Christmas 2008

Christmas was as busy as usual. I had so many things to do at the last minute that I didn't get started on the brunch until about 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. I hosted Christmas at our house again this year, and I think everyone had a fun time. I made 2 pans of Creme Brulee French Toast, 2 pans of Hash Brown Casserole, and one pan of "cheese wad". That last one sounds kind of nasty to me, but it really isn't. You get a package of refrigerated crescent rolls and spread it on the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan. Then you get some softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix those together then spread on the crescent rolls. Then you get another package of crescent rolls and put that on top of everything. Pour some melted butter on top of that, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. I was glad that I was able to make everything the night before then put it in the oven in the morning! (If you want the recipe just LMK and I'll post it here.)

We didn't let the kids come down until everyone was dressed and ready. Because I'd been up so late the night before we slept in until almost 8:30, got everyone up, dressed and ready. Then I let them all come downstairs after snapping a few pictures of them. (Kent came down at 8:30 to put the food in the oven since it would need at least 1 1/2 hours to cook... perfect since everyone was coming at 10.)

The kids got to open the gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jacobson. Santa brought them Rock Band 2 so they were pretty excited about that. We got them new clothes, all of which they really liked. The family got a carpet cleaner. That's been on my list for the last 4 years so I was pretty excited to get that. We've used it already and it works well. I love that amazon.com has so many user reviews to help you know which items to buy! It was going to be my Santa gift, but Santa forgot to mark it as a gift when he ordered it so it was delivered on a Saturday and Trevor asked if he could open the new vacuum cleaner. Santa will need to be more careful next time! LOL!

Kent's mom and step-dad, my mom, my dad and step-mom, Christine, Cody and Evelyn Birch, Katie and Melia Jacobson, John and Sydney Flores, my little brother Allan, and Curtis, Ruth, Heaven, Austin, Ethan, Nick and Vince Noorda all came. Kent's dad was sick, and my other 2 sisters are in CT, and Kent's sister is in CA so they didn't come. We wish they could have come, though! We opened gifts from each other and had a yummy breakfast. In addition to all the food I made, Kent's SIL, Ruth, got juice for us, Katie brought yummy almonds, Julie made a really good fruit ambrosia salad, my mom made cinnamon rolls, fudge and chocolate cookies all from scratch, and my dad and his wife brought a pumpkin pie. I think everyone was completely stuffed.

After we were done opening gifts many of the people had to go to their other relatives' homes so the rest of us went to see a movie. That family tradition started when we moved here from Utah and didn't have family to visit on Thanksgiving or Christmas. It continues to this day. My mom and brother went to see Valkyrie, and we took the kids to see Bedtime Stories with the DeTemples. It was a lot of fun. After we were done I was so pooped from being up late, and getting up early that I couldn't imagine cooking anything. There weren't any leftovers so that wasn't an option. We finally found that Sonic was open so we got that and brought it home. Kent hooked up Rock Band, and the kids played that for a while.

Crafting with Maryann and Katie

Katie and Melia came over tonight so we could finish up some Christmas presents. We didn't quite finish them, but they are well on their way. Actually she's the only one doing a project, but since I'm the "crafting queen" with all the supplies she came over so I could help her. I was so excited! I haven't had the time to do any of my own projects lately, including the Christmas cards (I still feel guilty about this!), so this was a great excuse for me to get my crafting fix. *I can't post pictures of the projects because these are Christmas presents. I'll post the finished products after the gifts have been given.*

Here's Katie busy at work on part of the project.
I am happy to get my crafting fix. And I promise to post the pictures.

Sunday Christmas Outfits

Today we had our Christmas program in church. I played "Baby, What You Goin' to Be" and got to sing "Joy to the World" with the rest of the choir. I got this shirt earlier in the week. I asked Kent what he thought about it, and he said, "Eh." I asked him why he didn't like it and he said, "It's sparkly." As if that answered my question. The kids loved it, I loved it, so he was overruled. It's Christmastime, I'm a girl, and if I want to sparkle I can sparkle! Kent wore his Santa tie to show his Christmas spirit.

Maryann and Kent. I could not open my eyes more than this. It was so bright, and even though we were not facing the sun it was so bright! Really, my eyes are not that squinty!

This is one of the only pictures I could get the kids to all look at me. Trevor thought it was funny to close his eyes for the pictures, and I think this one actually had his eyes open. Stinker! Justin in his favorite pose. He's so handsome, and he doesn't believe me. Here's Trevor. He took his tie off and decided he didn't need to wear it for the pictures. What am I going to do with that kid?!
Natalie told me she wanted to be a model, and show some attitude. So these are her "attitude poses." (I didn't name them that. She did when I was pulling the pictures from my camera she asked to see her attitude poses.)
Little Drew Dog. So silly. He decided to give me lots to choose from. He's a total camera hog, and when the camera comes out so does his personality. He cracks me up. His shirt was supposed to be tucked in, but he refused to leave it that way so it's out. I pick my battles, and that wasn't one I thought I needed to worry about.

