grand finale

The kids had a Christmas sing-a-long at school. A friend of mine, who is a good mommy, went to sing-a-long with her kids and got some pics of mine for me. 

Winter turned 9! She looks 12. She requested that she make her own pancakes for her birthday. 

Wendy came into town the day before so Winter loved having her there to help celebrate.

In true Auntie Wendy fashion she took her to the Habit for lunch, shopping at Target, and then took all 3 girls to see Frozen 2. 

Winter also wanted to bake her own cake and decorate it. 

She emptied the entire container of sprinkles out onto the cake.

My mom and Aunt Debie stayed with us for a while too. I had to take a pic of my cutie pie mom looking so fabulous on her way to church.

For the Christmas service Sunday, all 3 girls got to go up on stage and help with the service a little bit.

Angus couldn't hang.

Later that day we had 30 some people over for our family Christmas party. Here are some ugly sweaters that arrived first. After everyone arrived, I was too busy to take pics.

Our annual family pic. Finally, the babies in the bunch are not mine. 😊

And it's funny that every year, each of us are always standing in the same place for the most part.

Anual PJ pic. Malory and Madison were cropped in from Florida.

We've loved having Mom and Deb here with us. 

Debie loves games so the kids took full advantage.

Here's mom getting a lost toy under the couch with tongs.

Angus won’t fit into these Christmas PJs next year so good thing I took 1000 pics of him in them.
And he may have worn them for two days. And nights.

Sparkle and Bob made it safely back to the north pole Christmas Eve. My biggest piece of advice to young married couples, especially those with babies is to NEVER get an elf on the shelf. I know people who love it and get really into it. I think those people are also the people who are born with twice as much energy and creativity as the rest of us. 

We love driving around to look at Christmas lights. Flamingo Street in Glendora is the best. It's timed to Christmas music you turn your radio station to in the car.

I've tried to get a pic of the kids in front of the tree each Christmas. This year I added the dogs for an extra challenge.

The lights weren't working at the top of the tree and that part didn't really get decorated so it didn't make it in the pic. There is something magical about sitting on the couch at night looking at the Christmas tree lights.

This is my new favorite ornament Winter made at school this year.

I'm not really sure what my kids believe about Santa. They know this is our wrapping paper. They know I bought them presents from Target. I don't mention Santa because I hate sharing the credit with that guy. Mya knows because she's the one who wrapped all the presents except hers. I'm guessing the other three haven't figured the whole thing out yet.

Christmas morning was actually pretty awesome. Everyone got what they wanted I think, which may be a first. There were lots of squeals and screams. And Mom and Aunt Debie got to experience the magic with us. 

The two trash bags behind Addie are filled with wrapping paper.

Once a year, for Christmas, I buy the kids the sugary cereal they beg me for all year. This year it was fruit loops and lucky charms. It's already all gone.

We used to buy the dogs bones and treats for their stocking but this year they just got hugs from Angus, Winter and Dan. The rest of us aren't really dog people.

Addie lost a tooth on Christmas. Dan pulled it out. That makes 4 teeth lost so far between the 3 girls in ONE WEEK. A record. And Addie has another one that will come out pretty soon.

I got Angus a new toolbox with actual tools in it so he can help Dan. It said ages 8+ on it but I think he's ready. 

Tonight at the dinner table:

Angus: Mom how old I am right now?

Addie: Angus you're fooouuur!

Angus: Ugh still?!

Perks of living in SoCal in the Winter. It's always warm enough to get them out of the house. And perks of $1 store painting projects, keeps them busy for an hour for $3 total. Mya took a nap instead. December exhausts all of us.

Anytime anything happens that adds to the craziness that is our daily life, the laundry gets backed up. All our hampers were full plus an extra one I brought out to hold the overflow. Dan took pity on me and suggested we go to a laundromat and knock it out all at once. Isn't he the sweetest. Romance is your hubby folding princess sheets with you at Launderland so you don't have to spend the whole next week chained to the bed watching cheesy Christmas movies while you fold. Forty bucks and two hours later, all 10+ loads were clean and dry and folded. 

It's actually kind of nice that we have two weeks off of school and schedules. We get a chance to catch our breath and just be lazy for a few days. We have zero plans for the next week and I'm loving it. 

I said I wouldn't post before the new year but sometimes I surprise myself. My recommendation this week is The Crown on Netflix. It's 3 seasons of great acting, great writing and a very interesting story. It has some language and one episode with sexual content FYI. I learned so much about Britain watching it. I think it is renewed for another season so that's good. 

