Christmas 2015

Christmas break began with a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Cheney's for a quick sleepover. We spent the night Sunday and stayed Monday. Dan worked from Charlottesville and Dad had to work, too, but we were able to meet them both for lunch at Bodo's.

We also decorated sugar cookies with 13-year-old sprinkles. They still tasted good.

Tuesday I spent the day getting ready for the Dursts, who arrived later that night. We visited a little bit and then hit the sack.

Wednesday the Dursts wanted to do some Christmas shopping so Dan took them out for the morning. We hung out at home most of the day (the weather was pretty crummy the whole time they were here - raining a ton) and ate an early dinner so that we could go to Miracle of Christmas.  Miracle of Christmas is a live nativity that is put on by the owners of the Richmond Metro Zoo. They do it for three nights each year and it was the last night, so I really wanted to go. It was lightning and thundering and pouring down rain when we got there. We waited outside under a pavillion for a while, then we were ushered into a big room where everyone squeezed in. Normally there's a musical performance and then the live nativity - both outside. Because of the weather they did the musical performance inside and then we waited until the weather cleared to watch the nativity. It was beautiful! The experience took a lot longer than it should have because of the rain, but I'm glad we went.

 Sam's on the verge of making his cross-eyed face...

Thursday, Christmas Eve, we decided to go to Christmas Town. It's when Busch Gardens transforms into a light-covered holiday wonderland. It was raining again.

 but we had already bought out tickets so it was Christmas Town or bust! (Really we would have just turned around if it was raining like that when we got there, but fortunately it wasn't.)

We stopped for some BBQ on the way at Pierce's Pitt.

 When we got there, it wasn't dark yet so we did a few of the rides they had open (most were closed)

 and met up with G&G Cheney to go watch a Christmas show. It was way too over-the-top. When we got out, it was getting dark so we took a nice train ride around to see the lights. That was the best part.

I don't think I'd go back, but at least now I know!

We got home, ate some quick dinner, watched a nativity video and put the kids to bed to prepare for Christmas morning.

 Christmas morning the kids came down and saw their stockings.

Then we had some delicious chunky bread prepared by G&G Cheney. After breakfast we all opened our presents.

The kids wasted no time in breaking in their new toys. Afton recruited G&G Cheney to help her with her new chemistry set.

 While Sam got to work on his new hot wheels garage.

 I wanted to get cute "first Christmas" pictures of Eli, but he was feeling sickly and didn't really cooperate...

The weather was really nice - like 70 degrees or something. So Dan cooked the ham on the grill while I used the ovens for other things.

 (Dan built that pergola, by the way. Have I ever put a picture of it on here before?)

After our feast.

 And for some reason, our own American Gothic Christmas dinner picture. I think it was Dad's idea.

 I can't believe I was the only one who was cracking!

 G&G Cheney played a fun drawing game with Afton and me while everyone else went on a walk. Then they headed back home.

Later that night I remembered two presents that I had totally forgotten to give to Afton. Oops! So I gave her those. I had one for Sam, too. Not sure where my mind is.

The Dursts bought us Settlers of Cataan so they played that with Dan and Sam.

While I tried again to take pictures of Eli in his new jammies from G&G Cheney.

Saturday our little family went to Walmart early to buy Christmas stuff on sale (Dan wants a Griswold-like Christmas house in the future and he's building up a little each year). Then G&G Durst and everyone except me and Eli went to clean the church since it was our turn. Afton and Sam worked on her new lego set.

After naps, we decided to go to the art museum for a little while.

That night we played Ticket to Ride.

Sunday Dan had early meetings. The kids and took a walk around the neighborhood because it was amazing!!!!!! In the 70s. So glorious.

Grandpa Durst and Eli bonded.

 We went to church, had dinner, and played more games.

The Dursts were supposed to go home Monday, but their flight got cancelled, so they stayed an extra night. Monday we went to Chick-fil-a and tried to go bowling but the wait was 2 hours. So instead we looked at some pretty great Christmas lights.

It was a fun visit and a nice Christmas. The rest of the time, the kids and I pretty much just hung out. We went to G&G Cheney's one more time for the day, took down the Christmas stuff, and got ready to ring in the new year!

Sam's play

Each year at Sam's school, the second graders put on a play. This year, it was a Christmas play about Santa, the North Pole, Penguins, and elves. I think it was called A Penquin Christmas. Sam auditioned (without our knowledge... I don't think they really even told the parents about it or gave them the OPTION of being in the play. Pretty much everyone was just IN the play.) Anyway, Sam auditioned and got the role of "penguin #4". He had two speaking lines. He did a great job.

They second grade performed the play for the school and then again at night for the parents. He was so excited about it and they all did a great job!

Here's his class waiting for the play to begin.

 And here's a terrible video I took while holding Eli. It's when the penguins make their entrance. Sam's fourth in line.

I especially liked the play because it was only 30 minutes long. There was no slacking. Kept up a steady pace. Spunky music. For some reason, though, I found myself on the verge of tears multiple times.

Dan and Sam picked up some ice cream on the way home to celebrate his budding theater career.

Dan's birthday

I am so behind! Dan's birthday was Sunday, December 6. We had a low-key day. He had church meetings in the morning, followed by church. Then we had a family dinner and presents. We are so lucky to have Dan in our lives. He is the best.

The night before his birthday was our church Christmas party, so I got him this shirt and let him open it early.

For dinner I made him tacos. For dessert, he requested a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. We decided to write words around the side that describe our favorite guy. I had the kids help me come up with some words.

