Wrapping Presents For Siblings

Every year we have our kids draw names so they can give presents to each other. This is much easier and more fun now that we have such a big family. It's fun for the kids to choose a name and to look for presents for them. In past years it was only Sarah Kate and Ben who understood, but Hannah got it this year and really enjoyed picking a present out for Gracie. I got the opportunity to sit down with each of them on Christmas Eve while they wrapped their chosen present for their designated sibling. (Be warned there are more pictures than there probably needs to be.)

Gracie's version of 'helping' to wrap Sarah's present.

The finished present. She was so proud.

Hannah's turn. She's at the age where it's so much fun to just put tape all over the present, especially in places it's not needed. It's all about the tape.

The finished present. She did a great job.

Ben drew Daniel's name and he had a lot of fun choosing a toy and wrapping it. He's getting big enough that he can do a lot of the wrapping by himself. The sucker in the mouth definitely helps.

The finished present. He was just about as proud as Gracie was.

Sarah Kate drew Hannah's name and she took her time wrapping the present just right. She did most of it by herself but asked for my help a little.

The finished present. Sarah did an awesome job.

6 Months Old

Dan turned 6 months old on the 23rd. I can't believe he's that old. The time has just flown by. He's been a wonderful baby and we're so blessed to have him in our family. Before I go into pictures I'll talk a bit about our little monkey. He had his 6 month check up today and he's growing well. I'll admit he's not as big as I thought he was, but he's growing quickly and that's what's really important. He weighs 17 pounds 13 ounces(50th percentile) he's 27 1/2 inches (80th percentile) and his head is in the 40th percentile.

Daniel's big enough now that he's starting to get a personality. He's a watcher and loves to look at his brother and sisters. He's an overall happy baby and smiles often. He enjoys bouncing in his bouncer and sitting in his seat chewing on his toys. He still sleeps a lot, but he's awake more often which is very nice. He took awhile to start getting teeth (awhile for our kids anyway) but once he started (his first tooth came the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 26th) he kept going. He now has 5 teeth with 2 more that are just about to break through. He has mastered rolling from his belly to his back, but still hasn't rolled from his back to his belly. Ironically he's getting close to sitting up on his own. I'm sure the rolling thing will come when he wants it to.

Now onto the party and pictures. Six months is a huge milestone for a baby and we've always treated it as such. For each of our kids we've thrown a little party. It's not much; one present and a very simple cake, but it's all a 6 month old needs.

The older kids helping Daniel open his present.

Dan showing his sitting up skills in back of his new toy. We tried to get him to smile, but he just wouldn't. Oh well!

His drum set is cool because you can turn them together and they roll. Just what a learning-to-crawl baby needs.

After opening Daniel's present we did some Christmas stuff (we didn't have his party until Christmas Eve.) After eating dinner, wrapping presents and finishing the gingerbread house (see other posts, when they're done) it was time for cake. Being that it was Christmas and we still weren't ready for it, I didn't have time to make a cake. Kenny bought one at Walmart and the kids thought it was great.

Daniel with his Santa cake.

After a short nap he was much more willing to smile.

The big kids helping him blow out his candle.

Time to eat the cake. Messy, messy faces.

Daniel wasn't too sure about eating his cake at first. He'd never had anything quite so sugary.

By the time he was done he seemed to feel different about it.

Happy 1/2 Birthday my little monkey man.

Singing At The School

The kids had another Christmas program this year. Last year the program was held at night, but this year the program was during school hours. Both kids were excited to sing their songs and they practiced at home for over a week. I loved hearing them sing, 'Must Be Santa' and 'Jingle Bells' to themselves while playing. Last year, the week before Sarah's Christmas program we had lent our video camera battery to my in-laws and by the time I remembered I didn't have time to charge a different battery. I was so sad I didn't get to film her and I vowed to do better next year. Surprise, it's "next year" and I did even worse. I didn't charge the video camera battery and we only had about 8 shot on the still camera which meant I didn't even get a picture of Sarah. Oh Well! The program was cute and I loved watching my kids sing.

Ben and the rest of the am Kindergartners singing 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas' with Ms. England (his teacher) leading.

Ben playing the bells and singing 'Jingle Bells.' The 2 girls next to him are in our ward and in his kindergarten class. Haley Bigler in brown and our neighbor Aubrey Andrus in green.

When Ben got home from school I told him what a great job he did and said "Buddy, you didn't tell me you got to play the bells." He said, "That's because I didn't know mom!" Silly me! Only 4 kids got to play the bells during Jingle Bells and they didn't decided do use the bells until that morning. He did a good job especially because he hadn't practiced.

We had excellent seats on the side of the gym right by where Sarah Kate's class sat. Behind Sarah class was a 3rd grade class with two of our neighbor girls/Sarah's friends in it. Hannah and Gracie had a great time sitting on their laps during the program and the bigger girls thought it was cool to have little girls sit with them.

