A Busy December

We played with the felt Christmas tree mom made in Utah over Thanksgiving until Kyle started eating the  pieces.

We put up the lights on Saturday December 1.

We made spritz cookies.

Kyle loved Rudolph until the batteries stopped working and he stopped singing and his nose quit glowing.

We decorated the Christmas tree on Monday December 3 for FHE.

 

We barricaded around as many decorations as we could.

Caleb participated in a drama event at the high school during a  Christmas Program for Perkins Elementary in Moapa.        This one is Dr. Suess' The Zax,

This is his monologue from Princess Bride.

I bought Kyle a Little People's nativity to play with.

We had our first hot cocoa of the season.

We wore out Santa hats.

Mom had a delicious birthday breakfast from Maverick.

Dad got mom a pretty poinsettia for the boys to give her for her birthday.

Mom bought this huge pitcher and basin with some of her birthday money.

Dad made mom a smiley face pancake so she would be happy.

Cadyen was Joseph in our Primary nativity for the ward Christmas party.

We learned how to open mom's drawer in her night stand and get the candy.

We dressed up for church.

We took extreme close ups with mom's camera.

We didn't decorate with all the Christmas decorations that we have because of Hurricane Kyle.  Dad took mom out for her birthday to Cheesecake Factory and got her a new camera.  We wrote letters and made Christmas decorations for Cody on his mission.  We made lots of sweet breads to take our neighbors and friends.  We took soda pop to our teachers as Christmas thank yous.  We took fuzzy socks and lotions to some of our teachers and those that help us at school.  We listened to lots of Christmas music.  We watched many shows on ABC's 25 Days of Christmas.  We sang a Christmas song, read a scripture and read a Christmas story as many nights as we could.  We ate a piece of "chocolate" from the advent calendar each night after prayer.  We said many prayers thanking Heavenly Father for all that we had and asking for blessings on those who were suffering this season.  We said many prayers for our missionary.  We missed our missionary terribly but were very grateful for where he is.  Mom cried a lot because of missing Cody and then cried some more for those hurt and those suffering because of the terrible deeds done by one man in Connecticut.  Dad and Caleb replaced the water heater again since the bottom element's electrical cords somehow got fried.  Don fixed a leak in our water pipes outside the house since the water bill went up $30.  We drove through lots of mud because of all the rain we got the 3rd weekend of December. We ate lots of treats that our friends and neighbors brought to us.  We took as many naps as possible in all this hustle and bustle.  We had a very Merry Christmas surrounded by our family and friends.

Christmas Breakfast with the Missionaries

We were so happy that the missionaries could come for breakfast.  We had lots of food.  We had breakfast casserole, waffles, grits, bacon, sausage, juice, chocolate milk and hot cocoa.  Grandma, grandpa and Aunt Darbie came over as well and David a little later.  The Zundel's were getting ready to go out of town the day after Christmas so they didn't come.  It was a nice breakfast!  The missionaries stayed for about an hour and then headed out to their other invites.  I am glad that they were well taken care of!

I didn't get any other photos of the rest of the day for some reason.  After some napping on the couch while waiting for Cody's phone call, movie watching and some mid afternoon snacks, we had a nice dinner of honey baked ham and turkey, cheesy potatoes, pistachio salad, rolls and cheesecake for dinner. Grandma and grandpa came back over for that.  Cody didn't call until 12:30 and then it was only the pre-phone call phone call.  His official call came around 3:30 and we got to talk to him for about 30 minutes.  That was a super Christmas gift!  He is doing fabulously and was extremely well taken care of by the members there in Kinston.  We are so grateful for that.  We will continue to take care of these missionaries here in the hopes that our missionary will be taken care of.  

Christmas Morning

I didn't get a jammie picture the night before but we did the traditional hallway shot.  Caleb is wearing a lovely torn up shirt that now will go in the costume box since it looks very piratish.  The kids were excited to see their Santa stuff and then we moved all the presents into the family room so that we would have more room.  Caleb's cell phone didn't come so he got an IOU.  Cayden loved his new portable DVD player. Kyle had so many toys but loved the dump truck ride-on the most it seemed.  Connor got lots of outdoor cooking and dutch oven stuff.  It took less than an hour to have Christmas morning.  Not 30 seconds after we got all the presents unwrapped Connor asked about his birthday   Classic!  Don got some new black dress shoes, a heater for upstairs, a tie rack and a new travel bag for bathroom stuff.  He gave me a small carpet cleaner/vacuum, a new hairdryer, and smaller heater for my room.  It was the year of heaters.  Grandma Dottie came over for the present unwrapping like she does every year.  After that, I got showered so I could get breakfast going since the missionaries and more family were coming.  Connor cooked the sausage and bacon outside in some of his new cook stuff.  After breakfast we got cleaned up, Kyle got a nap, we watched some of the new movies we got  and we waited impatiently for Cody to call.

