Christmas Break: At home in NV

Our Nevada relations had kindly waited to open any of their Christmas presents until we arrived. So first thing out of the car, our children were rushed to the arms of their aunts, uncle, and grandparents and then let loose on a pile of gifts.

Our days at home were filled with the usual things: games, books, food, music, animals...

Grace is anxious to begin cello lessons. She has been asking for a little while. I keep reminding her that each kid can only have so many lessons/practices/games on the schedule. Once she is done with volleyball and swim we can look for a teacher. She was super excited to get a little intro from her cellist auntie Sara.

Dad got a new plane since the last time we were home. Cori and I got to go up one perfect afternoon. I like sitting in the back seat so I have space to spread out cameras and also so I can close my eyes from time to time. Being up in a little plane frightens me just a bit.

But I go every time because I can't get enough of this place. I love the lake and the valley. Pictured below, Dad banked a hard turn to give us a great aerial view of Emerald Bay.

We had our fancy Christmas dinner and music night a few nights after Christmas. Dad gave Mom a set of chimes to add to her hand bell collection. The kiddos learned a few songs to perform with her. Grace and Grant played piano. We all sang.

Aunt Sara and Uncle Kevin helped wrangle the littles as the night went along.

Papa Jeff got all the kids up on G.S.. I only got outside in time to snap a few photos of Grace. Gracie would get up every morning and go out every evening she could to help dad take care of the horses.

The barn has other things to keep this little boy happy!

It wouldn't be a proper gathering at Grammie and Papa's without a pizza night. Dad is getting really good with his outdoor oven.

Grace spent most of her free time in this very position with Friday. She was at the end of book number 2 by the end of our few days at home.

Before we headed up to Lake Tahoe for the rest of our trip, Sara and I paid a visit to her first cello teacher, Helen. Helen has been a musical fixture in our family life since we moved to Nevada in 1995. We gave a little concert, Sara on the cello, me on the piano, to Helen and her daughter.

Christmas Break : First week in TX

I made it into Grant's class party on the last day of school before break. Here he is with his two best buds, Grayson and Kyler. They are in the same class at school and all live within bike-riding distance in our neighborhood. Kyler is also in our ward so he and Grant get to hang out at church too.

We stayed busy on our days off school. Grace and Grant entertained neighbor friends nearly everyday. It has always been a goal for Cori and I that ours be the hang out house. We love having everyone play on our turf.

The annual Christmas plates went out to all our neighbors. After living here for nearly 8 months, it was nice to finally get around and have a conversation with everyone.

Our travel plans put us on a plane Christmas day. So we asked Santa if he would stop at our house a day early. On Christmas Eve Eve we set out cookies, threw sparkly reindeer food across the front lawn, and snuggled into our beds. The girls set up camp in the boys' room that night for a sibling slumber party.

Christmas Eve morning, Cori and I were awakened by the melodious voices of our children singing to us over the baby monitor. We joined them in the boys' room to read some scriptures and then they got to descend the stairs one at a time in reverse birth order.

Santa came! Grace got rollerblades, the one thing on her list. Grant got a drifter. Eden got walkie talkies, the one thing on her list. And Jeffery got a magna doodle.

Because Santa is generous and because of a order snafu with Amazon (which resulted in no possibility of returning the duplicate order (their fault) because of "hazardous material" i.e. the battery) Grant was also given another drifter to share with his family.

The kids got to make several gingerbread houses. The gingerbread village spent a month lined up on the dining room table, and Jeffery spent a month climbing up onto the table picking and eating all the candy off. It's good to be the forth child sometimes.

One of my most favorite parts of Christmas: the mail! 

Piano!

Christmastime also brought along piano recital time. Grace and Grant memorized two songs each and performed them well to a chapel full of parents and friends. Grant was thoughtful and precise. Grace displayed her usual performance flare... We sure love our teacher Ms. Sabrina. She hosts quarterly theory group lessons (which are more like huge educational play dates), as well as student recitals (for students eyes and ears only) throughout the school year.

12 days of Christmas

Being at home until Christmas day gave us the opportunity to do the 12 days of Christmas for another family. It is a tradition the children always ask us about. Our holiday travels have made it impossible to do it every year. We did it once in Petoskey, once in Phoenix, and we were so happy to be able to do it here too. (None of the families we have hit read our blog, so I'm fairly confident our secret will be safe!) Here are Grace and Grant delivering 3 pizzas on the third day of Christmas. Most nights they were costumed in one thing or another to stay incognito. Eden even got in on the ding-dong-ditching action a couple of times.

Polar Express and Changes

We had a big change come to our ward family just before Thanksgiving. Our single congregation was divided into two. Though we had grown to a remarkable size, the long-timers of our ward family had been together since the time they were a small branch meeting in a building 20 minutes away. But it was time. Our primary was 180+ kids strong. The youth program was enormous. All the auxiliaries were laden. And ward functions were cumbersome.

In our new ward, I got to keep my post as the 1st counselor in the young women's presidency. Cori was called to be the 1st counselor in the bishopric, serving with our bishop from the previous ward. As the newest ward, we got to take the 1PM slot for sacrament meeting for a month- a true test of faith for any parent of young children. (We now meet at 9, amen) 

Plans were already in full swing for our ward Christmas party before the split. So, although we began meeting separately for everything else, we joined together for this one last enormous fun activity. As neither ward meetinghouse nor stake center could accommodate our numbers, we rented time in the cafeteria/auditorium of one of our elementary schools. 

It was a fun night. Pajama dress code, dance floor, dinner, cutest Santa ever, a reading of The Polar Express, some caroling and coco. We filled the place up to capacity.

Bishop L, the fearless shepherd