Gracie on Jenna's lap and Hannah on a friends lap. Abbey,our other neighbor, is in the red.

The picture of the girls was my last shot before the battery in the camera died. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't get any pictures of Sarah Kate, but she sang 'Must Be Santa' and did a great job. NEXT YEAR I'LL DO BETTER!!!!!

Letters To Santa

I love watching my kids write letters to Santa. It's so much fun to see what they want for Christmas and to see how excited they are to write a letter to Santa. So, here's their letters, complete with spelling and grammatical errors:

Sarah Kate

Dear Santa,

Thank you for giving us presents. I think yo

u should deserve one too. I would like a webkinz, a I-dog, make-up American dolls and a mp3 player, a big shiny pretty dress, some art stuff. a mini nutcracker. do you get a lot of presents on christmas?

from: Sarah Newbry

BenBen

Dear Santa,

Thank you for getting us presents every single year. I want a shark webkinz and a blue whale webkinz. I also want the radio transformer. I want Lego Indiana Jones 2 video game, nerf guns, some bakugons, and some candy. Have a Merry Christmas. How do you make toys? I've been a good boy so please don't forget me on Christmas. Love, Ben Newbry

Hannah Beth

Dear Santa,

Thank you for bringing us presents. I drew you a pretty picture. I hope you like it. Santa brings me presents and I open presents. I would like a doll and a game for Christmas. I would like a blanket and some clothes for my baby. I've been a very good girl. Merry Christmas!

Love, Hannah Beth

(Hannah also drew a pretty picture for Santa)

Gracie

Well, Gracie just drew a pretty picture for Santa.

Sarah Kate putting her letter on the door for Santa.

Hannah putting her letters on the door for Santa.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Most Valuable Kindergartener

Last week Ben got the opportunity to be the Most Valuable Kindergartner. This is something Ms. England does for all the kids. She gives each kid a week for the class to get to know them. They get to decorate a paper t-shirt that's all about them. Ben had a ton of fun finding pictures of the things he's done and things he likes. He took it to school and got to explain the t-shirt to everyone, then they put it on the wall. He gets to leave it up for more than the typical week because of Christmas break. He's very excited about that.


The things on his shirt:
It reads - Benjamin James Newbry
A map of the USA with Virginia colored red (that's where he was born)
A dinosaur (he likes dinosaurs)
His Jedi Training in Disneyland (this was such a highlight)
A picture in front of Old Faithful (we LOVE Yellowstone)
Our most recent family picture (family is really important)
Beef Jerky (I asked him what his favorite food is and he said beef jerky, OK)
A picture of him in his Tae Kwon Do uniform (he still likes that he did that)
Indiana Jones Lego Video game (of course)
A picture of baby Ben (this was fun for him to see and share with his class)
A picture with Travis (he had to have his favorite cousin on there)
Lego R2D2 (he loves Lego's and Star Wars, this one was a double)
A picture of the family on the Disney Cruise (this was an exciting trip and had to be included)
His favorite colors (Blue and Green)

So there you have my BenBen in a nutshell.

Our Own Personal Aquarium

The kids got a fort building kit a few years ago for Christmas. They get it out every now and then to build things. They brought it out last week and on Wednesday the 16th Ben got a great idea to build an aquarium. The fort kit has some wall with pictures of fish and dolphins on it and he figured if he couldn't go to an aquarium he'd just make one. With some help from Daddy he got his aquarium. Of course it probably took longer to make than it took to destroy, but the kids LOVED it. I must admit it was very clever.

The finished aquarium

Hannah looking in at the fish.

Silly Hannah
Notice the dolphin through the window. That's the sort of thing they saw when they looked through the little windows.

New Church Clothes

Kenny and I decided that with the weather outside not making it out of the single digit, it was probably time to buy our kids some warm church clothes. Lucky for us it's Christmas time and Kohl's has great deals on clothes at Christmas time. We got all the kids new church clothes and I thought they looked so cute I made Kenny take a picture before church on Sunday. I can't believe how big they are all getting. I am one lucky mommy.

Early Grace Christmas

My in-laws will be spending Christmas in Salt Lake where my sister-in-law may or may not have twins (she's not due until the end of January, but the doctor says they'll probably be here before Christmas.) Because we aren't going to see them this holiday we decided to take a trip to Grace early in the month instead. It was a quick trip, but a nice one.

Hot tubbing at Grandma and Grandpa's

We arrive in the late afternoon of Saturday the 5th and stayed until Sunday morning. It was so nice to just hang out with Kenny's parents and his brother Michael and his family. The kids played while the adults talked and played games. That afternoon we let the kids go for a soak in the hot tub. After the big boys got out and the kids settled down a bit we put Dan in. It was Daniel's first hot tub experience and he absolutely loved it. He would just lay there all mellow and content. I wonder if he'll be a water baby like the others.