Kids' Christmas Parties

Natalie and Drew had their class Christmas parties yesterday, and Trevor had his today. Here are some of the pictures I took from each party.

Maryann and Andrew at his party. I got to take all the pictures for the party for his teacher.

Here is Drew on Santa's lap. He had a nice little chat with him. He told Natalie later that he got to talk to the "real" Santa at his party.Natalie with her Rudolph nose.This is Natalie's table. They were eating their snacks, having a ton of fun.This is the craft I came up with for Trevor's class. I'll post instructions on my craft blog in case you want to duplicate it. Natalie made the first one, I made the second one, Drew made the third one.Drew, Natalie and me at Trevor's class party. They were my assistants for the craft... when they weren't too busy playing with Trevor and his classmates. Brooke, Rachel and Cheyenne... some of Trevor's cute classmates.

Trevor, Mercedes and Tristan during the Left-Right gift exchange.

Whew!

It's over. What a relief. I didn't feel drugged or sleepy by the Valium during the exam, but I didn't freak out like I had before. It helped calm my nerves, and my heart didn't race like it had in previous exams. I did have to have the lady pull me back out for a couple minutes because it felt like I was lying in a coffin. But once I talked to her for a minute, I was able to go back in and was fine for the duration of the exam.
When I was done I went back out to the waiting room to await Kent's arrival. During the 30-40 minute wait I read my library book, and until I couldn't concentrate any more. Then when Drew came running in I stood up I realized that my legs felt as heavy as rocks. I felt okay other than that.
I realized that needed a jolt of sugar to wake up enough to get home and get myself into the house. (I'm probably a little too big for Kent to get out of the car and into the house while I'm unconscious.) We stopped at Starbucks where I got a peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream (again the one and only time I will actually ingest whipped cream- yuck), and got Drew a child's hot cocoa. He was happy. I was happy because I made it home still awake, and I was able to make it to my bed before I crashed for an hour and a half. My head still feels HUGE, but I think I'll be okay in a couple hours.
I'm glad that I had the foresight to make tonight's dinner last night. I made a freezer meal for a family in our ward, and since I was making one for them I thought it would be a good idea to double the recipe and put one in the fridge for us for tonight. Dinner's done! Yay!

Sleep?

Here it is, nearly 1:00 a.m., and I'm still awake.
Why, you ask?
2 reasons...
First, Justin's school project that is due tomorrow isn't quite dry yet. He had to make a clay tablet using cunieform writing. It's the second one we've made because the first one didn't turn out after he added too much flour while trying to make it not be so sticky. We used bristle brushes to remove the excess flour, but the images started flaking off while we brushed off the flour. The second one looks a lot better, but it won't dry! Yikes! I'm doing my best to get it dry in the oven, but it's taking a lot longer than I expected. So far it's going on 35 minutes at 350 degrees. According to what I've read online it's only supposed to take 20 minutes at 250 degrees so I don't know why it doesn't want to dry! Second, I'm worried about tomorrow. I'm trying really hard not to think about it by keeping busy. Wanna know what I've done? I'll tell you because I'm sure you're dying to know. I've started reading a library book, tried to learn new songs on the piano for next Sunday's Christmas program; I finished editing our Christmas letter, and am ready to print it. It will take a while to print all the copies I need so I won't start tonight, but it's ready to go as soon as I get to it tomorrow. I officially and reluctantly decided that for the first time in many years I am not sending out homemade cards this year. Since I bought all of the stuff to make them I have a great head start on next year's cards, right?! I'm sending out a newsletter and family picture. I'm hoping that I'll find time to make treats to take to the neighbors this week. I purchased the ingredients that I need to make the treats so that's my motivation.
The other thing I'm doing is trying to convince myself that I will have "me" time during my MRI tomorrow. Now this is not the kind of "me" time that I typically enjoy, but that doesn't mean I can't make the most of it, right? If the MRI machine cooperates and doesn't pound the eardrums too loudly, and my Valium really renders me nearly unconscious (as the Target pharmacist promised me), it might work! LOL!
Okay... I think the clay is dry! Yay! I can finally go to bed! Tomorrow is going to be fun! I'll post a picture tomorrow... assuming that I'm conscious enough to do so.

Sunday ramblings...

