Before and After

Not to put a damper on Christmas, but OH MY GOSH it is a lot of work. I'm not talking about all the gifts to wrap. Or the Christmas cards to address and mail out. Not the goodies plates, or the gingerbread houses that take 3 days to create. It is all so worth every minute and then some. I would do it again in a heart beat. What I am referring to in this post in Christmas morning. Remember this picture:

Here is what it looked like about an hour after the kids got up and went through all those gifts:

It took me a full 2 hours just to clean up just the wrapping paper, boxes, and bows.

And then another 2 hours just to help the kids find places to put their new treasures. Evan slumbered through the 4 hour clean-up. And my kids were having so much fun with their new things that I didn't want to ask them to help. I almost got a picture of Evan sleeping. But then I have plenty sleeping pictures of him. I wish I was able to snooze like that sometimes. But I can't, I am cursed with the opposite problem. And if I am awake and there is a mess I have to clean it up. I can't let it sit there and wait until I want to clean it up.

I really did enjoy Christmas. Just thought I would share what my living room looked like after.

Christmas

The kids didn't wake up too early on Christmas. Taneal was the first to wake up around 5:30 and broke the rules and woke up all her siblings. That girl is one sly girl. We didn't hear her wake anyone up. They all kept it quiet that anyone woke anyone up because they knew that was against the rules. Now how to enforce that one next year?

Santa was good to the kiddos. The three girls got their coveted mp3 players. Danielle got a speaker to go with hers. Taneal got roller blades, which I'm not sure was a good ideas since she broke her arm a few months ago on a pair. Camie got Lego's and was so excited. Spencer got his Leapster that he has been wanted for probably a good year or more. Nathan got a parking garage for his Lightening McQueen. They all got clothes and books. Santa was kind and gave them all sugar cereal, which I refuse to buy for them. It is quite a treat. And in their stockings they got they coolest stuff: candy bars, fruit roll-ups, cool gum, chap stick, lotion, etc. They were all delighted. Evan and I got Taneal 4 months enrollment at a swim club (and we wrapped the certificate inside box after box after box) , we got Camie a fashion designer kit, Danielle a camera, Spencer a Woody (from Toy Story), and Nathan a backpack that he LOVES. It was a very fun Christmas, not too overboard, done just right.

That afternoon we met up with Bonnie and Jarom and went over to Troy and Becky's house for Christmas dinner. It was a nice, pleasant afternoon. Of course Bonnie neat me at table tennis. We brought over our new Wii game and they boys played a game where you hunt and shoot animals. Jarom really got into it.

We were all healthy this year and really enjoyed Christmas. It was fun to watch the children give each other gifts and get excited about what they had given each other. I got some kitchen stuff, but my favorite gift had to be Camie's: a booklet of coupons to hold Gavin while I did things that I wanted. I have already cashed in on a few and it is wonderful.

Christmas Eve Late Night

After Troy and Becky went home, it was pajama time. All the kids got to open one package with pajamas in it. Even Evan got one this time. He refuses to wear pajamas because he doesn't like long pants. So, I bought him long pajama pants and cut them off and them hemmed them. And you know what? He is actually wearing them.

Silly, silly kids. And so fun. The made this Christmas amazing!

And here is the beautiful kid decorated Christmas tree after Santa made his appearance but before the kids woke up. I loved the knots I had in my stomach as I took this pictures, the peaceful quite in my home knowing what was going to happen in a few short hours: The squeals of excitement, the smiles, the hugs of happiness, the jumping up and down that only kids do so well. All creating magic. I can still feel those emotions when I look at this picture.

Christmas Goodies

I like to do treat plates for friends and neighbors at Christmas time. It is quite an undertaking and I never make enough. There are so many friends that I want to share Christmas happiness with. This year was no exception. My girls have gotten old enough that they have become huge helpers.

