Christmas 2016

Over Christmas break we did a lot of puzzles. A LOT. And not just the kids. Matt and I more than once stayed up until almost 1 in the morning finishing the puzzles that the kids had started during the day (and by kids I mean Sawyer, Scout just liked to take pieces and hide them). With all the snow and being stuck indoors for so many days puzzles became our 'thing'. We also got a Google Home so we would have that playing music (Evening Chill is a great playlist on Spotify if you are looking for a nice relaxing one) to listen to while we puzzled our little hearts out. 

To get the Google Home to work you have to say "Okay Google" and then it lights up and you can ask it a question or tell it to do something (i.e.: play music, etc.). Scout figured out really quickly how to work it, only she would say "OTAY DOODLE" and then proceed to ask it the same question over and over again and laugh. It was pretty stinking funny!

We got a desk for the dining area for Sawyer to do homework at and so far it has worked out really nice. 

This was a box from something we bought that was Christmas related, but I can't remember what now. Either way, the kids had way more fun IN the box than with whatever originally came out of the box I'm sure of it!

Over Christmas break my older brother Ben, his wife Chantal and their kids came up from AZ to Idaho for the holidays so the kids had a ton of fun playing with their cousins. My younger brother Bryson and his wife Abby came up as well and my sister Megan and her husband Kevin were also in town. I was super bummed though because I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas night so leading up to Christmas I was a Debbie Downer knowing we were going to have so much family in town and so little time to play due to my work schedule.  During one of my (many) pity parties leading up to Christmas my mom made a good point that it's not like I dislike my job and it's not like I am working retail or in a restaurant  (both of which I have done in the past); I LOVE my job and I get to be helping moms and babies, which was exactly what I needed to hear because it's true! I do love my job and working holidays is just par for the course as a nurse so I could either embrace it and show my kids how to have a good attitude even when the situation is not what you would like or be mad about it and keep on complaining. Sawyer had already been asking me why I had to work Christmas Eve again (I had to work last year because I was at a different hospital) which was like a knife to my mommy heart! So I changed my attitude, started telling him how I loved my job and although I would miss him that night I would see him bright and early in the morning and the next couple of Christmases I won't have to work. And what do you know, I left my parents Christmas Eve party early, headed to work with a good attitude, and they pulled my name out of a hat at 11pm and I got to go home for the rest of the night!!  I was able to put all the Santa stuff out with Matt at midnight and wake up at 6am with the kids to celebrate Christmas morning with them bright and early. 

It was a Christmas miracle. 

It was not only my Christmas dream come true, but was also beneficial to my feet because as you can see above, I had worn my snow boots into work only to discover once I got there that I had forgotten normal shoes to change into. Thankfully I didn't have to work 12 hours in those things! 

Over Christmas break we did a lot of things. Some of which were: we went to one of the nearby hot springs while cousins were in town.

We wore lots of Christmas jammies.

We watched the fountains at the village dance to music and thought about seeing Santa, but the line was too slow.

We ate a lot of Nutella waffles.

We got dressed up to attend a holiday party with friends and....

had SO much fun and laughed the night away! 

We painted and glittered the light box that Aunt Rosie gave Sawyer for Christmas and painted and glittered lots and lots of Christmas ornaments, all with paint and glitter that Rosie so kindly supplied for us :)

The finished project. And what is that Sawyer is eating? A Nutella waffle, of course. I'm telling you, we ate a lot of those things over the holidays. 

He did such a good job!

Matt took Sawyer to see a basketball game that was BSU versus his alma mater CSUN! 

We ran onto Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause at Wahooz and they asked if we wanted a photo. Can't say no to Santa! 

They were super cute and had this light up gloved finger that made Sawyer look like Rudolph. 

The kids had the best Christmas Eve doing scooter races with their cousins in a huge gym! My parents gave all the grandkids a scooter and they had a BLAST scooting their little bums all around on those things! Kevin directed scooter races and scooter games for them and they were all in heaven!

