Great Grandma

One cool thing about visiting Boise is that my kids get to see their great grandparents, Doris and Figs Hanna. They are Jon's maternal grandparents. It seems like everytime I come visit, there is a new great grandchild for them to see. They loved seeing Joey!

Christmas Highlights!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For Christmas Eve, we had all the kids dress up as Nativity characters and then they acted it out. We had a lesson about the Good Shepherd and then we sang Christmas songs using hand bells that Grandma Pam sent us. The kids loved it. We ended the evening with a gift exchange game.

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. We opened presents and ate a delicious breakfast. I even got a nap! What a great day! We had the best Christmas dinner...we felt like kings and queens. We had prime rib, crab, lobster, mashed potatoes, and homemade rolls.

Little Anna gave us the biggest laugh of the day. She was munching on a treat that she had found. It looked kind of like a biscotti to me...she ate about half of it. A little later, my mom asked where the dog biscuit was for my brother's dog. Apparently my mom filled a stocking for his dog and the big dog biscuit was missing. We realized that Anna had found it and eaten it. What a funny girl!

Toothless Tyler

Tyler lost just lost his first tooth! According to him, "It's about time!" All of the other kids in his first grade class have lost at least one tooth, so he was getting a little impatient. The Tooth Fairy gave him $1 for his tooth. When he woke up, he said, "The tooth fairy came, but she only gave me a dollar!" I guess some kids in his class have gotten up to $20. Does this seem ridiculous...$20 for a tooth? So, what is the going rate for the Tooth Fairy these days? Does anyone know?

Snow!

We made it to Idaho and the trip was very eventful. The t-shirts I made were the best! It seemed that people were more than helpful because of them! We even got free dinner in Atlanta because my husband is in Iraq and this kind gentleman felt sorry for this poor mom with four kids. We almost didn't make our flight from Salt Lake to Boise, but they held the plane for us! I would have cried if we missed it! The kids all did very good on the planes and somehow we survived! I felt like I had run a marathon by the time we arrived...I was exhausted. When we got to Idaho, my kids were more than thrilled to see snow! They have played in it for hours! They are so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas and they are looking forward to their cousins coming tomorrow!

Flying...

By myself...with 4 kids...from Florida to Idaho! That's what we're doing in a few hours. I am sooo dreading the flight! I made the kids these t-shirts so that people would know why I would be crazy enough to drag 4 kids onto an airplane (3 airplanes, actually) without a husband!

Ready for Christmas

We went to a Christmas party at the hospital with Jon's coworkers. The kids got to see Santa, play games, eat way too much sugar, and get their faces painted. Anna flipped out when I put her on Santa's lap. The rest of the party, she clung to me with a death grip. After the party, Tyler stated that he was ready for Christmas because Santa promised to bring him a Nintendo DS. Maybe this is the year that Tyler finds out who Santa REALLY is because he is NOT getting a DS.

Enrichment!

I am the enrichment counselor in my ward and we just had our Christmas Enrichment. We did a North Pole mystery dinner and it turned out fantastic. The Enrichment leader did an amazing job putting all of this together. Our ward is so small that she doesn't have a committee, so the work falls on her shoulders. She was the mastermind behind the whole evening and I was her main helper...it was a lot of work, but also lots of fun.

We made reindeer napkin holders.


The tables...


The center pieces were tree branches spray painted white and then cemented into the pots. We then added the clear ornament balls filled with mini M&Ms. We used glass etching cream to etch a snowflake and the work "Joy" on each ball. The sisters in our ward took these home as gifts.

Aunt Jaynann

Here are some cute pictures of all 4 of the kiddos with their Aunt Jaynann. They loved having her here over Thanksgiving!