Family Christmas Devotional

On the Sunday before Christmas it is our family tradition to have a family devotional.  It is basically a Family Home Evening that we center on the birth of Christ.  I love this tradition as it is intended to help us focus the week of Christmas on the true meaning of the season.  It is my goal to have all my shopping, cards mailed, etc. before this Sunday, so that I can slow down for the rest of the year and reflect on what Christ's birth means to me personally. 

I have kept our baby Jesus in his cardboard box of hay tucked away on my closet shelf all year, so it was a surprise for Gracie when I pulled it out.  She did not remember it. Jace LOVES role playing, and ate up acting out the Christmas story.  We kept it simple last year, so he loved doing the whole thing this year.  He was a shepherd and Joseph. Gracie was an angel and Mary, Ryan was the wise man, and I was the narrator, prop manager- and photographer.



We then had music time and sang Christmas songs from the primary song book.
In my nursery class earlier that day,  I used cotton balls for the song Snow is Falling All Around..and it was such a hit at church that I decided to do it with Jace and Grace that night.  They really loved it. Throwing cotton balls at each other is just fun!

We ended the evening with a gift exchange.  I did the shopping this year and decided that as a family we would all give each other Nerf dart guns!! 

We stayed up for another hour or so shooting the daylights out of each other leaving little red welts on each other's skin from the darts.

It was a BLAST!!! I was worried that Gracie would hate it, but I found her a little gun and she went crazy chasing Ryan.

So that is how we ended our spiritual family devotional!  It was our best one yet!

O Christmas Tree

Handley's Holiday Hillside is where we have gone for the past 3 years for our Christmas tree.  We went a few weekends ago and the kids had a blast.

Gracie and Jace ran around the farm pulling each other with a scarf while Ryan and I scoped out all the trees.

It was a cold, Saturday afternoon around 40 degrees but that didn't stop my little Polar bear Rue from taking off her coat for at least half of the venture.

The Polar Express train was running this year. It is the first time it has been working. It is old and rickety but perfect!

After wandering around the farm for a good 45 minutes, Jace declared that we needed to pick a tree soon before he froze to death.  We finally settled on the one the kids had initially wanted. Ryan and I had vetoed it because it had a broken branch on one side.

But we decided on it anyway.  The workers cut it down then Ryan had the fun job of  hauling it down the hill--but he had a good crew to help him.

They shook out the needles, netted it, and loaded it on the van for us.  After a little stop in their cabin for hot chocolate and cookies we were on our way home.  During the 30 minute drive home the kids dozed off and Ryan and I had a lovely visit.   As we got home we pulled right into the garage and heard a crunch.  Yes, we forgot about the tree on the roof and smashed it going under the garage door.  But what is a few more broken branches?

We turned the crunched side to the back and the kids went to work.  All they wanted was a big, big, tree, and this one did the trick this year! 

We dropped like flies

Here you see a picture of us at the Hawkeye Oral Surgery Clinic in North Liberty, Iowa.  We made a little visit there last Saturday as it is a special day for all the faculty and staff in the OMS department to get treats and see Santa.

Little did we know that 30 minutes later we would all start dropping like flies.

We were so excited last Saturday because it was day one of Ryan's long awaited first December vacation in the last 3 years.  We had our week planned with excursions to the Nauvoo temple, family photos, dental exams, painting our bathroom, and a trip to Wasserbaun Water park in Amana.

But that all came to an end when Jace threw up in the car on the way home.  We had Eryn with us. She is Jace's friend from church.  Her Mom is single and was sick with bronchitis so I offered to take Eryn with us for the day while she rested.

Unfortunately that ended when we returned her home an hour later exposed to a virus. I felt so bad.

The bug he got was vicious.  So, so vicious. He threw up for 48 hours -until Sunday night.  He was not up and going until Monday.  Monday evening, within minutes of each other Gracie and I started vomiting.  By Tuesday neither of us had stopped throwing up and Ryan was exhausted from tending us both.  I was so weak I couldn't lift my head off the pillow.

Gracie kept throwing up until Thursday morning.

Just as I was starting to rally on Wednesday night, Ryan went down. He NEVER throws up but this bug got the best of him.  He was down for about 30 hours.

So now it is Friday night, and our whole week is gone.  But this virus did give us a chance to let go of everything this year.  I usually send out 80 or more Christmas cards, do tons of baking, and spend several hours looking at toys with my kids.

But this year, we have huddled up together by our fireplace downstairs and Ryan has read the Wind in the Willows to us, and we have watched movies, eaten more Popsicles and chicken soup then I thought possible, seen a blizzard blow through on Thursday, and really it has been lovely. Despite the excruciating pain I went through on Tuesday and Wednesday, it has given me time to just think about Christmas and what it means to me personally, and most of all given me time to hold my children close and breath in their sweet smell. The events in CT have left my heart full and I have felt so blessed and grateful to have them safe and sound.

This is what Christmas has really been about for me this year.  No hustle and bustle as I dropped all my personal expectations and deadlines.  We are together and now we are all feeling happy and are almost completely healthy.  And it only took us exactly one week.

Dinosaur tracks

In St George there is a museum that has preserved dinosaur tracks that were first found by a local resident Sheldon Johnson when he was doing construction on his property.  A bulldozer overturned a large slab of sandstone and on the other side were very large and distinct tracks.  Now there is a museum and a very large collection of  tracks from the area.  My sister Randolyn, her daughter Irelan, and my brother Jabe all went with Jace and Grace the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to see them.  (We also went again after Thanksgiving with Ryan's family--but I guess we didn't take pictures of that trip.)