Here they are all listening attentively to Uncle Kevin as he explained the rules of one of the games that was about to commence. 

Sawyer and his cousin Jett. Such handsome seven year olds looking schnazzy in their Christmas sweaters! 

This was just one of the silly tunes the cousins were singing on the way home to my parents house after the scooter games had wrapped up. They were cracking me up! I was able to stay for yummy Christmas food and visit with family briefly before leaving to work. Matt went to our Christmas Eve service at church to help do the sound board and originally the kids were going to go with him when I left for work, but last minute we decided the kids would probably have more fun hanging at Gma and Gpa with their cousins on Christmas Eve than sitting quietly in a pew at church. Matt picked them up afterwards and my mom said the kids had a ton of fun that night. 

The following morning we corralled them in our bathroom before we went out to the living room to see what Santa brought. 

Both kids got bikes and bike helmets! Sawyer was super excited to have a bike with gears and hand brakes like Matt has. Scout got a little balance bike and a Minnie Mouse helmet. She was mostly excited for the Shopkins the Santa brought though. 

Sawyer with his Minecraft box and Scout's Shopkins Mall. 

The bike may not have been a big hit, but the Minnie Mouse helmet was! She wore it ALL morning, including eating breakfast in it. 

It was a magical Christmas with these two being 7 and 2. 

Snowpocalpyse

This is old news by now, but I have yet to record it so here's a recap of our snowpocalypse. We had more snow here in the Treasure Valley then we have had in over 30 years, which explains why I never remember having this much snow growing up! I think my whole school career I maybe had three snow days all together; one in elementary school, one in middle school and one in high school. I reminded Sawyer of that each day that he had yet another snow day, which totaled to be six in one month! SIX! That many days off was quite the juggling act with both of us working (i.e.: me sleeping after working) while trying to prevent Sawyer from just watching tv all day sitting at home.

Matt did all the snow shoveling, and I think he secretly enjoyed it. There was one week however in January that he was gone to California for work so I had to shovel and wow, that was a workout my arms were not used to! 

I'm pretty sure these photos were taken Christmas Eve morning when I got home from work. It had snowed a ton and was still going strong so we bundled up the kids, shoveled the driveway together, went for a walk around the block in the falling snow, and then on a whim decided to chance the roads and drive to a coffee shop nearby for breakfast that had a kids play area in it. It was a super fun wintery morning!

Doing her very best to shovel with her tiny sand shovel. 

The heaps of snow on the side of our driveway seemed so high at the time, but in another week they had doubled in size!

Here we are trekking through the freshly fallen snow before 8 am! It was so quiet I kept having to remind the kids to use their inside voices, even though we were outside, because their voices sounded SO loud bouncing off the blanket of snow! They kept falling down because the snow was so deep and laughing so I thought for sure the whole neighborhood was going to be woken up. 

Snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes...

Nice and cozy in the house watching the snow fall outside...for the umpteenth time. 

And playing in it again because that never got old. Just kidding. It got real old. 

Especially when it was as deep as Sawyer's knees and up to Scout's waist! 

The sand toys got plenty of play time this winter doubling as snow toys!

It was definitely a memorable winter!

This video was one of the mornings that Matt was gone to California and I had no idea it was snowing until we were headed out the door for school! 

This last year we upgraded from our Queen bed to a King bed so mornings relaxing in bed with the kids could be more comfortable. Although relaxing is probably not the correct term when their little bodies are climbing and crawling and tumbling and doing all sorts of gymnastics in bed with us around 6 AM while we try to snooze a little longer. I actually really do love that our mornings are a family affair because it's fun to snuggle the kids while they still let me. I know those days are numbered especially with Sawyer! While Matt was gone on his trip I had the kids sleep with me all four nights and they (and me too) loved having a sleepover! Here they are saying good night to Matt.