to be modest.

Don't you love Lauren's look. She didn't want to stand by her sister. She has a huge grin in the next one because I told her she couldn't open anymore presents if she didn't smile. AHHH the blackmail.


Auburn was REALLY excited about her Christmas pajamas

Then we let them open up their Christmas pajamas. I didn't get a picture. What was I thinking? I think I'll do one of those staged pictures before we take the tree down. Then they opened the gifts they got for eachother at home. I got Brook a pair of pajama bottoms that had Christmas lights all over them. I couldn't stop laughing....they were just for fun. Mine had Chip and Dale on them. I was just glad to have something warm and comfortable to wear. I finally had to put my regular pants away this week. I could wear them standing up, but they were too tight when I sat down. It was a little more quiet this year, but we had a nice Christmas Eve.

Saying Goodbye to Gingerbread.....FINALLY

Gingerbread season is over! I've gone from zero gingerbread projects to five this year. I helped the girls do 2 houses for the Festival of Trees, which was great. We should have ended there, but we got ambitious. The girls wanted to do gingerbread houses to keep at our house so we got 2 more kits and started decorating one Sunday. They started decorating away, but soon lost interest so I worked on them some that day and finished Auburn's first. Then Lauren had a math project at school where they made gingerbread trains, which I signed up to help with. The parents just helped put them together and then the kids decorated them the next day. They like that part best anyway. Next, I got tired of having Lauren's unfinished gingerbread house on the kitchen table with all the candy trimmings so I finished it one day. I've had enough for a while. They turned out really cute, but I got the hankering this morning to get a bb gun and have a little target practice like Ralphie on a Christmas story. Anyone have a Red Rider I could borrow? :)

Lauren putting together her train

She loved putting all those nerds at the bottom

Auburn made up a story that the door had lots of doorknobs and if you tried to open up the wrong one, you would fall through a trap door. I said, "Sheesh, the unfriendly gingerbread house." She just laughed.

This is the one that Lauren started. She made the door and the pretty stained glass windows on the front of the house. I think I finished the rest.

No more gingerbread.....well at least until next year. :)

Scattergories

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things.. nothing made up! You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Charity

BOY NAME: Charlie

4 LETTER WORD: Coin

GIRL NAME: Cassidy

OCCUPATION: Chimney Sweep

A COLOR: Cerulean (thank you Ocean Blue)

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Chinos

BEVERAGE: Cocoa

FOOD: Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Carpet.....ewwww, I know....not in mine though

A PLACE : California Adventure

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Car wouldn't start

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Can you please stop that???!!!!! (I never say that....mostly)

It's 5am and I've been up since 3. Can't sleep. If some of these answers are strange, you'll know that my brain isn't used to being up this early. Thanks for the idea Brooke!

Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper...I usually save gift bags for birthdays unless the present is such an odd shape that it needs a bag
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, but I miss the smell of a real tree like when I was little
3. When do you put up the tree? the weekend after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? usually the week after New Years
5. Do you like Eggnog? EWWW HOOO HOOO....I won't tell you what I really think of it
6. Favorite gift received as a child? a cabbage patch doll...I was sooo excited
7. Hardest person to buy for? my dad and my in-laws
8. Easiest person to buy for? Lauren...she loves practically everything and gets excited
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I bought it when I worked at RC Willey. It looks like little kids putting on a Christmas Pageant. It's one of my favorite decorations
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, some years
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? can't really think of anything
12. Favorite Christmas movie? ELF, Mickey's Christmas Carol, most anything....I love to watch movies, especially during Christmas time (no matter how many times I watch Elf, I still laugh out loud when he drinks the pop and does that HUGE burp....I'm warped I know)
13. When do you start shopping? I started in November, but it's hard for me to have a gift for someone and not give it to them
14. Have you ever recycled a present? probably, but if you don't use something it's still new, right?
15. Favorite thing to eat or drink at Christmas? definately my mom's 7 layer bean dip. I could eat the whole pan by myself with a bag of fritos (thank goodness I've never had one to myself because I'm sure I'd get sick)
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, we have clear ones now, but I miss our colored lights. We always had colored lights growing up....they seem to put off a softer glow
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Wexford Carol
18. Travel at Christmas time or stay home? Stay Home....as much as I like to travel, I just want to stay in my pajamas all day and stay at home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, and I can name the 7 dwarfs too! ;)
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have an angel that I love...it's made of Capiz Shell. When we were growing up we had an angel that was mounted on a star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Morning? When Brook's parents are in town we open our gifts with them on Christmas Eve, then we let the kids open one from us. The rest is for Christmas Day
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? when you see people shopping for people you assume they love, and they seem grouchy....where's the spirit of giving?
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love our tree with our ornaments collected over many years
24. Favorite Christmas Dinner? We gotta have the ham, turkey, cheesy potatoes, etc... (During the rest of the year they're called funeral potatoes, but they get an upgrade during Christmas)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a bike....my was stolen

Way to Go Lauren!

