Christmas

 I love Christmas morning!!! It's always so fun to see the excitement in the eyes of my little ones and their appreciation and gratefulness.

Meg got some new slippers. Her feet just couldn't be crammed into the ones from last year anymore.

She also got Pj's (thanks Oma/Opa), an Elsa dress-up costume, and stickers to help with being reverent during Sacrament meeting.

Myles got a cool new hat, pistachios, Legos (thanks Oma/Opa), and Santa made him this really cool Millennium Falcon on the 3D printer at work.

Aeva got the complete compilation of Beethoven's Sonatas, spiral bound, which she was super excited about because that is her favorite composer. She's also excited to use her Michael's gift card (thanks Oma/Opa).

 Rhaevyn got her very own digital camera. She is excited to get some books at Barnes and Nobles, thanks to Oma and Opa.

 
 Elsa was thrilled to receive Barbie clothes, and she cannot wait to go get new ballet or tap shoes at Payless, thanks to Oma and Opa. Her Barbie had a little fashion show yesterday. She also got a dress-up costume. She and Meg have had a lot of fun already playing princesses.

 

Each of the kids got to draw names and get a gift for that sibling thanks to my best friend's in-laws. They each had a blast picking out a present and wrapping it. It was so fun to see what they chose and how excited they were.
Rhaevyn is making Chris a scarf; it didn't quite get done in time. He got to see the part that is done so far. She was sweet to get me a treat and Myles a card game.
Myles went shopping at Sister Lee's house (literally) one day. He picked out some cute things, mostly Christmas decorations, for each of us and wrapped them up. So super cute and sweet of him and Sister Lee.
Church was wonderful. It can't get much better than reading about the birth of our Savior and singing Christmas hymns. Only three of us got to go. Chris stayed home with our three sick ones who slept  and rested. 
Our family has reflected recently on how blessed we have been this past year; thoughts of the little miracles and tender mercies that we have witnessed, been a part of, and benefited from have touched and humbled us. Although life has it ups and downs we know that our Heavenly Father and Savior know us personally and are aware of our trials, weaknesses, joys, and strengths. They love us perfectly. May we each strive to see the Lord's hand in our life each day and feel of his great and enduring love for each of us individually.

Wishing you all a joy filled 2017  💓

Heading Home

 We woke up to a beautiful blue and pink sunrise Christmas Eve morning. The sun came out! Myles, Aeva, Chris, and Elsa took one last walk along the beach after breakfast.
The girls wanted to stop at a bookstore on the way out of town. Aeva finished the book she was reading while we were at the coast.

We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice cream and ended up getting  hamburger for Myles. He had gotten car sick on the way to Tillamook, and, while we were eating our ice cream, Aeva pointed out that some real sustenance was most likely needed  since he had his head down on the table; she would know since she has episodes of nausea fairly often. So, we got some real food in him and he perked up. We made sure to switch his seat to the middle row, window seat, and he was fine the rest of the ride home. Unfortunately, that night he came down with what Rhaevyn and Meg had.

Big Surprise: Day 2

 Early Friday morning.....
See the boat out there?

This seagull was a regular visitor last time too. He kept coming up to the sliding door and pecking it. Poor guy had one eye that had been damaged.
 High Tide.

 Sleepy girl.

 Elsa with her jingle bell ponytail holders. Her dentist thought they were awesome.

 Aeva, Myles, Elsa, and Chris went for a stroll on the beach in the stormy weather. It started hailing while they were on their walk.

 Swim time:

 Wild hair.

After swim time we went to a couple of stores. Poor Meg was coming down with what Rhaevyn had, and really had not eaten anything. She just kept drinking liquids. At the last store she threw up. Luckily I caught most of the small amount in her stomach in her jacket. Chris cleaned up what made it to the floor. We got out to the car, and Chris and I had a little laugh about how it's never a dull moment. You just have to laugh and roll with what life throws at you. We had had Pizza the night before that we had brought with us, and this night was Nachos. We watched A Christmas Carol and had our hot cocoa and popcorn.

The Big Surprise: Day 1

So we had plans to surprise Aeva, after her dentist appointment on Thursday with a trip out to the coast. She loves being out at the coast, and I can't tell you how often she asks when we will be going out there again. She is very hard to surprise and was onto us by the middle of the day Wednesday. So, we had to reconfigure our plan of surprising her. We gave her a little card/ticket which told her what she would be doing the next two days. She was very excited, and it probably turned out for the best so that she packed what she wanted to pack for the trip. Poor Rhaevyn had come down with a cough and runny nose Monday, so she didn't get to do any of the beach walks. She hung out in the hotel room and just enjoyed the view while she rested.
After the early morning dentist appointment for four of the kids we headed out to the coast.
Here are some pictures from our first day there.

The view from our room.

 Aeva's beach walking partner.

 I love this picture.

 Myles and Elsa were climbing this rock, and a wave came in and surrounded the rock. Poor Elsa was freaking out. Myles came to her rescue, and once the water receded he helped her off the rock.

Myles and Chris found this rock. Chris was pretending his finger was a worm.

I love this picture of Aeva and Meg.
Here is my Princess Elsa with her blinking crown from the dentist's office.

 

The kids couldn't wait to get in the pool. Aeva stayed behind in the hotel room with Rhavyn, as I think the beach walk had wore her out. Afterwards it was back to the room for hot showers, hot cocoa, popcorn, and the original Miracle on 34th Street.

Up next: Day 2.

Aeva's 16th Birthday

The week started off with an orthodontist and dentist appointment for Rhaevyn. The new dentist is wonderful and said only one filling, not four, were needed at this time. And it was all covered, yay!!! Tender mercy :) She has one wisdom tooth coming in, so we'll need to think about what we want to do, in the coming months, about that.

I made rice bags. Some for presents and some so that everyone could just about have there own. They are popular items around this house.

Tuesday afternoon we went and picked up tea cookies for Aeva's birthday. She wanted hot cocoa and tea cookies for her birthday desert this year. It was nice to have something different.

Aeva spent her birthday week organizing her Legos and playing with Legos with the little ones.

Aeva spent her birthday opening a present every couple of hours.
A puffin stuffed animal (she loves puffins) from Rhaevyn along with a pin from Over the Garden Wall.
A pretty sweater from Oma.

She got Bose earphones from Chris. They are so nice. He got them for free and reworked them for $5. She was so excited!!! We forgot about the candles, so we improvised and made one big flame. The tea cookies and hot cocoa were a big hit. And then the big surprise........