Holly Jolly Christmas

Thursday, December 25th--Funny enough, Nate and I were the ones that couldn't sleep last night. Nate was quite giddy over the presents and all of us opening them. I just had a hard time sleeping for various other reasons. By 7:30 am Nate couldn't stand the fact that the children were still unusually asleep--we thought for sure Elise would be up quite early. He and I got up and sat around for a little while and then we woke the kids up at 7:50 am. They ran out and we all looked in our stockings. Lots of fun goodies and toys. Then off to the front room to open presents. Santa left Brady a bike and he was quite happy about that. Elise's main gift from Santa was wrapped so she had to wait to find out what it was--a Nintendo DS. Elise has been begging for one for months now. She got a few games to go with it and Santa also gave us some new Wii games and Guitar Hero. I got Nate some a newly engraved scripture quad and scripture bag. I'm hoping this will encourage him to remember them more often--I even promised to fill the extra bag pocket with treats if he'll remember! ha ha ha I got some books, a pasta cooker and some other little things. The kids got LOTS of clothes and some books. They already have tons of toys so we didn't feel the need to buy much more. It was a wonderful Christmas morning. Nate made us a great breakfast. My MOST favorite gift, this year, is an official white Christmas. I've been wishing for one of these all my life and this is the first. Some Christmas's we've had a snow dusting or a few little flurries but nothing like today. It was absolutely beautiful, snow falling, several inches already on the ground--much like when Ralphie woke up to a winter wonderland on his Christmas morning in "Christmas Story", harps playing and all. I shed a few tears of joy and then took pictures.

After a while it was time to make the drive to Salt Lake to have Christmas dinner at my sister, Alishia's, house. She made turkey with all the trimmin's and I made dessert (Chocolate Lust--ooooh yeah!) and brought rolls too. We exchanged presents and they gave us the most awesome gift! They gave us a crock pot that runs on propane! Maybe that sounds silly to be so excited but I'm a crock pot fan and when we go camping it's nice to do crock pot meals but this only happens when we have electrical hook-ups, which is not very often. So now we can do crock pot meals all the time and it's an excellent item to keep with food storage and emergency essentials. Great find, Shad!

After a delicious dinner I went next door to my grandma's house. Grams is suffering from dementia and I never know from one visit to the next if she'll remember me. Luckily, she's remembered me just about every time. I had a great visit with her and gave her some blankets to snuggle in. This may be her last Christmas, we're not sure yet, but it's important to me to let her know how much I love and cherish her.

By the time my visit was done with Grams it was time to get back home. By now, a blizzard was coming and it made for slow driving. Fortunately, most other drivers were being cautious and respectful. We made it home safe and sound. The kids went to bed shortly after and it was time to just think about how joyful our Christmas, 2008, has been. I always get kind of sad that it's over for another year but we have plenty of goals and plans, for 2009, to focus on and get excited for.

I'm so overwhelmed with emotion at the gratitude I feel at this time of year. It seems I cry at just about everything the least bit touching. The birth of Jesus Christ is the most important event that has ever happened and, while we should reflect on this throughout the entire year, I'm so thankful we have an actual celebration for such a sacred event. I know, all too often, people feel they're, unintentionally, focusing more on the Santa part of Christmas and feel guilty they don't focus more on the "Reason for the Season". But really, it seems like we serve more, are a little more kind, gracious, and charitable during the Christmas season and that is being just like Christ.

Merry Christmas to you all, my dear friends and family!

Armstrong Family Christmas

Wednesday, December 24th--Yes, another family Christmas, except this time we celebrated with Nate's family. We held our gathering at the clubhouse near Nate's parents home. The clubhouse is brand new and we enjoyed breaking it in--the furniture was comfy and there was plenty of space to mingle and munch. We all brought delicious snacks to share. I made cookies with crushed Andes mints and I also made a batch of English toffee (the 3rd batch finally worked!). We raided the pantry for salty snacks as well. I wondered if the kids would have plenty to be entertained with so I bought some craft projects for all of them to do. They seemed to really love the different projects so I think I'll order some again next year (http://www.orientaltrading.com/) The highlight of this clubhouse was the outdoor hot-tub. Yes, some of the crazy people dressed in their swimming suits and ran out into the snow and then into the hot tub. I'm sure the hot tub felt great but there was no way I was walking out into the cold weather to enjoy it. Of course, I dared most of them to jump out and do snow angels. My brave, manly, insane husband was the only one willing to do the full-on angel (got it on video but not a photo--oops!). Others layed down and quickly rushed back into the hot tub. It was hilarious, to say the least!
Part of the Armstrong family Christmas party is we all eat pizza for dinner. Papa John's was the place of preference this year--it was ordered and then brought back to the clubhouse. I really liked their chicken alfredo pizza--so very tasty!

