Christmas Shenanigans

The week before Christmas was actually surprisingly fun filled and not stressful. Monday night for FHE we had 3 families over to decorate Gingerbread houses. In the past the kids have struggled to make the houses so this year Tyler was a trooper and pre-made 12 houses. All the kids (and a few of us grown ups) had fun decorating these houses with candy galore! Moments after these pictures were snapped all but Steven's house were back to just graham crackers. These kids of mine are such sugarholics. 

Wednesday night the kids made Christmas cards with candy canes and distributed them to random employees at Krogers. This was awkward because my kids are just as socially awkward as I am but it was a good opportunity for them to practice random acts of kindness. Even Penny gave the shopping cart attendant a card that she had scribbled on (Ben helped turn her scribbles into pictures).

Thursday was the last day of school before Winter Break for the boys. This meant party time! In the morning I helped out at Ben's Holiday Breakfast. I got to hand out food plates to kids in his class. One kid was upset with me because I didn't pick the marshmallow off her Santa Clause kabob. I politely told her that I am not a waitress and I don't do custom orders. She was not happy with my response. It was still a good time though. Ben is my sweet boy and he loved having me there.

That afternoon I had Steven's class party which I was basically in charge of. There was another lady there who planned the craft but she was very keen to let me know that the classroom was not her forte and that I could inform the kids on how to make the craft. Being in charge of third graders with Winter Break just an hour away and Christmas just days away was challenging. They were noisy and crazy and my "minute to win it" marshmallow games proved to be spectacularly messy. Steven's poor teacher was probably not very thrilled with all the marshmallows that were squished into her rug. I think the kids had fun though(except for my own stink pot child who made some rude comments about the whole affair). They got to make a Rudolph ornament, play the marshmallow games and then decorate a cupcake to look like Rudolph. Some of their Rudolph's looked nothing like Rudolph- Steven's had like 6 eyes, ha ha! 

Friday morning we celebrated the boy's first day of Winter Vacation by taking a walk down to Starbucks to get some hot cocoa. Lucy slipped on ice twice-- she's totally my child-- but I am pretty sure she felt that the chocolate goodness was way worth the falls. At Starbucks we took up 3 tables- sometimes I feel like a bit of a 3 ring circus when we are out in public-- but I am sure most people staring are just super envious of our crazy fun life ;)

I spent most of Friday afternoon and Saturday (Christmas Eve) cooking. I made sugar cookies for Santa, cinnamon rolls and my salsa for Christmas day and crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and ham for our Christmas Eve dinner. Tyler made a giant bowl full of his family's famous Christmas punch that he contributed to our dinner. We had invited a family to join us but their oldest threw up that morning so they decided it would be best to skip out. So it was just us and lots of our favorite food. 

After we stuffed our faces we were too full to think about decorating Santa cookies so we decided to unwrap our new Christmas PJ's and take some pictures. This year I felt like getting Carter cutsie PJ's for the kids, I was worried that Steven would think his were too babyish but surprisingly he loved them and was very quick to point out that his PJ's said he was "Santa's helper." He was very concerned about getting presents from Santa (he has had a really rough month---actually a really rough year). I think he figured that if his PJ's said he was Santa's helper then he must be getting presents...

After the PJ pictures our appetites were restored and we decorated some cookies for Santa. This was a bad order of events- the kids got frosting all over the cute new PJ's. 

Ben was very into giving all his cookies chocolate chip smiles, Penny was very into eating every topping that was placed in front of her, Lucy covered herself in frosting (or so it seemed) and Steven is actually starting to be a pretty good cookie decorator.

After we decorated cookies we went for a drive to see Christmas lights and then it was time for bed. The kids all passed out pretty quickly so we didn't have to wait too long to get everything ready for the next morning. And the kids also did us a solid and did not come and wake us up early in the morning. We didn't go downstairs until 7:30 and that was just perfect for me. Lucky for Steven Santa had decided that Steven's last ditch attempts to be good were enough and he got his Christmas present. I had tried to scale back on Christmas presents this year but somehow I still think they all ended up being spoiled. 

Steven's favorite gifts were his Lego set and Geodes. 

Ben's favorite gifts were his Lego set and his poop piggy bank *ugh!* and his 3 little stuffed ocean animals. *In the picture he is sporting the mask that Lucy (aka me) made for him*

Penny's favorite gifts were ALL the Barbie things (slippers, toothbrush, movie, car...). 