We love you, Dan!

Thankful Tree 2015

Before I post about a few other things, I wanted to write about our Thankful Tree this year. It started out looking like this:

 And ended like this:

The idea is that each night of November, after dinner, we each write down on a leaf one thing that we're thankful for. Admittedly, we did forget a few times, but it's my favorite Thanksgiving tradition.
Here's a sampling of our leaves. In no particular order.

Dan: Work, healthy bodies, spinning (the kids love to spin him around), our house, games, Eli, Kristen's cooking, Afton, Sam, chairs, Kristen, indoor plumbing, grandmas and grandpas, earth, water, cars, families, food, fun, music, testimonies, and electricity.

Kristen: Chocolate chip cookies, bedtime, blankets, sunshine, when dinner doesn't last forever (my kids can take FOREVER to eat!), ice cream, color, Dan, Sam, Afton, Eli, books, temples, music, Jesus Christ, sisters, mousetraps (literally - not the game), mountains, freedom, Sundays, warm fall days, washer and dryer, chores, peace, honey, Veterans Day, clouds, Saturdays, holidays.

Sam: Minds, cutie Afton, treasure hunts, hearts, omnivores, life, dishes, nature, our bodies, chutes and ladders, mom, family home evening, water/ocean/lakes/stream/river, strength, wildlife, spirits, Mom's wonderful cooking, wild kratts, Dad, wonderful earth, mammals (including Mom), Indians, Christmas, carnivores, friends, each one of these (with arrows pointing to the other leaves).

Afton: (The ones I can read, at least.) House, Dan, sun, beaks, sisters, "teeveeys", world, birds, sunset, grass, Dad, eyes, Sam, crayons, horses, night, pets. (Please note she doesn't have any sisters or pets.) I'll have to ask her after she gets home from school what some of her other leaves say. I can't remember and I can't figure them out!

The Rest of November

One of the first weekends in November, we borrowed a friend's baby carrier and hiked Humpback Rocks. It was a rainy, cloudy day, but it had been on my fall list of things to do and we were glad we did it. Once we got to the top, the rocks were slick and we were slightly paranoid about the kids slipping, so we didn't stay up there very long. Plus we had to rush back to Richmond for Sam's soccer game.

Despite that gray day, we had a lot of gorgeous weather in November. Here's Afton showing off a pretty fall leaf on one of our walks.

Dan's mom took a Native American art class and made Eli some moccasins. 

Eli's reign of terror begins every morning and doesn't stop all day long. He still eats toilet paper, so we have to keep all the bathroom doors closed. One day I forgot each of the bathrooms on separate occasions and he had a field day.

He also pulls all my recipes books off the shelf multiple times each day, as well as anything else he can get his hands on. He's spent the majority of the month looking like this:

Full of boogers. Poor kid. He just got over it a few days ago.

We took a trip up to the temple and while Dan was in, I took the kids to the park.

Our stake presidency challenged us to each find an ancestor whose work hadn't been done and to do it that month at the temple. I found some distant cousins whose work hadn't been done so I got to be baptized for five of them. Pretty neat!

Afton made a leaf lady at school.

 Eli discovered his love for Cheerios.

 Afton's class had a Thanksgiving feast and her Indian name is Shining Moon. I don't know who came up with it, but she loved it. I also cut about 4 inches off her hair.

 Sam is thankful.

 We bought a new light for our entry way. Finally! Our old one was so hideous. Here's a refresher:

We listed it for free on craigslist and it was gone a few hours later.

Here's the new light. Nice and simple (no glass), but it's really bright. We love it.

 Since we didn't have family around for Thanksgiving, we offered to host some servicemen from Fort Lee through a program called Adopt-a-Serviceman. We ended up with four young men at our house. Dan picked them up around 10:30 and they stayed until 6. They were from California, Montana, North Carolina, and New York. In just a few weeks, they'll be headed out to Korea, Germany, Norfolk (on an aircraft carrier), and on a submarine to an undisclosed location. Pretty crazy. They all just graduated from high school less than a year ago. Anyway, they were nice. They watched the Macy's parade and some football, and played Mariokart with Sam on our N64. Then we had our feast. Dan grilled a turkey and in addition we had mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, rolls, Gretchen's famous pretzel raspberry jello, a sweet potato casserole, and I think that's it. It was all so delicious. We forgot to snap pictures until dinner was over.

 The weather that day was amazing, so after letting our food digest a little bit, we went outside where they threw the football around with Dan and Sam and talked to their families.

 Then we had dessert - pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, cheesecake, and ice cream.

 It was a nice holiday.

Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, we put up the outside Christmas lights and did some yard work.

Saturday we set up the tree and went to explore the floodwall walk.

 To get there, we had to pass through a construction site, the rank smell of open sewage, and a small homeless community of people living in tents. Then Dan had to leave to meet a friend to climb, so we trekked on until we came to an insurmountable flight of stairs (I had the stroller). So we turned around and went back to watch Dan climb for a few minutes.

This is an old wall that used to be part of a bridge connector thing. Now it's a popular day spot for climbers. That's Dan up on the wall in the blue.

Other things from November: 

Sam built some lego contraptions. This one is called "Beaker blender." Eli liked it.

I got a steal of a deal on a Thor costume after Halloween ($1.50). It fits Afton at the moment. These random poses are her idea.

Sunday I gave a talk in church on service and we decorated our Christmas tree. 

 Dan at age 8, and his mini-me.

Now it's December! Dan's birthday is in three days!