Sarah holding Daniel in the hot tub.

Hannah had to have a turn. He really did like it more than his face shows.

Gracie's turn (with help from Daddy)

After the hot tub we fed the kids little smokies and corn, which they loved, and then let them watch Night at the Museum 2 while the adults ate a delicious roast dinner. Sadly about dinner time was the time Ben started feeling sick. He complained of a stomach ache and just wanted to lay down. He watched the movie, played a little, and then laid down some more. Poor boy! Being sick is no fun, but being sick at Grandma's with cousins is even less fun.

Sarah Kate with her corn on a toothpick. Silly girl!

My little girls enjoying dinner. I noticed I didn't get any pictures of Ben. He was having too much fun playing with his cousins and not then any fun being sick.

After the movie and the adult dinner Grandpa brought out his famous Huckleberry ice cream. Everyone enjoyed eating it (except Ben who didn't want any.) After ice cream we put the kids in bed and then the adults sat down and watched Night at the Museum 2. It's a great movie for kids and adults. If you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend watching it.

Gracie eating ice cream.

This is how I found the kids when I went to bed. Sarah Kate was too scared to sleep on the floor next to the bed so the other kids were nice enough to let her sleep with them. Cute, but it didn't allow them to sleep very good, which didn't allow us to sleep very good. Oh well!

The next morning the kids played downstairs with Travis and Trent's toys while they got ready for church and Kenny and I got ready to head home. We wanted to make it home for our church which is at 1:00. We made it in time, but Ben was still pretty sick, Gracie was showing signs of being sick and Daniel had a runny nose. We opted to just stay home, not wanting to spread whatever our kids had. Instead of church we made all the kids nap for quite a few hours. It didn't help Ben feel good enough for school the next morning, but I think it helped at least a little.

Ouch!

I don't know why I'm including this in my blog. Maybe it's because I have a picture of it so I thought I'd share, maybe it's because it's the largest bruise I'll probably ever have and I'm kind of strangely proud of it, maybe for another reason. I'm not sure, but I'm including it anyway.

I started donating plasma the week before Thanksgiving. It gives us a little extra cash and we can definitely us some more cash right now. Kenny tried to donate also, but with his heart problems he was not accepted. So it's up to me to get the extra money this way. Things were going good the first few times I went in. The third time (Dec 3rd) I went in they poked me in my right arm and because of my funny veins in that arm they hit a small vein and a large vein (that's just my guess from what they told me about my veins.) Whatever the reason, the stick was not the best and it left me VERY bruised.

It was extremely painful for about a week afterwards. My arm was very stiff and it hurt to touch it. Now, a week and a half later, the big bruise is mostly gone and all I'm left with are some little bruise on the back side of the arm that are still tender to the touch. I've gone in 3 times since and used my left arm (I think I'll just use that one from now on) and there have been no other problems. Kind of an interesting thing. So if you ever donate plasma, watch your veins.

Decorating The Christmas Tree (Again)

We decided to make our own Christmas tree decorations this year. It's something I've always wanted to do, but never have, so when Kenny suggested it I readily agreed. We popped some popcorn and made garland out of cranberries and the popcorn. The kids had a lot of fun making the garland and I was impressed with how well they did. Sarah Kate finished one whole string, Ben got half of one done, Hannah helped Daddy by pushing the popcorn and cranberries down the string, Gracie sat on the counter eating popcorn and squishing cranberries (what fun), and Daniel sat nicely in his highchair watching us all work. It was a fun thing for us to do as a family. I think it may become another one of our Christmas traditions.

Popping the popcorn. My kids love watching popcorn pop. But really, what kid doesn't?!

While listening to Christmas music Ben begged us to let him listen to 'Move Along,' one of his favorite songs. When we turned it on he had to get on the table and dance (something my kids think is so fun to do.)

We started making our garland. Sarah Kate was very good at it and made sure she got the best popcorn and cranberries for her string.

Is this not a look of complete concentration! Don't want to get poked by that needle.

Hannah helping Daddy slide the popcorn and cranberries down.

Dan happily watching us all from his highchair.

After we'd made garland for about an hour we decided to see how much more we needed to make. We went downstairs to put it on the tree. While there we also decorated with candy canes.

Hannah putting on a candy cane.

Finally, a picture of Ben decorating the tree.

Obviously we need to make more garland, but this is as far as we got that night. It may not be the fanciest looking tree you've ever seen, but we think it looks great. Most importantly we had a lot of fun together and made some great memories. After all isn't that the sort of thing Christmas is about.

After decorating the tree we had family pray by light of the Christmas tree and then Daddy read the kids "Why Christmas Tree's Aren't Perfect." It's a great book, one I'd recommend if you've never read it, and it was a great story to go with our evening. I LOVE Christmas time.