Jan- Week 1- Anna Sick, Provo City Center Temple, Aquarium, Ben's BD!

Friday, January 1, we cleaned up Christmas and dusted and vacuumed.  

Saturday, the kids had a pancake breakfast to meet their new Primary teachers for the new year.  We had an extended Webster family lunch and white elephant gift exchange.  McKenna and Anna got haircuts and I vacuumed and cleaned out the van a little.  Unfortunately, my cleaning was interrupted by the kids running out to tell me Anna had just thrown up.  Great!  Poor thing.  She threw up about 5 times total and was thankfully done by about 9pm.  She fell asleep on Dan while we watched a movie and thankfully she slept through the night.  

Sunday Dan took the older two to church while I stayed home with Anna and Bethany.  Anna enjoyed a nice bath by herself for once.  :) 

Monday, I got out of the shower to find cute little signs of Anna keeping herself busy.  

That evening we were invited to attend the Provo City Center Temple Open House with Dan's Grandfather and others in the Nelson family.  It's such a beautiful building with an amazing history.  (So wild to think I was in the Provo Tabernacle rehearsing for a choir concert just hours before it burned down back in 2010.) 

After the open house, we got a babysitter for the older three and took Bethany to the Jazz game with Grandpa and Uncle Sam.  

It was an intense game at the end which the Jazz, unfortunately, lost by one point.  

Tuesday, McKenna's class performed in their school assembly during a "show what you know" segment.  Their class did a rap about adding doubles.  

Thankfully, my friend is a secretary at the school and sent this picture and video.  

A sweet video of Ben getting some good laughs from Bethany.  

Remember the Hoodie Footies we got for Christmas?  Well, we had a little experiment to see if I could fit inside Dan's WITH him... Success!  

Wednesday, I met up with two of my college roommates at the Aquarium in Draper.  Nine kids (present) between us.  So fun to be with them and talk mommy stuff!  They always inspire me!  

The kids put on a lovely show that evening.  I want to always remember these little programs!

Thursday morning, Anna brought Bethany these spoons to enjoy.  

Thursday was Ben's 5th Birthday!!  What a GREAT boy he is! 

Opening presents in the morning; an Ironman jacket, a Nerf gun, and a Hoberman Sphere.  

I went to Ben's preschool and found this cute picture of him hanging up.  He built that all by himself! 

He wore a birthday crown, showed off his star poster with all his "favorites" on it, and they sang a cute song to him.  "We're the candles, you're the cake" (tune of London Bridges).  "Make a wish a blow us out, blow us out, blow us out... It's your birthday!"  We also gave his classmates slinkies and skittles since the letter of the day was "Ss".  

Ben also went to breakfast with Dan that morning and got a special Mickey Mouse pancake!  He requested Swedish Meatballs for his birthday dinner and Oreos for dessert.  

I posted on Instagram:

"He is so smart, creative, and energetic.  He loves to make things (especially for people) and is so lovey and snuggly.  His favorite colors are red and green.  He told his preschool class he wants to be Superman when he grows up so he can save the world."

He seemed to be a little somber and "chill" most of the day.  I was surprised and thought maybe he had magically "matured" overnight.  ;)  Turns out, I think he just wasn't feeling well.  He threw up around 2am.  Poor guy; not a fun way to end a birthday.  

Ben’s 5-year-old Birthday Interview (Jan. 7, 2016)

What is you favorite color? Red and green

What is your favorite toy? New Nerf Gun

What is your favorite fruit? Pears

What is your favorite TV Show? Curious George

What is your favorite movie? Star Wars

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Ramen

What is your favorite outfit to wear? Utah Shirts

What is your favorite game to play? Rummikub Yatzee

What is your favorite snack? Squishy apple sauce

What is your favorite animal? Tiger

What is your favorite song? Three Scare Crows

What is your favorite book? Big Brown Bear

Who is your best friend? Jordan and Bennett

What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play in the snow

What is your favorite thing to drink? Chocolate Milk and Sprite

What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and my birthday

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My puppy (stuffed animal)

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes and cheese

What do you want to have for dinner? Swedish Meatballs

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Superman

What is your favorite thing to do with our family? Snuggle them

What’s your favorite thing to do in preschool? Make stuff

Bethany trying apple sauce for the first time.  She seems a little confused by it.  