Lucy's favorite gifts were her necklaces and her Cinderella castle Lego set.

Dad's favorite gift was the picture that Lucy had drawn for him (She drew one for each of us without prompting and hid them away. Christmas morning she took them out from under the stairs and passed one our to each of us.) His second favorite was his telegraph key because as of late he has become a full out nerd and been learning Morse code.

My favorite gifts were the pretty necklace and bracelet the kiss picked out for me and the "I am Freaking Cold" sweatshirt Tyler got me (Because seriously- I always am!)

After all the crazy of opening presents, we cleaned up the wrapping paper massacre, ate some cinnamon rolls and then got ready for church. Tyler had to leave to church early to help set up sacrament since we were combining with a Ward so I had to get the rest of us out the door which apparently was challenging. As I was finishing up getting ready, Penny walked in (in her pretty church dress) with a cinnamon roll squished in her hands and Lucy threw a tantrum because she wanted me to make mac n cheese immediately. Mom life is super fun but somehow we made it on time and somehow we survived our kids hyper antics, like Lucy dancing in the aisles. 

We took a picture after church to document that we survived:

  

The rest of our Christmas day was spent with the kids building their Lego's, eating unhealthy food, painting toenails and fingernails, video chatting with mi familia and just enjoying our Christmas day. Another Christmas down in the books!

Haircut & Wayne County Lightfest

I am pooped! It has been a busy week! Today I am grateful for snowy roads that led to a cancellation in plans this morning. It has been nice to tidy up the house and just sit for a bit.

On Monday the kids had a Snow Day, this meant I got to do everything I had planned for that day with all 4 crazies of mine. I cleaned the house, had a Primary Meeting and did a Walmart run, with all kids in tow. The kids did get to play out in the snow some while I attempted to shovel the drive. The snow was icy and just HEAVY.I didn't do such a great job but thankfully I have a fancy new vehicle that can handle my botch shoveling job.

Monday night we delivered our Christmas gifts to our neighbors and friends. It was wrapping paper and tape with a little tag that said something about wrapping up another year of friendship. We sang a little song we made up to a birthday tune: "Merry, merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to you! We have some wrapping paper! We brought it just for you!" Most of the time I was singing solo since Tyler waited in the car with Penny for a lot of the houses, good for growing my confidence, ha ha!

Tuesday Lucy had her dentist appointment to get the rest of her cavities filled. It did not go well. Beforehand she acted all excited to go back, even though I warned her it would be just like last time. She didn't express any apprehension which surprised me since the last visit had been so difficult. But as soon as she got in the seat and was asked to open her mouth she started acting as I expected. She clamped her mouth closed and started whimpering. I could not convince her to open her mouth so after a half an hour we ended up leaving with a recommendation to take her to a pediatric dentist instead. I think what frustrated me the most was that she didn't give me any indication beforehand that this was going to go badly. Wasted trip.

Wednesday I chopped off all of my hair. I hadn't had a decent haircut for almost a year so it was much needed. It's nice to have my grown out bangs finally blended in and and it's nice not to be finding long hairs in the sink and everywhere else anymore. I took a picture after the haircut when it looked all nice because my friend that had cut it had styled it but when I reset my phone (to fix the sound) this week, I lost the picture. So here it is today- unwashed and not quite as cute ;)

Wednesday night we went to the Wayne County Lightfest. Tyler had a late workday so it was a super late night because it's 45 minutes to the lights but the kids still had fun. This was our first time driving through the lights where there was snow on the ground (and snow during our drive). I think I might get my white Christmas this year! We let Penny steer the car for some of the time (since we were driving SO slowly) and it was by far the highlight of the night, even better than the doughnuts and juice we had given the kids. Penny steered just like they do in the movies and she was so happy and proud of herself. It was so funny!

Friday I got to do my first full day sub job and it was for Ben's class. It was fun to be in his class and they did good- considering it was too cold for recess and there is only a week left until Christams. It was fun having lunch with Ben, I love that he still loves me in public. I hope I can sub for his class again! 

