Christmas Day 2018

Here are the pictures for Christmas day! There are a lot of pictures, so I won't caption everyone.

Erik was unfortunately gone Christmas morning, so we had to proceed without him.  I could only hold off the kids for so long.  They woke up freakishly early, and I came down to a big mess of kinetic sand all over the house.  I think Ian was the culprit.  I didn't even bother to rescue it; I sucked it all up with the vacuum because the mess was bigger than what the sand was worth. Around 9 am we started opening the gifts, in order of youngest to oldest.  

Ian found his Santa gift! He loves to pretend-play with his kitchen, but it was falling apart so Santa got him a new one.

Uncle Eric was a stand-in (err...sit down?) dad for Ian during present unwrapping since Erik was gone.

Scissors come in handy on Christmas morning! 

Gabe opening his Yoshi Nintendo controller from Grandma Julie.  He had been wanting that for a long time and he was so happy to get it!

Lisa, opening her nightgown she picked out for herself via yours truly, while FaceTiming her at Kohls. 

My sweet friend/neighbor a few doors down got all the kids presents! The dinosaur wrapping paper was a big hit!

Elisa opening her bath bomb kit I found for her at Costco

Gabe opening his clay eraser kit.

Ian opening his ABC playdoh kit.  He got tons of playdoh for Christmas!

A cute video of the huge mess, and Elisa just after opening her microwavable owl that she got from Grandma Julie that she just loved! Unfortunately, she got it all dirty and I stupidly put it in the wash and it smelled so bad afterward, that we had to throw it away.

Elisa excitedly opening her box of Squeezamals.  She got a bunch of them.

More present up-wrapping, I think this was the stuff aunt Lisa got her.

Gabe, opening his present from me: Books! More like a present made up of many presents.  He pretended to not like it, silly boy.  But we all know it's his favorite gift(s) and I see him reading them all. the. time!

Ian opening my present to him: a Leap Frog book and cartridge set I found at a garage sale for him for $20.  He doesn't like it as much as I thought he would.

I made Calvin a soft n' fuzzy blanket, as per Lisa's request.  They were really excited about it.

An embroidered Salt Lake temple for Lisa and Eric, personalized with their names and marriage year.  I enjoyed making this. That flower took almost as long as the temple itself! I think Lisa likes it, even though she never hung it on her wall, as intended.    

Funny story-I got my sister Cindy (aka Tootsie) protein powder for Christmas, Tootsie got Lisa protein powder for Christmas, and Lisa got me protein powder for Christmas! All different brands for all of us! Here's a picture of me that Lisa took, opening my protein powder.

I got Elisa a huge craft box for Christmas, and she and cousin Aaliyah made use of it right away! Here is a picture of them painting some pretty paintings.

Even though Erik was gone all morning, he was home around noon, and we saved him his presents to open.

Little miss sass, with her donut she made with her mini donut-making kit (they were icky). Daddy making Christmas dinner in the background (or at least, washing dishes to make Christmas dinner).  

Enjoying our hard-earned Christmas dinner.  It was almost exactly the same as our thanksgiving dinner, but with ham instead of turkey.

All in all a very fun Christmas! The house looked like it exploded, mainly because the kids sure enjoyed ripping open every. single. gift out of its packaging.  

Annual Christmas Video 2018

December 23rd

Here's our annual Christmas video! I'm happy we managed to squeeze it in among all the Christmas crazy.  I'm especially happy that Ian has permanently joined Gabe and Elisa in our Christmas video! He did a great job! I wish Gabe and Elisa would have been more into the singing, they were a little too grumpy; at least Ian was happy.  

Christmas with the Blaylocks, Part II (Christmas Eve)

Here is the Christmas Eve post! We had so much fun.  I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but here are the ones I got:

Theses are actually from the 23rd.  Elisa and Aaliyah enjoying the Barbie Jeep.

While Erik was at work and Eric was relaxing, Lisa and I took all the kids (except Gabe) on a little walk/hike along a path in the neighborhood, right along the canal. We have lived in our house 2 and half years and that was the first time I had set foot on that trail because I didn't even know it existed.  It was warmer than we thought, so we overdressed the kids and they were just too hot.  We didn't stay too long because of that.  Calvin was like a wild animal let loose out of it's cage on the trail, and he ran faster and harder than any of us.  Aiden was the slowest.   

I enlarged this pictures so the little notes are readable. The kid's last-minute requests for Santa.  Santa has difficulty taking last-minute requests (he prefers to take requests by Thanksgiving), so some of these weren't fulfilled, but I think for the most part, the kids got what they asked for. We found some cookies for Santa that were most certainly past their expiration date, but I'm sure Santa understands.  Sorry Santa. 