Lauren told me today that her yearbook cover won her class contest for the 3rd year in a row. I think it's awesome, but she always seems disappointed when she doesn't win it for the whole school. I try to tell her that to win in her class is great, and some kids never even win that. They always put a picture of their cover next to their photo in the yearbook. We'll have to see. When she gets it back from her teacher, I'll post a picture.

Question List

1. Do you like blue cheese? Heck no! It tastes like barf!

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? No....never even thought about it

3. Do you own a gun? No

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I like their fresh lemon slushes

5. Do you get nervous before doctor Appointments? no, but I always get nervous before they take my blood pressure....I know strange.....then my heart rate goes up

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I used to eat them cold, but after my public health class I stopped for a few years. It's never good to know about what goes into processed meats

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? something sweet to settle my stomach

9. Can you do push-ups? I used to do 50 in high school, but now I'd be lucky to do 5

10. Age? 33

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I don't like jewelry. I have to wear a watch though

12. Favorite hobby? having time to read a good book

13. Favorite Actor? don't know

14. Do you have A.D.D.? sometimes I wonder

15. What’s one trait you hate about yourself? teeth

16. Middle name? Leigh

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment… 1. I need to be in bed 2. The baby's moving 3. my hands are cold

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday/today? Pajamas, a gift for Brook (can't list it here), and photo Christmas cards

19. 3 drinks you regularly drink? 1. Water 2. Lemonade 3. Milk (lately)

20. 3 Current worries? 1. Lauren & I making it through 5th grade 2. Brook finding a permanent job with insurance 3. everything going well with the baby and this pregnancy

21. Current Love right now? Christmas planning

22. Favorite place to be? wrapped up in a quilt watching a good movie with my family

23. How did you bring in the New Year? please don't ask me to think that hard

24. Where would you like to go? Back to Germany

25. Name three people who will complete this. ???

26. Do you own slippers? yes, but I never wear them

27. What shirt are you wearing? a plain white long sleeved tee

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have....I love flannel sheets...they're soooooo warm

29. Can you whistle? Yes and I do it frequently. I'm the crazy person that you hear in the store or the parking lot

30. Favorite color? Green and Purple

31. Would you be a pirate? Sorry....that's a lame question

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Hymns, Christmas songs, songs that get stuck in my head. Have you ever noticed that your voice sounds better when it's steamy? As soon as I open the shower door and the steam goes out....reality sets in

33. Favorite girl’s name? Bronwyn

34. Favorite boy’s name? that's what were trying to figure out :)

35. What is in your pocket? a check from my dad

36. Last thing that made you laugh? the dancing elf movie that Karolyn sent me...HILARIOUS!

37. Best bed sheets as a child? don't remember

38. Worst injury you’ve ever had? the aftermath of having babies

39. Do you love where you live? yes....my house could use some updating though

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2

41. Who is your loudest friend? my husband

42. How many dogs do you have? 0

43. Does someone have a crush on you? I seriously doubt it

44. What is your favorite book(S)? To Kill a Mockingbird & Princess Academy

45. Where were you born? Florida

46. What is your favorite candy? licorice

47. Favorite Sports Team? noooooooooooooooo

48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? I'd love for someone to play Amazing Grace on the bagpipes....probably not appropriate for the chapel so they'd have to do it graveside. I also love Our Savior's Love

49. What are you doing at 12 A.M.? Sometimes sleeping, sometimes reading, sometimes watching a tv show quietly to myself

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Why do I have such strange dreams?

Auburn's Birthday Pictures

Since I've already written about Auburn's birthday, I thought I'd add some pictures of the birthday festivities.

Opening a couple of presents before her baptism

Even though she loves to paint....you can tell she's not too thrilled

Our chocolate girl

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream

Opening her new scriptures

The "yellow" Donald Duck :)

Giving her moose a bath

The finished product 'Sparkle Moose'

Our happy girls on the train ride home

There was a teenage boy with his family sitting behind the girls on the train. The girls were getting a little restless and were play fighting. I think he saw Lauren's Donald Duck when she was trying to keep it away from Auburn. Soon after he started talking like Donald Duck. It stopped the girls dead in their tracks. He kept saying things and the girls started laughing. He really did the voice well. Next he started to sing Christmas carols like Donald Duck. The girls couldn't get enough of it. His mom and grandma were embarrassed and moved, but his sister and Dad sat next to him and laughed. They kept making him laugh and it made it hard for him to do the voice. Lauren mustered up the courage and asked him to do some more. They loved it and even followed him off the train. His mom asked if we wanted to take him home and Lauren immediately said, "Yes!" They laughed, but she was serious. She had to have a little cry on the way home. He was so nice to do that for the girls...it kept them occupied for most of the train ride. Kids like that restore my faith in teenagers. I'll have to write about another experience Lauren had with some other awesome teenagers that weekend another day.

