As you probably know better than me, December was a busy, fun-filled month! The first weekend Lee made all of the arrangements and got us one of these:
He found it on a local re-sale site for $50. It desperately needs a tuning, but it looks great! It was also nice to have an extra surface to put Christmas decorations on. I am glad he went through all the trouble: finding a piano, contacting the person about it, arranging the use of a trailer, getting help, moving it with his help, and even mopping the floor and vacuuming up from the dirt and mud that was tracked in to our house from moving the piano. Thanks Lee!
On Dec 10th, Clark didn't have school. Well, let me back up and give an introduction. Most of you have read The Scarlet Letter, or viewed the Scarlet Pimpernel, or insanely enjoyed the mom squeezing the needle into her hand in Scarlet and The Black (that was for you Roger), or maybe you have even indulged in a piece of scarlet cake (okay, so it's called red velvet cake, but that's beside the point.) Over Thanksgiving Lee got sick and so did Shanna. They seemed to have the same sickness, but Shanna got a rash all over her body. A few days later Haley and Cal got the same sickness. Acetaminophen seemed to do the trick and they seemed healthy in a few days. I thought Clark and I were the lucky ones and had missed out in the illness. But one Sunday afternoon Clark told us that his throat hurt. Then later my throat hurt. I thought it might be a mental trick--kind of like when you read or hear about lice and your scalp starts itching. But no. My throat really sore. Thus far this school year, Clark has used up the maximum amount of unexcused absences. After missing two days of school I had Lee take Clark to the hospital purely on the basis of getting a dr.'s note excusing him from school because of illness. Bad reason, yes; but like I said my other kids seems to perk up in a reasonable amount of time so I wasn't worried about Clark. Turns out Clark and all of my kids had scarlet fever.
A few hours later Haley and I were at the hospital too getting checked out. I too had a form of strep. That night Lee and I were both on a Z-pack and the kids were on amoxicillin. I worried about giving four kids liquid medicine, but my fears were quickly calmed. They were all so excited to take it! Cal even guzzled at least 30 mils one morning (don't try and give 4 kids medicine all at once...do it one at a time.) Lee called the pharmacist about it and the pharmacist couldn't even find a lethal dosage of amoxicillin, so Cal just missed out on the evening serving. (WHEW!)
So one afternoon while all the kiddos were home we did a snowman craft--thanks for the idea Lois! I think Elden particularly enjoyed it!
The 11th of December we went up to the Lake of the Ozarks for a holiday family night. One reason for the trip was to go to a light display. With a coupon it was $8 a vehicle. There were some other light displays that were free, but were another half hour away AFTER an hour+ drive, so $8 sounded great. We drove into the park and stopped to hand over the money and coupon. To our surprise the guy there told us we were the 100th vehicle of the evening and we got to go through for free! It was awesome!
On the 12th we enjoyed going to the temple, doing some shopping and attending tithing settlement. We have an amazing Bishop!
On Sunday the 13th, I wanted to go to a live nativity that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (my church) was having in Springfield. They were also holding a crรจche display. But after going to the Lake of the Ozarks and then St. Louis, we really didn't feel like driving again. We opted instead to go to a church in Crocker and check out their Journey to Bethlehem. It was really nice! We literally went on a little journey to find Joseph, Mary and the Holy Baby. We were stopped by Roman soldiers, visited relatives on the way, saw Kind Herod plotting his pointless evil deed to find and destroy the Holy Baby, went to Jerusalem for the census, and tried to find Mary and Joseph in the crowded inns. What a special moment it was entering the "stable" where Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were. We definitely want to go next year.
The next week I was busy with making pajama pants, Elden's stocking and doing Christmas cards. We also went to Lee's Christmas work party and on a different day had a great time caroling with friends. The week of Christmas we had a fun Family Home Evening with our friends the Cantrells, on what gifts our Savior has given us, then played Settlers of Catan. And of course there were the usual baking and cleaning days to prepare for the holiday guests!
The Seven Socks. It was hard to fit them into one picture!
It was nice hanging up the last stocking of our family. We love you baby Elden!
Guess we wiped out baby Elden!
Well, just a little
The kids manage to find things to do!
Wow, there is a little height difference going on!
Monday, January 4, 2010
December Happenings
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Merry Christmas!
What an awesome Christmas this was. The first of our 36 guests arrived on the 23rd. Jeff, Lois & Reed Heit from Maryland pulled in around 8:30 that evening, and Andy & Steph Gerla completed the Christmas group as we pulled in from the St. Louis airport at about 1am. (I have never been searched coming through the gates here, and of course, night of all nights, I have to be searched then. At least my kids didn't wake up when the guards made us turn all the lights on in our van.)
The kids enjoyed naps
And playing
We had a fun Christmas Eve. Shanna didn't during dinner...but we managed to get through that
After a few tries and some WONDERFUL tips from Cindy, the dinner rolls turned out great! I was unexpectedly surprised at how yummy they were. Thanks Cindy! Oh, and I even froze them because I made them two days before Christmas Eve and they still tasted fabulous!
After dinner we had acted out the Nativity, sang Christmas carols and watched The Nativity. Clark was a wiseman.
Cal was a lion. And he wasn't anybody's lion, just a plain old lion. Too funny!
Joseph, Mary and the babe.
King Herod and the wiseman
Lois during the program
Us during the program
King Herod contemplating his deeds while the cheery lion and wiseman stand by
Ahh...Christmas morning! I am glad I went down early because we forgot to eat Santa's treat that Clark and Cal left out, along with their notes to Santa. As you can see out the window, we woke up to SNOW Christmas morning! There wasn't much, but it was GREAT!!! Reed and Clark were watching some message from or about Santa that morning. (I am glad my kids slept till about 7:30!)
Before going to see presents we all had a pumpkin pie breakfast. Then it was present time...
Our kids get olives and mini cereal boxes with their stockings each year. (Well, I didn't give Shanna and Haley their own can of olives this year, just Clark and Cal; but next year they'll be in on it.)
I enjoyed receiving these from Lee Christmas day: a Nalgene water bottle and 6 things of my favorite lip balm!
Image from ecrater.com
After playing with toys and eating a yummy Christmas brunch (thanks for the tradition Kent and Saundra--we're three years strong!) we talked to family, played Bananagrams, and enjoyed the day; it was wonderful. Since it has been a tradition-sharing blog, every year Lee and I listen to or read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. We listened to the book on CD this year. Though we did not enjoy the reader, we once again enjoyed hearing the story and learning Christmas lessons. One of my favorite lines in the book from Jacob Marley himself, is: "Mankind was my business!" And of course after listening to the book, we had to watch the movie. And so we did Christmas night. This is our favorite rendition of A Christmas Carol:
Image from www.sheeplaughs.com
We ended the day stuffed, sleepy and satisfied. Christmas day is always a magical day for me.