Lisa, putting out some of her presents to the kids, sometime before Santa made his appearance. 

Santa came! He came!!

He came and drank the milk and old cookies from the special plate and glass we bought for him this year.

Santa filled all the stockings, some to overflowing! He sure went to a lot of work to make the kids happy this year.  He found great things for the kids.  The kids know that Santa no longer makes toys from his workshop because there are just too many kids in the world and that would be too hard to make all of those fancy toys, so he buys them from toy-making companies instead and they give him a really good deal since he's Santa. Also Santa will not bring anything the parents won't allow (i.e. pets, super expensive things, and of course any inappropriate).  

Christmas with the Blaylocks, Part I

The Blaylocks finally arrived Friday night, the 22nd.  I don't really remember what we did that evening nor do I have pictures, but I can only assume that the cousins excitedly played together all evening!
The next day was church, and thankfully it was only one hour long! We got pictures after church of all the kids.  It is always a challenge to get a good one, but at least we got some, considering the 10-hour driving distance we live from each other. I don't remember much of what we did the rest of the day (probably wrap presents), but here are the pictures we took:

Aaliyah was upset and refused to let go of her puppy toy.  And Ian....I don't even know what to say about him! I'm so going to display this last picture at his wedding day, haha!

So as you can see they're all quite terrible pictures, but at the same time, still adorable!

I think this one turned out the best.  Or at least, not as terrible.

Silly face!

We got some of the girls.  If Aaliyah could have given up that toy, they would have turned out a little bit better.  We took a bunch, but these turned out the best:

A nice family picture of the Blaylocks:

Erik worked almost the entire Christmas time, so he wasn't in our picture, unfortunately:

A Night in Bethlehem

Yep, an entire post devoted to a church event (barf), but I had quite a bit of pictures from this event.  For the record, I didn't want to go.  But I knew I wouldn't have a choice (as usual), so I decided to go all out and make everyone a costume for the party since costumes were encouraged.  I found the paper pattern at Joann's for a couple of bucks.  I didn't need to buy any fabric, because I just used old sheets.  These tunics sewed up super fast (they are very basic), but I made SO MANY, because I thought Lisa and her family would have been there but she got sick and they drove up a day later instead. I went to Goodwill and bought some more material for Gabe's vest and Erik's...shawl? Also I found a deep, rich teal-colored sheet for my tunic.  I trimmed mine in gold.  Since I was the one taking pictures, I don't have a picture of mine, but I was told by Erik that I looked like a harlot.  Thanks Erik. The red lipstick didn't help, although I might as well have contributed to the look by wearing some jingle jangly bracelets, earrings, and anklets.

Three cuties wearing silly sheets! I kept the decorative edge of the sheet for Ian's sleeves.

Here are the pictures of the actual event.  Much effort was put into it, but I felt like the first part (singing and some talks and more singing and some more singing) was disproportionately long.  The mingling/eating/exploring part was way too short, I felt like I had to gobble down my food before the program started.  I also did not enjoy sitting on the floor, and doing do in a non-stretchy long dress-thing doesn't help either.  They really went all out with the décor and setup.  They served chicken, pita and hummus, and veggies and some dessert. I talked to the same 3 people I always and only talk to in the ward, the kids did some quick crafts, and Erik walked around and mingled with random people. The program was nice, even if I did have to elbow my way into it. The primary was asked to sing, I, being the primary pianist, was not invited to play, however, someone else was.  Well I told them I was going to play, and thankfully nobody objected. Otherwise I would have had to cash someone ousside.  Just kidding (kind of).
Anyway.....it was a nice program and we got front row center and I got a really cool shot of it. They kids seemed to enjoy themselves, but it was really late and Ian was so tired.  They should have cut out the singing portion, and extended the eating portion and started the entire thing an hour earlier.  Just my two cents.  Everyone seemed to like our costumes.  Pictures of the families in their costumes were posted on the ward website, and of course, our was not posted because....?!?!? I only spent hours on the costumes and Erik made sure to not be working that evening.  See what I mean?  We would have not missed much if we went with my initial thoughts and just skipped it, but we didn't so here are the pictures:

The fam, waiting for the much-too-long program.

Getting the food

My sweet Elisa!

A pan of the program

My cute Gabe in his costume

The kids making their crafts

This doesn't have much to do with the Christmas program, but here is a picture of the moon I took walking out of the building after the program was over.  There's a strange ring around the moon that I've never seen before.  I thought it was neat.  I don't really know what it is--something about ice crystals--but the world didn't end the next day so I guess its no big deal!