Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas season filled with all of our favorite family traditions...
Making turkeys -

Technically that was for Thanksgiving but since it's a cute picture and I never blogged about it...
Decorating the Christmas Tree -

We have a weird tree that just stays decorated and is raised and lowered via remote control, so there's not a whole lot of decorating to be done.  Just a little fluffing and then posing for pictures of course. 
Making "Gingerbread" houses -

Maybe someday I'll get Jill's pattern and make real gingerbread houses like Randall did when he was growing up...but not this year.  However, Carter did make his without the added support of a milk carton.  We were all very impressed!  ;)

Decorating cookies -

 First attempts at "selfies."  I think they need a little more practice.

 For some reason, Meleah didn't want me to put this picture on the blog...but I couldn't resist! -

Seeing Santa at Jana's work Christmas party -

This year Randall's work also did a Christmas movie, on the same day as Jana's party.  So, we saw The Grinch at Jordan Commons in the morning with Jana, and then went to the Gateway to watch Frozen and eat pizza with Randall's work that afternoon.  It was an exhausting, slightly sickening (seriously ate WAY too much popcorn) and yet fun-filled day. 
Wearing Christmas dresses -

Playing with boxes -

 Our longest box train EVER -

Brown side for Christmas Eve -

The kids watching a Nativity video that Taryn made for their ward party.

I LOVE watching these two little cuties.  It reminds me of the good ol' days when Alexis and I would play together in this very house -

Opening gifts Christmas morning -

Emma's first Christmas!  She was so adorable and happy even though we went to bed late and woke her up pretty early (7:45) to open presents with us. 

For the first 30 minutes of gift-unwrapping time Savanna was only interested in unwrapping all the treats in her stocking.  Not eating them.  Just unwrapping them, and laying them out on the floor. 

My favorite Christmas present was Randall cleaning up every single toy, box, stupid little wire thingy, scrap of paper, candy wrapper, etc. while I made breakfast.  It was such a big job that I think it wore him out a little bit. -

Stewart side for Christmas Dinner-

I'm mad that I didn't get a picture of all the kids with their gifts.  Bob and Jill got them little suitcases that they've been filling with toys and pulling all over the house.  I also should have snapped a pic of Jill WALKING!  She's had both of her knees replaced within the last couple of months and she's doing SO GREAT! 

 ...and now they're TRIPLETS!  ;)

After seeing all these blurry pictures covered with strange bubble-looking thingy's, I'm kinda wishing I would have asked for a new camera for Christmas! 

 

Favorite Gifts

Carter:  "My helicopter and Lego Harry Potter 5-7."

Lydia:  "All of them!  But especially Barbie a Diamond Castle and my puppy!"

Meleah: "My kitty and my Brave Barbie."

Cameron: "Sully, Mike Mizowsky, and my video game."

Savanna: "My baby!"

Emma:  Hasn't really played with any of her toys.  She prefers to rummage around and attempt to eat all the candy wrappers and pistachio shells that the kids keep leaving all over the floor.  (Even with my cool new battery operated garbage can, they STILL leave their trash on the floor.  Ugh!)

 

We are so grateful for the birth of Christ!  We LOVE our families so much, and are thankful we have the holidays to bring us together and remind us how blessed we are to have each other for eternity.  Merry Chrismas Everybody!  

SNOW!

My kids are thrilled that we finally have enough snow to play in this year.  I personally have enjoyed the warm weather, but I guess it can't last forever. 

Unfortunately, it was FREEZING, and the snow was too powdery to make anything with, so the kids only played for about 15 minutes before coming in for...

Hot Chocolate!

Twinners!

What is a girl to do when her son is wearing Men's sizes and she finds an AMAZING deal on sweatshirts?  Does she buy one for her son, or one for her husband?  Why, BOTH of course!

 This is a picture before they went on a father/son date to Burger King.  (Don't make fun of his purse "satchel." He made it himself, with Grandma Brown's help!)  I wish my camera didn't take such crappy pictures sometimes -

Carter thinks it's awesome to match his Dad, and tries to whenever possible.  I won't tell you what Randall thinks.  :)

No Me Gusta Croup

Well, we had our first non-Lydia-related ER visit last week.

Last Sunday morning, Savanna came into our bedroom with some SERIOUS Darth Vader breathing going on.  She stayed home from church with Daddy, and sounded HORRIBLE all day.  She kept saying, "Mommy, I not working."  By Sunday night, I started to get really worried.  I had Randall check her oxygen levels with his pulse oximeter and they were okay, but I just didn't think I would be able to sleep with her breathing being so labored.  Then, she started getting upset, and I noticed that her hands were kind of a greyish blue color.  Randall took her outside into the cold air, and I got ready to take her to the hospital.  She still sounded terrible, but she was actually kind of excited to have a night out with Mommy.  When we got into the car she said "Where is everybody?"  I explained that the other kids were staying home, and we were going to the Dr. to make her feel better.  I think she was pretty excited about that, because every five minutes she would say,  "Mommy, I go WITH YOU to the Doctor!"  in a cheerful voice (well, as cheerful as you CAN sound with a bad case of croup).  I guess I need to plan some more mother-daughter activities that don't involve the Emergency Room!  When we got there her oxygen was a little low, and they did a breathing treatment right away.  They also gave her a steroid medicine.  She still sounded bad, so they had us wait for an hour to check her oxygen level and make sure she didn't need another breathing treatment.  After the hour, her oxygen level was up and we were able to take her home.  It was definitely better than the 3 times we've taken Lydia to the ER, even though I was so frazzled when we left that I didn't bring an IPAD, coloring book, or anything to keep her entertained while we were waiting.  Fortunately we were in a fun ocean themed room so we spent a lot of time playing "I spy a red fishie, blue octopus, etc."  Savanna is still coughing (along with the rest of the family) but fortunately everyone is doing much better, and no one got it as bad as my Savanna Baby.  Stupid. Winter.

Fall Fun

It seems like in the past we've had 2 days of wonderful weather (between scorching heat and teeth-chattering cold), but this year we've had lots of EXCELLENT fall weather.  What better way to enjoy beautiful weather than taking walks to the park?  (Warning:  I took A LOT of pictures...)

 I just CAN NOT say enough about those CHEEKS!

 Look how grown up my baby Carter is getting -

 The best thing about taking the kids to the park...they're all tuckered out by the time you get home!