Once dinner was done we sat around visiting and then it was time for presents. The kids received some fun games and each got some cash and a Webkin.

We left around 7:00 pm in order to get home in time for the kids to open their one Christmas Eve present (we do pajamas and the kids could care less but I do! he he) then we had them open up a family gift. It's a Disney trivia game for Wii. We played it for about an hour and then it was time to get our wired up kids to bed. I pulled up the Santa Tracker on-line to show the kids where Santa was and he was in Indiana by 9:30 pm. We told the kids Santa wouldn't stop at the house till both of them were asleep. I got the plate of cookies and carrots out to put on the fireplace mantle, Nate got the glass of milk. Elise quickly got teeth brushed and was in bed within minutes--I've never seen her move so fast! Brady, on the other hand, didn't quite understand it all so he took his time, even getting up a little later just as "Santa" was about to fill stockings. Luckily, I rushed him back to bed and, shortly, he was asleep for good! A very fun Christmas Eve!

Cousins

Tuesday, December 23rd--My sister-in-law, Marissa, had an ultrasound today so she dropped her 3 kids (Christopher, Xander & Darci) off for Nate and I to babysit. All of the kids had a great time together! They loved bundling up on the bean bag chairs and watching a Christmas show. Next they spent a lot of time in Brady's room playing. Darci, she's almost 2, had fun clinging to Nate and I. At one point she was being a little too dare-devilish and fell off Brady's bed so she wanted to just snuggle with me. It was nice to have a little one to care for, even just for a few hours. We made lunch--snowman sandwiches (cookie cutter) and then off for some more playing. While taking care of 5 kids seemed a little tiring (hey, I'm not used to it!) we enjoyed it!

Blackburn Family Christmas Party

Sunday, December 21st--It's that time again! Time for the annual family Christmas party. Every year a member of the Blackburn family hosts the party. This year it was at my Aunt Maureen's house. She decided to do a soup and bread dinner (very yummy) and bought many fun treats for us all to munch on. She and my cousin, Catherine, then presented a game for us "Name that Christmas tune". We had to guess 25 different Christmas songs based on the first 4 chords of the song. It was harder than I thought (I still managed 17--phew!). At the end we do a "white elephant" gift exchange with the adults and the kids draw names. I got a piece of luggage with some "travel" foods inside, Nate got the movies "Dark Knight" and "Iron Man", Brady got a large Winnie the Pooh and Tigger stuffed animals (from Samantha/Alishia) and Elise got a beautiful Christmas dress, a Tinkerbell Fairies paper doll book, Disney Princess paper doll book and a Disney Princess story book (from Catherine/Maureen). We all had a wonderful time being together and it was a really great start to our Christmas week! Thanks, Maureen, for hosting!

Fun in the Snow!

Saturday, December 20th--A fun day in the deep snow for these kids. Our backyard may not be big but it's just space enough for Elise and Brady to build a snowman, throw snowballs and eat the yummy (clean) stuff! They had a great time playing for a while and then Brady realized snow ball fights are a little too fun. He pelted Elise and then they both came in for the rest of the day.

Ahh, brings back memories from when I was a kid. They only thing my kids are missing is large, steep hills to sled on--I miss those!

Shoveling Snow

Friday, December 19th--Nate wrapped up work at 5:00 pm and the snow was starting to slow down so it was time to go out and shovel. I bought a small snow shovel the day before, for the kids to share. Elise took her turn and she and Nate had the driveway done in no time. Brady wanted to be outside to either cheer them on or make trouble for Elise--a little bit of both by the time it was all done. Great job Elise and Nate! More snow to come!

