Happy Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve.

Sunday, December 21, was the Winter Solstice. Our choir director reminded us that on the darkest day of the year, it is important for us to think about Christ's light and share that. It was a beautiful Christmas program at church.

After church we managed to get a couple family pictures of everyone looking pleasantly at the camera.

We also got pictures of Jeremy and me together. It was a great way to emphasize Short Girl Appreciation Day.

It was also Humbug Day but I was so happy because of church. There was only some grumbling later. It happens. 

The kids took a couple days to build our balloon Christmas tree. Sunday, Jeremy decorated it and we had a little tree lighting. We got Jeremy's parents to join with us on a Zoom meeting then we got to chat with them for a while.

Monday, December 22, I got out for a morning walk at the park with the lights. I listened to some Piano Guys Christmas music (great for feeling the Spirit) and felt such strong gratitude for my Savior. After the shortest day of the year, feeling his light meant so much to me. I was crying so much while walking around the park, I don't know how helpful that was for my breathing while I was trying to exercise. Ha Ha.

In the Come Follow Me manual and on Instagram, Elder Soares shared some thoughts about Jesus Christ being our light, our life, and our hope at Christmastime. It went right along with my thoughts that morning. I do feel so much gratitude for my Savior when I've been thinking of some stressful things.

At home that day, Jet and I enjoyed a Discovery Kit from the Provo Library. This time, we read books and did activities (puzzle and fishing game) about Ocean Life.  

That night we went to another Interactive Movie at the Provo Library- The Nightmare Before Christmas. We went to one before when we watched The Princess Bride and unfortunately last Christmas, we missed the one for The Muppets Christmas Carol because too many of us were sick. 

We loved this one. We got to sing along with the songs, cheer and clap, etc. It was great for Jet because he loves that movie so he knows the songs and enjoyed doing the activities.

 

Tuesday, December 23, I got out for my morning walk again. The light of the sunrise was gorgeous. It was National Roots Day so I sent a text to my in-laws telling them we're grateful to all be part of the same family tree. 

That night, Jeremy, Nichole, Jet, and I went for a drive looking at Christmas lights and decorations. We've been so busy this was the only night we could do it. It was nice and we even drove up to see the Christmas Star on the mountain in Pleasant Grove. 

I am grateful for celebrating Jesus Christ's birth this season. My life is so much better because of Him. He is my light, my life, and my hope.

Merry Christmas! 

Rationalizing Not Taking Pictures (with some pictures thrown in)

February 23 was National Rationalization Day which is why I can rationalize not taking pictures on that day, even though the kids had chili and toast for National Chili Day and National Toast Day. I didn't have chili and toast. I went to a Relief Society dinner and had Cafe Rio food instead.

I can also rationalize not having pictures for other days. February 26 was For Pete's Sake Day. I used that phrase.

February 27 was International Polar Bear Day and National Pokemon Day. I told my son to clean up his Pokemon figures and we watched some Pokemon type videos. I learned some polar bear facts from Hogle Zoo Instagram page and we watched an episode of The Mysterious Benedict Society (which has a polar bear illustration in the opening credits).

And while I'm in the mood for rationalizing, here are some pictures I took on different days.

We've been having a real Winter. The kids had another actual snow day, which just means nowadays that they do school online at home instead of having a day off. The kids and I decided to go to the library that evening and since the red car was parked behind the van, we had to clean snow off both vehicles in order to get the van out of the driveway. Luckily it was flat surfaces all the way to the library. 

We spent maybe an hour at the library but by the time we got back to the van, it had to have snow cleared off it again.

We celebrated Jeremy's birthday.

An Expotition

Winnie-the-Pooh Day became a two day event this year. The actual holiday was on January 18. Since Monday, January 17, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the kids didn't have school that day so we did some of the celebrating that day.

The kids watched "Piglet's Big Movie" then we went on an "expotition." It would normally be an expedition to the North Pole (Nichole even got our Winnie-the-Pooh book out to compare the A. A. Milne stories to the mini stories in the movie). Instead of going to the North Pole, Lucky wanted to go to the South Pole because... you know... penguins.

So we bundled up, got in the van, and headed South... to Spanish Fork.

I took the kids to a place I hadn't been to in many years. Dripping Rock. You can walk along the trail and the river/stream is below. Across the river/stream there are overhanging rocks that have water dripping/pouring from them. I found out recently from Utah's Adventure Family that in the wintertime if it's been cold enough, there are icicles hanging from the rocks. I never would have thought to go there in the Winter. So that is where we went on our expedition... to see if we could find any icicles at Dripping Rock and get some "fresh" air. We've been cooped up so much with sickness and Winter and the kids had online school on Friday, we needed to get out and get some exercise.

