Christmas 🎄

We went out to Decatur for an evening for supper together and to see the star!

The first Friday night in December - family night!  We still didn't have our tree up, but we did have tree-shaped pizza. :)

We finished decorating our tree on December 8. This is the latest we've ever put it up!  Dave loves to turn off all the lights in the entire house, and then turn on the Christmas tree lights to see the beautiful glow.  I love the lights on the fence outside as well, which Dave added as a surprise this year!

I love Emma in her sweet Christmas dresses on Sunday mornings!

This is Emma's "gallon man" she made for school.  It is a way to visualize cups, pints, quarts, and gallon.  This really has nothing to do with Christmas besides the Christmas tree!  :)

making caramel rolls 

We surprised Mom-o one Friday morning with caramel rolls for Santa Lucia Day!  And "vintage" photos from Santa Lucia in the 1990s :

)

Emma wrapped so many gifts for me this year!  They were very thoroughly wrapped  :) - she was a great helper!

On a Friday family night, Emma made a game for us all to do.  She cut out angels in a row, decorated them with Christmas stickers, and hung them all around the house.  (Actually, as I'm typing this, one is still taped to Dave's computer.)  She had us race throughout the house, and everyone had to initial one of the rows of angels.  

Emma's Christmas party and program on her last day of school

I love her smile as she's surrounded by her classmates and her teacher.  Emma loves going to her school!

Emma and brothers after her Christmas performance

I took Emma & the boys on separate visits to Buc-ees to shop for their Christmas gifts.  We draw names, and they had fun looking for a gift for their special person!  And, Emma's doll with matching glasses came with us.  :)

On Sunday, December 20, I played in an 8 hand, 2 piano quartet at church for special music!  It was so fun to prepare with the other 3 pianists.  Our piece was a Christmas carol melody.  After church, we took our Christmas card picture in front of the gorgeous tree in the lobby!

Making Christmas cutout cookies - I usually avoid this because of the work and mess involved, but Emma and Isaac were able to do so much on their own!  And there's nothing like homemade sugar cookies!

Christmas Eve - amazing meal with my parents of Swedish meatballs after the Christmas Eve service at Countryside!!

Christmas morning

Dave drew Isaac's name, and he built him this gift box out of Legos to hold his gift, a mini-fig from Bricks & Minifigs.  

Isaac drew my name and bought me Beaver Nuggets at Buc-ee's when he drove to Houston with Pop to set bridge beams.  On the tag, Isaac wrote "to the mom who loves Buc-ees!" 

Emma drew Josiah and bought him a pop gun at Buc-ee's.  Emma told me, "You won't like this because it makes a loud sound!" Ha!

I had Emma and gave her a sequin beanie boo.  Josiah had Dave and bought him a pair of sunglasses at Wal-Mart with yellow lenses (hunting glasses).  Josiah and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up one of Emma's gifts right before he had x-rays for tightness in his leg.  He was walking/limping very slow, but wanted to buy Dave's gift so badly.  He wanted to look for a tool for him, but the tool section was so deep into the store and it was too far for him to walk with how badly his leg was hurting.  Thankfully, there was a rack of sunglasses at the front, and he was so proud to pick out a pair of sunglasses.  He told the cashier they were for his dad and carried the bag.  

This is Emma's apron from Grandma Heather & Grandpa Glen in Missouri, & she's holding her new water-blowing fan from Grandma Debbie!

The kids spent much of the morning building their new Lego sets!

 

Steamboat

Two days after Christmas, we drove to Steamboat!  We left around 5:00 in the morning and arrived by 8:30 that night.  We had a great drive, and everyone loved listening to Isaac's new Jonathan Park CDs from Christmas.

Dave replaced the spindles on the staircase.  The new iron ones are gorgeous! 

Emma helped a lot with the project!

It took Josiah a day or two to get used to the cold, but after that, he loved being outside!  

He said, "Everything on me is cold!"

Sledding on the hill behind Papa and Nana's house on Tuesday afternoon

Warming up inside with hot chocolate and studying a new maze book from Christmas 

(It was Josiah's gift, but Isaac and Emma enjoyed it so much that they would "do" the mazes with just the fingers.)

I'll never tire of watching my kids sleep - so peaceful and precious!

Dave took Isaac and Emma skiing all day on Wednesday and they loved it!  He wanted them to get comfortable on skis again; and, then on Thursday he took Josiah along for his first time!  Josiah was very hesitant and said "I'll go if I have to!"  But, like his siblings, he ended up loving it as well and didn't want to leave.  

Emma skiing on Wednesday, their first day this year 

Josiah learning 

Emma on the magic carpet hill

Dave helping Josiah down the magic carpet hill

Isaac skiing 

The ski lift doesn't usually run during the week at Howelson, but they had it on on Thursday, and the kids loved it!  

Dave couldn't believe it, but the kids wanted to ski again on Friday, too!  Dave was beat :) but took them again!  Papa, Nana, and I took lunch to them and everyone ate in the gorgeous sunshine!  We took Josiah home after lunch so that Dave could do the bigger runs with Isaac and Emma.  (Josiah would have much rather stayed and was very disappointed to leave.)  

Since it was a weekday, the chairlift wasn't running, so the only way up to the top was the Poma lift.  The Poma lift is essentially a little seat attached to a long rope.  You hold on to the rope, sit down, and keep your skis pointed forward while the rope pulls you all the way to the top.  Papa, Nana, Josiah, and I watched Dave and the kids go up, and Emma fell off about 1/4 of the way up.  She skied down the hill, while Dave and Isaac continued to the top.  Papa went and waited with her til Dave and Isaac came down.  We were so proud of Isaac for making it to the top and skiing down his first blue!  

It ended up taking Emma six more times to get to the top...she would get further up each time, but eventually her skis would slip to the side and she would fall.  The hill becomes progressively steeper, and I started crying watching her wait on the side.  I said I needed to leave and couldn't keep watching!  I knew Dave would keep her safe, but it was hard to watch her fall off repeatedly.  Each time, Dave helped her down - even skiing down with her in his arms!  (He said it was fun, and she LOVED it!)  Emma is determined, though, and she made it to the top on her seventh try!  By then, Papa, Nana, Josiah, and I were already at home.  Dave called me and gave me a second-by-second narration of Emma making it to the very top!  (He was on the seat behind her on the Poma lift.)  She did it, and they all had a great rest of the day skiing new, longer runs! 

A skiing picnic lunch on Friday!