Bringing in the New Year

For the rest of the break we took care of some nuts and bolts as well as did some fun activities as a family.  Chris worked on some projects around the house while I took the girls to get their hair cut.  Both Kate and Kylie got a cute bob.

Chris and I were also able to go on a few dates - to the temple, to see the Hunger Games, and to see Star Wars (we brought Aly along for that one.)  We also took the family bowling.  

The kids wanted to get their photos taken in that special booth.  They're hilarious.

We decided to send 2015 out with a bang.  We invited some families over for a "Appetizers Dinner" -  scrumptious.  (The kids' favorite was the massive tub of cheese balls!)  

Aly joined us for dinner but was then off to a youth New Year's activity where she had a splendid time playing "whack the cracker", among other things.

Meanwhile the adults were having fun with their white elephant gift exchange.  Chris was happy with his Sheep Poo . . . until it got stolen.  He had his revenge though when he brought out his last box of every flavor jelly beans and got the kids to play jelly bean roulette with him - not knowing if the jelly bean you were about to eat was Peach or throw up flavored, strawberry or centipede, buttered popcorn or moldy cheese, etc.  Lotsa, lotsa fun. (Bleh!)

The kids also had a great time with all their New Year's Eve Party activities: the "pie in the face" game, karaoke, light saber battles, a movie, and their own white elephant gift exchange.  

And boy, did my kids get some awesome white elephants.  Kate got an alien headband, Kylie got reindeer earmuffs, and Lise got, well, some freaky 80's ceramic girl that Lise can creepily imitate perfectly.  

As you can see, it was a great night.  Happy New Year!  Welcome 2016!  Here's to another amazing, crazy year!

Merry and Bright

In addition to all the parties and activities we were constantly running around to, there was also a lot of fun craziness going on inside the walls of our own home.  First we have Kate's "Mickey Mouse Roll".  She even dug his face into it.

Next, we have this lovely picture of Aly when she was in 2nd grade.  It was a Christmas present given to Chris and I  that year and has stayed with the Christmas decor ever since.  Usually it doesn't get put up, but this year Lise found it and insisted, despite Aly's protests, that we display it proudly.  So, between Aly trying to take it down, and Lise trying to put it back up where Aly wouldn't find it, this picture traveled all over the house (to include on the cereal shelf and inside our fridge).  The mustache and goatee magically appeared somewhere in the process (so says Chris).  Who needs an Elf on the Shelf when we've got an Aly on the Shelf?  A new tradition may have been born.

Lise's creative juices were on overdrive this holiday season it appears.  She loves reading the comic strip section in the New Era, "The Extra Smile", and has started making up her own.  She has also created art masterpieces with Kate.  Below are a couple samples of their handiwork. 

In case you can't read it, the top one is the Angel appearing to the shephers.

Shepherd - How do I know I can trust you?

Angel - Dude, I'm glowing.

Bottom Left:  Why did Heavenly Father make twins?

- Because he was running out of ideas.

Bottom Right (the kid on the right is the Brother of Jared):

Girl - Oh no! The power went out.  What are we going to do?  

Bro. of Jared - Don't worry.  I have some glowing rocks in my pocket.

(On a side note, I also came up with one I wanted her to illustrate, but she refused because it wasn't an Analise original.  I wanted her to show two kids holding to the Iron Rod passing by the Big and Spacious Building.

Kid 1 - Do you think they have a movie theater in the big and spacious building?

Kid 2 - Yeah.  They're showing Mockingjay.

hahahaha!)  

As a family we also enjoyed the Etown classic - Christmas in the Park.  

We had lots of fun driving through, seeing all the lights and displays, and of course, everyone's favorite, the dancing snowman.

Another favorite family tradition is sleeping in front of the Christmas tree after watching "The Polar Express" with hot chocolate.

This is how I found the girls in the morning.  No idea how Kate slept uphill in that position.

This year we took the girls to see a local family friendly play double feature:  A Charlie Brown Christmas and a Seussified Christmas Carol.  It was fun(ny).  Also, I must be on some sort of Charlie Brown kick, because I really wanted to watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving this year, but it didn't come from Netflix in time.  Nevertheless, I was determined to watch it, so we ended up seeing it on Christmas Eve.  Now, two weeks after Christmas, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has just arrived at our house.  The girls are determined to watch it on Valentine's day . . .

We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast on Christmas Eve with the turkey and all the trimmings.  (Maybe that was the reason I wanted to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  I would have rather made popcorn, jelly beans, and toast. ;)>)  But it all turned out delicious and I must give a huge THANK YOU to Chris for all his help with the cooking.  The girls helped out as well. Actually, due to our desire for leftovers, we cooked 2 turkeys!  And boy did we have leftovers.  It was wonderful for me.  I only cooked every other day for the rest of the break.

After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we spread the reindeer food out on the lawn, got out Santa's cookies and notes, and let the girls open their sibling gift from each other. Then it was time to settle things down and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We read Luke 2, watched "Joy to the World", and wrote down our gifts to the Savior for this next year and put them into the white stocking.  So, so grateful for the chance to celebrate the Savior's birth, his life, and everything he has done for us.

And then the next morning . . . CHRISTMAS!!!

Kate had all her Lego kits put together within a couple hours.

This year was probably my favorite as far as opening the presents goes.  Why?  Well, probably because the girls ended up wrapping most of them.   Lise, Kate, and Kylie were all about that this year.  Every evening they would be asking me if they could wrap another present.  But they didn't just wrap them - oh no! - they left their own personal touches on them.  Whether it was Studio C quotes or the Polar Bear on the wrapping paper farting on the snowman, there was never a dull moment.  We of course had to read all the comments on the packages before opening them and  let me tell you, it was always a treat.  Like I said, the girls made my Christmas.

