Christmas 2013

The kids saw full stockings, so that meant Santa came!

So down the stairs they ran...

 Santa left games for the kids to play with, In our house Santa doesn't wrap anything.

The Christmas Music came on and the babies danced and danced.

Except, they aren't really babies anymore. Sniffle.

The kids wanted to open Grandma and Grandpa Horn's presents first.

 Scarlett LOVED her present:

 We had to skip bows this year because Mason is a bow ripper. LOL

 The kids really took the time to pick gifts for each other.

 We tried really hard to give the kids gifts that they could use, not leave on the floor. So they didn't really get "toys." Except this one: 

After Bridget got one for her birthday, Scarlett would just sit and watch her play.So Bridget asked me if it would be okay if Scarlett got one for Christmas, instead of her 6th birthday.

A redheaded one was HARD to find, but I did it!

Each girl got a quilt and a bed for their dolls.

Bridget asked Santa for Cami's and Panties and Nathan quickly said "I don't think Santa should be getting you that. Oh my was it funny. Bridget loved all of the ones she got.

 I spy a Snow White.

Every time I asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas (because we didn't do lists this year)

Mason would shout "paw-corn"

He was thrilled.

I was surrounded by Christmas aftermath when it was time to open my present from Liz.

 We ate breakfast, talked about Christmas, and then opened stockings.

 Someone at Nathan's office gave us these little pocket rockets.

Bridget was first to ride it!

I would have never bought these, but the kids loved them! This is of course a fun thing we will do in a closed parking lot this summer. :)

My favorite thing about this Christmas was how slow we took it. 

They loved their scripture bags, and new goodies inside.

We have 1pm church next year, so we had to get creative. :)

Most of their loot was educational, I guess you could say that was the theme.

We decided to nix the list making this year, because who knows my kids better than me? No one.

They were fully surprised with all of their gifts and that made it way more fun.

Lucas even said at one point, "this is something I never knew I wanted" (referring to a robot making kit)

We made Fish and Chips for Dinner, and wow!

SOOOOO GOOD!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Our family sure did.

Yearly Homemade Ornaments

Since our theme/goal for this year :

Enjoy Nature's Gifts

Spending and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.

Trying to not be "plugged in" as much.

So, we have done really well on this goal and we wanted our ornaments to remind us of how hard we worked. We hiked and grabbed some birch bark, and went to town.

I wanted them to look as kid made as possible

Then, we started to etch them.

Bridget's chin is so deep!!!

They were really fun to make, and look SO good on my tree next to the other handmade ornaments from years past.

Perfect for FHE. Perfect "heirlooms" for their own trees when they leave me and have their own trees to decorate.

Teacher Appreciation 2012

It seems like every year goes by so quickly. With 11 school days left and a huge vacation coming up - 

I almost feel stressed with what the summer is going to bring!

Mostly excited, but still, stressed.

Anyway, we thought really hard about what to get the teachers this year. 

Lucas's school and Bridget's school have a luncheon and a whole dedicated to Teacher Appreciation.

We wanted to make something that would be useful and cute. So, here is what we came up with!

They are grocery sacks made out of Nylon. The corner is made of canvas.
They hold up to 40 pounds!

When you don't want to use it - you stuff it into the corner!

Here it is, not in use!

each teacher got three bags, and the specials teachers got two, and then the office peeps got one.

This is how we packaged it.

Labels found at eighteen25.

On the other side I wrote this poem:
You have been the "berry" best teacher, and it is very clear --
I decided to give you something, that you could cause all year!
You can stuff it into a strawberry, when it is not in use,
And next year when you see me, gimme a hug - NO EXCUSE!
I will miss you all summer, and I will try not to cry --
Happy Teacher Appreciation Day, and for now, Good Bye!

Then Lucas signed them all. I am pretty proud of that poem! Haha.

Here is Lucas delivering to each teacher.

Mrs. Stout, Music

Mr. H, PE

Mrs. King, Art

Mrs. Kelso, Kindergarten!

The Library/Tech teacher wasn't there yesterday, but she got one too. :)

Then, Bridget gave to Mrs. Lovely today!

My kids have been pretty lucky to get such great teachers this year!
They all teared up a little and gave the kids hugs. I love the community we live in.

For reference...HERE is what we did for the teachers on the FIRST day of School! :)