Have a Happy New Year friends! 

trees, solos and holes

We finally squeezed in an hour to trim our tree. This is the first time we allowed all four to decorate. I gave Addie and Angus the ornaments that wouldn't break if dropped like angels made of yarn and paper ones from school. I told them they were super special and to be very careful with them. I didn't give them very clear instructions so there were several branches with 5 ornaments on them. I fixed those after they went to bed. 

Dan is in charge of the lights, the star on top, and the very high ornaments.

Mya and Winter sang in the Living Nativity at church last weekend. Winter played a drum and Mya had a solo. Winter was too dark so her pic didn't come out.

Angus and Addie trying to stay warm

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Photo credit: Sheller Schaller 😊

It was wear a Christmas hat or headband day at school Tuesday. I made them take a quick pick when I dropped them off. Got those reindeer headbands at the 99 cent store in case you need some.

On the way back from church Sunday I noticed holes in one of Angus's last good pants. When I asked him how they got there he replied very seriously, "Somebody put dem daya!" Good thing I just got a bag of hand me downs from a friend. 

 Addie stuffed socks in her shirt and came into my room and said, "Mommy! I drank so much water that I grew boobs!"

Angus is not buying the whole elf thing. He looked at Sparkles closely and said, "Yeah, dem not real mom." Winter and Addie very much believe they are, thanks to our neighbor who moved the elves when we were gone over night. 

Winter definitely writes me way more love letters than hate mail but I'm always so entertained by these.

Check out this pic of my little bro Mike around the same age as Angus. Crazy right? It's like the same little person.

So, my new recommendation is lazy enchiladas. I've been rolling tortillas for years. I had no idea there was a faster way. If you're in the dark like I was, let me change your life. To make lazy enchiladas, you just lay the tortillas flat to cover the bottom of a casserole dish, then pile on the cheese and chicken or whatever you normally put inside your enchilada then lay more tortillas over the innards, add sauce then top with cheese. I will never go back to the old way. Sorry I don't have pics but I'm always in such a frenzy when I make food for some reason. I rarely think to take a pic. Kids are asking home work questions, other kids are asking for a snack, my hands are covered in sauce and cheese... it's madness. 

Another good tip if you are making enchiladas for one or two is to use a loaf pan. You can still do it the lazy way. Just tear the tortillas in pieces so they line the bottom of the loaf pan, add enchilada innards like cheese, chicken or beef, top with more tortilla pieces, add sauce, add cheese and voila, lazy enchiladas in a loaf pan.

And to go a step further, we make chips with our leftover tortillas. We always have extras. It's super easy. Grab some tortillas and brush oil on both sides of each of them (or spray them with oil) then stack them, cut them into 6 triangles like a pizza. Spread them on a cookie sheet, salt and pepper them, bake at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes. It really varies from oven to oven. I have found that 6 tortillas cut in triangles fit on one cookie sheet. Basically free chips right? I like to eat them with the enchiladas as a fork substitute. 

I hope your December is coming along. We try to focus on the birth of baby Jesus as much as possible around here but I've accepted that December is going to be a season of me being overwhelmed no matter what. I've eliminated everything I can but life for us will not be easy in December for many years.

For some reason we had two babies between Thanksgiving and Christmas which adds an extra bit of fun to the craziness. And 3 of them are in school with a themed Christmas week with ugly sweater day, Christmas socks day and Christmas hat day and items to bring to the class party and teacher gifts to buy. Then we have church functions the kids are in and a few kid gift exchanges times 4. 

And our new fridge broke today, our tree looks dead-ish and our new couch we ordered two months ago, that is replacing the one I like to duct tape together, that we were hoping would be here by now, isn't arriving until after our family Christmas party. I'm going to stop here because it sounds like I'm complaining. And I totally am. 

BUT, this year might be the best year yet because my mom and aunt are here staying with us as we speak and my sister Wendy is coming tomorrow to stay with us for a few nights. SO, all is right with the world. And almost everyone RSVP'd yes to our family Christmas party which means I will see all my favorites in my house at one time. 

Soooo, I will tackle each Christmas thing one by one and forget a few but mostly do a good job. And I will savor each second with the ones I love. 

Merry Christmas to you all! And a Happy New Year if I don't post before then... which I probably won't. 2020! Can you believe it? We don't have flying cars which I kind of expected 30 years ago but that does sound kind of dangerous.