Snow Days

The new year has brought lots of changes for our family.  Some good and some bad.  We moved; the old house had mold and was making me sick.  Yep, this is 9 houses in 9 1/2 yrs.  But, we do love this house!  Rufio moved in with my sister Bethany, this was a sad day for all of us, but better for him.  Lastly, my little brother Johnny needed a place to stay for a while so he moved in with us.

This winter has been a lot colder then last winter. I'm not sure how long I will last here if this doesn't get warmer.  But, we have been making the most of it.  With the cold we have had snow and with the snow we have had lots of snow days.  It has been fun having the kids around more.

There is a great sledding hill at the golf course down the street.  We have been there a few times.  

The second time we went there, some previous sledders had built a jump.  Of course Marcus and Katie had to try it out.  They were pretty proud of themselves when they could take the jump without letting go of the sled. 

Jaxon loved going down the hill with me

One Saturday, we took Mark sledding with us.  The hills had completely iced over, which turned the whole outing into a very bumpy adventure (that didn't stop my 4 big kids, Jaxon hung with me).

The snow days kept pushing back the 100th day of school, but the kids finally got to celebrate and I was invited to hang with Addy's class.  Jax had more fun then all the kids because he kept sneaking the m&ms and other 100 candies.

With the first big snow, the kids and I went out and build a super big snowwoman. But, with each new snow, followed by rain, poor 'Olaf's girlfriend' started bending backwards and turned into a frozen mess.

Once we got sick of being outside we just enjoyed being inside.

 

There was a snow day the day before Valentine's Day.  The kids prepped all their cards for their friends and classmates, and then were disappointed in the morning because school was canceled again on Valentines Day--no class party. 

We made up for it by inviting a bunch of friends over in the afternoon.  It got a little nuts around here with 12 kids running around.

When Mark got home we celebrated with yummy cookies and a fun family movie.  Yea for fun family time to celebrate loving each other!

Christmas 2013

We had a fantastic Christmas! We decided to stay home and just enjoy being together this year.   We decorated the tree at the beginning of the month.

Of course Jax is the perfect age to be obsessed with the tree.  He kept pulling all the bottom ornaments off and carrying/throwing them around the house.  One night we were all sitting in the living room and Katie had taken down (with a stool) a few of her favorite ornaments, including the one Grammy gave her for her first Christmas; it was an angel with a globe on the bottom.  I told her to hang them back on the tree and she hung said ornament on a low branch, while she was hanging other ones and as I opened my mouth to warn her to use the stool to put them higher, Jax ran over yanked her ornament off and threw it straight down in one quick sweep.  It shattered.  Our house erupted in chaos, as we tried to grab a crazy Jax from the glass and Katie lost her mind.  We finally calmed Katie down with promising her her choice of one of Jaxon's ornaments in the next 17 years.  (I tried to buy her a new ornament in time for Christmas but it had her birth year on it and I can't find one anywhere.)

Addy's dance class invited the parents to the last class before Christmas.  We love watching Addy dance!  This year she is taking a ballet/tumbling class.

The kids all had Christmas parties in their classrooms this year.  Unfortunately, they were all at the same time so it was a little crazy for me trying to hit all the classes.  First, we went to Katie's classroom.  Jax is a fan favorite at the school.

I am room mom in Marcus' classroom and I was in charge of a few things so I spent half of my time in his classroom.  Katie and Addy were not happy about that.

I made it to Addy's classroom as she was working on her gingerbread house.  I was able to help her finish it up.

All the kids came home with me and our Christmas break started, and we settled in to hang out at home.

Things slowed down for Mark as Christmas drew near.  One evening we took the older three kids into the City to see the Rockettes. It was so fun to watch it with the kids. 

After, we checked out the tree at Rockefeller Center.

And then, headed to dinner at our favorite BBQ place.

Christmas Sunday we got all fancied up.

For family night one evening we made ginger bread houses.  Marcus and Addy focused more on eating the candy then decorating, but their houses still turned out pretty great.  Katie put a lot of effort into, not only her house, but the landscaping as well.

Addy's house

Marcus' house

 

Katie's house

We watched the first two Home Alone movies.  I know we have watched them before, but this year they were especially funny.  The kids laughed so hard, which of course made it funnier for me.   The movie was quoted around here quite a bit--mostly my big-kid husband.  They were inspired by all the stunts in the movie. The kids decided since there was no snow outside that they should be able to sled inside like 'Kevin'.  I wouldn't let them use the actual sleds so they improvised with pillows.

We went to see the reindeer again this year and stopped by to see Santa.  

Finally it was Christmas Eve, and it was time to get ready for Santa.  We made some cinnamon rolls to leave out for him.

And then, FINALLY, it was the next morning, and of course Marcus woke up WAY before everyone.  And got really tired of waiting for everyone to join him so he could go downstairs.

Finally...

Jaxon was more focused on the tree and the ornaments.

Katie's face when she realized that while her mom said she would never buy her another American doll, Santa must not have gotten the notice.

Addy had such a brace face while watching Katie get her doll, you could tell she was jealous but at the same time you could see her decide to be happy for her sister.  What a fantastic child she is.  And then she got her own-Cecile, Katie got Cecile's best friend, Marie Grace.

After all the presents were open the playing began.  ( The whole family got Nerf guns for Christmas, so we have been having a lot of Nerf wars around here.)

Since we have no family here and Christmas dinner is always more fun when there are lots of people around, we invited a couple (families) of our friends over.  It was the perfect way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

And finally, to make Christmas perfect, it snowed and the kids were so excited to play outside and try out their new sled.