More December Days

I think our tree sat for more than a week before we actually decorated it. Tanner didn't break any ornaments this year! It helped that the tree was on carpet this time. 

Tanner was very helpful with the ornaments. He even got to put the star on the top! Dallin was sleeping. We also had Leighsa's daughter with us, so she helped decorate, too.

Ta-da!

So my friend Leighsa had a family emergency to take care of in northern MN. She decided it would be best to leave her daughter here, so she got to come to our house! We kept her until Leighsa was able to come back, which meant we got to have a daughter in the family for 9 days. Also, Leighsa's teenage son stayed with us for most of the time, too. So we were blessed to have a full house of kids. I decided that having older kids is a great idea because they play with the younger kids and help do chores! I also decided once again that schools in general start way too early in the morning (I'm not a morning person). I guess I've been taking for granted how Dallin doesn't wake up until 8:30/9:00 am!

Project time

Story time

Music time

Play Time- Our dolls got used a lot more with our guests being here.

The kids had their school performances while they stayed at our house. So I got to get our little girl all ready for her performance!

Watching both the elementary and high school performances was really fun for me. I thought a lot about my students in CA and about our performances. And I was a little surprised at myself in how much compassion I had for the music teachers. I know exactly how much work it takes to direct a performance!

While the big kids were at school, we kept ourselves busy at home.

"Mama, check out this move!"

Dallin's fingers seem so long to me!

Bloody nose. I think it was from the cold and dry weather. It's pretty brutal here.

Chomping on oranges to sooth the first two teeth coming in!

Our back neighbors gave the boys this sled! The next day, I dragged them all around the back yard. They LOVED it.

We also did a lot of baking with our adopted daughter. 

Drawing of her family

Peanut Butter Rice Cripsies with Chocolate topping

Tanner took this pic

On our way to pick up the kids from school!

And even though I posted this when I talked about the wassail party, I want to post it again. It's my favorite pic of the whole week that we got to have these two amazing kids in our family. It really was a Christmas blessing to be able to take care of them!

December Days

For a couple of weeks, we stopped swaddling Dallin. He became really good at rolling around, and would end up stuck on his tummy inside his swaddle. But now we are back to swaddling and he doesn't seem to get stuck anymore.

Dinner time has been really fun lately. I'm trying lots of new recipes. We eat at 5:00 to keep Tanner from snacking and then spoiling his appetite. He is doing really well at eating all of his food, trying new things, and having less spills and messes. He has also been cracking us up with his silly comments, songs, and comedic routines. 

We have been eating in the dining room about 3 times a week.

I really love family dinner time.

Here's some random shots of our life in the early half of December.

Tanner got the stomach flu and threw up several times on a Thursday.

On Friday, Tanner hurt his foot pretty bad from trying to jump down the stairs. Saturday he didn't walk.

On Monday, Tanner broke out in hives. The doctor said it probably was a side effect to the chidlren's tylenol we gave him to help with his foot pain, which is different than an allergic reaction.

On Tuesday, Dallin started throwing up.

And then he fell while trying to crawl and got a bloody nose.

My poor boys!

We decided to go with a real Christmas tree.

Look at my long-legged husband!

Project time

Enjoying the snow, but quickly because it was so cold.

This was my contribution to the snow play.

Tanner loves his boots and snow gear even inside the house.

Dallin also began teething. He sucked on orange wedges constantly for a whole week. The following week, we saw his first tooth on the bottom left! A few days later the bottom right tooth showed up, too!! 

Pie Party and Wassail Party

Pie Party

Two days after Thanksgiving, we had a pie party! (Shout-out to the Hill family! We copied their pie party that we attended in Sac town last year). Everyone brought left-over pie from their Thanksgiving meals. We chowed down and played games. It turned out to be a really fun (and loud) night.

We ended up with pumpkin, lemon marang, chocolate silk, and rassleberry pie along with pumpkin cake and tons of cookies.
Jeremy let all the kids play on his drum set. They were in heaven.

My friend Leighsa and her daughter were in heaven with the babies! Dallin on the right.

Wassail Party 

On Saturday Dec 21, we had a wassail party! A wassail party is where you sing tons of Christmas songs together around the piano and eat cookies and drink wassail, which is a yummy drink like apple cider. Maybe you've heard of the song "Here we come a wassailing among the trees so green!" (Shout out to the Shea family! We copied their wassail party that we attended in Provo during xmas of 2006). 

We had a great group of friends that came. Jeremy and Cole made the wassail. It was AMAZINGLY delicious. And people actually sang songs together!

 Okay, so I admit that it was mostly the moms that sang. The kids mainly played in the basement and roamed in and out of the singing room as they got more cookies and wassail. And at one point I caught the kids and dads in the family room watching a movie, haha. 

BUT there were several times during the night that most of the group participated in the singing. The songs that got the most people involved were Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Silent Night, and the top winner...Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. The kids also loved Picture a Stable in Judea and we had a pretty awesome round going with the Shepherd's Carol. I loved being able to  

sing songs that you usually don't get a chance to hear or sing during the holiday season. (Doesn't it seem like on the radio they always play the same 6 or 7 Christmas songs, none of which have anything to do with Jesus!?) 

Some of our songs put the babies right to sleep, including Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella and Oh, Holy Night.

Other songs had Tanner very overwhelmed. 

Meredith loved how we were able to do something "that you only see happen in movies." 

One of Tanner's little buddies.

Dallin was all smiles most of the night.

Here's our little family at the end of the party, including our two adopted kids for the week- one by me and one seen in the mirror taking the picture. (More stories to come about how we got to keep these two amazing kids for 9 days!)