Christmas Lights

This year I decided to do a countdown to Christmas. Each of the 12 days before Christmas I planned a special Christmas activity for the kids to do. Some activities are definitely more fun than others. It started last Saturday with the trip to Bronner's (see previous post), then Sunday we wrote letters to Santa (both boys asked for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Lego), Monday we got a new Christmas book to read. And Tuesday we went to the Wayne County Lightfest!

I think now that we don't have the Mesa Temple lights to visit, this will have to be our new Christmas lights tradition. It was fun to get our Pj's on, grab some doughnuts and drive down a street in Wayne County that had some pretty awesome Christmas lights on display.  

Here are some not so great pictures of my kids enjoying the lights:

And here are some of our favorite displays:

And because I know you are dying to hear what else we did, Wednesday we delivered frozen cookie dough to our 3 neighbors. The cookie dough had a tag that said "We could all use some extra dough this holiday season." My German neighbors didn't quite get it, Tyler thinks our other neighbors probably think we are just to lazy to make cookies but at least Stefanie appreciated it! Thursday Tyler and I took the boys out separately so they could pick out presents for each other. I had fun taking just Benny out and steering him towards presents that Steven and his daddy would actually like (instead of presents that he would like). And Friday they got to watch their new Christmas movie "The Santa Clause." 

Like I said not all days are super fun but still, the boys look forward to each morning when they find out what they'll be doing. See next post for more of our countdown activities.

Christmas Festivities

These last couple of weeks there has been a lot of sickness going around in our house- runny noses, coughs, stomach bugs... I was lucky enough to get two separate stomach bugs. Both times were super fun (note my sarcasm) but at least Tyler was able to work from home and help with the kids. The runny noses and coughs are still not done with our family but hopefully the stomach bugs are through with us- or at least through with me!

Lucy decided that since we were all so sickly (including herself) that she better put on her nursing gear and get to work healing everyone. I absolutely love these scrubs my mom made her:

Friday night, despite me being sick with a stomach bug all day, we went to our Ward Christmas party. I thought about staying home but I really am trying to be more social and I wanted to see how my kids reacted to Santa. They reacted pretty lamely- no tears, no freaking out ;):

After all the Santa fun I got to feel nauseated as I watched everyone else eat dinner and dessert. After dinner and dessert the kids got go watch "Polar Express" and us adults got to socialize. Tyler says I did a good job of acting like I was feeling just fine while we socialized- I did not feel just fine. The night ended with a Christmas program that included singing by Primary kids (not ours because they were still watching the movie) and a nativity reenactment. It was nice- I think. I was still socializing during it- shameful, I know but like I said, I'm trying to make an effort to be more social.

Despite feeling crappy, I think it was a good night. Penny especially seemed in a good mood afterwards:  

Saturday we went to Bronner's, the World's largest Christmas Store! We had been there once before but we had to return since it was Christmastime. This time it was ridiculously crowded, even finding a parking spot was tricky. Once inside, we got to see all sorts of fun Christmas decorations and each of the kids got to pick out an ornament. Lucy originally picked out a Hello Kitty Ornament: 

But somewhere in our walk to the check out counter, she was no longer carrying it. So while Tyler waited in line we quickly found another ornament. Here is a picture (at home) of all the kid with the ornaments they got. Lucy's last minute find:

 

As soon as I showed Benny this Pirate Snowman, he knew that was the one he wanted:

Steven wanted that one too and he had a hard time finding another one but eventually settled on one that was similar to Benny's but not the same. A Santa Snowman:

Though there was some tantrum throwing at the very end of the trip (over who got to use a bathroom sink of all things) it was overall a super fun trip:

Gingerbread Houses

Monday night was our last night in Arizona so we decided to have a get together so we could properly say goodbye to everyone. We were originally going to meet at the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights but I thought it might be hard to talk to people there, too big of a space. Since Steven had been begging to make gingerbread houses we changed plans and did that instead. I think that was a good choice because I felt like I got a chance to visit with everyone.