Dec- Week 4- Christmas Adam @ Mantua, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Sledding, Children's Museum, New Years!

Christmas Break in full effect!! 

Monday the kids had a play date with the Alexanders.  

Tuesday, we got more snow!  After lunch, the kids had another play date with the Lewises.  

We babysat cousin Ellie that evening.  

Wednesday was Christmas Adam!  Dan played racquetball in the morning with David and Laurie.  Then we packed up, delivered a few more neighbor gifts, then headed up to Mantua!  

We picked up some Keva juice on the way as our lunch.  Anna fell asleep while enjoying hers.  

As soon as we got up to Mantua, I started working on my food assignment for dinner, twice baked potatoes!  So yummy!  Aunt Lara was nice enough to curl McKenna's hair. :)  After lots of playing and a fancy dinner, we had our little talent show.  McKenna played Away in a Manger and had everyone join in the second time she played it.  Ben played Jingle Bells on his tone bells from music class.  He was being a little grouchy before the talent show and it took some convincing to get him to come play (even though he had planned on it for weeks!).  I'm so sad we didn't get him introducing himself on camera.  It was hilarious!  It went something like, "Hi.  You all know, my name is Ben.  And I'm going to play Jingle Bells and it's my first time so I hope you enjoy it"  The three "fashion cookies" also sang a song together.  

 
After the talent show, Grandma gave everyone their Christmas jammies, we ate dessert, and Grandpa read from Luke 2.  

Then we put the kids to bed.  

You'll notice the girls look mostly the same in all three of these group shots. below,  but look at Ben's hands.  They look different every time.  I took about 10 shots and these were the best three because Ben could not sit still!

After the kids went to bed, Gma and Gpa gave the grown-ups their jammies (hoodie footies!) and we did our traditional pyramids!  Adam and Brian were injured so they had to be supports.  We also played reverse charades and Mario Kart.  

Christmas Eve morning, we had another fabulous meal with our traditional Christmas poppers and crowns.  Then we opened up the Webster family gifts!  The girls all got matching Albion leggings!  

After lunch, McKenna, Ben and Dan played out in the snow for a bit.  Then we packed up and headed home by 4ish.  After two fancy back-to-back meals at Mantua, we opted for an "easy" Christmas Eve dinner-- Pizza Hut!! :)  One of our family gifts from the Stewarts was a kids Star Wars tent, so we set that up for the kids to have a "sleepover" in Anna's room.  Next, the kids opened their Christmas pjs from us.  Then we acted out the Nativity complete with peaceful Bethany as baby Jesus, McKenna was Mary, Ben was Joseph, and Anna as a donkey (sort of).  Then we set out treats for Santa and got the kids to bed! Dan and I had thankfully done most of the wrapping days before so we were asleep by 12:30!

Video of our Nativity here.

Christmas morning the kids slept in till 8! We opened presents till about 9:30.  Bethany loved eveything, ;) Anna loved her new purse, McKenna loved her snow globe, and Ben loved his Iron Man.  

Anna also got a plastic tea set so she won't play with McKenna's porcelain one as much.  They loved reading the letter from Santa.  (After a quick comparison, McKenna seemed to think Santa's handwriting looked like Dan's... weird!)  They also got some Daniel Tiger Figures.  

After presents we ate our traditional German Pancakes!!  Then my sister and brother came over to hang out for the day.  We played, chilled, made things, read, and did puzzles all afternoon.  We Skyped with my parents and Dan's parents came by to see what Santa brought us.  Dan and Ben spent 4(!) hours working on this Christmas Lego set from Dan's parents.  Dan had numb bum for sure!  Just as I was starting to get our fancy Christmas dinner ready, Anna decided she had enough fun, was listening to a story on Aunt Pickle's lap, and zonked right out!  