Christmas Party in Elise's Class

Friday, December 19th--I got a call from one of the room moms to come and help in Elise's class today. I happily accepted and enjoyed helping the kids out with the crafts. The first one was a plate the kids had fun painting. The purpose was to make a plate to hold Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve. A great idea...........just probably not for 1st graders. Most went a little crazy and kind of missed the point of the craft, not to mention all of them were as hyper as could be and had a hard time focusing to begin with. The other craft was a making a festive candy lei. All the kids did great on this one and were constantly asking if they could begin to eat some of the candy rolled up around their necks. Some were sneaky and others decided it be best to listen to Mrs. Mair and wait till they got home. At the end of class Mrs. Mair passed out gifts to all of her kids--they each received a cute Christmas book and some stickers and such. Then Elise passed out some goody bags she and I made the night before, to all the kids in her class. By now, the kids were pretty wired (all 29 of them!) and that is when I made my exit. I noticed there was only 20 minutes left before school was out so I took Elise with me. The first thing she did, when we got home, was open her new Christmas book and begin to read it. So sweet!
Aahhhhhh, now two weeks of no school begins! I hope it's a blast.......I really, really do!

Elise's 1st Grade Christmas Concert

Thursday, December 18th (Evening)--It took me all day to get over missing Brady's preschool concert but I was able to smile again as we made it to Elise's 1st grade Christmas concert in time. Our wonderful neighbors saved us seats just a few rows back from the front. All the 1st graders look so cute as they sang all the fun songs they've been practicing for a long time. They sang: "We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday", "I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas", "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth", one of the songs from "Polar Express", and a few others. There was also an adorable slide show of all the 1st graders played to the song, "Believe" from "Polar Express". All the 1st graders dressed in pajamas. A week ago I got some snowflake pajamas for Elise, from Childrens Place. For the song, "I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas" the kids wore hats and sunglasses to give that "rebellious" look as they sang. It was pretty funny since they also bobbed their heads from side to side. Great job, Elise, and all the 1st graders at Pony Express Elementary!
We came home after to drink some yummy hot chocolate with crushed candy canes. Nate's dad, Dan, was able to come and watch too. We all had a great night and it more than made up for the upset this morning.

When Brady Says "Listen To Me!"......You Better Listen!

Thursday, December 18th (Morning)--Oy vey! What a crazy morning! I got Elise and some neighbor kids to school just as the snow was coming down and turning drivers into retards. Shortly after it was time to get ready to go to Brady's preschool Christmas concert. And, of course, with only 20 minutes to get ready, Brady decided to throw a tantrum. We managed to get out of the house on time and driving was great till I got to the main road. A massive back-up for miles (thanks retarded drivers!) As Brady and I waited for traffic to pick-up he said, "Mommy, take the back road." So I said, "Brady, I think the back road will be just as bad because a lot of people know about it now." He said, "MOM! You need to take the back road." Well, being prideful and thinking there's no way a 3-year-old could know what he was talking about, I chose to stay on the backed-up road. When we finally got to the intersection where the back road and the main road come together I noticed something really bad for my ego---there were NO cars on the back road! And to make matters worse, Brady noticed too. Next thing I heard, "MOM! I told you to take the back road and you didn't listen to me!" Rather than the hour it took to get to the concert, it would have only taken 15-20 minutes. And, sadly, we missed the concert all together. We walked in just as people were leaving. I started to cry and tried really hard to compose myself. We took some pictures with Brady in the car he was suppose to sing a solo in. Then we wished Mrs. Petersen a "Merry Christmas" and were back in the car. I was so upset......at myself! I asked Brady if he was sad he missed his concert. He said, "Eh, no. I didn't want all those people to hear me sing." (he has a really cute singing voice!) It made me feel a little better but I still asked him to sing me all the songs he would have sang with all his preschool friends. Next time, Brady-bear, I'll listen to you!

Haagen-Daaz....you ROCK!

