Christmas Break Week 1

 Last week of Fall Semester and Finals....Aeva went to the Bean Museum:

 Meg had her well child check for her birthday. She got a book from her doctor and insisted on a picture next to the big Christmas tree at the clinic.

 

 

 A little artwork from Elsa:

 

Finishing up Christmas gifts:
I had fun making more kitchen towels.

The kids and I were invited over to our good friend Jen's home to decorate gingerbread and sugar cookies. It was so much fun to watch the kids get creative with the icing and sprinkles.

 

 

 

 

Chris trying out one of the cookies to make sure they taste good.
 

Molly got all cleaned and looking Christmasy for the older girls' arrival. 

 

Finally it was the evening to pick up the girls. We stopped at Ikea first and had hotdogs for dinner and then meandered the store for a bit. The little girls had fun .......

 

 

 

 

 
 We left Ikea, which is just down the street from the airport, at 8:15. The girls were due to land at 8:10. They were out on the curb waiting for us, and I had to do my best not to cry since I was driving and it was so busy and raining. I am sooooo happy to have them home!!!!! We dropped Rhaevyn off at 9pm at the cinema here in town. We made it from Portland to town in roughly 20 minutes. I didn't think we were going to make such good timing. Rhaevyn went to watch a movie with her very good friend. It was the last showing of the movie, and they had wanted to see the movie together. The rest of us went home to celebrate Aeva's big milestone birthday. I had picked up her tea cookies earlier in the day, as that is what she wanted with apple cider/hot cocoa.

Myles came down with a fever Friday night and still was not feeling back to normal on Sunday. He and Chris stayed home from church. It was just us girls Sunday morning.

We got to enjoy some newborn baby snuggles at church. The kids' old babysitter, Alyana, now has three children of her own. Her newest additions are twins. All my kids are known as her Lindsay Babies. So it was fun for her Lindsay Babies to be holding her twins.

 

 

 Meg came down with a short lived tummy bug at 4am Monday morning. Luckily she was pretty much back to her energetic self by the time Ben and Stacey arrived Monday evening. We so enjoyed their visit. We played lots of games and got to sit around visiting.
 

 

 

 Molly even enjoyed snuggling with them.
 
 Some highlights of Christmas day:

We had so much fun looking and deciding on what to get Myles. He wears the pilot hat that we got him several years ago and thought it was time for a new one. His had been worn and washed so much that it was starting to loose some of its parts. After we had found what we thought was the perfect new hat I found a great jacket to go with it  at the second hand store. It was brand new for $8.50. I think it looks so great with his hat and it's nice and warm. Ben says he just needs a jet pack to wear to be like the Rocketeer.

 Rhaevyn tried out Myles's hat:

 I got Chris a new beanie and a banjo strap, which he is thrilled with.

 

 We were finally able to find a Tam  O' Shanter for Rhaevyn at a decent price with the modern Lindsay tartan. It looks fabulous on her.

Myles made Elsa an I spy can.

Rhaevyn got Aeva a kazoo and a Shel Silverstein book (Everything On It). She promptly played us a Christmas tune, ha ha ha:

Meg was thrilled with her present, but was not surprised at what it was when she took the wrapping paper off and saw the box. There is no fooling her. She is not even fooled with Santa filling the stockings. I think she is my youngest to figure Santa out.

I was so excited about my present from Chris. I lost my wedding ring two months before Meg was born. At the time we looked high and lo for it, but were never able to find it. This Christmas he got me a replacement.  I searched on Etsy and finally found one small enough. He thought it was not going to arrive in time because the postal service sent it to Guam. He emailed the company jokingly saying that "my wife's ring decided to take a vacation on Guam." It had sat there for about a week and wasn't moving from the mail site. Luckily the lady who made it shipped us out another one with two day shipping. The original ring finally did arrive, so now I have two for the price of one.

 Myles made Ben a flax hand warmer.

 Myles painted a Christmas ornament for Chris.

What I love most about Christmas is watching the thought put into the presents that the kids make for each other. 

Today, Meg wore her kilt (Ancient Lindsay Tartan) to church today. Friday I was on the hunt for a nice sweater to go with it. I found a brand new one at Goodwill for $5. I think it goes so nicely with her kilt. Her best bud was at church in his kilt too. 

Meg wanted a picture with Rhaevyn before church. Chris and Rhaevyn had left at 7am to drive up to Olympia to be at her friend, Tyler's, mission farewell. Chris had not met him before, so it was nice that he finally got to meet him. He is off to Paraguay for two years.

We've gotten all the doctor and dentist appointments taken care of for the girls and have also had some fun going places like the mall, Goodwill, Uwajimaya (the Japanese market), Red Robin, etc. We are trying to get our fill of them before they have to go back.
And that in a nutshell is what we've been up to. We have one more week with the girls. The time is flying by so quickly, but we sure are enjoying them!!