Snow Day!

We had tons of snow all through Christmas Break.  This was pure powder.  It was the sparkliest snow I have ever seen.  It literally looked like it was snowing glitter.  We couldn't resist going out to play in it!  This was Shane's first time playing in the snow, and all he wanted to do was stand still and eat it.  It was pretty adorable.

Tyson and I stared at the last picture and we said, "How did we get so lucky to have four of the cutest kids ever??"  We are very blessed and grateful for our family.

Happy New Year to you all!

Family Parties

We had an extended Brown family party the Saturday after Christmas at an All-Star cheer and tumbling gym owned by Tyson's cousin.  Of course, this is absolute HEAVEN for Corinne.  All of the cousins had a good time running around together.

That night, we had our Christmas Eve dinner and get together with Tyson's siblings since everyone was finally healthy.  We had a delicious dinner, of which I ate way too much, and then watched some of Tyson's family's old home movies.  We had our cousins book exchange, and then opened gifts from Aunt Heidi.  She got all the kids new pajamas, and they were ADORABLE.  (Corinne got cute polka dot fleece pajama pants in all her favorite colors, Matthew got Mario Kart pjs, which he has lived in ever since, Allison got light blue pjs with baby penguins on them, which I am in love with, and Shane got Cars big boy pajamas.  Thank you Heidi!)

It was a fun day.  I am so grateful for our family and all the cousins we have so close.

Christmas Day

 The kids didn't wake up until 7:00 on Christmas morning.  Or at least, they didn't wake ME up until 7:00 in the morning.  Shane slept in a little later.  They were so excited to get downstairs and see what Santa had brought them!

(Leading up to Christmas, Matthew had Allison convinced that she was going to get coal in her stocking, or as she called it, "black rocks".  One morning she whined and cried to me that she was going to get "black rocks" from Santa.  I told her to just be good and she would get presents.  She looked at me frustrated and defeated and said, "But I'm NOT being good today!"  Ah, poor Allie.  Being good is challenging for that girl!!)

(Allison didn't get black rocks!)

(Shane kept saying "Oh!" all morning.  It is now his favorite word and he says it constantly.)

The kids got pop-tarts in their stockings because their mom might have mentioned to Santa that they CONSTANTLY ask for pop-tarts when we are at the store. And their mom always says no.  So, they ate those first, early in the morning, and then we had a nice breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, thanks to our neighbors, and my potato bacon breakfast casserole.  We had a quiet, uneventful Christmas at home.  It snowed all day (for several days actually) so we stayed inside enjoying our new gifts and staying warm!

The next day,  we discovered that Santa had forgotten one thing for Allison.  A new big girl bike!  (Actually, our good friends got their daughter a new bike, and they had this smaller one to pass on to Allison.)  She is very excited to get the training wheels on it and start riding it.  We just need the weather to warm up by about 25 degrees.

It was a nice, relaxing Christmas and the kids were very happy.

Christmas Eve

Our typical Christmas Eve usually involves dinner, activities, and a program/nativity with Tyson's family.  Unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to illness, so we were on our own for Christmas Eve.  I decided to make my Christmas ham and scalloped potatoes dinner on Christmas Eve instead, which worked out nicely because that meant no cooking on Christmas day!

Here is our somewhat thrown together nativity as Tyson read from Luke chapter 2:

(Allison insisted on being Mary, Matthew was Joseph, Corinne was a Shepherd and a Wise Man, and Shane was a runaway sheep.)

I always take a picture of the kids in their pajamas and holding their stockings on Christmas Eve.  Shane didn't make it easy on me this year!

We set out cookies and egg nog for Santa with a note, and then tucked the kids in with strict instructions about NOT waking mom up too early and DON'T wake up Shane and DON'T go downstairs to see the presents without me! (Matthew slept in the girls room.)  It was a nice low-key evening and I admit, I was just as excited as the kids were to wake up Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to see their faces!

Christmas Festivities

I didn't take pictures of everything we did, like going to see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point, or the kids' Jingle Jam concert at school, but I did get some photos of the kids decorating the tree and making their gingerbread houses.  (We could only decorate the top half of the tree so Shane couldn't pull off any ornaments!)

 

(I love Matthew's painstaking detail.)

Unfortunately, Allison and Shane had the croup the two weeks leading up to Christmas, which included 2 doctor visits, 4 steroids, 2 breathing treatments, and 1 trip to the ER (Shane).  We missed out on going to Temple Square to see the lights, attending Corinne's class Christmas Party (which I was in charge of because I am the room mom), and I didn't get to go to the Jingle Jam concert.  Luckily, Tyson had already planned to take a half day off so he could go.  Hopefully we'll be healthier next Christmas season.  We are grateful everyone got well in time for Christmas Eve and New Years!