This morning we got up and ready for church. Natalie insisted on having sparkles put in her hair. (Her dance party was last night and she got a few gifts from her Big Sis. Among the gifts was 3 colors of sparkle hair mascara.) It wasn't worth the fight so I put it in her hair, and made her very happy. It did look pretty cute, actually.
We got to church, and Drew was a boogery mess. He went through an entire package of Kleenex so after sacrament I took him home so he wouldn't get anyone else sick. He was fine for about an hour. Then he got really dizzy, started crying and freaking out a bit about that. He put down what he was holding and said he was going to go to sleep on the couch. He said he didn't want anything so I went back to baking in the kitchen, then he started crying again. He threw up all over the couch and my pile of clean laundry. As gross as that was, it would have been so much worse at church. I cleaned him up, put the whole pile that had vomit on it directly into the washing machine. I got him a new pillow and blanket, and he slept for 3 1/2 hours straight. He just woke up a few minutes ago, and he still doesn't feel right, but he's feeling a little better than earlier. Hopefully this is only a 24 hour bug.
During Drew's nap I went to choir practice. Our choir pianist didn't come so I played the piano. I wish I would have had time to practice the other song. I'm playing "Baby, What You Goin' to Be?" and I sight read "Joy to the World." It's a really pretty arrangement, but it has 4 key changes so it was a little tricky to play. After choir was over I was asked to stay after and practice a song with a man in our ward who was asked to learn a song for next Sunday. He's a bass, and the song was a little high for him so we tried another song. The music director really wants this particular song to be sung by a man, so she called another man in the ward who can sightread. I ran over to his house to practice with him, but the song was too high for him too so I'm not sure if I'll be playing that song after all. I guess I'll have to wait and see if she can find someone else.
Lastly, I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight because first thing tomorrow I have to get a new MRI on my lumbar spine. I've been having problems with my back for the last 3 1/2 months so I hope to get some answers. Did I mention that I'm claustrophobic and really hate getting MRI's? If not, now you know. I nearly had a panic attack the last time because I was so freaked out. This time I'm have some Valium to take beforehand, so I hope it works. I really, really hope it works. The pharmacist seems to think that if it doesn't knock me out that it will relax me enough that I just won't care. I hope he's right! Yikes!

Natalie's Dancing

Natalie is part of a dance company near our house. She goes 3 hours each week. She takes tap, ballet and jazz. Then on the times that she misses class she can go to any make-up class that she chooses. For those times she's gone to tumbling, musical theater and hip hop. She likes jazz the most because she has a lot of fun there. She was in a parade last week, but my back wasn't feeling well enough to sit on a chair and watch it because of the ward Christmas party the night before so one of our friends whose daughter is in company with Natalie took her for us. They had to dress up in Christmas pajamas because they rode on a float decorated with wrapped Christmas gifts.

Here are a few pictures of her all dressed up for dance followed by pictures of her dressed for the parade.

One more Christmas decoration

I always put garland on my railing, then colored lights (as per my children's' request), a few of those little decorations you get at Michael's or Joann's, and then the stockings. I've had everything inside to put those things up since I decorated my Christmas tree a week and a half ago. And for a week and a half I've been looking at those decorations and cursing myself for bringing them inside this year. I couldn't possibly fit one more thing into my schedule last week with the program prep and clean-up so I finally got to it today. My kids were very happy... and relieved. They thought that if I didn't get the stockings up that Santa would forget about them and not fill them this year. Mom saves the day, yet again! Crisis averted! (I know it's not much, but I guess that it means a lot to my kids to have it up. I guess I'll have to remember that.)

For some reason you can't see the colorful lights here. I promise they're there!

These are the little decorations I was talking about. Anyone know what they're called?Stockings. There are 3 more, but because of the hallway angle I can't get them all into 1 photo. Sorry!)
Gotta run. Cole's in my kitchen snagging leftovers. Stinking dog! He always eats my cooking. He won't eat just anything. He's picky. He once put his front paws on the counter, reached all the way to where my hot, fresh loaf of bread was sitting at the very back of the counter by the wall, carried it off and ate it all while I went to the restroom. I wasn't gone more than 2 minutes. He still tries. He also loves chocolate, peanut butter and meat.

Smokey and Cole trying to figure out how to get the food that I just put out of their reach.

Cole's old (almost 12) so he gave up after a few moments. Smokey's a lot younger and craftier so he thought about it for a while longer. Looking at these pictures I can see that he really needs a bath.

Sharp Dressed Kid

Drew got new church clothes this week because he's started outgrowing everything. He chose out his new outfit and was excited to show it off. It's a little bit, but the next size down was not going to last long.