McKenna's first selfie during our Christmas dinner!  

After dinner, my siblings went home for Jonathan to sleep (since he works graveyards), and Mickelle had a pretty nasty cold/ear infection so she needed rest too.  We took the kids driving around Salt Lake to see some great Christmas light displays...like this crazy house in the Avenues.  

Ben fell asleep around 7:30 in the car and we put him straight to bed when we got home.  After all the kids were in bed, we could finally "play" with our grown-up toys-- a Chromecast and Apple TV! :)  It was a wonderful Christmas day filled with excitement, family. and love!

Saturday Dan let me sleep in till 9!  Then after breakfast he took M and B sledding at the Eaglewood golf course  (Anna started having a runny nose and cough).

Ben sledding here.

McKenna sledding here.

 Nice panoramic shot. 

That evening our nephew Reed came to babysit while we took Bethany to the Jazz game with Dan's parents and Sam and Lara (and Hailey).  We had some delicious Mexican food before.  Poor Hailey had been throwing up the night before and they thought she was feeling better, but during the third quarter she threw up again all over Sam.  :(  

Bethany had a little snooze.

Sunday I stayed home from church with Anna since she had a pretty nasty cold.  I went to church for  the third hour only to teach my last primary lesson to my awesome class of 8 year olds (Max, Mae, Tyler, Kimball, Chase and Zach).  I'm gonna miss them!  Dan came home for the third hour to be with Anna and had a tea party.

 Sunday evening we had my sister and one of our best friends, Becca (and her family), over for brownies and ice cream.  It was great to catch up and reconnect!  

 Monday we packed a lunch and headed down to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  We were gifted some tickets a year ago and finally used them!  We played for 1.5 hours, ate lunch, then played for about 2 more hours!  It was pretty crowded but I feel like we spent as much time there as we could before the kids were wiped out.  Tons of FUN!

Monday evening we went to another Utah Basketball game! (Don't worry, I'm still a Cougar!)

I posted my top nine Instagram posts from 2015-- obviously mostly about Bethany!  :)

 Tuesday we took McKenna and Ben to the new Star Wars movie!  It was awesome!  

That evening we took dinner to the Winegars to see their NEW house!  Then we ate at Chick-fil-a and attended a Court of Honor for Alton Mortensen (one of Dan's former 11 yr old scouts).  

Wednesday I met up with two of my college roommates and their families!  So fun to be together but it's never long enough!  

That evening we went to Zoo Lights.  It was quite cold and crowded, but I'm glad we could go.  

Thursday (New Year's Eve) Dan was nice enough to let me go (mostly) solo clothes shopping (with a gift card I had) and then out to lunch.  It felt so nice to hear my own thoughts for such an extended period of time! ;)  

After lunch, we miraculously got EVERYONE to take a nap.  Everyone but Bethany and I napped for 2 hours to prepare for staying up late to party! 

 Once Bethany and I woke up from our shorter naps, I gave her a little hair trim and a bath.  I mostly cut the longest hairs that were kind of scraggly.  

Party # 1...to Dan's parents' house! Grandma had many fun things planned for us and David & Laurie's family!  We made mini pizzas, then every hour we popped balloons to find out what the next activity was (it was written on a paper inside the balloon). We played Bingo, made "bug boards" out of pompoms and craft sticks, and decorated notebooks.  

There was also fro-yo which Anna thoroughly enjoyed.  

We left Dan's parents' around 9:30 and spent an hour or so with some neighbors at the Jensen's house.  So many kids!!  They had a pinata and some fireworks for an early countdown around 10:30pm.  

 We headed back to grandma and grandpa's house around 11.  We did puzzles while the kids watched a movie, then we watched the Times Square ball drop (grandma had noise makers and poppers) and called it a night!  Phew!  

Happy 2016!!