Rewind: Christmas 2012

Man oh manny, this was definitiely a Christmas to remember. As  previously mentioned, we had partied with my brother and sister and their families and by the time Christmas Eve day rolled around the plan was to enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve and morning with my parents as we were flying to Australia the day after Christmas.

It started out perfect. The morning was picturesque. Big, white, fluffy flakes fell outside while Phil built a snow dragon with Ryder and Penny. I stayed inside wrapping presents while watching White Christmas with my mom who rocked a napping Hazel. I had cozy coursing through my veins.

After Hazel woke up from her nap she was a little fussy. Nothing new since she had been fighting a cold. I figured she was just tired still so I fed her and started dancing her back to sleep. Her fussiness turned into crying and my dancing turned into hopeless bouncing. And after about 3 hours of passing her from one adult to another and weighing potential problems and solutions, it was time to take her in to see a doctor. And since it was Christmas Eve the ER was our only option.

So right around dinner time on Christmas Eve Phil and I left Ryder and Penny with my parents and headed off to the ER. She was diagnosed with a nasty double ear infection. Luckily, the ER was completely empty (which I found comforting that no one was getting hurt that day) so we were able to get in and get out with an antibiotic and good advice. Our biggest concern at this point was that we had to be on a very long flight in two days.

How grateful I was to know Penny and Ryder were in such great hands still enjoying their Christmas festivities. After we got back we had a bit of a scattered family home evening lesson where we shared our thoughts about the Savior and watched a movie about his birth. All in all a success considering the circumstances of our day.

If memory serves me correctly, Hazel got a good nights sleep and had noticibly improved by Christmas morning. We enjoyed watching Penny and Ryder open their presents that morning, enjoyed Skyping with Phil's family and ate a delicious Christmas lunch.

We spent the rest of the time with my parents, packing and taking Hazel in for a follow-up appointment to get the OK for her to fly. Thankfully, her cute little ears were on the mend and we were good to go.

****And to anyone who remember Ryder's Christmas list....(he wanted two things--a dragon with special wings and...fire pants)****

Santa delivered! (phew)

Rewind: Family Christmas Party

A couple of days before Christmas we drove up to Downey, Idaho to my Grandma and Grandpa Salvesens for a grand 'ol Christmas celebration with all of us together. We had lunch, visited, played a Christmas scavengar hunt with the kids and opened cousin Christmas jammies! The current tally (and probably final total is: 10 grandkids (6 boys and 4 girls).

Here's Jared proudly displaying his new Christmas monster jammies

 Here are all of those nice, sweet, handsome boys (Grandpa, that includes you too!)

Ah...that's more like it

Here is Nana with all her grandgirls--sans Hazel

And after much toil, patience and a bunch of adults behind the scenes calling names, doing silly dances and making funny faces--here is everyone with G & G Salvesen...

...sans Ezra...dangit! 

 You see, he just wasn't in the mood. So he gets his own picture.

A sweet shot of Grandma Great and Hazel Ane

And to finish it off: TyTy. Because well, he's just so stinkin' cute.

Rewind: Temple Square

The weekend after we arrived in Utah for a little Christmas visit we went to my sisters to eat a delicious lunch and enjoy her new beautiful home. Afterwhich, we braved the crowds and went to Temple Square. Despite the continuous effort to corral a bunch of small children, and whatever brief spurts of stress this may have caused ("Ryder! Has anyone seen Ryder?! Phil! Can you see Ryder? Oh. There he is." Now substitute Ryder's name for any grandchild on two legs and repeat that about 10 times. Throw in about three potty breaks, Penny laying down on the concrete in protest and changing a baby in the car and you get the general idea) we all ended up enjoying ourselves quite a bit.  My dad really, really wants to do this again. As soon as possible. 

I believe this last photo really captures the feelings of chaos and happiness we all experienced :)

Holy Smokes!

I'm not sure if you noticed, or not, but a whole month has passed by and Christmas is in like two days! Eeek! It's tricky being a parent during Christmas. I'm still struggling to find how to make it magical for the kiddos while teaching them the true meaning, and I can't help getting a smidge overwhelmed and stressed out by this task. And before I know it, I turn around, Christmas is here once more! It's funny how it does that.  Here are a few things we've been up to:

 -Our ward Christmas party, bunco party, and sadly, a good-bye party for some good friends of ours. (They're dropping like flies, I tell ya!)

-Got everyone their flu shot

-Had a Facetime date with Nana & Pompa to open presents from them.

-Visited 'ol NYC for Phil's work party, which included a Santa visit and a stop at Rockafeller Center to see the tree.

-Took a SEVEN hour flight from NJ to Seattle (who woulda thought it was that long) for some Christmas and family fun. We're (perhaps foolishly) doing presents here. I had mostly everything shipped here in advance. I'll let you know how it goes....{nervous laugh}

- Finally, we had a beautiful, delightful little girl turn two years-old right before our very eyes. Oh we love our Penelope.

  Oh. nooow I can see why this month went by so fast.

DEAR DAISY DOODLE

So I Santa brought me a camera for Christmas. I hesitate to tell you this, because then there might be some sort of expectation here on out in the photos I put on this blog, when in actuality, you probably won't even be able to tell the difference between past photos and ones I've taken with my new piece of machinery. So here's the deal, I'll continue to try and learn how to use my camera, if you promise to have low expectations--scratch that--no expectations. 

