103rd Passage

This year we got all the kids on Christmas day. We had to wait for William and Owen to arrive around 7:45 before we could start anything though. 

The kids went into the living room and found Styrofoam swords under the tree from Santa. Lydia kept looking for hers, but we pointed out the pretty dress for her instead. I think she was okay with the substitute. 

 I found this lovely necklace from David in my stocking.

 Lots of excitement opening presents. The kids were mostly gracious enough, though Owen was obviously unenthusiastic about a couple things.

 Lydia was really fun to watch. She was super excited about everything she opened and gave little squeals of delight.

 Alli woke up shortly after all the presents were unwrapped. She got a couple things too.

 I gave David a fletching jig. Here he is making arrows with it in the middle of the living room floor.

 We got the game Mousetrap as a family gift. I think it's a hit.

We also went to my parents' house and played. Yummy food, fun games, ham radio instruction, and talking with missionary brothers on the phone.

Post-it #153

Here are some official "baby's first Christmas" photos.

Post-it #152

Alli wore this to church on Sunday. She wasn't a happy girl when I was taking the pictures. 

This was Lydia's from when she was a baby. Shall we play "who wore it best?" Here is Lydia from three years ago.

Post-it #151

Here's my adorable Super Baby in a cute Christmas outfit.

Post it #150

David was invited to go into primary last Sunday to play his guitar to Christmas songs for all the primary children as a special Christmas treat. They all thought it was pretty cool. 

I like having such an awesome husband. 

102nd Passage

Owen: I wish my imaginary friends were real, then Paws could do my chores for me. He's the really really fast one. He knows the way to the North Pole, but I don't. Isn't that weird?

Lydia replaces "don't want" and "don't think" with "think so not". It cracks me up. "I think so not take a nap."

Speaking to Morgan about the sea monkeys he got for Christmas, William said: daddy only got you them so he could eat them an make you mad!

Owen: are you Martin?

Morgan: no, I'm a Nelson.

Owen: what if you were Martin, and what if you were stuck in a chicken suit forever?

Me: I'm almost done.

David: you're almost beautiful. . . . Times ten. You're only beautiful times 9.9.

He thinks it was a nice recovery. I don't think it counts as a recovery at all.

William: you don't know anything.
Owen: yuhhuh, I know lots of stuff.
William: then what's 1x1?
Owen: 2
William: nope. It's 10.

Lydia comes down stairs giggling and looking behind her "the kitty's following me!"
Me: what?
Lydia: the kitty is following me, it's upstairs.
Me: there is no kitty.
Lydia: it's dead.

I just saw Lydia looking in my closet saying, kitty? Kitty is gone.
I guess that dead cat that was following her the other day hasn't made a reappearance.

Earlier today Owen said, "did you know I have a magic finger? It's this one." He flips his middle finger up "I like to use it. It's my magic finger."

In the middle of breakfast Lydia stops eating and looks at me and says, "hey, guess what? I have eyeballs."

Morgan: what if my pointer finger was my longest, and there was a pretzel growing on top, and I'd keep on eating it and eating it, but it would keep growing until it was as tall as the house?

The other day for school Morgan and William were supposed to team up and write a limerick. I honestly didn't think they'd be able to get the rhythm or idea. But they did! Check it out.

He's too fat to fit through the door.
He's too flat to take a tour.
He's Santa!
Santa drinks fanta!
And he lived in the sewer.

While trying to teach Owen about opposites (is this normally an impossibly difficult concept to teach/grasp?) we had this conversation.
Me: ...so the opposite of boy is??
Owen: good?
He may be on to something.

Lydia is a little bit afraid if the bathtub drain. When I pulled the plug this morning while she was still in the tub, she scrambled out saying, "ah!! I keep falling off! It will break my toe!"

I had to keep reminding Morgan that he was supposed to be doing his chores. The more reminding I did, the more impatient I became. Morgan stomped back up to his bedroom and said, "you don't have to be so aggressive with me."

Morgan: "lots of babies are born each day. Every second a baby is popping out of a mom's whatever it's called."

From David's facebook: Is it weird that Owen just called me a "pissy marshmallow girl"?

Morgan: "sometimes I catch flies and pull their wings off so they will crawl on me longer."

And old man at church sits down and says, "You move your feet you lose your seat."
Owen: "you move your chicken noodle you lose your butt."
Old man: "you sound like you've lost your mind."
Owen: "my favorite words are butt, and naked, and chicken noodle."
The old man turns to me and says, "Tabasco will fix that."

Owen: Mommy, you're a one man business.

Lydia: Mommy, guess what? Soup.

101st Passage

Sometime this month we went up to chop down our Christmas tree. This year we went up past Banks. I think the pickings there were a little better than last year.
We drove, found some trees, picked one, and chopped it down. Last year we hiked up snowy hills and froze, and several of us fell down at least once. This year was much easier.

After selecting the tree, all the kiddos got to help chop it down.

Then David did it.

And here's our tree.

All decorated. 

Let me remind you that finding a lovely, full, manicured tree in the forest is pretty unrealistic. 

Here is our tree from last year.