Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  My kids are at such fun ages and it was really magical.  Christmas Eve we spent the day making gingerbread man houses

 

 My kids NEVER sleep in and Kate decides to do it Christmas morning, which was driving Rachel and Tommy crazy.  I think we finally woke her at 8.

 I really like this picture with Jake smiling at Kate and trying to keep the big kids from racing downstairs

 Her wish came true!  A teddy bear as big as her...48 inches!

Tommy got a robot, which is pretty cool

 And Kate got a table to do puzzles, playdough, coloring (we were in desperate need of an upgrade)

 Lily in her jumperoo

 We spent ALL morning unwrapping gifts.  There were a lot, but it took so long because we would unwrap, assemble and play with each gift before we unwrapped another.  It was fun.

 We had snow and it all melted a few days before Christmas with rain and spring like temperatures.  It was not in the forecast to snow but Mother Nature surprised us (second year in a row) with snow flurries on Christmas Eve and we had a white Christmas after all.

 Tommy really wanted Battleship.

 Princess Castle

 Nice shirt huh?

 And an afternoon filled with skyping with family

 The day after Christmas we headed up to Boston for the weekend to spend some time with the Miles family.  The big kids got to go skiing again in New Hampshire with their friends, with s'mores and sledding included...they love it!  We all had a great time...thinking of making it an annual tradition :)

 

I love that this girls loves puzzles as much as I do.

The rest of the break was really low key, just relaxing and playing with all the toys and games.  I really loved it!  Then we went back for a day of school, then had a snow day on Friday and the church got cancelled on Sunday because of ice.  So we got an extra long winter break.

Ellis Island

At the end of December Rachel finished a big school unit on Immigration.  It concluded with a little skit her class put on, followed by a heritage feast, with some pretty fantastic international dishes. 

 They learned a great deal about Ellis Island and one of the third grade mom's planned a trip there during Christmas break.  It ended up being just her and us because of the rain...but that never stopped us :)

We learned some fascinating things about this place

Rachel and her buddy Ana

Even though we saw the Statue every day for more than a year, it has not lost it's appeal.  I take as many pictures as if I were seeing it for the first time.  It is just stunning.

Another poem by Rachel:

I am your Freedom

I stand so tall,

Enlightening immigrants of all,

They want to be free,

For they have me.

by The Statue of Liberty

 We discovered an a great little secret to visiting the Statue.  Do it from New Jersey!  No crowds, no lines!!  We thought maybe the rain had something to do with it but the boats to New York were just as crowded as ever.  So maybe we'll have to do it again.

December Daze

 We had some warm days, some snow days, some sick days, some busy days...so this month really was a daze.  We were able to get most things done but we missed out on a couple things when I got violently ill...twice.  So other than that it was a pretty fantastic time.  Here are all the pictures, in no order.

Warm weather=chalk, why not?

 Kate is starting to draw people...I love this stage.

 These kiddos are never too far from Lily when she is awake...I feel claustrophobic sometimes.  At least they're cute.

You know she's sick when...

 Mommy Daughter date night to the Vienna Boys Choir...LOVED. every. second. of. it!

 I like big cheeks and I cannot lie

 My kids call them "marshtapillows"

 Kindergarten projects, I seriously LOVE this age.  Maybe I should be a kindergarten teacher.

 Oh, just a cute one

 Some fun with Elf on the Shelf

 Pretty Lily

 Sunday Christmas pictures...she was not posing for a picture but I caught it anyway

 He was posing

 I'm a lucky momma...

 to have these crazy kiddos

 We went to a local farm to cut down our own tree.  Really fun experience, a family run business right from their home selling trees from their lot, they had hot chocolate and cookies for us afterward.  Jake is inspired and wants to do something similar in our family.
Jake really contemplated this tree...it was only $25.  It would have taken up our whole family room...we had a great time laughing about it.

 This kid LOVES Christmas decorations.  He was counting down the days and saying things like, "I can't wait until tomorrow...cause it's one day closer to getting our Christmas tree!"  He had to be patient and wait a whole week because I got sick the weekend after Thanksgiving.

 Ward Christmas party drummer boys...Tommy's favorite song

 I did a dance for the party with the Activity Day girls.  Considering we only had 1 1/2 hours of practice time to put something together, they did fairly well.  It was a Christmas toy dance with jack-in-the-box/rag dolls, toy soldiers, and ballerinas.

 Rachel telling Tommy who Santa really was.  She still believes though.

 Christmas caroling with the Sister Missionaries.  One of my favorite nights of the month.  The neighbors LOVED it.  One neighbor said, "in the 20 years I've lived here, we've never had carolers."  Another one said, "I've seen it in movies and cartoons, but I've never seen it in real life."  Rachel came home giddy as ever saying she felt JOY.

 Self timer.  Only one time.  Seriously miraculous right?  Maybe I should do it for all our family pictures.

 "Mommy, can I have a carrot?" "Sure...you want it for a snowman's nose?" "No, the snow reminded me that I like carrots."