Just a Bit of Christmas Cheer

Christmas has come and gone. I felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. I'm not ready to give up Christmas music yet, so I keep playing it at dinner time.
We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. I truly love celebrating two birthdays during the Christmas season.
We all got to go out and celebrate Aeva's birthday dinner with her. That was a lot of fun. Then she and Chris went ice skating. She has really been looking forward to that. They both had a really fun time, but I don't think her knees enjoyed it.
Sunday, Rhaevyn gave Aeva her birthday present....................she made her a cake. She did her best to make it look like the ring from Lord of the Rings. Aeva was really surprised!
And now she gets to go to her first church dance on New Year's Eve. She can hardly wait!

 

 

 

  Chris got her a key chain of her favorite Japanese vocaloid singer.

 

 Last Monday a couple in our ward took the girls to try sushi. Rhaevyn stayed with the non sushi food, but Aeva went gung ho. She loved the calamari and even pulled it apart to check out the suction cups on the tentacles............and still ate it. She can't wait to have it again. That was really a fun outing for them.The Monday and Tuesday just before Christmas the kids and I had a great time making and baking treats, and then Tuesday evening we all went caroling together and delivered the goodies. That was so much fun!
We've been enjoying having Chris home, spending time together, and making Christmas memories.
Christmas morning was enjoyable and relaxing. Myles and Elsa were up at 4 checking out their stockings and making sure Santa ate the cookies that had been left for him. It was so much fun to lay in bed and listen to their laughter and squeals of excitement. Once everyone else got up we had a nice breakfast and opened presents. It was sweet watching each child open their presents from their siblings. There were hugs and smiles all around. I think that was the best part. Rhaevyn had been busy for weeks and months whipping up presents for everyone. Everyone loved the things she made for them.
Meg loves her Thomas the train. It is helping her to walk, but what she loves most is to sit and listen to the music it plays and have one of the kids push her around on it.

 This is one of the hats Rhaevyn made for me.

 

 

 Aeva's pencil and pen bag from Rhaevyn.
It's made out of a comic book page and has a plastic/vinyl coating on it.
 Rhaevyn made Elsa Jiji the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service.

 This is Myles's wallet..................also made from a comic book page.

 Chris got a handmade hat from Rhaevyn.......................No Face from Spirited Away.

Myles thought this craftman tool chest was for Chris. He comented how "lucky dad was." Little did he know it was for him. We were very blessed to come by it for free.
He received tools for Christmas and has a nice place to put them all.
 
  Aeva was overjoyed to open one of her presents to find this...........
it's a missionary book in the Japanese language. We think someday she may end up there :)

 Chris picked this out for Elsa. She is the perfect mommy to her baby doll.
I think Meg likes it just as much. She is constantly snatching it to hug and kiss it.

 A bit of Dr. Who Trivial Pursuit.

  Aeva also got some new drawing pens, which she has been putting to good use.

 

 She also got chopsticks. Here she is trying out her Japanese noodle meal.

 Chris took the girls out on a date to see the Hobbit. They've done this the last three years....going together to see the Hobbit movies. They loved it and said they cried their eyes out........the girls that is.

Each Christmas seems to get better. Maybe we are just better at appreciating what is important about this time of year and maybe we are better at making Christmas memories.
And now we look to the coming year. We're excited to see what it holds for our little family.

 Our sweet little Meg turned 1 on Saturday. We aren't sure where that whole year went. It seemed to have zoomed by awfully fast. We are so happy and feel blessed that she is a part of our family.
Friday night we were watching Holiday Inn and reminiscing about what we were doing at that precise moment one year ago..........from walking the halls of the hospital to the kids eating chips and hot cocoa waiting for the phone call. The kids were talking about going to sleep in their clothes and feeling like they had just closed their eyes when they were woken up to go the hospital and how tired they were. They all agreed that it was worth it to actually witness Meg enter this world and hold her right after delivery. Rhaevyn commented how Meg smelled like heaven. Meg is truly adored by her siblings.
We each had a chocolate cupcake to celebrate the occasion, except Meg had a red velvet cupcake. I think she enjoyed it!

She had fun opening her presents and loves her new phone.













We tried to do family pictures this weekend. It has been so hard to find time to do it with everyone's schedules with school, work, a violin recital, etc.,  as well  as all the rain. None of the pictures really turned out, but this one was the best out of all the other ones. Rhaevyn wanted to take a few of Chris and I, but that ended up in her laughing hysterically at all the faces that Chris would make. She wouldn't ever say she was taking the picture so Chris would be looking off in a different direction. At least she was provided with some entertainment. Good times!

Out With November and In With December

Winter weather is definitely settling in. I have to get used to getting up a bit earlier so the car can warm up and I can scrape the windows when the little ones and I go pick up the girls from seminary.
We had a very enjoyable couple of days off with Thanksgiving.
We set up the tree Thanksgiving evening and decorated it the following morning. We've been watching some Christmas movies together each night. What fun that is!

 

 

 

Rhaevyn had her violin recital. She played an Irish tune called Erin's Fancy.
She did a great job. As usual, I was so focused on getting everyone out the door on time that I forgot the camera. Rhaevyn was very happy about this.
She also played last Sunday with the choir. She did a fabulous job. So pleased that she is stretching out of her comfort zone.
Aeva is loving her Japanese class and often speaks Japanese to us. Friday we sat and watched a Japanese film with her. No subtitles. While she could pick up some things, the rest of us had no clue what was going on. But is was really a lot of fun just to sit and enjoy something because it was something Aeva liked.
We've heard some noise coming from Myles's room lately. He has been building tools out of Legos and making noises for them.............hammer, jack hammer, nail gun, etc. When asked what he was doing he said he was playing This Old House. I love that he loves to sit and watch the show with me. He built a lego house in the remodel stage and sent it along with an email to This Old House.

 

 

 The other night I had the cutest conversation with Myles. While we were driving in the car he says to me, "Mom, when I'm grown up and married I'm going to give my wife some money so she can go out and have dinner at Red Robin." The girls and I were thinking that was so sweet. Then he says, " And then you can come over and watch a movie with me and my kids and spend time with us, or I can just have my wife take the kids out too and it can just be you and I watching a movie together." The girls and I were giggling so much we had tears! I love my little guy.
We've had a couple of good wind storms here. On one of our blustery days Myles made a faux kite with some yarn and a plastic bag. Pretty soon the neighbor kids each had one. It was such a cute sight.

 

 
 
 
 Here is my sweet guy feeding himself and Meg lunch so that I could eat my lunch before it got cold.

 

Everyone has had haircuts, except Meg and me. Rhaevyn traded a babysitting job for a free haircut with our favorite gal in the ward who cuts hair. Elsa got at least six inches cut. I was hoping I could talk her out of it. I love doing her hair, but she insisted that it was her hair and she was tired of the knots and having it in her face. It is really cute short.
 Before................one of my favorite braids to do for her.
 

 

After.......................Rhaevyn curled it a bit for these pictures.
 
 These are my wrestlers. I just about busted a gut when they came out in these outfits. It reminded me of those Pro Mexican Wrestlers that wear the masks.

 

 

Lastly, here is sweet little Meg. She will be one in two weeks, and I can hardly believe it. I don't know where that time has gone. She sure is such a joy to have in our family. Not sure there has ever been a more loved baby. She'll be walking before I know it, as all her siblings are helping her to get on the ball with it.

 

 And that is all.................