Mikey Dude wasn't feeling crafty but he and Oliver kept me company while I started my house:

Mom got to love on Miss Penny

Poor Mecca wasn't feeling well so she spent most of the night hiding out on the couch. But she still managed a smile for my picture:

While I was chatting with Mecca, Tyler's dad took over my Gingerbread house:

And turned it into something awesome:

I think Benny spent most of the night eating candy rather than decorating with it:

Steven attempted to make a house but then got frustrated when it didn't work. After throwing a fit, he finally ended up making a good one with some help from Tyler.

Tyler and Travis once again competed for "best" Gingerbread House. I think Tyler's house was the clear winner, just sayin'

Lucy had no interest in making a gingerbread house. Instead, she had plenty of fun with her favorite cousin:

I had to get some pics with Mecca before she left:

And Lucy had to get a pic as well:

It was hard to say our goodbyes that night and extra hard to say goodbye to our parents the next day at the airport. It was such a good trip! At least the flight back went MUCH smoother. Penny actually wanted to nurse and Lucy (with some help from Benadryl) slept most of the plane ride. And now we are back in the dreary cold, dreaming of our fun in the AZ sun....

Penelope's Baby Blessing

On Sunday we went to Tara's Ward because her and Travis were speaking. After listening to their great talks, Lucy decided her diaper was too full and so she took it off and handed it to Tyler while still in the chapel. That was fun. 

Later that night my family came over to the Hatch Home so we could finally give Penelope Paige Hatch a baby blessing.

Lucy hadn't taken a nap at her normal time (due to taking a power nap on the way home from church) but around 5:30 she was acting so CrAzY she was put in her room and of course, then she fell asleep. This meant that I ended up having to waking her up right before Penny's blessing. She was not happy about this so in hopes of soothing her I gave her milk. However she was congested so during most of the blessing I got to listen to her raggedy breathing as she drank the milk, very distracting. But *I think* Tyler said good stuff in the blessing. He at least got the name right this time!

(excellent photo bomb my Mariah)

Family picture after the blessing, since it was done at Tyler's parent's house, the kids are a bit "casual"

Both sets of Grandparents are equally proud

Aunt Tara & Miss Penny

Uncle Mikey Dude and Aunt Mecca with Sweet P

Gilbert Temple & Turkey Day

Wednesday my mom and I did Initiatories at the Gilbert Temple. I seriously can't get over how gorgeous this temple is:

Wednesday was our last day staying with my parents. On Thursday we headed over to Tyler's parent's house where we would be spending the rest of our trip. Once there we got to go get some more pictures, this time with the Hatch Family. There was a nearby "lake" (we would call it a puddle here in Michigan) which, surprisingly, none of the kids fell into but Tyler & Scott had fun skipping rocks in it. Lucy was extremely uncooperative when it came time for our family pictures but despite that, I think there will still be some gems from this photo shoot:

Later on, it was time for the turkey feast!:

After the feast there was lots of playing and chatting...

And then Lucy fell into a turkey coma:

That night I went with Tyler's mom and sisters to Target and Walmart for some Black Thursday shopping. The next morning we did some Black Friday shopping at Kohl's. I didn't actually buy anything (lack of space in suitcases) but it was super fun hanging out in long lines with them. Especially when we got stuck behind a cranky old man that seemed to inspire his sister's to further craziness- pictures with mannequins, loud singing, ballroom dancing...Those silly Hatch girls!  

Saturday I did so more shopping with his sister. This time we went to a Boutique. I could no longer resist buying things and I ended up getting some hair bows and necklaces for the girls and a shirt for me- at least that stuff could easily fit in my suitcase. After shopping we went to Nando's (more tasty Mexican food!!). Keshia's husband, Scott, and daughter,Reese joined us. While there I learned that Reese was a fan of dipping chips in water- it was pretty funny.