Tuesday, December 16th--Last night we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. They were pretty cool then off to Albertson's to see if they had any fun Christmas-type ice cream flavors. I was on the hunt for a specific flavor I discovered at Primary Childrens Medical Center. After visiting my nephew, a few weeks ago, we went down to the cafeteria and they had a Haagen-Daaz flavor I hadn't seen before: Peppermint Bark. I bought it and it was YUMMY! So I found it last night and also saw another flavor I hadn't seen before: Creme Brulee. So amazingly good too! So here's two flavors I HIGHLY recommend. Creme Brulee is really rich, a few spoonfuls and you're good to go.

And if you've discovered an ice cream flavor that is incredibly yummy please share with me! Like I need it! But hey, ice cream is just one of my favs!

Yes, Elise & Brady, There Is A Santa Claus!

Sunday, December 14th--Yesterday was pure madness! We made plans to got to South Towne Mall and see Santa Claus, then off to Sweet Tomato's for dinner, then downtown to Temple Square to see the lights. Well, all I can say is.......dinner was great! We got to the mall and the line to see Santa seemed not so bad. Nate got in line with Brady and Elise and I headed to "Childrens Place" to do a little shopping for one of the nieces. We got back and everyone in the line looked a little annoyed. I guess Santa had to go screw a new lightbulb in to Rudolph's nose or something like that. We waited in line for 45 minutes and no Santa. Brady was done but Elise still wanted to wait. I bribbed her by telling her we'd go to the "Hello Kitty" store if we could get out of line. She said, "Sure!" So we went there and then off to dinner. We love Sweet Tomato's. It's such a fantastic salad bar buffet. Our tummies were full so we headed downtown Salt Lake to Temple Square to look at the lights. I suggested we take Trax but Nate thought it be best to drive down. How wrong he was!!!! On our way we picked up my niece, Samantha. We circled the square for almost an hour before giving up--no parking! The kids were pretty bummed by now so we tried to think of something to do to cheer them up. As we were driving back to drop off Samantha at her house I remembered a little Santa house in Sugarhouse. It's a 6' x 8' shed-like building that sits outside in Sugarhouse's town center. We drove up and prayed they would still be open, if it was still around at all (it was already 8:00 pm). It was there and the lights on. Nate ran out to see if Santa was still around. He motioned for us to run over. We did and Nate came up to me with a big grin and said, "They close at 8:00 but said they don't turn down any children that are waiting at the door." How sweet! No lines and a wonderfully, friendly Santa that hung around well after he was suppose to. He made the kids feel so special and I was very touched.

SO, if you can't bear the thought of waiting in long lines to see Santa at the mall, go down to Sugarhouse and visit Santa in his little house. He's right across the street from the old "Blue Boutique" (so hilarious!). AND, take Trax if you're going downtown to see the Temple Square lights.

My Little Metal-Mouth

Saturday, December 13th--Elise got her expanders in on Tuesday, December 9th. They went in quite easily and haven't bothered her much--only when I have to crank them. She is still adjusting to talking, eating and swallowing. She doesn't want to try and eat anything, we kind of have to force her. I've never had expanders in but I can imagine it's not very fun to have food caught in the metal. She's constantly trying to pick it out. The drooling gets a little annoying. She wipes it on her blankets so I'm washing them often. We've noticed she's lost a pound or two so it's time to get tough. If she had her way, she'd be happy to drink milkshakes and chocolate milk the whole time! The expanders will be in for about 6-9 months. In 3-4 months she will also have braces put in on the front 4 teeth--top and bottom--to bring the teeth back in to alignment. Once she's lost all of her teeth and the permanent ones are in then she'll get a full set of braces. Oh joy..........not!

Weird Sleeper!

Monday, December 8th--I forgot to post this a few days ago. After we left Nate's parents house, after taking our family Christmas photos, we noticed it was quite late and were certain both the kids would fall asleep on the drive home. Well, Brady did and he made himself quite comfortable!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Thursday, December 11th--Today is my dads 59th birthday. Next year is the big 6-0! Hmm, what to do, what to do? Well, not sure yet but I have a whole year to think about it! Dad, hope you had a great birthday and have a wonderful year. Think positive! Happy Birthday! We love you!

**This pic is of my dad, Cal, and my niece, Samantha in July, 2008.