Happy Christmas from the Bush's

We had a lovely Christmas this year in Orem.  We didn't have to drive anywhere so it made for a nice, relaxing week.

We've been centering our family home evening lessons around Christ's birth this month, hoping the kids start to understand why we have Christmas.  Yesterday, Jonah and Sophie were playing with a new Play-Doh set and I looked over when I heard Sophie singing "Happy Birthday to you".  Soon Jonah joined in and they had both created "birthday cakes" which Jonah said was for Jesus.  It was really sweet--one of those moments when you get some confirmation that you're doing the right thing and that it will pay off.

Cousins stayed the night on Christmas Eve which made everything more fun, especially for Jonah who got to have a sleep over with his cousin Vaughn.  In the morning before we went downstairs to see the tree, Jonah said they had heard Santa's footsteps the night before.  They were so excited!

I realized I didn't have any pictures of Jonah this way and it's such a wonderful moment when I check on the kids and they're far away in dream land.

Is this an angry face?? He was so puzzled as to what could be large enough to require such a box.  Silly guy.

Safety first!

Candyland

I predict a sugar crash...

Christmas Eve Traditions

This year we had Christmas with Jon's family which meant we didn't have to go anywhere!  This allowed for a much more relaxed holiday.

The family came over for Christmas Eve dinner followed by the kids' Nativity reenactment and opening gifts from other families.

I feel ya, buddy.  It's almost child abuse to make them do this thing every year.  It's always good for a laugh, though.

Since most of our Christmas decor is in storage along with the majority of our other belongings, we had to wing it with stockings this year and decided to get the cheap stockings and make an activity of decorating them together.  It was a lot of fun and provided much laughter!  I'm pretty sure my Christmas tree drawing hasn't improved since first grade.

Funny story behind the kids stockings:  Jonah wanted to add "Christmas lights" to his stocking so he asked Jon for some M&Ms to glue on.  Well, we had a huge bag of Costco trail mix and when we looked back over, they had added nuts, raisins, etc.  We just laughed and had to remind ourselves that we'd only be using these stockings this year.  We had to let them dry overnight before we could attempt picking them up without all the nuts falling off! LOL.

 

We had the kids hang their stockings just before going to bed on Christmas Eve which got them all riled up for the morning to come.

and then Santa came.

Rain in December

Until yesterday, all we'd really gotten as far as precipitation here in Utah was a bit of snow in November and a ton of rain in December.  In fact, Sunday it poured all day long.  It didn't help the Christmas spirit one bit but it sure was cute to see the kids holding umbrellas as we crossed the field to church (one of the nice things about living in Utah is you're usually right next to your ward building--ours is literally in our back yard).

Merry Christmas to you all! 

Jonah's Preschool Christmas Program

 Last Thursday was Jonah's preschool Christmas program. They must have practiced for weeks because those kids had to learn a LOT of songs! I was just beaming with pride and it brought me to tears more than once. I looked at Jon and said, "Can you believe we're at Jonah's school Christmas program?" I just couldn't believe we were already at the point in parenthood.

I purposely forgot my camera because I didn't want to lug it around and didn't want to be the obnoxious mom crawling down the front of the stage to get her kid's picture.

Thank goodness my father-in-law had his camera and we got plenty of pictures and footage.

Forgive the red eyes.  It wasn't my camera and I didn't feel like editing them.

The True Meaning of Christmas

I've been trying to teach my kids the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  I'm not sure how far it has sunk in and I wonder what they'd answer if they were asked some of these same questions.

Yes, I cried.

Sophie to two

I like seeing the changes in my babies over the years and I forgot to do Sophie's 2 year collage (becoming a tradition). 

She is such a joy to us! We love having our little Sophie.  She's sassy and oh-so-girly.  She loves princesses and dolls and chocolate.  She loves to dance and sing and has learned quite the vocabulary from her chatty big brother.

A Christmas Tradition

We've enjoyed visiting Midway in December the last few years for the creches exhibit in one of the churches there.  People share their nativity sets from all over the world.  It's neat to see the different cultures' depictions of that night.

The kids always get to dress up in costumes and be a live nativity. You can imagine how difficult it is to get everyone to look at once.

We also get to check out the many versions of gingerbread houses from the locals.  Some of them are very impressive!

We had a great day with Jon's family and finished it off with some great Mexican food at Tarahumara!

This Nativity was carved out of match sticks.  The kids loved the necessity of the giant magnifying glass.

One of the many times I had to say, "Jonah, don't touch!"

FLASHBACK!

This was from last year.  It's amazing how fast kids grow!! Sophie's in the back pulling her sheep hat off.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

It was our year to travel to Colorado for Thanksgiving which we were all very excited about.  The one thing that  put a damper on the fun was the miserable drive there.  The first 2 hours were through blizzards and over icy highways, and all the while we had Jonah throwing up in the back seat.  Jonah woke up sick the morning we were supposed to leave but we decided to go anyway, as he'd be throwing up no matter where we were and at least we could contain it in the car (thanks to the salad bowl and plenty of grocery bags--all fully inspected and hole-free).  He was a really good sport and made sure we were notified before each episode. Poor kid.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Sophie's birthday with the family.  I made my first batch of fondant which was even more difficult to work with than I suspected.  Those people on Ace of Cakes make it look so easy!  I was pleased with the final product despite all it's flaws.

Sophie loved her birthday presents which provided hours of entertainment through the week.  She loves baby dolls and feeding them, putting them to sleep, and even disciplining them!  I just hope her means of discipline will change before she's a real mom because I'm pretty sure DCFS won't let you keep your child after you throw it across the room or bang it on the table.

In spite of the frigid temperatures on Thanksgiving morning, we gathered the entire family for the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run.  It was a 4 mile run which we all did eight years ago (before most spouses and any children came to the family).  This time we had three baby-joggers, 2 strollers, and twice as many people.  It was a great event and Jonah even got to run his first solo race.  He started out strong but tripped and skinned his nose on the asphalt so it took a little encouragement on my side to get him to finish.  It was about 1/3 mile and by the end, he was spent but so excited that he finished. (pictures to come)

Following the delicious meal, we broke out the karaoke machine and I opened the ceremonies with "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and then forced the other adults to take part (no one was too willing).  The kids loved it, though.

Friday and Saturday were relaxing with just a little shopping, pedicures for the ladies, and the BYU vs Utah game for the boys (I'm glad I didn't watch that one).  Then we got the girls all dolled up in their Christmas outfits for some pictures (talk about break-down central).  We got a few good ones and mostly bad ones with someone crying and someone with their eyes closed.

This one just makes me laugh every time!  Can we say, "I'm tired and can't smile any more."

Beautiful girl.

The drive home was uneventful, thank goodness, and we were glad to settle back in to our usual habits.

How blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.  I have awesome brothers and a sister whom I love dearly and sisters-in-law that are basically blood.  My parents would do anything for us and often do.  I truly have much to be grateful for.