What a wild week and a half or so it has been. I can't believe that it is all over and done with! I have to back up a little bit and mention Elliot's Christmas program at preschool. They were lucky to have a program at all given the snow and cold weather we have had, but Grant County seems to luck out in the snow department and I have yet to see a snow day yet here. Unfortunately, I had to work, but Justin (bless his heart) went over to see her program and took some pictures for me. Like the Thanksgiving program not much singing from the kids and Elliot spent the entire time with her hands in her eyes so much that she had a wound between her right eye and nose afterwards. In the pictures though you will notice that one girl is on the floor, many are looking all around and one is crying. So maybe Elliot wasn't the worst.
We spent Christmas this year at my parents' house in Arlington (40 miles north of Seattle) and it was a real treat because all my brothers were home and we don't know when that will be happening again. It was so much fun to have us all together. Justin loved the chance to have someone to play video games with and this was a common site. One, two or more in front of the video game, some times a baby around, and treats usually not far.
This is a picture of all my brothers (and Justin of course):
From the left is Justin, Michael (a junior at Western studing business), Mark (a senior at BYU studing mechanical engineering), Aaron (a freshman at BYU and getting ready for a mission this spring/summer), and David holding Elliot (works at Hartford of Conneticut in NYC as an actuary).
Christmas morning was exciting with all the presents and everything, especially for Elliot. She got her swim baby that she despretely wanted and it is pretty cool. It really does swim!
But this was where we found Elliot for the next few days, literally...at the kitchen table playing with her barbies and a polly pocket.
Grey, of course, liked the paper more than anything. As a Christmas gift to me though, he started sitting up a couple weeks ago. He loves being able to sit and play with toys and I love having him content for a little while.
My little man, ready for church!
I was lucky enough to get a Cricut from my mom and Justin gave me some tools and cartridges to go with it. I am so excited to get working on some scrapbooking. I feel behind as Grey is almost 6 months and I have nothing to show for it. I know that isn't as bad as it could be, but I need to keep up or else it feels to overwhelming. Besides some spending money, I got some running stuff to help me with my marathon, a magazine subscription and plenty more. Justin got some great gifts as well and we feel so blessed. I was excited about the things that we were giving this year as well. I made a lot of my presents and I really felt like it meant more. A lot of thought was put into them. I made this star for my mom and mother-in-law (and I have to give a shout out to my friends Shana and Kreanna for the idea- check out their blogs...they have cute stuff!):
I've also been working on knitting hats. My friend Leslie (check out her blog too, Miss Crafty, I tell you!) told me that you can learn on youtube how to knit. And sure enough I was able to learn how to make a simple hat. So I started with my kids and then made one for each of my neices and nephews (8 all together). It's been fun to learn and really not as hard as it seems.
These are my nephew, Brooks, and neice, Faith, and their mom, Annie.
Before I go any further I have to mention the snow that was on the west side of the mountains. It is always a pain when it snows over there because no one is used to driving in it and they don't have the equipment to take care of it in a timely fashion. We made it over the pass in no time but as soon as we got off the freeway it was a nightmare. At major intersections it was like we were off roading. I was so grateful for the four wheel drive. Everyone was stuck everywhere. I didn't want to drive anywhere. Snow plows were not seen very often, but I praised them when I saw them. It was awful. Bless Justin for all the extra driving he did simply because of the bad weather.
On December 30th, my cousin Lauren got married and Elliot was the flower girl. I held my breath, not knowing if she was actually going to do it, but thanks to Grandma Dolma helping with a nap that afternoon and my cousin Brookie for helping hold her hand down the aisle, she made it. The ceremony was beautiful and I wish Lauren all the happiness in the world.
Finally on New Years Day, we made the snowy drive to Spokane to see Justin's family. It took an extra hour to get there, but worth it to see our family. We only stayed one night, dug our car out again and drove home. Again, thank goodness for 4-wheel drive.
Grandma Jana and my nephew, Kolby:
My nephew, Ryan:
Grandma and Granpa got Elliot a leapster and I am not sure who is more excited about it- Elliot or me!
Grey got his own rocking chair to match his sister's:
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday too. I am actually looking forward to getting back to normal life. I spent most of the day today clean up and putting away and it felt pretty good. I think majority of this week will be doing more of the same.
2 comments:
That is hilarious about Elliot and her wound by her eye! She's funny. I loved the update with your brothers. They are so grown up and I didn't realized so many of them are almost done with college. It looks like you got some fun things for Christmas and survived all the driving. Ditto to loving 4 wheel drive cars.
Sounds like a fun Christmas! Grey is in my favorite stage where they can sit up and entertain themselves for a while but they can't go anywhere yet!
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