Setting up the Christmas Tree

What a fun tradition and I am learning to not be so controlling over it. The kids all enjoy taking turns putting in branches and helping with the lights. And they all love putting up the ornaments. They enjoy talking about which ones are whose and telling some stories about where they came from (the ornaments, not the children). We end up hanging a sampling of the ornaments instead of hanging all of them, since the tree is small and I keep making ornaments each year. Fun family times!

I didn't get any pictures of the finished tree... weird. It went well and I think we all have good memories. Naomi sure thought it was strange but enjoyed all the excitement.

We bought a building!

Not quite the same as buying a zoo but pretty crazy in it's own right. Kevin decided to go out on his own and so we bought a building and everything in it. He signed the contract/agreement on the 4th and starts seeing his patients on the 28th! Helena and Debbie came with him from the other place - people he had hired because the other staff wasn't helping him enough. He will need to hire at least one more person and Ben will start working in the afternoons in January. A grand new adventure!

Note: He paid for it and closed on the purchase on the 16th of December.

Day After Thanksgiving

The night after Thanksgiving, we went over to the Lefler's house for some pizza. Marti is one of the best pizza makers around and so we loved every bit of it. She decided that she should make fewer options so she doesn't feel like she has to taste each pizza. I would have to agree because each new pizza that she made, with different combinations of fantastic toppings, made it necessary for me to taste them and figure out which one I liked best. If I only had one piece of each maybe I wouldn't feel so bad but I had two pieces of each and they were all delicious! Thank you to our wonderful friends who hosted us the day after Thanksgiving!

Fishtail braid done by Emily.

Playing games together.

She even made cinnamon rolls for my kids!

I guess I could try that at home...

That is one giant bear.

Happiest Thanksgiving ever - mostly

Except for the fact that we missed our friends, Steve, Tamara and Felix, we had a very nice Thanksgiving. It was all about the meal, of course, and I was so happy with how it turned out. Everything came out perfectly and the timing was right on! It was so perfect that we sat down before Kevin arrived with his workers. It was a wonderful meal and I was just so pleased with myself and happy to share it with my fantastic family!

Emily helped with the cornish hens.

Pecan, pumpkin, blueberry

rolls, hens, salad, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and mashed potatoes

It truly is one of my favorite meals but I do wish we could of had friends or family join with us. I guess I need to invite people. I'll work on that.

Recent Randomness

Nov. 18

Kemiah and Xiomara wanted to buy coconuts.

So they did.

It was harder to get them open than they expected.

The milk/water inside didn't taste as good as they expected.

Shredding it was more time intensive than they expected.

Not as great as they expected.

But they tried! 

Nov. 21

Silly Naomi sitting on a stool and playing with a plastic spoon.

Nov. 22

Don't ever twirl a comb in your hair.

No matter how exciting you think it will be.

No matter how much fun it is.

Don't ever do it.

We did get it out with some conditioner and careful gentle tugging.

Silly girl.

Super Cute and Cuddly

Emily had some fun with Naomi today.

Where's the baby?

She's just so cute!

So very funny, and so very true

I was doing math flash cards with Domonique. 12-9 came up so I said, "What's 12 take away 9? If you had 12 suckers, and you gave 9 away, how many would you have left?" She thought, then hung her head and said, "Not very much. 12 is much more." Silly girl.

Finally got around to it...

Kemiah opened her birthday card from Grammy and Gaffa today. We actually had it on her birthday but it didn't get opened and then the days passed. Finally I had her open it today so we "celebrated" for a moment again!

This is how everyone does house work, right?

It's normal for the baby to walk around half dressed and pushing the broom around, right? She had so much fun but I'm not really sure why she didn't have a shirt on. I just wish all the kids were as excited to work around the house as the babies always are.

some fun activities

If you are ever at a loss as to what to do... dressing up like a princess is always fun. Especially when you get new dress-up dresses from friends! It's a very exciting time!

Of course, if that's not your thing, then drawing is always a fun thing to do.

At least, drawing with these two cuties is fun for me. I love to listen to them chatter back and forth and hear the stories they tell each other, or movies they quote or questions they ask.

The older guys decided to paint with Kemiah's new paints - and our old acrylic paints. I so badly wanted to join in but I can't paint at the same time as them so I just enjoyed watching them paint.

Happy Actual Birthday to Kemiah

 So happy actual birthday to our sweet, crazy, active, helpful, determined Kemiah. She enjoyed helping make pancakes and we all enjoyed eating them!

Happiest 9th Birthday Wishes to her!

Another successful ice cream birthday cake. Truth be told she didn't get to decorate it and she wasn't all the thrilled with the way I did it - but it still tasted good.

We started the day, well, as any other day because it's not actually Kemiah's birthday. Tomorrow is her birthday but we have the adult session of Stake Conference so we had her party the night before he birthday. We also had her birthday dinner tonight, which was a salad bar and it was really yummy!

She asked for real paints.

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols got her spin art

(which she has wanted for a while),

some paint and paintbrushes.

We also got her some paint brushes.

Canvas paper.

Her standard reaction to every present she received.

Fabric to make a skirt - hopefully two if there is enough material.

Card from Ben.

Shirts to go with the skirt.

Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast

and the new Jungle Book movie.

Lotion for her poor dried out hands.

Stuff for the skirt.

Lego Friend's school set.

Enjoying ice cream cake! Delicious!