After subbing I picked up the girls, we ate a quick dinner of pizza, got on some Christmas colored clothes and headed to the Ward Party. It was a Christmas Songs sing along party and the kids seemed to enjoy it. The Bishop also told a few stories and there was an ugly Christmas Sweater Parade. Our family and the Hines family helped lead the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." The Chappell family was also going to lead it with us but they got sick. Jenny Chappell is such a creative genius that she had come up with some fun props and signs for the song and I had helped her make them last week (sad emoji, heart eyes emoji, speech bubbles with Rudolph insults & Mt.Rushmore with a spot for Rudoplh's face). It was a bummer that she didn't get to see all her creative genius in action. Tyler was late from work so he didn't get to see it either and he didn't get to be Rudolph as planned. Steven got to be Rudolph instead and he complained about not being able to breath with the nose on, oh that kid. After all the songs we ate cookies and socialized. It was a fun party!

Bronner's & Snow, Snow, Snow!

Saturday we took our traditional trip to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland- it's world famous you know ;). When we got there at 10 it wasn't very busy but it didn't take long for it to start getting extra crowded and extra difficult to maneuver around aisles with 4 kids. It's pretty stressful walking down aisles full of breakable ornaments with little ones but the kids really enjoy picking out a new ornament each year so we do it for them!

Steven took FOREVER to pick an ornament. Honestly though, he always takes forever to make decisions so that wasn't surprising. He did have his mind set on a "candy" ornament and in the end he got pretty close by getting a slice of cake- so not Christmassy but he would not be redirected. Lucy and Benny seemed to constantly be changing their minds over which one to get. In the end Ben got a marshmallow snowman and Lucy got a marshmallow snowman in a tutu. And Penny stayed consistent with getting a ice cream cone ornament right until the very end when she switched it a for cookie Christmas tree ornament (not a real cookie of course). 

When we left Bronner's it started snowing and Steven was determined that we were going to get stuck in a blizzard and started asking all sorts of questions about blizzards. We definitely didn't get stuck in a blizzard but we did get to see my favorite kind of fluffy big snowflakes. We stopped at Wendy's to eat and the kids loved staring out the window at them. As much as I don't like snow, I have to admit I do find these snowflakes pretty magical.

When Penny finally finished her food she was pretty excited to get her Frosty. This girl is adorable and everywhere we go people make comments on her pigtails. She really does rock them! (Also note in the picture below how the were at a different table then us girls, already a gender division in the Hatch home)

At home we took some pictures of them with their ornaments. Penny looks so sad because she wanted me to only take a picture of her and was not happy that I took pictures of everyone else too.

Today we had our biggest snow day yet! We have had some snow previously but not really enough to stick to the ground and make a big difference. Today we got oodles of it and of course, I had to drive the kids to church because Tyler has meetings before church. The roads were so yucky but we made it through them with no slippage. I don't know if it's our new fancy car or if I am just getting better at driving in the snow- maybe it's a combination of both?

As soon as we got home from church the kids immediately donned their snow gear and got out in it. This is the first time I have seen Penny enjoy the snow, I guess she has finally reached a good snow playing age. After some building with the snow, the kids took turn going on sled rides down our driveway. Tyler was the favorite ride giver since he went super fast. I mostly took Penny down because I am super slow ;)

And a silly thing from this week...Penny threw a book in my bag at the library without me seeing it so it wasn't until we were checking out that I realized the book was called "Big Boy Underpants." She absolutely loves this book and wants me to read it to her every night. I'm slightly concerned since it is mostly filled with pictures of boys in underpants but it has encouraged her to wear her own underpants over her diaper so there's that...

Traumatic Dentist Visit, Wreath Making, Santa

Another busy week down in the books! On Tuesday we had kind of a traumatic dentist experience with Lucy. The last time she got a cavity filled it was no big deal, she did so great. This time it was a super big deal. She did just fine with the shot (they tell her they are giving the tooth sleepy juice) but the second they put the drills in her mouth she started panicking. She put her hands to her mouth, started whimpering and tried to get off the chair. We go to a family dentist so she suggested maybe we go to a pediatric dentist but Lucy had already gone through the numbing process, I didn't want her to have to do that again. So I sat by her head, held her hands with one hand and stroked her hair with the other hand and somehow she made it through (and somehow Penny didn't get into too much trouble in the room). Unfortunately she's not done and still has two more fillings to go :(

Wednesday night I went to Bunco. Instead of the usual Bunco game playing, the host decided to have us all make a Christmas wreath. I found this very not fun. I do not do open ended crafts. I need steps but this was just stick some branches, pine cones and berries in the wreath and make it look pretty. I ended up getting other people to do it for me, ha ha. I'm still not sure how I feel about the the end result so it will probably live in my basement after this Christmas. After we made our wreaths, we played a super fun game with a big ball of saran wrap that we had to unwrap to find gifts. One of the ladies looked like a kitty cat trying to paw it open, it was SO funny!