Ward Christmas Party- A Night in Bethlehem

It is finally done. Our committee put in HOURS and hours of work. It turned out so well. We did "A Night in Bethlehem". Our wonderful leader, Kristen Seare, helped keep us all motivated and working well together. She has such a positive, upbeat personality that it keeps everyone motivated to do their best. Thank you Kristen! Shanna Johnson, also on our committee, did so much. We've been working on this activity since early September. When we started Shanna was just barely pregnant and so sick. She fought through it and really did so much to keep going. She helped round up people for parts and help. She's so sweet. I don't know how anyone could ever tell her no. Kaleen Godfrey, who is also on our committee, was kind enough to play the prelude music and all the congregational Christmas songs for the evening.
We started in the chapel to have an opening prayer, bless the food and give instructions on how the night would progress. We started off with Tyson Cook, the 2nd counselor in our bishopric, conduction. Julian Hawks, 1st counselor in our ward's bishopric said the opening prayer. Then we had a men's quartet made up of Matt DelBianco, Dave Sorenson, Mike McGuire and Floyd Godfrey sing "Come Thou Fount" and were accompanied by me... but only in certain parts. There were 3 key changes in the song so I just played a few measures at the beginning of each key change. Otherwise they sang a capella. They sounded awesome. Dave hadn't heard the song before our practice the night before, but he totally learned it, and did an awesome job.
After Tyson gave everyone the instructions he started dismissing rows of people so that they could go to Bethlehem and eat their dinner. We had several Inn Keepers at Pita's Inn (pita bread with chili and cheese), Fruit Market (fresh fruit), the Bishop's Winery (water and hot apple cider) and the Sweet Shop/Bakery Shop (desserts).
Here are the people who performed:
Derek Rudd and his sons Taylor and Conner were our tax collectors
Cole Greer filled in at the last minute as our Census Taker
Brad Cottle filled in last minute as our Centurion Guard- he got things started for us, and didn't even get his lines until a few minutes before the program
Gene Daniel was the Inn Keeper for the Manger
Kjell Anderson was our narrator
Matt Del Bianco sang "O Holy Night" and was accompanied by Chanda Evans
Brady Hall was our Angel Gabriel
Elena Yeager sang "Mary's Lullaby" and was accompanied by Martha Bigler
Michelle and Dave Sorenson were Mary and Joseph; their baby Christian was our Baby Jesus
The YM and their leaders were shepherds and sang "A Shepherd's Carol"
Our wise men were Joe Hernandez, Joe Zezulka and Dan Engel
Matt DelBianco, Floyd Godfrey, Tyson Cook, Rob Pickles, John Bigler, Spencer Lamoreaux, Mike McGuire sang "We Three Kings" and were accompanied by me (There may have been 1 or 2 other men, but I can't remember!)
The YW and their leaders were angels and sang "Picture a Christmas" and were accompanied by Kelli Broadbent
Here are a few pictures from the night... For those of you in my ward I can make you a CD with all the pictures if you want. Just let me know! I have 85+ pictures that my mom took.

The Pillions- Kendrick, Anderson, Clayton, Garrett and Cydnie

The Sorensons- Christian, Michelle, Taylor and Dave

Kristen Seare, Rob Pickles, Mike Jensen and Shanna Johnson

Joe Hernandez, Debbie McGuire, Scott Braodbent, Gaby, Taya and Brian Washburn

The Lines- Lily, Lucy, baby, Emily, Hudson and Troy

Julie and Gene Daniel

Sybil and Kjell Anderson

Tanner and Brady Hall

Me at the Sweet Shop

Chloe Seare and Natalie

Kiddos hair cuts! Yay!

The kids all got their hair cuts on Wednesday. My friend Jessi came over and did it. They all looked great when they were done. Justin, of course, hates his hair cut, but that's okay. I think it looks awesome.
Trevor likes his hair cut, but he thinks that he needs to stop wearing glasses. And he doesn't think he needs to do his hair anymore. But he wants to get a buzz over Christmas break. Why would he want to get rid of this cute haircut?!
Natalie is trying to grow her hair long again. We keep getting the layers in it, though, because her hair is wavy, and without the layers within just a few minutes it looks like we didn't brush it. So this really works well for her hair.
Drew Dog really likes his hair, but he would not let me get a picture of him being serious. He thought he was so funny. The other pictures were of him sticking his tongue out at me and making google eyes. So funny.
Now that everyone has haircuts we're going to get our Christmas pictures taken this weekend. FINALLY! I am so excited!

Cover up and a cut

I also have a few stray gray hairs. The odds are not in my favor. My dad was totally gray before he was 30, and white by 50. (He says that I contributed to that, but whatever. I wouldn't do that.) I noticed a few grays trying to make their way into my dark hair so I had my good friend Jessi over to help me get rid of them. Then I decided that I also had to chop it a bit because it's just not cooperating with me. Here are the results. You can tell me if you like it. If not you are welcome to NOT let me know. I already get enough honesty from Trevor. (Such as, "Mom, you have lost a lot of weight, but you still have A LOT left to lose. Especially from your arms, your legs, your stomach, your butt..." He would have continued, but I made a move towards him, and I think he decided he valued his head on his neck...

Okay so I obviously I need to work on curling all of the hair, but it's a change for the better.