Snowy Day

This winter has been quite warm with lots of rain but very little snow. Our very first snow to speak of came the day after New Years- the last day of our Christmas vacation. Since it wasn't supposed to last long, as soon as it started falling, the kids headed outside for some snow time fun. The got out the snow shovels to try to maximize the snow that they had and build some forts.
Weston was busy building snowballs to throw at everyone. (Including me who was NOT dressed for the snow!) :)

Brian and Amber went out to try to sled. I kept telling them that there wasn't enough snow to sled on, but Brian thought that perhaps the sidewalk would be better to sled down because it had some snow on it.

It really wasn't, but he looked cute out there trying. The boys have been bummed that we have had so little snow this year. Weston, Brian and Aaron all claim that they like winter best because it snows. Personally, I haven't minded the 50 degree, sunny winter days. It reminds me of Texas.

Amber coming to show me her snow ball. As you can see, we really didn't get very much snow at all, but the kiddos didn't mind!

I'm going to get you Mommy says Weston!!

Here the kids are gathering snow in an attempt to build 2 snow forts on the driveway and then make snow balls too.

Amber and Brian were working on one fort while Weston and Aaron were working on the other.

Brian and his fort.

Amber kept stealing snow from Weston and Aaron's fort and then she would bring it over here to Brian for their fort!! :)

Weston and Aaron gathering snow in the sled for their fort. This was when it was snowing the hardest. It didn't last much longer than this.

Having a fun time on the last day of Christmas Break. The boys were hoping that the snow would cancel school for the next day or at least delay it since our break was so short this year, but no such luck.

It was a fun, snowing afternoon!!!

Ice Skating

Over Christmas break, we did our usual ice skating on fountain square. It was nice because it has been so warm this year. It was just about 50 on the day that we went. But with all the buildings downtown, it is still shady and so we like to wear our gloves to keep warm. Grandma and Grandpa both went out on the ice with us this year! Barth and Evan stayed outside the rink and took pictures. :) Here is Brian skating by (in the red coat!)
Aaron was a regular old pro this year! He wanted no help at all and took off as soon as his skates were on!

Grandma thought that the ice skating was fun too! The rink was pretty crowded, but it seemed even more so than other times. We had to wait at least a half an hour to go skating this time. Grandma got herself a nice, new warm coat while she was here!

I mostly skated with Amber. At first she wanted to hold my hand. As time went on, she was just as independent as the rest of the children. She did fall some, and laughed about it every time that she did. :) She is so funny sometimes.

Brian has been roller blading quite a bit on our driveway this year and so he did a fantastic job this year at skating. It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago he and Weston were pulling my arms off trying to skate out there for the first time and having it take over 10 minutes to make it around the rink. That was the year that they got their picture in the paper! My how time flies!

I am thankful for our fun family tradition!!

What a handsome group of boys I have!!!

Sometimes Amber wanted to skate with Grandma and hold her hand instead. But she still wanted me close by. Even though it was after Christmas, she still wanted to wear her Christmas skirt. I told her it would be kind of cold to wear that while she ice skated, but she has her own ideas about things sometimes! :)

Weston did an awesome job skating this year!! :) He is growing up! This year he and I wore the same sized skate!! Weston loved skating all around. Then he wanted to help out his siblings as they skated. He went around with Aaron and then with Amber for a bit when I sat out with Aaron because his feet were hurting.

With all of those boys at our house, us girls have to stick together!!!

Weston helping out Aaron even though he didn't technically need it. I am glad that my boys like to help each other and that they are friends. It is such a big blessing to me!

Brian

Grandma

my boys

Barth and Grandpa watching all the action take place. Grandpa went skating too for a bit, but after a fall he decided that he would rather just watch. I was thankful that he didn't get hurt!! While we were waiting in line to skate, Barth took Evan over to his office to do a few things (and so that Evan could be warm!), but they came back when we started skating. I have no pictures of my little Evvy, but he was so good. He just sat in his stroller and watched all the action for the well over an hour time that we skated. For my little guy who is always on the go, that is fantastic!!

Grandma skating with the boys!

Grandma and Aaron

Our whole gang!!

Amber saying hi to Daddy! When all was said it done, and everyone was worn out, Grandma and Grandpa treated the kiddos to ice cream! All in all, it was a perfect day!!!!

Christmas Evening

The tradition in our family is to do the Christmas story on the FHE before Christmas. This year, Brian was feeling very sick, so we put it off until the evening on Christmas. It was nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Yorke there to be our audience. It was also nice to be able to remember the reason for Christmas on the actual day.
Amber was, of course, our Mary. Baby Jesus was her favorite dolly wrapped in her blanket from her bed. :)

Evan was a shepherd/ wise man. Or at least that is what he was supposed to be. His head piece only lasted about 2 minutes before he cried and wanted it off. After that he kind of wandered around and was sometimes a shepherd, and sometimes the audience with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are most of the kiddos waiting for their turn to go. We usually do our nativity in the family room, but we thought that it would be nice to have it in the front room this year so we could use the piano to sing.

Grandma and Grandpa were a great audience. It was so nice to have them here with us for Christmas this year. We loved it!!

