New Year's Eve

We haven't had a whole lot going on this month.  I sure enjoy January in Texas.  It's nice to take it easy, and get back into the routine of life after the craziness of December and the holidays.  The weather has been typical Texas - 65 degrees for a couple days, and 35 degrees the day after.  The warm days have been awesome, and we've utilized them by playing outside.  The cold days have also been enjoyed with hot chocolate and warm blankets.  It's been a good month to rejuvenate and relax a bit.

Before the month is completely over, though, I do want to blog our New Year's Eve.  We had such a fun night!  This is the first year of our married lives that we've actually done something for New Year's Eve.  Yah, we're party animals :)  This year I was planning out what I would make for dinner that night, and realized that it would be fun for the kids to have a party.  And, and much fun as parents are :), I didn't think that the four of us would constitute a party.  We had over our good friends, Holly and Joey, and their kids.  It was perfect - my kids adore theirs, and the grown ups get along pretty darn well too.  Or, at least Joey and Holly are good actors. :)  We had pizza and sparkling fruit drinks, deliciously decadent (and probably the reason for gaining a good five pounds) cheesecake, played board games and Rockband, and made some noise and wore some hats. 

They left at about 9pm, and we got our kids to bed.  I'm a little crazy about sleep.  I have a really hard time dealing with tired, cranky, whiny kids, so I hardly ever let them stay up late.  Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there!  When we do party, we go all out!

Okay, so maybe it's not all that, but it was perfect for us.  I like entertaining and having people over.  Dave doesn't enjoy parties too much.  He enjoys smaller settings with just a few people.  So, we compromised by inviting over Jonathan and Katie for a party.  My family has a tradition of having fondue on New Year's Eve, and it's one of my favorite traditions.  Something about being able to stick my fork in a pot without getting scolded was always exciting as a kid.  I also liked getting to choose the fondue fork with the coolest color on the end.  Simple pleasures. :) So, I made up a traditional swiss cheese fondue with yummy bread and veggies to dip.  We ate, played Rockband (our new addiction), then ended with chocolate fondue.  Yum! 

 

(We did actually get quite a few more pictures.  The sparkling cider must have been spiked or something, though :)  All the rest of them are not at all post-worthy!  Crazy faces, blurry shots, double chins.  Ahh!)

In salute to our boring selves, we didn't even watch the ball drop or anything.  But, we did have the exactly right kind of night for us.  Thanks you guys, for celebrating with us.  You made it a great evening, and a fun way to welcome in 2010!  Here's to a great year in store for us!

THREE snow falls in december?!

The Tuesday after Christmas, we had ANOTHER snow fall!  It sure was crazy, but a lot of fun.  The kids asked to go play in it after dinner.  I was sure they'd only last a few minutes, since it was dark and cold, but they toughed it out and we even built a snowman.  I think it's the first one either of them have ever built.  What a fun Christmas vacation!

Christmas!

Christmas day was great fun!  We enjoyed opening presents together, and having a nice relaxing morning.  The kids enjoyed getting gifts, but also enjoyed watching us open the ones from them.  We all had fun enjoying everyone's presents together.  We spent some time talking with my family via web cam, playing Beatles Rockband, Mario Kart, building Hot Wheels tracks, and playing dollhouse.  A fun morning.  We even had snow the night before, which is a first in 20 years or something like that.  The kids, on the way home, said, "Look!  It's Christmas!"

 

 

We made it over to Jonathan and Katie's at a leisurely pace, after scraping the ice off the windshield.  We had "brunch", which was more like lunch, but still tasty. :)  After that, we just continued on in enjoying the day in a very low-key way.  We have a tradition of Dave cooking Christmas dinner.  He barbecues up a bunch of different meat, and I make a few salads for side dishes.  It's a throw back to South African Christmas's he grew up with.  A very nice day!

Last of the Christmas Advent

Well, it looks like I'm back to playing catch-up. :)  Oh well!

Monday the 14th we had a special Christmas Family Home Evening.  We learned about the birth of the Savior, and talked about what we could do to be more like Him.  Tuesday, we read a few extra Christmas stories before bedtime.  I love reading, and I love reading to my kids.  The seem to really enjoy books, too.  Wednesday, we wrote letter to Santa.  Chris asked for cowboy boots, Mario Kart Wii, Lego Star Wars for the Wii, and dry erase markers.  Naomi asked for pink princess (her words :D), and a pencil.  She's easy to please!  Thursday was Christopher's Christmas program at preschool.  He did a great job singing all the songs, and doing the motions.  It was a lot of fun to watch him, and we were very proud of him.

  Friday the 18th... I can't remember!  All I know is that it wasn't what I had planned on.  I know it was something fun, but we didn't take pictures (surprise!), and I didn't write it down.  Oops!  This is why I shouldn't get behind!

Saturday we had a lot of fun going to an ice skating show.  It was really fun to watch.  Naomi was mesmerized the whole time by the spins and jumps.  We might have a future ice skater on our hands.  The best part (according to me, anyway) was that it was free.  We had a great time.  Sunday we watched a short video of the Nativity together as a family.  It's set to Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven", and I love it.

