Christmas 2007

Here are just a few pictures of Christmas morning. After I was looking at the pictures we took that morning I realized we didn't get any of Darren or I. But we were both there and had fun too.



















Jacob with the animals the Santa and Mike and Kim gave him.















Jacob and Ethan's Santa stuff.















Kevin's Santa stuff.















Ethan checking out his monster truck.



















Ethan showing off his monster truck.




















Kevin showing off his pokemon toys.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Ethan's birthday was Friday. We decided to just have a family party. He chose to go bowling and eat dinner at McDonald's. Afterwards we went home for cake and presents.















Ethan blowing out his candles


















Showing one of his presents














He got some markers and a large pad of paper. This is one of the rare moments everyone gets along and plays together moments that Darren caught on camera.


















The artwork

Kevin's Christmas program

Kevin had his third grade Christmas program on Thursday. It was mostly just singing Christmas songs but they had one mini play. Kevin was a toy soldier. All he had to do was march.

Snow day

Last Saturday the boys and I were out doing some errands and on our way home we passed the park. There were some kids sledding on the hill there and they started begging to go. Normally, I wouldn't take all three kids sledding by myself. Darren was doing the Idaho Falls Christmas bird count. But the boys caught me in just the right mood and we went sledding. It was actually pretty fun and their friends from across the street were there, too. Here are a few pictures of the day.



















Ethan posing in the snow



















Ethan and one of the boys across the street going down the hill.


















Jake in all of his snow gear. The mittens are hard to get on and that's why they look kind of funny.




















Kevin just coming down from the hill.

Mischief

This is what I found when I got out of the shower today:

Santa

Last night at our ward Christmas party, there was a special visitor. Of course, you know when they say that that it is Santa Claus. This year the activities committee wanted everything done in one hour. So as soon as the prayer was said and people were standing in line for food, they called the primary kids up to sing and the other brief entertainment followed. Then Santa came and they wanted families to go together to get through it faster. That was fine with me because I prefer shorter lines to visit Santa and I wanted all my kids in one picture. Jacob clung to me the whole time we were in line and wouldn't let me put him down. I thought my back was going to break by the time it was our turn. Because of the way he clung to me I thought he would cry when he sat on Santa's lap but, surprisingly, he didn't. Oh, and the party was done in one and a half hours.

Christmas Decorations

For family home evening last week we put up our Christmas tree. The rest of the decorations slowly went up throughout the rest of the week. Now the only thing left are the outside Christmas lights. I bought them two years ago and we still have yet to use them. But I am very determined this year. Here are some pictures of our decorating:















The nativity set. For some reason baby Jesus keeps ending up on the roof.



















Last year when we were in Utah after Christmas, my mother in law, Pat, was getting rid of some of her old Christmas decorations. She let us go through and take out what we wanted. This advent quilt was in there and I consider it a treasure. It is now my favorite Christmas decoration. There are pockets on each square to put treats, scriptures or whatever you want in them. Only a few of the pockets have treats right now but by the time the dates come around they will have something in them. It is now the second day of December so the kids are catching on to this one pocket a day thing. (We do have to keep the bottom pockets empty until that day, though, or Jake will get into them.)



















Kevin and Ethan decorating the tree. They did it almost all on their own, even the star at the top. Again, though, the bottom branches are pretty bare thanks to Jake.