Weston doubled this year as Joseph and the donkey!! :) He really wanted to be the donkey that Amber rode in on this year. He was so cute! I was the narrator.

Aaron waiting to be a wise man. Our home teacher brought us the small chest that he is holding. It had 3 little sections that contained rocks that represented gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So cool!

Getting ready to come and see the baby Jesus.

Baby Jesus was very quiet and cooperative this year. No crying at all. :)

My, but the shepherds/ wise men were handsome!!

Time to sing a few Christmas songs at the end. It looks like Evan went shopping and got something to bring to baby Jesus. :) We were just glad that he was pretty good during the whole thing. It was an enjoyable evening for all of us. I am thankful for this time of year when we can focus on and remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! What a wonderful time of year!!!

Barth's new car

This past weekend while Barth's parents were around to watch the kiddos, Barth and I went out and looked at cars. His car had been having trouble lately, so we traded it in for this one. It is a 2010 Toyota RAV4. It doesn't have many miles on it and is much more conducive to boy scout camp outs! :) Hopefully this one will run well and we will have it till it dies!!!!

Catching up

We enjoyed having Barth's mom and dad here for our Christmas break. Now that they have gone back home, I am in the process of catching up from the last week and a half. Scroll down, there are a few new posts. That, and hopefully I will get a few more in over the next few days! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know we did!!

Christmas Morning

We had a wonderful Christmas morning this year. Barth and I went to bed in the wee hours of the morning after finishing up the wrapping. Just an hour later, we woke up to Aaron in the bathroom crying and telling himself not to throw up. It was so sad. He kept saying, "I can't throw up on Christmas. I can't throw up on Christmas. If I throw up, I won't get to open any presents." :( After we reassured him that he would, indeed, get to open presents that morning, even if he did throw up, he was able to calm down a bit and get back to sleep next to the side of our bed. We had church on Sunday morning at 9, so we had told our children that we would only be doing our gifts from Santa before church. Since Aaron was up in the night, we didn't wake up till 7am when Weston and Brian came into our room, fully dressed for church, to let us know that it was 7. I knew that they had been up earlier around 5 because I was still awake with Aaron at the time. We then woke up Aaron, Amber and Evan and headed downstairs to see what Santa brought. It was so fun!! Everyone was happy with their gifts. Since I was playing the organ, piano, and singing, Barth stayed home with Aaron while I went to church with the other children and Grandma and Grandpa. When it came time for us to leave church, Barth popped in the breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls that I made for Christmas breakfast. We came home and had a yummy breakfast before starting our Christmas morning at about 11am.
Evan got trains for Christmas! He got a BIG train table that he loves!! He had fun attempting to open everyone else's gifts that morning. We open our gifts one at a time, one person at a time, going in order from youngest to oldest! (so it goes- Evan, Amber, Aaron, Brian, Weston and then repeat. Not that one person gets to open all their presents and then it is the next person's turn, but that they each get to open one present and then we go on to the next person. It lasts longer that way!!)

This kiddos loved all of their gifts. For some reason, I have a picture of each on the children individually on Christmas morning, but not Weston. :( Sorry Weston! My brain wasn't fully functioning that day!!! Brian was finally feeling better on Christmas. (and then he got sick again, darn it!) This spy watch was the #1 thing that he wanted this Christmas!!

Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa taking in all the action! It was quite the fun morning seeing the children with their gifts.

Amber and her new dress from Grandma and Grandpa Whitley. This was her favorite gift of the day she said. She has wanted to wear the dress every day. She loves that she matches her baby!!! Amber was, by far, the most fun to watch on Christmas morning. This year, every single gift she opened, she exclaimed, "Oh WOW! This was just what I wanted! Oh, thank you! Thank you!!" It was so sweet!

Aaron loved his Angry Bird! His favorite thing was his Pogo Stick Advanced that he got from Santa. Don't call it just his pogo stick, he will be quick to correct you that it said that it was an "advanced" kind and so it was for bigger kids! :)

What a great day we had. It was nice to be able to go to church and remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, Christ's birth. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with family and have Grandma and Grandpa there to celebrate with us!! All around, it was a perfect day!

Christmas Eve

This year on Christmas eve, I made a big dinner so that we could have it Christmas day as well. After our yummy ham dinner, the kiddos headed over to the couch in anticipation for a Christmas eve present from Grandma and Grandpa Yorke.
Running to go and get their gift.

Hmmmm......what could it be?

Yea! New Christmas jammies!!!! :)

New jammies are a tradition that Barth's parents have done with the grandkids for several years. Once they had them out, it was time to put them on and get a few pictures!!

Even though it wasn't really all that late yet, Evan was done with the day.....hence the binky!! While I cleaned up in the kitchen, Daddy and Grandpa snapped pictures of the kiddos!!

Once all the pictures had been taken, it was time to sit down and watch Scrooge and eat home made Chex Party Mix. That is tradition in Barth's family. :) I have to say that we really enjoy the musical version on the show. The songs are catchy!! And it was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa here for the tradition. (Though I am not sure why we don't have any pictures of them on this night, but we don't!) Then the children set out cookies for Santa and apples for his reindeer. We thought that apples might be a nice change from the carrots that other children would leave for them. Then it was time to head to bed so Santa could come!!