Sunday evening we had our annual graham cracker house making party. I even made a super fancy appetizer, a Christmas Tree shaped Bread Pull Apart. I should've taken a picture to document how fancy I was. Once everyone arrived, the kids took their time making their houses because they all wanted to win an award. It's always hard to pick winners but I try to get at least one from each family. Evan won most creative because he made cactuses and melting snowman- spoke right to my Arizona heart. Jacob won most ugluist house because his, was well, a giant mess. Lucy won the most beautiful house and Beck won the most festive for all his Christmas colors. The kids that didn't win were severely disappointed but that's just life.
After decorating houses we played the saran wrap ball game- where you wrap up a bunch dollar store things in saran wrap. I'm not sure if this was the best game to add to our party. The kids were really intense about trying to get something unwrapped in the ball and some kids got really upset when the ball moved on and they still hadn't unwrapped something. My own kids didn't spaz too much but there was still a lot of shouting and emotions. The parents claimed it was entertaining and said we should do it next year. We shall see. After that "Don't Eat Pete" was played, the kids ran around outside and then it was time to part ways. Everyone always seems to enjoy this annual tradition so that makes me happy.
Monday afternoon we had the Mays over. I am a gluten for punishment and decided to do the saran wrap ball game with them. Not sure why when the night before it had been so crazy. Peter did not appreciate the game at all. He got super upset and stopped playing so it ended up being just my kids and Andrea and David. The rest didn't get too emotional but my kids kept winning the "big" prizes (a gift card and some cash). I had not really wanted my kids to win. Ben ended up trading his $10 Chick-Fil-A gift card for a dollar store stuffie when it was over and David traded his cash for a dollar tree rubber chicken. These kids did not make very smart trades.
After the saran wrap game we played Christmas Jeopardy. Once again there was some emotions when they didn't get a question right (especially Peter again) but they all ended up getting some points and in the end Ben won first place, Peter won second place and Steven won third place. A funny moment was when Penny was called on to answer the question- Where does Santa live. Just as she was called on David shouted "South Pole!" so Penny answered with "South Pole"- it doesn't pay to copy. I love hosting games, I just really wish kids were better at handling losing.
Monday night for our Christmas countdown we were going to do our traditional drive through Christmas Lights at the Wayne County Lightfest. Unfortunately I found out they were closed Monday and Tuesday so I started Googling to try and find something else. I ended up buying a ticket for us to go to the Magic of Lights in Clarkston. This was a $30 ticket, we usually pay $5. Well, it was definitely not worth the price hike. The lights were cool but they really weren't any better and I feel like it was a shorter drive than the one we usually go to as well. But Jacob came with us and the kids still had fun and our tradition wasn't broken and we did hop out and take a picture with a cool Christmas crab so, not a complete bust.
While the kids were at school Tuesday I did some packing and then went out to lunch with Grace and Caroline. Actually we went to a breakfast place for lunch but the food was good and the company was nice. Wednesday was more packing and getting ready for the trip and that evening Lucy had her last volleyball game (parents vs kids) which I missed because I had to take Steven and Penny to the church for activities.
Thursday morning was super frustrating because the kids left their final Science Projects at home and I had to run back home and get them. Normally I do not do such things but when a teacher calls and asks, I guess you are obligated to say yes. So that took 40 minutes out of my already busy day. Then when I went to drop off a few seminary gifts to students who hadn't come (I had bought cute mini Nutella jars and had attached a tag that said "spread peace") I had a mom talk my ear off. She is definitely in need of friends but she is a lot of drama that I don't really want to take on. After all that I was finally able to work on taking down Christmas, and getting all things ready for us to head out to AZ that night. Somehow I managed to get everything done.
After dinner we headed to the airport. Tyler dropped off me, Steven, Lucy and Penny- he would be driving to AZ Saturday with Ben so we could have a car and transport presents and homeschool books. Everything went really smoothly. We didn't have any bad lines, we arrived early enough that we had time to ride the tram to Chick-Fil-A and get some food and once on the plane we didn't have any problem finding a spot for our carry on and we didn't have any turbulence. The only drawback was that it was a late flight so we were all pooped. Penny was the only one who fell asleep on the flight and the poor thing got woken up when they came by for snacks a second time (surprisingly someone walking down the aisle and bumping her head hadn't woken her up). During the flight the people in front of me had their neck pillow fall back by me but apparently they were asleep because when I tried to hand it back no one took it so I had to awkwardly place it on them,
Friday I was tired from the late night and time change so we had a pretty chill day. Poppy took the kids to the library and Riparian Perserve. I stayed home and chatted with Grams and ordered some groceries. Then Grams and I went out to lunch and afterwards I went with her to her doctor's appointment. When we finished with her appt we picked up groceries and did a Target run so she could get some super expensive heart medicine that the doctor wanted her to get. I made dinner and after dinner we all watched "Love and Monsters." I forgot how many bad words were in it so maybe I should not have let the girls watch it but too late for that.
Saturday Steven and I went to see the latest Spiderman with Mike and Mecca. It was super entertaining but I personally think he could have saved a lot of heartache and pain for everyone involved if he had just pushed the dang button. Dad took us to Seagulls that afternoon and they had a lot of great books that could help with teaching the Old Testament in 2021. I had a hard time picking just one so the kids got pretty bored. Should've left them at home ;) Then we hung out at Mike and Mecca's house and I got to work on a puzzle with Mecca, it's been awhile since I have just sat and puzzled and chatted with a friend, it was nice.
Saturday evening we met up with the Hatch's at Melissa and Logan's house. They have a street in their neighborhood that goes all out with lights. It was a typical Hatch function. A lot of waiting on people with a gaggle of kids going crazy in the meantime. I wasn't super impressed but the kids had a blast and the weather was really nice so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I took a grand total of 1 picture.
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