Our Christmas Break

So I'm delinquent on my posting, again. Big surprise there. The good news is that the bulk of the busyness is due to having fun together as a family but it makes for bad blog posting. Day 1 of our break started with Sarah's usual Monday morning speech therapy. Rachel came along to learn how to work with Sarah so that she can help with the training at home. That afternoon I took Nathan to his quarterly check up with Dr. Luber and there he got his flu shots, seasonal and H1N1. When we got home I called our regular clinic to see if they had any vaccine there and they did. So we left again and took all the kids down to get their shots, mom too. That evening we had the Brown family over for Family Home Evening and had a great lesson and a wonderful time playing together.

Tuesday morning I had a primary presidency meeting to put together the 15 manuals that the teachers would need on the 27th. That afternoon Jason came home a little early and we picked up our new dishwasher! He spent the rest of the evening installing it while I ferried Rachel to and from a youth temple trip.

Wednesday morning Sarah had speech and the dog had a vet appointment. I dropped the dog off and then took Sarah and Anna to speech. Anna got the same training as Rachel. That afternoon I took the five oldest to the Garland Theater for Dollar Wednesday and they got to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Caleb, Sarah and I ran a few errands while they enjoyed the movie. Then it was back home for dinner and a nice evening together. Sarah was making a cute face, which we could not capture on camera until Christmas day. But here are some pictures of our attempt to get her to do it for the camera.

Bribing with a phone.

Notice the no shoes and coat? No, it is not that warm here, she just starts peeling in the car. She prefers no clothes when at home and if you're in the car too long, over 5 minutes, coat, shoes and socks are on the ground.

Thursday Jason took the day off and we spent the day wrapping gifts and making all sorts of treats for our friends and neighbors. That afternoon we delivered our goods and then settled down to eat dinner and have a Christmas Eve lesson on the birth of Jesus Christ and then it was off to bed, for the kids. A little more wrapping for mom and dad before they could go to bed. Plates of goodies.


Friday was Christmas morning. What fun opening our gifts and playing with our new toys. The kids each got new pajamas, except Sarah, from Miller Grampa that they loved. Sarah has plenty of pajamas, Thank you cousin Megan for those, so she got some "real" clothes, a dress, and a shirt/pants combo. They also got scrabble and a new DDR pad for the PS2 so that they can compete against each other at DDR.

Not sure why this is out of focus but it's the only one I have of him.

Here's that face I was talking about on the Wednesday car ride home from the theater.


Santa brought each child a fun toy to play with and everyone loved his gifts. Mom and dad decided to go with a game theme and new games were given to allow more opportunities to play together. They received Ants in your pants, Candyland, Perfection, Apples to Apples junior, Wii sports resort, Hi ho cherry-o, and the best one - Rock Band 2. We spent the day playing games and taking turns playing guitar, drums and singing. We had a scrumptious dinner and called it a day. Click on this link if you want to see gifts being open, otherwise, keep going.

From December 2009

Playing that afternoon.


On Saturday Gramma and Grampa Lindh and uncle Forrest came into town. They brought gifts with them of new hats and pillowcases for everyone. They were beautifully made and well appreciated. Then we went out to lunch with them and then traveled over to Cabela's. It was a great afternoon. Remember Rachel's stage of waving every time the camera was pointed at her? We've traded it for this look instead.

I don't know the lady in grey, she just appeared there.


Sunday was a normal Sunday with Stake Choir practice that evening, as we've done for the two previous Sundays. Rachel and Nathan are joining me in singing with the choir and we really enjoy it.

Monday we cleaned house. After so much fun and going it was time for the little things like cleaning toilets and vacuuming and mopping. Five loads of laundry were included in that. We ran a few brief errands and then Gramma and Grampa Lindh arrived around 3. Then we headed over to Lake Coeur d' Alene for a tour of Christmas lights on the lake. We had a good time. The children got to see the "North Pole" and Santa from the boat and the lights were beautiful. Then it was back home for dinner and games with the grandparents. Meeting Rudolph and Frosty before the cruise.

She was less than cooperative but this is the outfit from Miller Grampa.



Tuesday morning Gramma and Grampa left for their meeting and I had business to tend to so the kids played together and then we went to lunch at McDonald's thanks to Miller Grampa.

It's Wednesday morning and all I've done is work on this post. We're off to Costco and visit friends.