For someone who used to post each week....I have gotten pretty shameful at blogging. Back then I only had to neglect my own three children in order to get it done and now I typically have eight children running rampant through my home. It may just be an excuse, but its the one I'm going to stick with for now. I have a hard time remembering what happened last week, so hopefully the pictures on my camera will be enough to jog my memory.
The month started off with a pretty big event...
THE RECITAL...*wish I could interject tense music "Da Da Da"
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Ellie had her first dance recital. So fun right?!? Look at this angel. How could it be anything but a wonderful night?
Well.......
She and I had a little disagreement over whether or not I should pin the mice ears headband for her costume onto her head. She said it hurt and I said it was necessary. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but since we are both girls and mother and daughter...well it tuned out to be. Check out the progression of pictures below to find out who won..... |
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| It was so fun to watch her dance on stage. I do admit that I was pretty steamed as I sat in the audience and watched her ears fall off time after time. I might not have joined in with the laughing crowd that night but I certainly laugh now when I watch the video. |
The next big event for our family was Hudson's eye surgery. Hudson has strabismus, an eye condition he inherited from his mom. It basically means his eyes aren't aligned correctly, causing whats called a lazy eye. Having it myself, we never really thought much of it. Aside from being teased as a kid it had never really caused me much trouble. It was more of an endearing thing. We always teased Hudson about his "wobbly eyes". Not to mention it was a really great indicator of when he was tired because it made the condition so much more visible. In truth we weren't even aware there was a surgery to correct it. Hudson's Dr really encouraged us to go to a specialist and have it checked, so we did. We learned that it wasn't just a cosmetic condition. It also causes problems with depth perception, vision, and headaches. The Dr assured us the surgery was no big deal with almost no risk. I assumed it would be no big deal like the Dr had said so I tried to make is as fun of an event as possible.
We took Hudson to the store and bought him all the treats he told us he wanted; we even got him a whole bunch of movies to keep him entertained for what I thought would be a couple of days of just needing to "take it easy".
His recovery turned out to be a lot worse then we imagined. It was incredibly painful and left him blind for two days. The first day he cried non stop and would only lay in his bed with one of us next to him. He said some pretty funny things like "when I find out who did this to me, I'm going to be so mad at them." He also said some pretty sad things When he realized we were the ones who had done this to him, he sobbed and asked us over and over "How could you do this to me?". It was heart breaking and we spent a lot of time crying as well. As with most things is passed quickly. He recovered well, and is super happy he had his eyes fixed.
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| Poor guy couldn't watch the movies and didn't want to eat any of his special treats.. |
The rest of the month was pretty consumed by Christmas.
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| We started a few new traditions this year. We had enough Christmas books for each day of December. I wrapped them all up and put them under the tree and each night the kids got to open one for us to read. |
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| Thanks to Gram Andrea, Rosabell our "Elf on the Shelf" came to live with us this month to make sure the kids were being good. We had a lot of fun with her. |
We were able to do some Christmas service one day and took the kids to Trafalga that evening to make it more special. They were so excited when we got there. They saw the small mini golf castle next to the freeway and shouted for joy "Disney Land!, Disney Land!" We didn't want to burst their bubbles so we just played along.
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| We tried out this 3D virtual ride. The kids thought it was amazing, but it just made me feel sick. |
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We made our annual trip out to temple square to see the lights, with Gram Wendy in tow.
Sadly she never seems to end up in any of our pictures. |
A friend gave us tickets to go to the Homestead for a sleigh ride. Jenny and Ross came and we made a fun couples night out of it.
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| You are never too old to sit on Santa's Lap |
Christmas Eve!!!
I like Christmas Eve even better then Christmas day, because we have so many fun traditions. The weather was really bad so we were trapped at home, but it was fun all the same. We made yummy home made chicken noodle soup and with hot rolls and apple pie. We dressed up and acted out the nativity. We made Santa's favorite cookies to leave out for him. We opened up our Christmas PJ's and put treats out for the elves. While we got dressed we made sure to sing songs and be nice to each other, and sure enough the elves came and left us a game for our family to play. The kids were so worried that Santa might come and find them awake that they insisted that we all go to bed extra early. We didn't argue with them one bit.
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| I know how silly this is and I don't care one bit. When I found these matching jamies early last fall I started my Christmas count down. I'm not sure I have ever been so excited. Not sure I will be able to get away with stuff like this in another ten years, but I might just try :) |
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| The Elves brought us Hungry Hungry Hippos. The best part was that everyone could play. |
Christmas morning finally arrived. Jake and I woke up at 6:30. We lay in our bed full of excitement and anticipation waiting for the kids to run into our room. We lay there and lay there and lay there. Finally at eight o'clock they showed up. We snuggled for just a moment and then headed to the living to see if Santa had come.
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| Catching the first sight of the tree. |
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I love the look on Hudson face as Ellie opened the gift he picked out for her.
It makes me feel as happy as he looks. |
Everyone got roller blades for Christmas. So we enjoyed a family skating party on Christmas morning.
In true Hudson fashion, he had to make it a little more exciting by trying to ride his scooter with skates on his feel.
Grandma Wendy and Grandpa John joined us for brunch...and again I forgot to get pictures. We had Christmas dinner in Highland with the Powells. The next day with went to the temple and then lunch with Ross, Jenny, Sam, and Erin while all kids stayed with Grandma. It was sure nice, but we wished Nate and Kim could have joined us. We spent the next bit of the Christmas break in Blanding with the Palmer's.
In Blanding we had some fun sledding behind Grandpa's truck.
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| Hudson road with Kate for a while and then decided he needed to try it alone so he could do his best to make it scary. |
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| At this age I imagine they are watching me sled with Aunt Teal thinking I'm cool. In a few years they will probably just think I'm weird. |
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| It was so cold!!! My face hurt. |
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| Even Grandpa joined in the fun. |
I turned 31! To celebrate we got to do some of my favorite things.
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| We got to go hiking...... |
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| We built a fire.... |
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| We had fireworks..... |
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| We ate treats... |
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| I got to spend the day with some many of the people I love! |
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A few days later Jake turned 31 too! He spent the day going to work.
Poor Guy!
Luckily he loves his job, and when he came home he had a house full of people who adore him waiting there. |