Chris' favorite present by far was the pile of reindeer poop he got from the girls.  (They wrapped it in a pull-ups box).  Earlier in the month Chris had downloaded a Naughty/Nice app on his phone for fun with the kids.  Once he figured out he could program it to say whatever he wanted, all it would say forever after was, "You deserve a pile of Reindeer Poop."  So Lise decided that the girls should follow through on what Dad deserved.  (This was a nice conglomeration of whoppers, milk duds, mini twix, and mini milky ways - all of Chris' favorite chocolates).  Actually, this gift ended up being pretty popular all around.  I am constantly hearing the girls say, "Dad, can I have some reindeer poop?"

Another hit were the light sabers that Santa left in everybody's stockings.  I saw multiple, random fights going on throughout the day.  All in good fun, of course.

May the Force Be With You

There was another struggle going on over Kylie's awesome owl beanie hat that Chris wanted for himself . . . 

Kylie loved her new nail polish art kit.  And thanks to Lise for drawing a baby penguin on her tiny fingernails! 

Once Kate had plowed through all her new Legos, she moved right along to her scratch art and minion Perlers.  Love how she made the whales into a recycle sign.  Haha!

Oh, the other thing I should mention about this Christmas is the weather.  We were in some sort of heat wave, so Christmas was around 70 degrees.  But it wasn't a pretty, bright 70, it was a rainy, 5 day nasty storm type of 70 that turned frigid as soon as the clouds cleared out.  Luckily, we got some fun movies and games to keep us busy.  We had a great time playing them over the next few days.  

So yeah, lots of fun family time.  I'd say this Christmas was a smashing success. 

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly

So, of course, once Thanksgiving was over, the next logical thing to do was decorate for Christmas.  With how crazy and busy things had been lately, I was feeling a bit burned out and we weren't even through 1/2 of the holiday hoopla!  Luckily, now that the kids are a little older, they have loved being part of the process and actually are really big helpers!   Plus, their excitement and the smiles on their faces can't help but be contagious.  The kids made Christmas for me this year, that's all I can say.

Kate and Kylie had a blast decorating their own tree again this year and the girls (minus Aly) were all into dressing festive this season.  Love it!  

December seemed to bring one party after another to our house.

  There were French birthday parties to attend,

Daddy Daughter dates to the movies (The Good Dinosaur),

and a Christmas Craft night at Kylie's school where the girls' got to sit on Santa's lap.  

For her letter to Santa this year, Kate wrote a persuasive essay, giving 3 reasons why he should bring her what she asked for.  She also helped Kylie do the same.  Nice.  (Note:  As persuasive as Kate's essay was, it didn't convince Santa to bring her the massive $200 palace.  She ended up with some pretty cool stuff though, which was probably even better. ;)>)

For Kylie's Class Christmas Party, she had a pajama day with her reindeer shirt she had made, a book swap, and they made reindeer food with fairy dust to help Santa find our house and help the reindeer fly.

Kate's class party had tinsel limbo and marshmallow speed games.  Lots of fun craziness for 3rd graders.

This was Kate's unique way of going under the limbo stick.  The only rule was that only your feet could touch the ground.  So she would crouch down into a frog position and waddle through.  It was hilarious to watch!

For Activity Days, the girls hooked up with the Scouts to sing Christmas Carols at an assisted living center.  Any chance to dress festive!

 

And then there was the much awaited Christmas Dance Recital!  This year the theme was "Christmas Memories."    Miss Isabel asked for a Christmas memory from each parent and then found a song and turned it into a dance - brilliant!  It turned out amazing.  My memory was from the two Christmases that Chris was deployed and we had to share Christmas over Skype.  Lise and Kate both got to do a solo in that number, which was really neat.  There were happy memories and sad memories, but the overall feel of the production was "magical".  And the girls had oh so much fun - with the dancing, making costumes, with each other - everything.  And we had oh so much fun watching it!

The little girls made the cutest Christmas Trees.

The day after the girl's dance performance was the ward's Christmas Devotional.  Normally I would not mention this - even though it's awesome and uplifting - except this year I was in charge of it.  I was a little nervous as to how it would all turn out, but this ward does this as their Christmas activity every year, and, thanks to my awesome committee (two of which are in the picture below), everything went very smoothly.  The decorations were beautiful, food was yummy, and the musical numbers and talks were seriously amazing.  I really felt the true Spirit of Christmas: Peace & Joy. (Which happened to be the theme, by the way.)

Hooray for good friends.  Such a blessing in my life.

On another Saturday in December Chris and I went with some friends to the wellness center on post to learn about our bodies' metabolism, fitness levels, flexibility, grip strength, etc.  Some good info to have in hand before starting our fitness goals for the new year!

Aly of course had her end of the year Chorus concert.  Her friend, Sarah, brought her some tulips - what a great friend!

Cross Country had their awards ceremony in December as well. 

 I can't believe Aly lettered in a Varsity Sport during her 8th grade year!  What an amazing experience and opportunity for her!

Unfortunately for Aly, she sprained her foot pretty severely the Sunday before Christmas and was on crutches all that week.  This also meant she was unable to practice with the swim team over the entire Christmas break.

Not one for self pity -  or to sit around, for that matter - she found creative ways to elevate her foot to help the swelling go down and then spent a day touring Elizabethtown with her friend, taking along the cardboard cutout of Peetah that she got at the Young Women's white elephant gift exchange.  He made a great photo bomber.

The other girls also took a liking to Peetah.  He added to the holiday decor quite nicely and has become quite the family mascot in our home.