Christmas...on the 26th

(This picture was taken the Sunday before Christmas)

 

This year Jason had to work Christmas day, which was very hard for him because Christmas is his all time favorite holiday.  We decided that we would hide Santa's presents before the kids woke up until the next day when Jason got home (whenever that was going to be noon maybe) but we would let them have their stockings.

I got to be the lucky one and break the news to the kids.  For sure I thought Olivia was going to break down, she had been counting down every morning for the last two weeks but I was wrong, Madi had a complete break down.  Then I explained to them how hard their dad works and that he is the one who bring home all the money so that we can have presents and that he doesn't want to miss out on all the fun and if it was them who had to miss all the fun they wouldn't like that.  That made it all better.

They decided to write letters to Santa asking him to leave a little present in their stocking so they had something to do Christmas morning.

 

So Christmas Eve Jason did not have to work, but he had to go to bed early so that he could be at work by 5:00am, so we did our usually Christmas Eve Dinner and Family Night on the Birth of our Savior and then went around looking at lights.  I could tell Jason wasn't enjoying it as much as he had in the past but we made the most of the situation.  When we got home we put food out for the reindeer, a plate of cookies and milk for Santa and then the girls left their notes out for Santa. 

 

Christmas Day the tree looked the same because "dad had hide the presents before he went to work" but the stocking were full and Santa delivered them with an extra present in their stocking, which was totally worth it because they played with those things for at least a couple of hours and the game "Headbands".

Then that night for dinner the Dunlavy's invited us over for dinner.  To tell you the truth I wasn't going to go, not because of them but just because I didn't want to intrude on someones Christmas, but then thought why not, we can get out of the house and the kids can play with their kids' new toys.  But really it was very nice of them to invite us over and we had a nice dinner and the kids played while we talked.

The 26th, originally Jason was going to be doing surgery until around Noon so that's what we planned but at 9:00am the garage door was going up and he was home.  The kids and I were very excited!  He got lucky and the surgery that he was supposed to do got bumped back a couple of hours and he told them he wasn't waiting around until noon to even start the surgery and came home.

 

 

We told the kids to wait upstairs while we put out the presents Santa had brought and the ones from Jason and I, took some pictures just like we would had on Christmas morning minus the stocking and had the kids come down. It turned out to be a FUN Christmas...I think everyone got just what they wanted plus some!

 

 

 

 

 

wishing you a merry christmas

24 hours

 

This week we were warned and warned that a bad storm was coming and that school might be cancelled and it really happened!

 

Wednesday night it stated snowing and didn't stop.  I got a call that night at 10:30pm that school was going to be cancelled the next day.  Then the wind started blowing and at 3:00am Thursday our power went out and came back on exactly 24 hours later at 3:00am Friday.  School was cancelled on Friday also, which meant Winter Break started 2 days early.

 

 

 

The kids got a quick lesson on how important electricity and how many things use electricity...above is a list that the girls made of things that "can't work" and things that "can work" (Olivia copied one two but I couldn't find her's).  We did have out gas fireplace which helped a little bit with warmth.  And then we had a lot of people help us....at lunch time Bro, Foster in our ward brought us McDonald's on his way to work, that was VERY nice of him and our neighbor brought over his snow blower while his wife and Carrie, my other neighbor help dig out of the driveway entrance, while the kids played in the snow.

 

 Jason had been at work all day and was surprised that we still didn't have power when he got home so we went to IHOP for dinner.  We also had friends offer to have us sleep at their house but we decided we would be just fine sleeping in front of the fire so we got a lot of blankets and went to bed.  It was actually fun having a family sleepover (I actually got a little hot and had to take off some blankets).  Jason had to work the next day so he slept upstairs, he sleeps better in the cold anyways, so it worked out fine.

 

  

I wouldn't want to do it all the time but it was kind of fun for a day!

 

 

SANTA!

We saw Santa a few times this year.

 

The 1st time was the day after Thanksgiving at the Mall but that particular Mall doesn't let you take pictures and I refuse to pay for a picture, so they just told him what they wanted and then wrote letters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2nd time was at our Ward Christmas Party. 

 

 

The 3rd time we went to the Bass Pro Shop.  It was so cute!  They had a whole village set up with reindeer, a free Merry-go-Round (see end of year pictures to see what that looked like), free craft, free rifle shooting, trains going around, etc. When we went it was really close to Christmas so we got a specific time to go see Santa, which was nice because you can go do things until your time slot got close.  But best of all they had a free picture with Santa! 

 

Happy Birthday Savannah!

8 years ago, actually at this very hour, Jason and I became parents for the first time and our lives changed forever...for the better!

Savannah turns 8 years old today!  Where has the time gone! She is a wonderful, sweet, girl who always tries to do what's right.  She is such a good big sister and we know she was sent to our family to fulfill that role.  She is maturing so much and it fun to watch her learn and grow.  She is so excited to be 8 years old and be baptized next month, start working on her Faith in God, and go to Activity Days (something she has been waiting for since she went to "Great to Be Eight" last January).

 

 

  

We had a party for her yesterday with 10 friends from school and church.  Which was a little crazy but fun to see her with all her friends both new and old.  We had after school snacks, played pin the present, made bracelets, played a present game, had an ice cream bar and opened presents.  The girls had a great time and I'm sure they would have played all night if we let them. 

Now today she is out on her date with Jason and then we will have a little family party and finish opening her present and have cake. 

 

(gifts: Grandma and Grandpa Jensen-money
grandpa and grandma Gardner-piano books, sparkly scarf, white sweater for her baptism, and scripture case
grandpa Spjut-money
great grandma and grandpa Spjut- money
Katie, Spencer and Bailee- money
Riley-nightlight
Mom and Dad- scripture and shirts, 
Madi, Olivia and Austin-lunch box)

Update on Savannah: 

Her favorite color is Blue

Her favorite primary song is "As For Me and My House"

Her favorite princess is Ariel

favorite dinner is Cafe Rio

favorite treat is Bottle Caps

favorite game is Uno and

favorite movie is "Cinderella III" and "Another Cinderella Story"

favorite toy is "Sally Sadie" her new doll

favortie book is Junie B. Jones books and Ramona Books

Her BFF is Ava (who is moving in a couple of weeks, very sad.  She will miss her!)

She likes things organized and put away and sometimes gets a mad when they aren't, you could say she's a little OCD at times.

She loves earring and spends most her money on them

Her favorite store is Clairs and could spend hours in there looking at all the earings

She likes going to primary and seeing all her friends there and her teachers Bro and Sis Parker.

She likes school, her friends there and her teacher Mrs. Harrington

She loves her sisters and brother

Wishes she could live in Utah and Iowa so she can be close to both her family and friends.

 

We love you Savannah!  We hope you had a wonderful 8th birthday!

moving on

Seems like yesterday when Jason and I first became parents and now our 1st baby is 8 years old.  Jason has been very sad lately because we just sold our crib and changing table and really he can't talk about it without getting emotional.  It is sad for me too but I'm ready to move on to the next stage of our life.  I have loved every stage of my life so far and the things I have learned along the way and now I love watching our kids grow and learn and love how much they teach me.  Yes time is going by WAY to fast but I have decided that I need to live in the now and enjoy what I have instead of trying to move on so quickly.  I love my life, even when it's hard.

First Snow...

it's not a lot but it's snow, we got very excited about it this morning getting ready for church...

 

This is what was left by the time we got home from church.  Can't believe it's December 9th and this is the 1st snow of the season.