Christmas Countdown- Part 1

If you are one of the three people who read my blog, you may recall that last year, we tried to do an Advent Celebration and do a Christmas activity each night in December.  My purpose was mainly to help us stay focused on the Savior during Christmas, but also to build excitement and just kind of strengthen our family.  It ended up being like a Family Home Evening every night in December.  We had a blast, but trying to do that and Christmas shopping and finish up the Semester and Blog about it all was a little much for me.  And when I say "a little much", I mean it almost killed me and turned me into an unkind person for a few days.  And we all know how great I am at blogging promptly. Ha!

So.  This year, we decided to just to a 12 days of Christmas Countdown with activities.  We still used our amazing advent calendar (specially made for us by Matt's uber talented sister, Paige) for the whole month of December.  Each little box holds a treasure for that day.  But once we got to December 13th, we did an activity each night, read a passage of scripture and sang a Christmas Hymn or Song.  We had so much fun!    

Isn't our Advent Calendar darling?  Thanks, Paige!

So instead of sharing each activity with you, I'm just sharing two posts with highlights from some of our activities:

Making Gingerbread Houses!

After careful advice from a few friends, I chose to buy the pre-made kit to so that the kids could decorate our houses.  Maybe when they are all older, we can try to make our own and construct the houses, but I wanted them to have fun and be able to decorate!  I would definitely do this again, we had so much fun!

Another reason I liked the kit was that it required very little from Matt and I... and I don't me n that in a lazy way, but just that I wanted them to be creative and have complete control over the process. Hard to believe that ever happens with a control-freak like me for a Mom, but I try.  

Finished product:

The is our reprise of the Gingerbread house building.  Daphne had a really nasty cough and was experiencing some breathing difficulties, so we kept her home from school on the day her class made Gingerbread houses.     We had all the supplies, so I just let she and Tori make some at home.  

It was a really good activity-  Daphne's kept falling, but we figured out how to manage, both the house and her emotions!  :)

This night we focused on the Star.  We read scriptures about the Wise Men following the Star and made our own stars!

The finished products:

Daphne even made up a song about her star!  She chose to use lots of different colors. If you read the lyrics, it really does rhyme, you just have to hear her rhythm and notes.  I love her creative spirit and sweet heart!  

On this particular night, we read the book, "Memories of the Manger".  We sang Away in a Manger and Made our Own Mangers with little peanuts for Baby Jesus.

(Daphne used gloves since she's allergic to peanuts)

Our finished Products:  

This week, the kids worked on memorizing Matthew 1:21:  

"And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS, for He shall save his people from their sins."

We got GiGi for Christmas!

We were so blessed to have my Mom come visit this week!  GiGi got to be here for lots of our fun activities leading up to Christmas and was able to spoil my kids lots!  She is such a saint-  they spend the first 36 hours or so relentlessly vying for her attention.  It can wear a girl down, but she was a trooper.  I was so grateful for her ability to play with them so I could finish up a few last minute Christmas tasks, as well.  She even stayed home with them while Matt and I went to TWO different late night movies!  Thanks, Mom!  

So, I was so blessed to have my Mom come to Church with us and sing O Holy Night.  It was AMAZING and there were very few dry eyes in the room.  She's such a gift to us!

 OK... this one isn't of GiGi, but she took this pic of Matt and me and I think it's super cute!

 Mom and me before church!

I am completely aware of the fact that I haven't blogged in like 6 months, but I'm determined not to be a quitter.  So, stay tuned for more current posts of Christmas festivities mingled with older posts.  I hope that you had a blessed Christmas filled with the peace of Christ!  

PIGWAB 12/12/12

As you may recall, Matt's Dad's side of the family has a big (and I mean BIG) shindig every 13 months on that year's repetitive date.  We started on January 1, 2001 (01/01/01) and have done it each year since. Here are some links to previous celebrations:  10/10/10  , 11/11/11or  07/07/07.  We call it PIGWAB and it also seems to become a bigger event each year as well.  With the exception of this year due to a variety of reasons:  12/12/12 is the last official repetitive date, but December is a super crazy month for all of us.  Matt's Auntie Val and Uncle Jeff (who are the geniuses behind PIGWAB)  weren't able to join us this year. So... we had a very toned down version this year:only one day of celebrating instead of 2 or 3 like past years).  We did all want to make sure we were together when the clock struck 12:12.  Matt snapped a pic at just the right time: 

 

Marsha and Calvin designed our awesome t shirts this year. 