 

It was good to get out. We had a good time. Jet was especially happy to get out... after he woke up. He's been cooped up more than anyone.

There were definitely icicles hanging from the rocks and foliage at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. got really excited to see them as we walked along and with his imagination, he could see shapes in them and started thinking about stories to go along with them. 

Besides the icicles there was also plenty of water dripping from the rocks. It was neat to see in some places both together.

After the Dripping Rock area, we continued on up the path, going over some bridges then up some switchbacks (all paved, though. We saw several families pushing strollers) to the end of the trail where it met up with a road and some houses next to the golf course. We definitely got exercise. We even got to see the wind turbines since we were so close to Spanish Fork Canyon. I like wind turbines.

While we were walking along we were singing, "Sing Ho for the life of a bear. Sing Ho for the expedition." Jet was even getting into it. I'd sing, "Sing Ho," and he'd sing, "For the life of a bear," in his cute little voice.

Being a toddler, he did want things to be a certain way. He wanted to be held, he wanted to hold someone's hand while walking, he wanted to look through my binoculars, he wanted to let go of our hands and run off and he would throw a tantrum if he didn't get his way. Toddler.

It was still fun, though. Some of the boys started kicking pieces of ice down the trail as we walked. Jet wanted to be like his brothers so he was kicking ice on the trail, too.

Lucky was happy to have kicked this piece of ice all the way to the van. Way to go, Lucky.

We really did have a good time out and the kids are in agreement that we should come back sometime in the Spring or Summer to see even more dripping water at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. suggested we come back when it's even colder to see more icicles.

Later at home the children watched "The Lorax" because January 17 was Betty White's 100th birthday and she did one of the voices in that movie. Sadly Betty White passed away just a few weeks before she would have turned 100 but she had a long life and career and we can still celebrate that.

January 17 was also National Hot Heads Chili Day so we had chili and the kids ate spinach because it was also Popeye's birthday. Good job, kids. I made lasagna for dinner the next night because we didn't have enough time Monday. And hey, if we can celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh Day both days, we can celebrate Popeye's birthday both days, too. 

On the actual Winnie-the-Pooh holiday, the kids watched more Winnie-the-Pooh movies. They had at home school that day and a couple of the kids were sick anyway.

Annual Polar Express Party

Besides the 21st of December being Short Girl Appreciation Day, it was also Humbug Day. The kids watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol, which has become the tradition to watch that day. It was also the Winter Solstice. Yay. It is now officially Winter. Great time to start building a balloon Christmas tree. The kids are building it mostly by themselves this year. Way to go, kids.

 

Today, December 22, however, we did some different things. Lucky and I took some bonding time eating "queasy puffs" and playing Mario Kart in the morning before everyone else got up. We'd been meaning to do that but last time we had a chance, we didn't have "queasy puffs," so we got to do it today.

 

In the evening, we had our annual Polar Express party. Jeremy read the book (with his own embellishments) and made faces. 

I wanted to get a nice picture of him and right as I snapped the picture, he stuck his tongue out. The camera caught the nice look, though. Bwah ha ha ha. 

Then we watched the movie and had hot chocolate with peppermint ice cream in it. Yumm.

I only slept through part of the movie this year.

We love traditions.

Light the Family Tree

December 9 Light The World was "Light the Family Tree," learning about ancestors or anything about family history.

So I shared some generational family history with the kids... with food.

For after school snack we had ice cream with potato chips just like their Grandpa likes. I asked my dad why it was a thing for him and he told me about some of his unique tastes which I shared with the kids. He likes sweet and salty together.

At dinner we had eggs and bacon. I told the kids that when Jeremy and I would visit my grandma (their great grandma) and stay overnight, she would make us eggs and bacon for breakfast and put potato rolls in the toaster oven. Good memories of Grandma.

For dessert, I made oatmeal cookies, but the kids had to eat them while reading Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries. 

My mother used to sit on her grandmother's porch and eat oatmeal cookies while reading those books. So the kids got to experience something from their grandma and great great grandmother's history.

I stopped by the library earlier to pick up Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books for this reason. I made sure to wear my llama mask for National Llama Day on December 9. I then wore my llama mask to the grocery store to get some potato chips for our after school snack.

We finally got some real snow. The day started out with rain just like I remember from my Winters growing up in Oregon. The day ended with snow like my family's Winters in more recent years in Oregon.