One evening over the school break, I was fighting the kids to go to bed. They just weren't tired. So I decided to let them stay up late and we baked half of the goodies for the plates. We finished the next morning and spent the rest of the day delivering. We decided we had enough of the cooking and ate out at Cici's Pizza. I love the looks I get when I walk into places like that with my whole family. They look at us like we picked up all the neighbor kids and brought them with us. It is also funny to watch them start counting and realize that none of them are quite the same age and maybe they are all really mine. Okay, that was a total tangent. Back to the story of Christmas treats. We finished all our deliveries (only about 20) and I realized I had just not made enough. I still had more friends I wanted to share with.

I sounds like my goodie plates are so good that I need to share. They are good, but probably just to me. I pick my favorite recipes, like peanut butter cookies with a Snickers Bar in the middle, toffee, fudge, Ritz cracker with peanut butter dipped in white chocolate, etc and make them. My mouth is watering as I am writing this post. Anyways, you make the same treats year after year and they begin to become part of Christmas. Maybe nobody else likes them, but I liked sharing and it was fun to bake with my girls.

Growing up we always dipped chocolates. Maybe we didn't always do it, but we did it more then once. Bonnie (my sister) wanted to dip chocolates together and I thought it was a great idea. And I needed to make more treat plates and so did she. So, she came over and we dipped chocolates with my girls. I made caramel before hand to dip (remember the post about Taneal's tooth? I threw out that batch and remade it with a different thermometer and it turned out heavenly) and Bonnie brought cookie dough to dip. The chocolates turned out so good! I should not keep that tradition, I am sure I put on a few pounds from the chocolates alone.

Baking was a very fun part of Christmas and I am so blessed to have girls who are old enough to enjoy that baking and candy making with me. It was also so fun to have Bonnie join in on the fun.

Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was so much fun. We did so many different activities and the season was alive with giving and spending time together.

Christmas Eve was especially wonderful. I think I enjoyed this year more then I have ever enjoyed it before. We spent the evening at my home, which really helps because I am in my own element. I don't have to keep as close a watch on my kids, I know where everything is, and I will be the one cleaning up the messes I make.

We started out the evening with dinner. I made homemade potato soup and homemade chicken noodle soup. I bought the rolls. Yeah, I cheated. But the dinner was super yummy and I think everyone liked it.

Then we had a little talent show. Anyone that wanted could perform. Taneal, Camie, Bonnie, and I sang, "Away in a Manger", and then Bonnie and Jarom did the most hilarious dance. They turned out all the lights, turned on a Lady Gaga song, and put those glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces all over them. It was so cool. Then Danielle, Camie, Audrey, Taneal, Austin, and Becky all played Christmas music on the piano. I usually don't like talent shows, but this one was really nice.

Then we acted out the Nativity. The kids dressed up while Evan read from Luke 2.

After that we ended with my favorite Christmas game, a Chinese Exchange. Everyone who wants to participate brings a fun, wrapped gift under $10. They put it in the pile and then we all draw numbers. #1 goes first. #2 can then either take #1's gift or unwrap a new item. It goes on until all the gifts are open. Then #1 goes last, they can either take a gift from someone or keep their own. An item can only be taken three times and then nobody else can take it. I ended up with Silly Bands. Silly 'cause I don't wear them. Evan got a book. Camie got a robot that you build using a coke can. Nathan got a hoppity hop. Bonnie got Swedish fish. Gavin didn't participate. It was so much fun and I think everyone had a great time.

Notice Nathan's busted lip? He wouldn't stop opening gifts for me to clean up the blood and get it to stop bleeding! What a tough kid.

If we were . . .

I caught my older girls speculating the other day. You must remember they are completely innocent and were simply thinking. I overheard what they were saying and they would probably be mortified if they saw I posted this. But I couldn't help but share.

Camie said, "If we were Adam and Eve's children, which brother would you want to marry?"

Taneal thought about it for a minute and then said, "Definitely Gavin."

Who ever thinks about marrying their brother? I guess they really do love their little baby. Too cute.

Homemade Caramels

Today I made homemade caramel for the first time. It is so yummy, but I think it got too hot so it is pretty hard to chew. Still very good. Taneal was chewing and . . .

I hope she didn't need that tooth anymore. It was a molar that she didn't even know was loose.

Oops. Maybe we shouldn't be eating the caramel.

Gingerbread houses

It worked this year! My gingerbread houses didn't collapse like last year.