 The shirts have a lamb and a lion under the mistletoe and they say PEACE PARTY.  Marsha has magnificent decorations and makes everything so inviting for us all.

Marsha asked me to bring a dessert, and I wanted to bring something festive AND easy, so these Rice Krispie Treat Ornaments were perfect!  (Gotta Love Pinterest! ) 

 Penny and Tori loved them!  

 Especially Tori:

Raegan made the cutest little coloring and activity books for the kids!  

 And of course, A Hunter Family gathering isn't the same without music and silliness.  So Matt and I thought we would provide both!  We spent an embarrassing amount of time coming up with a presentation of "The Twelve Years of PIGWAB"!  Here we are getting ready to start our song!  I'm not sure what Penny and I are sad about in this one, but I thought it was a cute one of her:

 Singing the first few verses:

 Matt and I stayed up until 2 in the morning making these awesome posters to represent each year of PIGWAB and the accompanying verse.  They seemed like a really great idea, but then, at about 1:30 am, I started thinking maybe they were the worst idea ever.  Once we started to sing, I was so glad we made them and everyone loved them!  So... now I kinda want to frame them all and hang them on my wall.  But I won't. (That would be ridiculous.  Right?)

 Singing!

 Please know the sacrifice it is for me to post this terrible picture of myself.  BUT... Matt and Isaac and the girls look so cute I wanted you to see it!  We had so much fun!  

  

Here are the lyrics, in case you care  (I didn't repeat everything, I figure you get the jist!)  ((Comments in italics are brief explanations of the lyric-  for further explanation, please leave a comment; there really is no sufficient explanation for our weirdness)):

On the first year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  A Party Without Any Beer!  (invention of PIGWAB)

On the second year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me: Two Fresh Mormons!   (Uncle Jeff was baptized and Auntie Val returned to Church)

On the Second year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:   THREE Nephites! (We all dressed up like famous trios.. Matt, Isaac and I were the 3 blind Mice, but Paige and her girls were the 3 Nephites and John was John the Revelator-  I thought it was hilarious!)

On the 4^th year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me: FOUR EASTER EGGS

On the Fifth year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  LUKE. SKYWALKER. JOHNSON!!!   (Luke was born right in the middle of our PIGWAB celebration on 05/06/05)

On the Sixth Year of PIWAB my Family gave to me: 6 Hula Dancers  (Hawaiian Theme-  the kids did a Hula Dance)

On the Seventh year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me 7 PIGS A POPPING  (One of our Contests was called "PIG BOMB"-  each boy used fireworks to blow up a pig.  Not a real one, that would be gross.  Just a little toy one.)

On the Eighth Year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  8 Crowns and Castles  (Fairytale theme)

On the 9^th Year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  9 DECADES DAZZLING  (Decade theme-  each family represented a decade with costumes and report)

On the 10^th year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  10 Jack O’ Lanterns!

On the 11^th year of PIGWAB, my family gave to me:  11 CORNUCOPIAS!  (Thanksgiving theme- cornucopia)

On the 12^th year of PIGWAB my family gave to me:  THIS AWESOME SONG!

My kids are still singing it around the house- we had so much fun!  Everyone asks what we'll do in 2013 and, well, we really aren't sure.    We think we'll start to just have a get together in June to make it easier on everyone.  Who knows.  Let me know if you have a suggestion, cause PIGWAB is way too fun to just quit!

Halloween 2012

I was sort of a delinquent photographer this Halloween, so this post will be brief!  But I do just want to share a few pics of the kids in their costumes.  Daphne and Tori fell in love with these Jasmine costumes that we found at TJ Maxx, and since they love to match whenever possible, they decided to both be Arabian Princesses.  I wanted to dress up this year, and I found a fantastic Cleopatra wig for super cheap at Zurcher's.  So I borrowed a dress from my practically grown up niece, Sydney and voila: Cleopatra!  

