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.