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.