Christmas Break Begins and Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day was super busy!  It seemed that this whole Christmas season has just flown by.  The kids only got out of school on Friday and then they went with Don to do their annual "Shopping for Mom" on Saturday.  I am not sure what I did that day other go to the store with Kyle.  On Sunday we had church of course.  Don sang in the choir and choir practice that morning.  We were lucky to get to church on time!  After church we had dinner, Kyle and I had a nap-me a much shorter one than him because I was starting to hyperventilate with all the things that I had yet to do.  I made some treats-fudge, peppermint crinkle cookies and 7 layer bars and then started wrapping presents.  I had not gotten anything wrapped before this.  I wrapped for a while and maybe got 1/3 of it done.  I decided to finish the next day-Christmas Eve.  That morning while I wrapped Don and the boys straightened the house and cleaned the floors.  Later Don went and washed all the horrible mud off the car from the previous weeks rain and went to the store for the customary last run.  I made chex mix-Christmas Crack, and got ready for the evening's festivities.  We had a progressive dinner for Christmas Eve with Don's family.  We started at Aunt Dena's for appetizers-salami and cheese on baguette toasts,and  baked brie with pears and grapes.  After appetizers we opened the gifts from their family.  Uncle Chris wrapped one  of Cayden's gifts over and over again so it was hard to get to.  It was funny!

Taylor and Cayden

Kyle getting read to eat.

Connor and Taylor.

The gift with multiple layers of wrapping paper.

After appetizers we came back to our house for salad and soup.  I made spinach salad and vegetable beef soup.  We gave our gifts to the girls and Grandma and Grandpa to open.

Don and Jen

Kisses from the cousins.

Kisses from Aunt Dena

After soup and salad we headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's for the main course.  Uncle Dave bought prime rib for the occasion and we had baked potatoes, rolls, asparagus and green bean casserole.  Aunt Darbie brought a bundt cake and grandma made a few pies.  Of course we were all absolutely stuffed!  The kids sang some carols around the piano and then after more gift opening we played the metal pipe/ bells.

Carols at the piano.

The dinner set up.  

Caleb's new tie.

Kyle's new slide with grandpa keeping watch.

Cayden's favorite cookies from grandma.

A safety whistle-Uncle Chris called it a r*** whistle.  Luckily Connor didn't hear that part.

That progressive dinner took 3 hours and Kyle was about done.  He didn't get a very good nap during the day.  We came home, opened our Christmas jammies, read the Christmas story from Luke, ate our last piece of chocolate from the advent calendar, said prayer and got everyone settled.  It was the easiest Christmas Eve bed time we have ever had.  The boys were excited but didn't come out of their rooms well  except Caleb who I told better get back in there because Santa wasn't going to come because I was so tired.  I wanted the kids to sleep to 7 and they wanted 6:30 so we compromised at 6:57.  Yeah they are not too good of negotiators!  It was a moot point though because Connor was up at 6:15 banging around in the bathroom so we just decided to get it all going!

Kyle Brandt is 15 Months Old

All snuggley and warm in Cameron's jacket. 

Seeing Santa at Riverwoods-not too thrilled.

Oreos!

Look at those blue blue eyes!

A Caleb invention to keep him out of the cabinet.

Vacuuming!

Putting on the Santa hat.

All dressed up for church-but he wouldn't be still long enough for me to get a decent picture.

This kid just gets more and more busy every day.  And by busy I mean into EVERYTHING.  We have about used everything in the house to barricade him out of the kitchen, the stairs, the fireplace and now around the Christmas tree and the whole living room completely where the big Christmas tree is.  We put the loveseat in the doorway of the living room so he can't get in there. We didn't use all our Christmas decorations this year because he would just get into them.  Cayden was not that happy about it.  Kyle likes to vacuum but only with the hose off.  He can put on hats and loves socks!  He loves to be outside and loves to swing and slide.  I thought that he would be afraid of sliding but he loves it!  He opens drawers everywhere and cabinets that aren't locked.  We have rigged some ingenious baby proofing on the cabinets and where we can't, like the bathrooms, the doors stay shut!  He likes to take my hand when I say "let's go".  He knows how to make the signs for more, cookie, bye bye, doggie, duck, ball, and water/drink.  He says go, cocoa, ho ho ho, car, Caleb-which is bub, daddy, mommy, papa-grandpa, ah oh, baba-bottle, and mmm-moo.  He climbs on everything.  He can climb on and off the couch, the hearth, his toys, and a few days ago we caught him on top of the lamp table by dad's chair-standing up straight on it.  He didn't know how to get down.  He had an oreo for the first time and LOVED it.  His favorites are goldfish, bananas, string cheese and grits.  He has started to want to take the spoon from me and put it in his mouth.  He runs away from me when he takes something of mine and I go after him for it.  He loves to play chase.  When Connor tickles him he makes the sign for more.  He lays his head down on my shoulder and gives tight hugs.  He is loving getting the chocolate candy out of our Christmas Advent calendar.  He likes to read books with animals and loves Baby Einstein videos.  He knows what we mean when we say close the door and he will do it.  He got his second haircut a few weeks ago from my friend.  He was not as still as he was the previous time!  He still takes 2 naps a day.  I am hoping to get him to just one long one in the afternoon but he gets so tired by 11 that he has to have a short 45-60 minute nap then he has another nap around 2:30 or 3 for about an hour and half.  Unfortunately he is still in our bed.  I just can't put him in his room to cry it out.  He just cries momma momma momma and it breaks my heart.  Yes, Suzanna I know!  I am trying to move into his room for naps but he falls asleep with me on the bed that is in there and if I try to move him to his crib he wakes up every time and will not go back to sleep unless he is back with me.  He likes to hold our hands at night and does this picking thing with his nails on our nails-it is almost aggravating!  He come by it naturally though because Don said that his dad used to do that too!  Kyle loves loves loves his dad and is so excited to see him when he comes home.  He loves his brothers too and is so happy when they come home from school.  We are excited to have another Christmas with him where this time he will be much more involved.  He has been the easiest to buy for and I may have gone a bit overboard with him.