 

So here you see them looking at the various displays. 

 

 

 

Jace's absolute favorite find in the museum was this Megalodon tooth. 

Megalodon was a giant prehistoric shark and Jace loves it.  He has watched The Discovery Channel's series about prehistoric animals and this is his very favorite.  I was surprised that he recognized the tooth right away.  I had to read the label, and sure enough he was right!  (FYI--Megalodon ate whales--he was that big)

Gracie thought the big slabs of rocks with the tracks were great fun to climb on, but since they were roped off and had big signs saying dont' climb or touch the sandstone, we contained her in this little children's area they had.

 

They had dinosaur puppets and crayons.

She was happy there until the rest of us finished looking around.  I should have taken some good pictures of the tracks.  Sorry, I didn't think to, but here you see two sets of different fossilized dinosaur eggs by Jace

 

 

and the picture Gracie snapped of me right before we left!

 

October highlights

Does anybody else feel like it should still be September?  I can't believe Christmas is just days away.  Before the year ends, I have vowed to finish this year's posts.  So I am rewinding to October. Jace turned a big 6 years old on the 20th. It was a Saturday and we packed the day full.  Ryan and I stayed up late the night before to decorate the dining room with balloons and streamers and place his present on the table.

I was still sick with morning sickness, but Walmart totally came through for me with this darling chocolate cake.  I told them what I had in mind, and they made it.  It is a road and all I had to do was add the pack of Hotwheel cars crashing off the edge.

I still remember his thrilled look as I brought it out to him filled with cars!

Ryan doing the Chuck E. dance.

For lunch we packed up and went to Chuck E. Cheese's in Cedar Rapids. We blind folded Jace and didn't tell him where we were going.  He was thrilled. We haven't been there since we left Virgina.

Gracie was a riot.  She fell in love with Chuck E. so she and Ryan followed him around and danced with him every time they turned on his music!  Ryan was thrilled !! He loved dancing with Chuck E.  They are tight now!  He even got to re-enact it for weeks in the living room after we got home. All Gracie wanted to do was have Ryan be Chuck E. and dance with her.  I should have made a video of it!!

The first thing Jace did was see this race car and camp out on it for a good hour.  While he was racing away, I made myself happy with several slices of pizza and then followed Ryan and Grace around with the camera. 

Ya gotta love Barney!  At least Ryan didn't have to dance with him!

Here you see the mechanical horse-the best kind of horse to have.

Jace also took to this cross bow game. 

We had done pretty well at a few games so we cashed in our tickets and went home.

When we got home, my fun quota was filled for the day and I had to go to bed sick.  Jace was thrilled to finally have a chance to make his Lego police semi-truck that he had anxiously waited for for weeks. 

When I got up a little while later I found my darling daughter busy making cake too,

and my boys hard at work.  I don't think you can ever outgrow Legos.  Ryan had so much fun too.

In the midst of the construction Jace's favorite Grammy called him.  I love this picture of him chatting it up with her with his finger in his nose.

He also received a box from his Grandparents.  And it was so much fun.  Inside was a really neat construction vehicle that went right outside to our "quarry".  (The gravel pit where the pool was-everyone should have one!!)

And that ended our Saturday.  It was so fun to just bask in the joy of watching my son have a special day all to himself.  And I was especially grateful that I felt good enough in the morning to go to Chuck E. Cheese's and that Ryan's pager didn't go off until that night.  He was on call.  All together it was a blessed day.

It's December

We are safely home from Utah.  We had a wonderful time.  I am eager to post pictures of our last week there, but I am not able to on my blogger account.  When I try I get a message stating that my Picasa memory is full and I have to buy more.  I am not to thrilled about that news.  So when Ryan gets a free minute I am going to see if he can free up some of my existing memory.

Until then..I guess we will all just carry on!  

To my lonely man

Hi Rye-Pie, it was so lovely to talk to you tonight for an hour or so.  Oh, I can tell you miss us terribly.  We miss you.  I miss you.  I am so exhausted tonight.  Your daughter wore me out today!  I can hardly wait until Thursday, when I can hand her over to you!

Your children played in the old garden spot for a good hour or so.  Gracie and Conagher are new BFF's.  She followed him everywhere today.  

She called you on her kitchen phone all morning and made lots of mud soup.  I am saving it for you to clean up! 

  Your "Buddy boy" was an angel.  He quietly played in the yard all day

and raced monster trucks with his sister.

She pulled the little truck attached to a string and mowed Jace over a few times.  But he didn't seem to mind.

I have no plans for tomorrow. We may go see the dinosaur tracks with Randolyn, but I am not sure.  We are really hoping Boston gets her mission call on Wednesday.  We are all on pins and needles.  Do you want to make a guess as to where she is going.  I will put a pin on the map with your name.  A prize goes to the winner!

Well, my mom is waiting for me, I am reading her the book your mom gave us--"Being George Washington."

Talk to you tomorrow I hope.

I Love you.

PS.  Jace says to tell you, "I miss him."  It is 10:00PM and he is here in the kitchen with us dreaming and eating cinnamon rolls.

Good night.  XOXOXO#$%!