CHRISTMAS '16

Daphne got to meet Santa in person for the first time.  She was nervous but eager, having written him several "letters" before the month had really even started.  When Lily tried to help her visit him, she said, "No.  I do it myself."  And she did even though she was scared.

 Three cheers for Lucas, the man who makes Christmas especially magical for our family.

 So funny the first snow wasn't until something like December 6th and then BOOM!!!  But anyway, the first snow was a whiz bang time for Daphne.  She took to hopping all over in it and laughing, refusing to come in until she was absolutely wet and frozen.

 I got Christmas present ideas for Daphne which involved dolls for a dollhouse Grandma Laura had purchased Lily a few years ago, but that meant I had the urge to paint and roof the dollhouse.  Fun, intense, but it now gets played with more and is super cute...and maybe I will paint my home just like it some day...maybe.

 This year's gingerbread house was a homemade kit that the bishop/bishop's wife delivered for our kids, especially Ben, because he wanted to give the bishop something SO BAD, but the bishop has a lot of allergies and is a type 1 diabetic, so I said NO FOOD.  We ended up making a pillow to deliver.  Then the bishop's MIL passed away, and so the pillow appliqued with the word LOVE ended up being a sweet thing for a 7-year-old to think about.  The kids did pretty great with a little help from Dad, but they always gross me out when for the next several weeks they ask if they can eat it.  Just seems so unsanitary.  NO!!!

 My little architect, Shawn, checking out the instructions!!!  He continues to build more and more complex train tracks and thinks about being a builder or a firefighter when he grows up.

 Daphne was so into Christmas this year it was very fun.  She and Shawn enthusiastically cut and decorated cookies for Santa with me.

 Ben's super cute reindeer that his gift to Mom and Dad came in.

 The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care, but they got filled to the brim with tooth-rotting delights!

It was SO NICE to have Aunt Ja here again this year.  We were very lucky...sorry Tooele clan, but we had a lot of fun with her.  She is missed by all of us when she gets to be somewhere else.

It was a great holiday season...extended by all the snow days, and I am so thankful that Our Savior was born and for all I can learn from that event and His life and Atonement.  Merry Christmas in January!

To make it through this slightly dreadful month (until B's birthday this weekend), I am keeping up the Christmas cards/letters.

Snnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooowwww!

As of last week, we have had a lot of snow in Boise (more than any year in memory since 1984, according to my neighbor).  I moved here in 1999, so I am used to winters with lots of rain and the occasional skiff of snow.  Not this year.  It has been dubbed Snowmageddon by some and the Snowpacalypse by others.  Hilarious considering most wintery places I know get double, triple, quadruple this amount of snow, but if there is one thing I've learned in the last few weeks, Boise in its current state is not well-equipped to deal with this amount of snow.

 

 

 
We are ill equipped for the snow because we haven't needed to be equipped.  So, yes, my children don't all understand the concept of GLOVES or ZIPPING UP, and we certainly only have a few pairs of snow boots, so it's been interesting, but even with single digit temps, Ben and Lucas and then later Lily on her own were able to make some killer miniature sled hills from the berms on either side of our driveway.  Daphne thinks sledding is amazing!!  So did I - I can't help myself but become a kid again sometimes...call it youngest child syndrome.

It has been a winter of what feels like never-ending shoveling which is GREAT because suburban kids need to learn to work.  The driving has been interesting.  I've scared (and impressed) the kids, but it has certainly been an adventure at all times.

Our family learned 1-3 snow days = AWESOME, but maybe a few kids were desperate to go back to school after snow days 4 and 5.  Poor social, loves a routine, Lily.  Things appear to be getting back to normal.  We will see what this week's storms bring.