Nativities 2012

 My newest nativity--an early gift from Pamela.

 I think I have 76, but I didn't count again.

 this is hard to see--it's a Precious Moments nativity ornament.

 I like looking at this one at night--all light up.

 Benjamin loves playing with this Little People nativity.  

 my other new nativity that Pamela gave me--snowmen.

the glass one (to the right of the small santa kneeling by baby Jesus) is on a lighted multi-color base.  I also like looking at this one at night with all the lights off except for the Christmas tree.

Dec. recap--part 1

 Emmalee's Gingerbread house (made of graham crackers) that she made at a Friday activity at school.   Ben thought it was awesome too.

 After we took some pictures, we asked her if she wanted to put it on the shelf for a Christmas decoration.  She said that maybe she would after she shared some of the goodies with Benjamin.  Needless to say, there wasn't anything left after they ate "some" goodies.

 Our Christmas stockings--hung "by" (in the same room as) the fireplace.  My mother knitted the stocking.  Mine is the "diet" one (shortest/smallest) & is one of the original.  Ben had just been pulling on his & Emmalee's (the last 2 on the right)

 Early in December, I brought in most of the Christmas totes so we could start decorating.  When I was gone, Zane stacked them as high as he could & took pictures of the kids by them.  (when I came home, they weren't stacked so I only saw this when downloading my pictures).

 Rusty and the youngest ones set up the tree one evening when the rest of us were gone (I don't remember if we were in town or at a game).  So when we were all there, we put the ornaments on the tree.

 Rusty had to include his feet so he'd be in some of the pictures.

 It was Callum's turn to put the angel on the tree this year (more documented proof that he had a turn!)

 Ben's last year to wear his light-up Santa hat.

 Emmalee putting decorations on the tree.

Ben liked hanging all of the family/picture ornaments.

 Each year the kids tell me that our tree keeps shrinking.  I love how their perspective changes with each year of growth.

As Ben would put it, "Awwww..... Pretty!!"

It Seemed Like a Monday--Part 2

Part 2:

While all that was happening, I received a phone call asking me to practice at the church for a song I will be singing (in a group) on Monday at our community Christmas program.  I didn't realize that I would be doing this, and I had a pot of turkey stew cooking--so I said I would be there, but a bit late because I needed my potatoes to be done before heading out.  (I sang the same song last year, so it's not new to me).  After we practiced, I went to shut my van door (driver's side) and it wouldn't shut.  Rusty had shown me where the latch wasn't fully opening & how to fix it, so I tried & (of course) it wouldn't budge.  So I finally decided I would just hold my door shut the 1/2 mile home.  Thankfully Rusty was able to fix it when he got home, but I felt better when it didn't work for him the first time & he had to find a screwdriver to make it work.

The song we're singing "Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby" is quite a high song & so I knew the lds.org web-site has a way to transpose the music to a lower key.  I thought I had the site bookmarked so I could get right to it, but (of course) I couldn't find it.  It took me about 20 minutes to figure it out, but I finally found it and printed our music into a lower key.  By then, all the kids were getting home from school and I needed to start on my pie crusts.  (My "original" plan was to have all the pot pies made & started baking before the kids got home from school.)  I only made 3 pot pies because I ran out of flour (I have more in storage out in our freezer shed, but didn't want to have to go and re-fill my container) so I just put one in the oven for dinner & said I'd have to finish making the other 3 after my primary presidency meeting.

So at dinner, Ben, Emmalee, Brienna and Callum all said they didn't care for pot pie (that's me saying it politely) so I told them they had to eat something left over from the fridge (we had 3 choices).  None of them were happy about that (they wanted corn dogs).  I'm just glad Rusty loves pot pie & he said how much he appreciated it.  Then Rusty said since the other kids don't want pot pie when we cook it, we might as well not make anymore pies and just freeze the rest of the stew into a few containers.  So that made my life a bit easier.  We quickly cleaned up and did family scriptures & prayer before I left for my meeting.

We put together all the primary teacher's binders for 2013 & finished making all the copies of schedules/lists that go in them.  I got home around 8--so it didn't take us quite 2 hours.  There are still a few things we need to do to be ready for Jan. 2013, but it feels good to have so much done.

I had to finish 2 more loads of laundry, make my bed, and find blankets to use until the comforter was cleaned (didn't finish the last load until 10:30 pm).  I can say that I was glad when all the kids were finally in bed the day was over!

It Seemed Like a Monday

Thursday started out a bit crazy--but I didn't realize how crazy it would continue to get.

