Christmas Day

Happy faces on Christmas morning.

Man, this wrapping paper is AWESOME! Wait, there was a present inside?

Who cares? This wrapping paper is AWESOME!!!

Just what the little lady ordered.

Christmas Eve

Oh, you know. It was just another Christmas Eve. Nothing extravagant or fancy. But it WAS fun, very fun.

*** Mid morning, we went to the store and did some secret Santa shopping for someone my parents know who would be without family for Christmas.

***Then we drove to Woods Cross and dropped off the big, wrapped box full of presents at his apartment. With the delivery accomplished, we returned to my parents, visited and had lunch.

***We didn't stay too long before we were on our way to the Olympic Oval to ice skate. About 30 minutes after we figured out that we had the west and south coordinates flipped, we finally found a parking space. It was so fun...and crowded...but not too crowded. There was plenty of room and fun for everyone. We stayed for almost 2 hours. The kids were able to watch the Zamboni resurface the ice, which was fun to watch.

***Tuckered out from skating, we came home and had the good old stand-by, Spagetti, with homemade breadsticks, for dinner.

***Then - the evening program began.

We opened family presents (from Ster's sister and sibling gifts for the kids)
We read from the Bible (Luke, of course)
We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas
We wrapped our service chain around the tree as a gift for Jesus
(The Christmas service chain is something I came up with this year to encourage simple, random acts of kindness. Each time you did something for someone else, you wrote it down on a strip of paper and stapled it on the chain, which was hung along our kitchen wall. It was fun to see it grow.)
We prepared a snack for Santa and his reindeer and wrote him a note.
Hugs and kisses and off to bed, to await the magic of Christmas morning.

Leisel's present

Reading Luke
Service Chain

Santa's snack

Santa's letter

Sleep over

Bryce LOVES to suck on his two fingers. That's how I know he's tired.

The night before Christmas Eve, the kids slept together downstairs in front of the fireplace.

And these

sweet children

are not tired.

ward christmas party

Our ward had a CHRISTMAS LUAU and boy did we PAR-TAY. Check out these Haka boys.

And how about these lovely island beauties.

Here is the entertainment.

I promised I wouldn't do this....

I promised I wouldn't do it with this child. I was determined to slow down and enjoy every (or rather - most- ) days. Take note of every milestone with joy and satisfaction and I'll admit, with a little bit of heart breaking as each new skill made my baby a little bit older.



But too many days have passed by and now my baby is sitting up.

"Hi, Jesus."

Aargh - Merry Christmas

Its Christmas at the Brown house. We set up our beautiful tree this year and I just love it.

Rachel has a wandering eye, two in fact, so she gets to wear these fashion patches, two hours a day. Each day is a different eye. She doesn't mind it, which surprised me. But the doctor said, she probably sees a little better with the patch on, (no double vision). And he must be right. She gets it ready for me every day, without any reminding and then takes it off all by herself when I tell her. The taking off part is really the worst part of the whole deal. As you can see, she's the cutest little Christmas pirate I've ever seen.

brothers

How I know I'm a mommy

** Most of my days are a blur, filled with faces like these

** I know I have 5 brushes for the girls but none of them are in the bathroom.

** When I don't have time to sweep after a meal, I kick the food on the floor, under the table so that it won't be stepped on and spread around the house.

** Out of 10 hanger holes on the shower curtain, only 5 are still intact, the other 5 have multiple layers of duct tape,...ripped duct tape.

** Some days I think I've cried more than my baby.

** After getting 5 kids bathed, I'm just too tired to bathe myself.

** I find clothes still on their hangers in the laundry basket.

** My night's rest is usually interrupted with wake-up calls like : "I had a bad dream" "I need to nurse" "My tummy hurts" "I pee-ed in my bed"

** I also find socks, still folded, in the laundry basket.

** I cause children's "worst day of my life" on a daily basis.

** Family prayers often contain phrases like : "Please help C to stop laughing" "Please help R to close her eyes" "Please help mom to be nice today"

To name just a few.



How do you know you are a mommy?

new music

OK, so I just found some new music I rather enjoy. Same song for each video. Different from each other and really good. Check it out.

Here is the link to Mike Tompkins- A Cappella

I also enjoyed Teenage Dream and Party in the USA.

Here is the link to Boyce Avenue. I don't know much about their original music but their cover songs by other artists are good.

falling leaves

Most of the trees around our house are almost naked.

Brrrr. How would YOU like to spend winter naked?

Well, we found a few leaves to play in before they all fell. And with snowflakes on the forecast for three days this week, I'm pretty sure thar winter is on its way in and fall is on its way out. I'm so glad we were able to enjoy fall while it was here.

like Heaven

Parker said, "Mom, look at the mountains all lit up. It looks like heaven."

easy access

I had to chuckle when I saw Rachel walking around with her halloween basket around her neck like a feeding bag.

I guess it does make a lot of sense. And with 4 siblings, you learn quickly to keep what's important to you,...close to you. So by wearing her basket like this she accomplishes two things. Easy access and ownership of what is rightfully hers. She's a mighty smart little lady.
Hmmmm, what's next? Gum or dum dum?

Quick Pics

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Peter Pan, Rico, the outlaw (he calls himself)

(I was watching and watching and watching to my left, for Parker to come by me in the school parade. Suddenly I heard, "Hi Mom!" from my right. He had already passed me by and I didn't even see or recognize him. He would have made a great outlaw or bandit.)

Queen of hearts, M&M

Jack-o-lantern

Pig Pen

Do you remember the Peanuts comic strip? Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and company. I think I have one of the characters living in my house.

PIG PEN(photo taken from wikipedia with full credit to Mr. Schulz)

When Parker got up from lunch, this is what his chair looked like, after it had been brushed off a bit.

Where did all that dirt come from?

Gorsh darn it - I love that kid!!!!

H.B. 3 yr old

We have a 3 year old in the house.

Happy Birthday RoJo!!!!

It was a great day with plenty of cake . . . .

. . . . and ice cream . . . .

. . . . and presents . . . .

Rachel is a delight. Just a pure delight to have in our home. She is sunshine!!! We love her so much.