On Thursday I subbed for Steven's class and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. His class actually behaved pretty well. Unfortunately, in the afternoon they switch for social studies and science so I had another third grade class and they were quite terrible. One kid was just a total putz and another kid was an emotional mess. As I've said before, it's superbly hard to establish authority when you only have the class for a half hour. It was such a LONG half hour and then I was so grateful to have Steven's class again!

Friday was a half day of school for the kids so I thought we would play hooky. Tyler's parents gave us an awesome early Christmas gift of a family membership too the Henry Ford Museum so we met one on my friends there. The first thing we did was visit Santa there. I love that they had lights that made swirling snowflakes on the ground in the line. The kids were thoroughly entertained with this which made the 20 minute wait totally bearable. I also loved this Santa. He must have heard me say Steven's name because he kept saying things to him using his name. Santa told Steven that he was on the nice list but he needed to brush his teeth, do his school work, and listen to his mom and teachers if he wanted to stay on it. It was good stuff!

After we saw Santa we had fun checking out all the exhibits that we hadn't seen for a long while. The kids especially loved the Lego city that they had on display. It had all sorts of characters in it from movies and they had fun spotting them all. 

A group picture with our friends:

Eating Santa & Looking 20 Again

I know it's so cliche but really, time is just flying by! I spent a lot of this week working on getting Primary things ready for next year. I've had to update class lists and birthday lists and lesson schedules and scripture and talk assignments and get manuals and picture packets ready and get birthday gifts ready and...It's a lot of work and I am still not done. But I have made a lot of progress so-- go me! I am just grateful that I have most of my Christmas stuff out of the way so I can spend the time I need to on this stuff.

This week we had a couple warm days and I took advantage of them by first, putting up our Christmas lights and second, taking a walk with the girls to the bakery. Lucy and Penny picked out a Santa cookie to share and then they both devoured poor Santa Claus.

On Wednesday night Steven got a pulpotomy which is basically a baby root canal. An old filling of his had cracked and the tooth was a mess. I don't understand how things get so bad when we are so good at brushing, flossing and regular check ups but I guess we just have horrible teeth genes. Steven was really brave and did great. They do a sneaky job of giving shots so that, along with a TV above his face, probably helped. I think this is the most he's ever been numbed and he was so funny about it. He kept asking questions about being numb (how long will it last? can he still breathe? can he eat?) and when they told him not to chew his gums he took that as a challenge. Bad idea.

On Thursday the weather was back to it's normal cold self and we braved it to go hear some Christmas Carolers on Main Street and to watch Santa make his grand entrance into Milford. The Carolers were fun and made Tyler reminiscent of his show choir days. The Santa entrance was not so grand. He just suddenly appeared, we didn't even hear the fire truck that brought him into town. The kids each gave him a high five and then we went back to our nice warm home. I did not feel like waiting in an hour long line to see this Santa. We have seen him before and I do not think he's very legit. I am hoping for an outing to a good Santa before Christmas comes.

Friday I had my third sub job and it was another half day, this time for a fourth grade class. I really like half day jobs, I don't feel like someone has to watch my girls for too long and I don't have to worry about getting my boys to school. It's a win, win! This sub job turned out to be my best one yet. The class could easily be redirected to the path of goodness which is all I really want since I can't expect perfection. Some moments from the job...

When I was talking about my kids one of the students told me I didn't look old enough to have kids and asked me how old I was. I told him that he's not supposed to ask those sorts of questions and so he asked, "Are you 20?" Extremely flattering that kid was. 

Recess duty in Michigan when the weather is in the 30's is AWFUL. I about froze to death for the 20 minutes we were out there. The kids asked if we could stay out longer, which we probably could have, but I said no way, my face was going numb. I also had forgot to borrow a key from someone and so I had to send a kid running clear around the school to the office to get me one. Super smooth.

Today we were talking about how Lucy looks like a Hatch and so she asked "Who's a Hatch?" And we said, "You are!" And with awe in her voice she replied, "Really? I am?"

And some pictures of these Hatch's: