the christmas post

i stole meghan's title. but here it is. mostly just a lot of pictures of the kids doing what they do best.

our impromptu nativity play at uncle steve's house. max was the shepherd, jake was joseph and luke refused to participate. it was good to listen to the christmas story as told in the scriptures...and to take a minute to imagine what it would have been like.

then christmas morning. not much explanation needed here.




after creating a pile of chaos at our house, we ventured up to nana sue & papa randall's house for more festivities.

and later than evening it was on to uncle doug's house for even more food and fun.

christmas was fun...the kids were thrilled and i got what i wanted. a vacuum that really sucks - in the good sort of way. and i'm amazed by what was hiding in my carpets.

hope you had a very merry christmas! and here's to a happy new year. (i better get working on those resolutions.)

warning - nose business

mike has hairy nostrils. ya, that is too much information, but it is true. sometime in the last 8 months or so mike had his nostrils waxed. sounds painful to me. he said it was much better than pulling the hairs out one by one. well, i went and got him an 'at home waxing kit'. we put it to the test last night. it was hilarious. (at least to me.) the results were stunning.

meet tom

yesterday mike drove to downey, idaho and bought himself a new horse. welcome to the family, tom. i don't know much about him - except that he's 8 and that mike is like a little kid on christmas. in fact, merry christmas mike. hope you love your new horse.

mike sold ricky the horse. i think he's a little bit sad, but not too sad. he is in the process of looking for another horse to buy. anyone out there have a horse to sell?

izzy's hair party

that's right. izzy's hair always has a party during naptime. well, luke's decided to join in the fun.

santa's #

last night we were trying to get max to stay in bed. this kid has issues with staying in bed...seriously. any tips would be appreciated. anyway, he had come up about 10 times and i started in on the 'santa won't bring you any presents' threat. he didn't seem to buy it at first. i told him i would 'call him right now and tell him you weren't listening and to put your name on the naughty list.' max, very seriously, asked, 'you know santa's cell phone number?!' i tried to hide my giggle and said, 'yes, and i can call him right now!' then max asked me for the number. smart kid. i fibbed my way through that one - saying i couldn't tell him, it was only for parents to know. watching the wheels turn through that kids head was priceless. love this season for the magic.

neighbor gifts 2008

this year my list of gifts given to neighbors went from 'anyone and everyone in a 3 block radius' to actual neighbors. i decided i didn't need to make 60+ gifts. i opted for 30 instead. here is what i gave. and to those of you who got one, i hope you enjoy it!

really, it's just a pretty way of packaging up 'yummy holiday smell'. (it's all about presentation, really.)

take an orange, a lemon and a lime. slice them up and layer them in a quart sized mason jar. add a handful of fresh cranberries on top. fill the jar with water and put a lid on. in the spice bag i put 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 whole nutmeg and a couple of tablespoons of mulling spice (bought at the local nutrition store). cinch the bag strings, tie around the jar, tie ribbon around the jar, add a cute tag and voila! just dump the contents of the jar and spice bag into a small saucepan. put on the stove to simmer on low and enjoy the smell. pretty simple and let me tell you, it smells wonderful!