Auburn's Baptism

Auburn had a special day on Saturday....it was her birthday and she was baptized. I was excited because I was baptized on my birthday too. (It makes it really easy to remember your baptismal date.) Mom said the prayer and Auburn asked Lauren to give the talk on baptism. She was really nervous, but she did a good job. The part that was a miracle to me was the baptism itself. For most people that were there it was just another baptism, but for us it was amazing. Auburn has always been afraid in the water. Even as a baby she would panic when I would lean her back in the tub to get her hair wet. We installed a shower wand so I could wash her hair without having to dunk her. Even a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to have her lay back in the water she was screaming. She doesn't like to have water in her ears or on her eyes. I was getting pretty nervous about her getting baptized and panicking. Brook told me not to even mention it to her. I wanted to go to a pool and have him practice with her, but she had been sick earlier. I prayed that she would be fine. Everything went off without a hitch. She had no problems at all! I went to help her out and dry her off and told her how proud I was of her. She just smiled. When she went in to change she said, "Mom, do you feel happy?" I think she was, and wondered about me. Later she said that being baptized and confirmed made her feel good and happy. It was kind of a crazy day since we tried to do a couple of presents before her baptism, then have the baptism itself. Then we had a luncheon at our house with the family, cake and ice cream, more presents, then we went down to SL to go to Build-A-Bear and dinner. Whew!! One of those days that were really nice, but you're glad it's over. I hope she'll remember it forever.

Auburn & Dad

Auburn & Ryker

(he was baptized that day too)

The kids with their awesome Primary teacher, Sis. Perry

I have to smile about this one. I asked my dad to take our picture at the church. He said he would, but when we were done with the other pictures, he had already left. I thought, Ok we'll do it at the house. We got home and before my dad could get there, everyone but me had changed clothes. They had to change back for the picture.

Festival of Trees Update

We went to the Festival of Trees on Brook's birthday, Thursday. It was hard to keep Auburn with us because she was so excited to see her gingerbread house. They had some amazing houses including a huge castle. We were all excited to see that the girl's houses had sold. Yeah!!! More money for the kids at the hospital. It was a fun experience for them. We walked around and looked at about half of the trees. There were 2 that were awesome....one was like a huge marble track for mini pool balls. The whole tree was kept in motion and the balls would even move back up to the top through the center. Then second one was made from large pieces of colored glass. Kind of like the art pieces that Dale Chihuly makes. It was gorgeous. Lots of people were stopped at both. Then we took the girls over to get their nails painted in the kids area. Another highlight for them.

Decorating for Christmas

Saturday I took the girls with me to decorate gingerbread houses for the Festival of Trees. I hadn't planned on taking them, but when they heard what I was going to do they really wanted to go. We went over to Sis. Westaway's house and she was generous enough to let them stay and help. She is truly one of the nicest people I have ever met. She has such a good heart. The royal icing was a bit of a pain, and my hands were aching by the time we were done, but the girls were so excited with their houses when they were finished. Pat took them down to the Festival today along with a lot of other donations from our ward. The festival raises money for Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. They are both really excited to go down and see their houses along with the tree, bookshelves, recliner, rocking horse, etc... that Pat set up for our ward's donation, For the Love of Reading. They won't let you dedicate your tree to more than one person, but it's acually for a few people who have passed away from our ward. One was an elementary school teacher for many years, one ran a local preschool (that our girls went to) for even more years, and another taught reading. We really miss those wonderful sisters in our ward. They made such a huge impact on countless lives. I think that everything turned out really nice in honor of them.

Auburn with her finished house

She named it 'The Christmas House'

Lauren with her house...she had a harder time letting it go because she said, "It was the best gingerbread house I ever made." but decided it was for a good cause. Notice how she stuck her Donald Duck ornament in front for the picture. She named it 'Colorful Cottage'.

These other pictures are of the girls helping decorate for Christmas. Brook set up the tree while we were at Pat's. When we got home they quickly got their ornaments out and started decorating the tree. So far they have done pretty much all of the tree....I just need to add a few more around the back and top. They also helped a lot by putting up other decorations around the house. Thank goodness for their enthusiasm and endless energy.....I was pooped after doing gingerbread houses for a few hours. I wish I could have gotten their pictures when they weren't looking. They were so intent on what they were doing...Christmas is such a great time of year.

Auburn setting up our kid friendly Nativity set

Lauren admiring our snow globe