With that said, I'd like to tell you about my mom's cat, Daisy, who we all lovingly call Daisy Doodle. In my efforts to figure out my camera, I was, well, taking lots of photos. Some people found this annoying.

But not Daisy Doodle. She was incredibly cooperative and let me snap photos of her all I wanted. So to you, dear Daisy Doodle--thank you.

'TWAS A MERRY CHRISTMAS

We spent most of the week at my parents home, which is a Christmas haven to me. We ate like kings and made ourselves quite merry with holiday cheer.

My sister and her family came up on Christmas Eve day and Nana kicked off the evening with a Christmas treasure hunt for the grandbabes. Each "clue" had a little prize and an activity.

After a delicious dinner, we had my dad read the Christmas story while the grandkids acted out the nativity scene. Ryder was Joseph, Gracie was Mary, Jared insisted on being baby Jesus and Penny was an angel. Being the first time we tried this, I wasn't quite sure how it would go. I was left very impressed by how well everyone got into character (wouldn't you agree?)

 (lol, Jared kills me!)

 (A serious Joseph)

 (A rather beautiful angel announcing the Savior's birth!)

Jammies, brownies and A Mickey's Christmas Carol followed until...

...Christmas morn! Need I say more?

 Stockings! Look at little P, doesn't she look like a little elf or Who or something?

Bono.  Uh...I mean The Edge.

Captain.

Thank you Nana and Pompa for hosting a wonderful and memorable Christmas!

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUSE

I'm not quite sure if I've been this excited about Christmas since I was a little girl. Now that Ryder is old enough to really get the concept of Santa (and hopefully, and more importantly, the birth of baby Jesus, right? Real meaning here, people!) Now, back to Santa...I really get now that being on the other end of Santa game is just as, if not more fun. However, it has been so very difficult for me to keep up the charade! Poor Ryder is going to know that Santa Clause isn't real at 3 years-old if I'm not careful.

However, it's tricky, getting your tykes something they'll love. Toy buying for me has always been stressful. I can not tell you the hours I'll spend in aisles of toys trying to find something that they'll love. Love as in they'll still want to play with it after two weeks. I can't stand throwing $20-$40 at a piece of plastic that will just sit in a corner taking up space.

Well, like I said, I'm excited--not stressed because due to an on-top-of-it sister who planned a very productive shopping excursion, I'm almost done. With R and P's stuff, anyway.  Autumn and I like to envision ourselves during the month of December sitting on the couch sipping hot cocoa and watching White Christmas while everyone else looks for a parking space at Costco. It's a good dream. But most likely I'll be in line at Costco with everyone else. But again--back to Santa. So in my few years as a parent I'm starting to learn a few tricks of the trade, if you will. Here are a few:

1. Have a sister who spends hours on Amazon.com researching the best, most popular toys. I told her next year I am going to call her around mid-November and ask, "So what are we getting our kids this year?" If you want to do the same, let me know and I'll get you her number. If I had to choose, I'd say this was our (her) pick for the season:

Melissa & Doug 60-Piece Standard Unit Blocks

Why: They are a classic, well-made toy that kids never get tired of. This toy was got 208 reviews that averaged 5 stars. Plus, they have a really cool architectural set that goes along with it. 

2. If they need batteries, then go to Costco and buy in bulk (or get a charger) because they will need to be replaced OFTEN. Maybe it's just my son, but he'll be running a battery operated toy and then a few minutes later, he'll be doing something else, but that toy...is still runnin'. I'm trying to steer clear of such toys in general. Mostly because I'm a hideous mom and fail miserably at replacing batteries. Plus, I find all the blinky-blinky, noise making of it all a bit chaotic and they lack longevity in attention and quality. But granted some REALLY cool toys need batts.

 Something tells me this one needs batts.

 
3. I also love the idea of hand-made gifts. I'm hoping to make my neice and nephews a little somethin' somethin' this year (which shall be revealed after Christmas, if I succeed). I've also had the fabric cut and ready to go to make bean bags like these for Penny. I'm also a huge fan of putting an artist's kit together. I got one of those for Christmas when I was like 7 and I still remember it being one of my favorite gifts as a child. I've also thought of putting together a dress up kit (ie pirate clothes, hat, fake coins in a painted treasure chest that you can get at most craft stores.) And even bigger plus, is that these gifts usually are a bit more economical than others.

 Quiet books make amazing hand-made gifts. Although they are quality and special, they're usually not the cheapest/easy route to go. You can find more about this one here.

4. I know I'm dreaming when I envision shelves filled with classic, wooden, toys that encourage imaginative play and will last until my babies have babies, but dream I shall. I also feel there is something about a room messy with quality wooden/hand-made toys that is a little less daunting than a room full of the plastic, blinky-blinkey noise-makers. Which is why I love Melissa & Doug. FAO Shwartz have some really great wooden, material-made items as well. And I'm pretty sure it's better for our environment:)  Here are a couple of cool ones...

1. FAO Schwarz Fire Truck 2. Melissa and Doug cutting bread set

What about you? What do you want to get your kids? What are your toy preferences and tips? I mean in the end, it's really all about us, right?