We invited the local family over to decorate with us. It was so much fun. I made bags and bags of icing so almost everyone had their own bag to glue the decorations on with. I even added a little peppermint to the icing to give it a nice flavor.

I thought the houses turned out so good. My family actually decorated two, we let the girls have their own. They thought this was pretty cool.

Evan and Nathan wouldn't pose for a picture with their house. Spencer was happy to do it. That cute boy is after my heart. And Nathan pretty much worships Evan. It is fun to have two boys so close in age, raised by the same parents, yet so completely different! They had a good time decorating and I had fun watching everyone while holding Gavin.

Scissors

I think I have done my children a disservice. So random post here. But seriously. My kids cannot open ANYTHING! they can't open a bag of chips. Or a piece of candy. They can't open any kind of packaging without the use of scissors. It is so frustrating! Something a simple as opening a bite size snickers bar. I just found the top of a bag of chips cut off. Not torn open.

Each year when school supplies go on sale, I buy a bunch of scissors because I really hate being without scissors. It is all my mother's fault (I say that in a funny kind of way, we like to blame our parents for everything right?) We never had scissors around the house and the only pair we could find were my mom's sewing scissors and those we so OFF LIMITS. I didn't even sneak and use those. I would use fingernail clippers to open those hard to open things. And of course now I realize that that ruins finger nail clippers. I bet my mom was so frustrated with the eight of us using other things to open things. But I always thought that if she just had a few cheap pair of scissors around the house we wouldn't have to use other things to open stuff. So now that I am an adult, I have a few cheap pair of scissors around the house and it has not turned into a luxury. It back-fired on me and has become a curse to my poor children. Maybe I should just get them a box for Christmas so they can turn out as good as I did. It worked for my parents. Okay, that was really random there.

Bottom line, my kids need to learn how to open things without scissors. The use of teeth is prohibited, too. I can use my teeth because I am an adult and know where the boundary of teeth opening and teeth breaking is. I won't buy more scissors this next school year because we are going to learn to be a scissor-free opening family!

There. Just needed to vent a little.

School Pictures

With the fun I have been having lately being involved with the PTO (sarcastic, I am the treasurer and there is too much drama going on. I will spare you that story), I should have done this instead of actually paying for the pictures. But, I didn't do that and I really like the pictures that I got back. If I can talk my kids into it (which I probably can), this is what we will do next year. You really have to check out what my sister-in-law did to show support of school pictures. It is so funny and makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Primary Crafts

I saw the coolest idea and tweaked it a little and now I'm putting that idea to work. The next year's theme in Primary is "I know the scriptures are true". So my little primary is going to become "bookworms" and dive into the scriptures.

I found this poem that says, "Reading scriptures is lots of fun

'Specially when your chewing gum.

So read the scriptures while you chew

And when the flavor's gone, you're through!"

I made these bookworms and at the Primary activity the Primary children will be stuffing their worms with 50 gumballs. Amazon just delivered 18 pounds of gumballs to my doorstep.

I only have one bookworm completed, 80 cut out, 30 sewed. I have a lot of work to do. Thankfully I have great ladies that I work with in the Primary that are going to help complete this activity. I am looking forward to presenting these cute little bookworms to the children and see if they work. We will also have monthly scripture logs that the children can complete to get an apple full of worms, paper shaped apple with a bag of gummy worms in it. So excited about this year's theme!

Crafty Momma

I'm in one of those moods. I wish I wasn't and I've really been trying to snap out of it, but I can't! Being a mother of 6 is hard. I thought 1 was hard. Two, yah, it is a lot of work, and so it three. Four and five is work because of a new baby, but not too bad. Six? It has taken me for a loop. I think it is because of the nature of the children I still have at home during the day. Spencer is so needy and not at all independant, won't even put on his own shoes. He is proud that he "cleans" himself, but pretty won't do much else and complains that, "why do I have to do all the work around here?" He is very capable, just stubborn. And then we have Nathan. That kid is so smart and manipulative. He knows how to push my buttons. He knows when I am having a hard time with the baby and that is when he chooses to really push me to my limits. And then we have Gavin, who is wonderful, such a happier baby now that he is on acid-reflux medicine, but nonetheless, still a demanding baby. You combine all those boys together and we get my current mental status. Oh, did I mention I also have a husband? Boys are just so needy!