Benjamin always needs time to fully wake up in the mornings, and most mornings we are late for pre-school.  So this morning isn't any different.  He decided he wasn't hungry for breakfast so we went through all of his shirts until he decided who he wanted to be this morning (who is on the shirt--today he was Garfield).  He wanted a pair of pants that were in the dirty clothes, so he finally decided on a different pair.  We got him bundled up and started walking to school when Ben said he needed his hat and gloves. So I went back in and got his hat and gloves.

We got half-way down the street when Ben rubbed his tummy and said, "I hungry" and I knew he couldn't last until snack time so we went back inside and made him oatmeal.  He chose strawberry the first time, but then decided he didn't like that kind, so we made banana.  We finally made it to school but by the time I was back home to make breakfast, it was almost 9:30.  I decided to make a smoothie and by the time I had all the fruit cut up & prepared & the rest of my breakfast ready, it was almost 10.  I got busy with laundry and cleaning and almost forgot to get Ben at 11.  We started to walk home, when the breeze picked up and Ben said, "Brrrrr".  So I went to get his hat and gloves out of his backpack and they weren't there.  So we went back into the classroom and found them on the table.

I had 30 minutes until Rusty comes home for lunch, so I started downloading & getting Christmas songs on my computer to burn to a CD for Ethan.  My computer cooling pad stopped working before Thanksgiving (and I forgot to buy a new one when I was in town last week) so when I over-work it (and it overheats), it shuts down on me.  Of course that happened, so by the time I started it back up and opened the files again, Rusty walked in the door--and I didn't have his lunch ready.  (He only has about 25 minutes here so I try to have it ready so he doesn't have to rush through lunch).  So I quickly made lunch.  After he left, I decided I wanted home-made salsa for my lunch so I chopped up the rest of my tomatoes and made a small batch of salsa (it was delicious).

Today was the day I needed to make my "after-Thanksgiving" pot pies--I usually make 4-6 of them which requires a huge pot of turkey stew and 4-6 batches of my delicious pie crust.  So I sat at the table peeling 10 pounds of potatoes and a couple pounds of carrots, chopped up the veggies and got that cooking.  I 'm glad it doesn't always take me 3-4 hours to make dinner every day!  I put a Christmas movie in for Benjamin to watch & about 45 minutes into it, he came waddling in saying he was all wet.  Yep--he hasn't had an accident for months, and today when I'm super=busy he wets his pant.  That wouldn't be too bad in itself, but he was sitting on my bed and so all the blankets ended up wet.  Thankfully we have waterproof mattress covers on all the beds, so the mattress was still dry.  But that meant I had to strip the bed and start more laundry (remember I was already doing the "regular" laundry).  So I quickly folded the clothes out of the dryer and went to get the clothes out of the washer only to discover that I had never started the washer.  Grrrr.

Pamela's House Thanksgiving Break

 Grandma playing Connect 4 with Ben (and Emmalee).  I love Benjamin's excited face in this picture.

 The family had fun helping Pamela decorate for Christmas.

 Zane had the fun job of putting up the outside lights.

 More decorating.

 Everyone pitched in to get her decorations up.

 The outside light decorations

 Emmalee playing the piano--all the kids put on a mini-recital for Grandma, Grandpa, Laurie, Pamela & Mom & Dad.

 Brienna & Zane playing the trumpet. 

Callum playing the "drums" (an empty container)

 There were beautiful sunsets every evening.   This is Pamela's view from the window by her piano.

 We took advantage of the beautiful scenery and took pictures--me by myself.

 All the girls--having fun holding Emmalee.

(Standing) me (Michelle), Grandma Carter, Pamela

Brienna, Emmalee, Laurie

Sisters!  How fun.  I have 2 beautiful girls!

Thanksgiving Decorations

 I guess since I'm getting the house ready for Christmas, I should post our Thanksgiving decorations.  This is our thankful turkey we make each year.  We write things we are thankful for on the feathers.  Benjamin came up with his own ideas this year, and his 2nd feather was "Jesus".

Now I just have to make the time to get all my nativities up in the next week.  I think I'm up to 76--all different sizes.  I can't wait to get them all up!

Thanksgiving at Pamela's

 Breakfast at Aunt Pamela's--they love all the "sweet, sugary" cereal choices.

 Visiting, relaxing, and eating--Plenty of space at Pamela's!

 Ben "exercising" on Pamela's treadmill downstairs.

 The view of from Pamela's bedroom window.

 Thanksgiving feast--plenty of food to eat for the next few days!

 Aunt Laurie came with Grandma & Grandpa (Michelle's parents) to spend Thanksgiving at Pamela's.

We have been having fun visiting, playing the Wii (the kids esp. liked this since ours isn't working), going on walks, and playing hide-and-seek-dark. 

We're going to decorate Pamela's house for Christmas today and tomorrow.  I'll post pictures after we are finish.