I'm not trying to brag since our entry way still has mold and holes in
the dry wall and we have yet to fix or paint the walls after the wall
paper was torn down, but it's been really fun to decorate our OWN house
for Christmas!
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| We actually have a fireplace to hang our stockings on this year :) |
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We enjoyed having some of our friends over for a hot chocolate party and snacks on Sunday evening and letting the kids run crazy while us adults got to catch up and visit for a while. I think we had 20 kids under the age of 9 just with the 6 families we had here. Chaos would accurately describe the mess in the toy room and noise they created.
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| Jared found this 9 foot artificial tree on freecycle and it looks great in the front room with the vaulted ceiling! |
After the Otterstroms left we had to dive back into normal life, which I
hadn't done since Emma was born! I had to get all 4 kids and myself
out the door to school and I'm sorry to report I think Jocelyn got more
tardies that first week then she had collectively the entire year so
far...I had to go to appointments, grocery shopping with my crew, etc.
And although we look (and sound) like a 3 ring circus act no matter
where we go, we are managing. I truly do love being a mom even if the
payment is in dirty diapers and dirty dishes :) My kids
make me smile every day.
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| Heading out the door to school (yes, Jonas is wearing a tie just so we can go to costco, at his request) |
We were also so excited to hear about my nephews that were born within
weeks after Emma. My sister Emily gave birth to Marcus when Emma was 10
days old and my brother, Nate, and his wife Tausha had little Florin
when Emma was almost 3 weeks old. I can't wait to meet them! I suppose
it's a good thing I keep having all these girls to balance out the rest
of my family who seems to only have boys!!
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| Marcus | |
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| Florin |
For family home evening we made gingerbread houses one week (Jocelyn was in charge of treats and insisted on this!) and acted out the nativity the next week because Lillian was in charge of the activity and she desperately wanted to be Mary and have Emma act as "baby Jesus." We have a little manger set up by our Christmas tree with a cabbage patch doll dressed up as baby Jesus and throughout the day Jonas will tell me out of the blue: "baby Jesus crying, I hold him!"
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| Gingerbread houses, Emma may have had a little help with hers :) |
This is how well family pictures went when we attempted to get a picture of all four kids. Apparently it is too big a request to have a decent picture of all four kids to put on the wall! The girls actually cooperated really well and we ended up ordering "sister" pictures and we'll have to attempt getting all four kids another time...
Jared has been amazing at keeping up with commitments at work and church and taking great care of all of us! I am so grateful for what a good friend, husband, father and provider he is.
I have been able to go to book club, a group baby shower for Emma and a couple new babies from church, and we even ventured out to see the nutcracker ballet because he was able to obtain some free tickets.
We had a ton of fun going to the Oakland temple grounds to
see the Nutcracker Ballet performance.
The girls were on the edges of their seats in anticipation and
excitement and Jonas lasted really well throughout the first act when the
nutcracker is fighting the mouse king, while Emma and I got a good nap in our seat
(hey, I have to get my sleep where I can!). During the second act Jared had to "take Jonas out" which clearly was for his benefit as well, so the boys enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights and the visitor's center and the lights along the grounds and we joined them after the performance was over.
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| In front of the Oakland temple |
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