So when I get in one of my moods, I try with all my might to snap out of it. Refocus. I try not to get overwhelmed. I quit thinking about what overwhelmes me, such as two screaming boys and a messy home. Ignore the messy home and help the boys. It usually helps. But then after a while that gets old and I start to feel like I need some "me" time. And really I do. I try not to think of it as being selfish. If I don't take a little time for myself then I am not left with much to give.

So I have resorted to a few crafts lately. My poor home. My poor dishes. My poor neglected little boys who I am forcing to be a bit more independant. And I am having so much fun. I can't take too much time of course, but a little here and there is so good for my soul.

I am not an original. I am good at copying. And here is me copying. My visiting teaching ladies, watch out, this is what you are getting this month. It was so much fun and so simple and it made me happy:

Domestication

This post is a little late, but what isn't around my house these days? Let's back up to Thanksgiving and tell a little story. My Taneal recently had a key lime yogurt. I splurged and let the girls pick out a flavor of their choice to eat one night as their treat. Taneal was in love with the flavor and so decided that she wanted a key lime pie for Thanksgiving. I told her she was welcome to make one. And so she did. She made her own lime zest, meringue and all and did pretty amazing. I hadn't made meringue in years and so I had forgotten how to work it. The pie turned out pretty tasty. Taneal didn't like it, but she usually doesn't like anything new. No surprise there. But I sure enjoyed it. We had a little left over batter and pie crust so Taneal also made some tarts. She had a good time.

Blackmail

Yes, I caught my boys playing Barbies! I was sitting on the floor folding laundry when Spencer and Nathan were on the stairs right behind me playing. They were making all kinds of shooting noises, animal sounds, and having one heck of an adventure with what they were playing. And then I realized there was the word "Barbie" mixed in with all those noises. I hadn't noticed at first, probably because I am used to Barbies being played with by my girls. It just made me laugh that my boys were playing Barbies, just in a boy kind of way. I had to snap a picture for future blackmail. Too funny.

Backyard fun

My kids really know how to have fun. We recently got a new porch with spotlights that allows for hours of fun after it is dark outside. And since we have such beautiful winters and hot summers, this is the time of year to be outside enjoying the great weather.

They can't get enough of swinging like this. I need to capture more of their creativity in our backyard, but here's a little. So much fun and with 6 kids, there is always someone to play with.

Christmas Advent about the Savior

I found this really cool advent calendar that you print out on red cardstock and make into chains. It has the children read a scripture each day that teaches about the birth of the Savior. I know we are a day late, but I think we are going to do it. Here is the link

I wish I had seen this idea before Sunday or I would have had the Primary children at church doing it. Such a good idea!

Thanksgiving

We decided to spend Thanksgiving at our own home this year. We were so blessed with several invitations, one from my parents only a few hours away, and another from Evan's brother who lives minutes away. Both places were going to be crowded with family and so I decided I wasn't up for crowds and just wanted to stay in the comfort of my own home. I felt bad declining both invitations. I don't know what my deal is. I guess just plain overwhelmed these days.

We invited some close friends to spend the day and feast with us. The nice part about the company we were having is they are a lot like me. Jana even offered to bring the paper plates. We did use glass dishes but it was nice to not have the expectations of a fancy dinner. I do what I can these days and am barely getting by. You put any kind of expectation on me and I think I will crack. Jana brought the potatoes, rolls, and some pies and I cooked a turkey, made stove top stuffing, some more pies, deviled eggs, and a few other things. It was so nice and relaxing and I got to keep the left-overs. I sent some home with Jana, I wasn't totally selfish.

We did some Thanksgiving crafts with the kids and then played games afterwards. We enjoyed our new porch with the lights while the kids were able to play outside even after dark. It was really nice, very relaxing, and some very good food. Jana is an amazing cook. And I'm getting enough practice that I surprise myself sometimes about how tasty my cooking turns out.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.