The next Monday after that we did another Christmas Family Home Evening.  Tuesday we went to this really neat place, all set up for Christmas.  It's a fire safety town, with building all to kid scale.  They had a fire engine to drive, Santa, reindeer noses, story time, candy canes, and other fun things.  The kids had a great time at that, and the grown ups enjoyed the warm weather that night.  Wednesday we sat and snuggled with the lights on while reading books.  Thursday was Christmas Eve.  We went over to Jonathan and Katie's for some yummy food.  She made cornish pasties, which is something the guys had in South Africa, and yummy soup.  We did the usual Christmas Eve program, then brought the kids home to put out cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.  The kids went to bed in their new Christmas pajamas that I made.  I did the jammy tops too, and I am kind of proud of myself for doing buttonholes for the first time.  It was something I had been nervous about, so it's nice to have conquered that one.

And, that's the end of the Advent we did this last year.  It was a lot of fun - a new tradition, I think!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

David, Sarah, Chris & Naomi

p.s. i haven't forgotten about the rest of the advent activities.  i will post those soon, i promise!  plus, the rest of these fabulous family photos taken by my incredibly talented sister in law.

second week of the Christmas advent

we have had another fun week!  two of the activities i had planned didn't work out.  one was just poor planning on my part, and the other was, well, a consequence for bad behavior.  monday was that day.  we were supposed to have a fun, Christmas family home evening.  the kids were having a really hard time listening, and were fighting, and just doing all those naughty kid things.  moms, you know what i'm talking about!  now, i don't believe family home evening should be taken away because of bad behavior.  we should spend time together as a family - no matter what.  well, i guess that "no matter what" got challenged. :)  hopefully they learned that it's no fun to make bad choices, and will be on better behavior.  we did had a much better time for the rest of the week.

on tuesday night, we read extra Christmas bedtime stories together as a family.  it's so fun to snuggle up together and read.  that's one of my favorite things to do with my kids.  i hope to help them develop a love of reading.  wednesday night we listened to Christmas music while we watched the lights on the tree.  it was nice to just sit and be still for a few minutes during the day.  it didn't last too long, of course, but it was magical while it did. :)

thursday was the other day that didn't work out as planned.  i had planned for us to wrap the gifts the kids had gotten last saturday.  dave ended up working late, so it was just the kids and me.  i realized that they would be super bored, and that it wouldn't be too much fun for them to watch me wrap.  and, i would have to keep at least one of them out of the room the whole time.  i decided not to set myself up for that frustration.  they're not quite old enough to wrap by themselves, so what i've decided is to wrap all the gifts before hand, in brown paper.  then, they can work on decorating the gifts that have been wrapped.  i think that will be a lot more fun, and less frustrating for everyone.  we'll do that sometime next week (after i get everything wrapped first!).  so, instead, the kids helped me work on our homemade Christmas cards.  they're pretty close to being done, and should be coming out sometime this week, too.  here's a sneak peek:

chris did the faces, i did the hat, naomi did the hair and beard (with a little help - i don't really trust her on her own with glue just yet :D)

i think this one with the long nose is my favorite.

friday, we went to downtown frisco to see the lights.  they have a bunch of lights set up that flash in time to music, which was really neat to watch.  they had a fun "train" ride, which took you around to see the lights.  santa was also there.  chris had no fear this year, and hopped right up on his knee.  naomi's only contact was to reach her hand out as far as it would go to snatch the candy cane he was offering her.  i can't blame her for not wanting to sit on some strange man's knee. :)  dave took pictures with his phone.  i'll get them, and post them soon.

saturday was a fun, crazy day!  we got up bright and early (okay, we didn't get up any earlier - my kids are early risers, but we did get dressed and moving a lot quicker than normal), and headed over to the church for breakfast.  we had yummy pancakes, fruit, sausage, and hot chocolate.  after we were full (and a little sticky), we went to go see santa, again.  chris had some questions about how the whole thing worked, so i had to explain how santa has helpers, and that's why not all the santas look the same.  he was also wondering how santa got to the church without his reindeer.  he's pretty smart - we'll have to be quick on our toes if we want him to keep believing! :)  i, of course, did not bring my camera.  are you surprised?  i didn't think so. :)  a friend - much more responsible than i - was in line next to us, and took pictures of the kids with her camera.  when i get those, i'll post them.  it was pretty much the same scenario as the night before.  naomi did manage to stand next to santa this time, though. :)

right after that, chris had a birthday party to go to.  naomi and i ran errands, we picked up chris, then we cleaned the house a bit.  stella came over in the afternoon and watched the kids while dave and i went shopping.  thank you, stella!  it was fabulous!  our shopping is all done, except for a few bits and pieces. yay!  that's a big thing to check off my to-do list.  the kids had a great time with ouma - playing games, watching movies, eating treats.  all the fun grandparent stuff.

today's fun activity was making Christmas cookies.  we used the cookie press, and added sprinkles.  the kids love helping in the kitchen.  fun and yummy!  i think we might have to bake up some more, though.  we need (yes, need!) some variety.  i'm thinking some no bake chocolate cookies, peanut butter kiss ones, and, if i'm feeling ambitious, some sugar cookies for me to decorate.  fun, fun!

check in again next week to hear about the fun things coming up!

snow!

a couple wednesdays ago, we woke up to snow!  the first thing the kids said, of course, was, "can we go out and play?!"  they had a great time out there.  it was really wet and didn't last very long, but they experienced snow in december.  how festive!