Miss A went back to school this morning. The kids and I all got up early and walked her to her bus stop. It was only -3 this morning, so I didn't have to worry about bundling everyone up too much. We had some fantastic times together over the Christmas break, but it's time to get back in the groove. I sure hope she has a great day today.
I went through my pictures from December and picked out my favorites of each of us... I am well aware that I look like a dork in the picture of Matt and I, but I don't care. I think it's cute. Hahaha.
For the month of December a little elf named Jingle came to live with our family. He would watch over the kids all day long and every night he would fly back to Santa to report on their behavior. When he came back to our home, he would hide in a new spot. In the morning, the kids would wake up and hunt around the house to find him. Here were a few of the more memorable places he hid. One morning, we were happy to find some yummy banana muffins he made for us. Elf donuts do look a lot like Cheerios, don't they?
We are looking forward to Jingle coming back to our home next December.
December 23rd, the girls and I acted (if you can call it that, haha!) in the annual Live Nativity Pageant that our church hosts. This was the second year we were part of it. Last year, Miss C was the youngest cast member and I think she may have been again this year. It is a wonderful way to help teach the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. The girls loved watching Mary and Joseph walk in to Bethlehem with a donkey. Unfortunately, the sheep weren't there this year, because apparently they were having babies. It could have been a bit distracting from the purpose of the pageant if it was interrupted by kids screaming, "What's wrong with that sheep, mom!!" There was also a Llama that the wisemen came in with. There aren't many camels in these parts. :) Anyway, it was fun being able to participate in this with the girls. Maybe next year, Mr. Q will be old enough to be in it too so the whole family can do it together.
We had some great news later that same night, my brother Chris and his lovely girlfriend Sarah got engaged! We are so happy that we are going to have a new sister-in-law and aunt for our kiddos. It's great to see Chris so happy. Much love to both of you!
We were lucky to spend Christmas Eve with Nana and Bampa & with Matt's brother and his wife and family. We had good food, wonderful visiting & the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. I often wish Matt's 5 sisters didn't live so far, so we could spend more time together and our kids could get to know their cousins. Mr. Q & Miss C have yet to meet one of their Aunts and their cousins from that family. Maybe one day we will all get together when it isn't a funeral.
Christmas morning we got up and the kids got to each open a present or two before we went to church. I strategically had the girls open the Christmas dresses I made for them. I started off making a dress for Miss C. but the sizing on the pattern was way off, and it ended up fitting Miss A. At least it was bigger than expected and not smaller. I would have died if it didn't fit either of them.
I had such a hard time choosing fabric. It feels like such an overwhelming task for me to sort through thousands of different fabrics hoping to find whatever I had in mind. I love how colorful and busy the fabrics are. I was thrilled with how the dresses turned out. The first time I tried to use a pattern on my own, I cut into the pattern where I shouldn't have (I think it was a dart) and my fabric was ruined. That experience totally turned me off from sewing clothes until this year. I finally decided to give it another go. Thank goodness for my sister and the Internet's help.
We ate supper with our other family (the Bennett's) on Christmas Day. There is a lot of love (and people, hahaha) in that home around the holidays and it is so fun to be part of it. One of our favorite traditions there is the Christmas Ball, which has been done on Boxing Day the last few years. The Christmas Ball is a huge (like almost a meter in diameter) ball made of used wrapping paper, layers upon layers of packing tape, and a bunch of small gifts wrapped inside.You play the Christmas Ball similar to Hot Potato. Everyone sits in a circle, Christmas music plays and the ball is passed from person to person. When the music stops, instead of being "out", that's when you try to rip into the Christmas Ball and find a gift, until the music starts and you have to pass the ball along again. It is a really fun tradition, that I am happy we get to be part of!
My parents and siblings, an aunt & uncle, their families and my grandma all came to town for New Years this year. We celebrated Christmas (on the 30th) with them all at my sisters house & had a fantastic New Years too. Every year we play this gift game where each adult brings two gifts. You try to make your gifts either best suited to a specific person or a specific gender. Then, when it comes time to open gifts, everyone just trades gifts until they everyone is happy with what they got. I saw that my soon-to-be-sister-in-law who loves to knit and crochet had pinned
this bag on Pinterest, so I thought I'd try to make one similar to it. With my sister's help, it turned out really great.
I tried to make skinny pockets inside to fit her needles and other stuff. If ever I decide to make something like this again, I will definitely try to find an extra large pair of pants. The size 6 pair I bought at the thrift store was a pain to work with because I had to piece sections together to get the size of bag I wanted. It would have been so much easier to just use bigger pants.
New Years Eve, we played Minute to Win It. It was really fun. My niece Megan had planned a game that we played at Matt's family reunion this past summer & I got all her cards so we could play it with my side of the family too. It's a game where you split into two teams and you have one minute to accomplish a task Some of the tasks required you to compete against another person, and others were individual. Clockwise, from the top left:
1) Partner #1 places end of uncooked spaghetti noodle in mouth and threads it through the tab of empty pop can. Partner #2 places opposite end of same noodle in mouth. They carry the can to a nearby table, where they place the can. They repeat this with two other cans but place them in a pyramid beside, then on top of the first two. This is all done without use of hands.
2 & 5) Five rings of Slinky toy are placed behind headband and then headband is put on head. You have to try to get the slinky to land on your head and stay there for 3 seconds. I think this one might be impossible.
3) Cookie is placed on forehead. You need to get the cookie into your mouth using only facial muscles, no hands. If the cookie falls off, you need to place it on your forehead before trying again.
4) A baseball is placed in the end of a leg of pantyhose. You need to knock over 8 water bottles that are placed around you by swinging your head about.
6) Eight ping pong balls are placed in an empty tissue box with two slits with a belt threaded through. You put on the belt and have a minute to jump, shake, bounce the balls out of the box. It's called Junk in the Trunk.:)
7) Pull every tissue out of a 160 count box using one hand within a minute. I couldn't find 160 count boxes and the 200 count I bought might have been impossible. A valiant effort was made though.
It was a fun game. I think we had way too many cards, but I didn't realize how long it would take between tasks to get them set up. Little Mr. Q stayed awake through all of this. What a trooper.
This post has taken me two days to write. I've gotta get back in the groove of posting regularly. Anyway, it was a great Christmas holiday season. We spent time with family and friends we love, made lots of fun memories and ate way too much food.What more could we ask for?