Disclaimer:  Yes, I am completely aware that Cleopatra and Jasmine hail from two very different countries.  This was really just a coincidence.  :)

Here we are all dressed up for the Trunk Or Treat at our Church:

Here we are on Halloween!  Isaac wanted to be the Grim Reaper (again), so we mixed it up a little and got him a mask to go with his costume. Not really my taste, but he's a boy!   The weather was incredibly mild.  Sometimes it is ridiculously cold here on Halloween and our kids put on these adorable costumes only to cover them up with Parkas.  But this year was perfect! I think the high for the day was 78 degrees.  They ran around the neighborhood and were so happy!  If it hadn't been a school night, they could have kept going for hours.  It kind of reminded me of Halloweens from  my own childhood in Texas, where we came home sweaty instead of shivering!

On Halloween, my wonderfully talented niece, Sydney, offered to come over and do my make up so I would look more like Cleopatra!  Didn't she do a great job?  We had a wonderful Halloween and we hope you did, too!

Pumpkin Patch with the Johnson Cousins!

Matt and I really wanted to take the kids to a fun Pumpkin Patch to celebrate Fall this year.  We have taken them to a few different places in the past and the results kind of vary.  We have been to places where it really is just a pumpkin patch with a mini corn maze, so you really only pay for your pumpkins. And that's ok.  We have also been to Black Island Farms, where there are farm animals, magic shows and slides and they take you on a Hay Ride to choose a pumpkin.  Sounds fun, right?  Yeah, well they charge like $ 14 bucks a person!   I mean, it's just a Pumpkin Patch, it's not Six Flags or something!  Seriously.  

So, when we heard about Green Acres Farms in Willard, we were excited!  There was no charge to enter and they had lots of fun activities!

 

We got to have our Johnson cousins with us as well, which made the whole day even more fun! The above pic is Corbin, Daphne, Victoria, Isaac and Penny!  We stopped to look at some of the horses on our way in.

We stopped to take a ride on the little train:

Victoria, Corbin and Daphne:

They had so much fun that we rode this a few different times!

Penny and I on our way to the Pony Rides-  she's really excited!

There were only two ponies: Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth, so they had to take turns:

Victoria:

Luke:

Daphne:

Corbin:

Isaac:

We had a blast!  I hope they do it again next year.  We also did face painting and they had some craft booths, etc.. They did Karaoke, which was quite painful to listen to... so Matt and I thought about doing a reprise of Ice, Ice Baby.  but alas, they only had country music.  maybe next year, Green Acres! 

The only thing we didn't do was get a pumpkin!  We spent all our cash on the ponies, funnel cakes, and face paintings and we were in Willard, so there were no ATMS anywhere.  But we had fun anyway and we found some decent pumpkins at the grocery store.  This honestly was the most beautiful Fall I can remember in Utah.  The colors have been so vibrant and the weather has been gorgeous.  Wish it could stay forever.  Happy Fall Y'all!

Back to School 2012

For some reason, unbeknownst to me, my children didn't go back to school until  September 4th.  At first, I thought this was great news:  More Summer!  If you know me, you know that one of the saddest days of the year is when I have to stop wearing my capri pants and actually put on shoes that cover my toes.  But... once I thought about it, I realized that I would be going back to MY school a full 8 days before my kids. This meant several things to me, but most notably, it meant:

• The two weeks before school would be a mad rush to get my classroom ready.
• There would be five days of shuffling my sweet children around while I start school.
• And last, but definitely most sad, I would miss the first day of school for them.  

Now I love Matt. I adore Matt.  He's the most fun, playful, hilarious Dad ever.  But the First Day of School is a day for Moms.  Isn't it?  Is that terrible to say?  Maybe.  I don't know.  The past few years, I have been able to arrange to be there with them on the 1st day and I HATE that this year had to be different. So much so that I spent most of August in denial of this fact. And I threw a few temper tantrums on the inside, narrowly avoiding throwing myself down on the floor and screaming.  Eventually, I had to face the facts:  I couldn't do the first day of school this year.  I put on my big girl pants and got to work.  Sigh. 

 In order to prepare for the first day, we had a lot to do.  I spent all of August and the first week of school getting Victoria and me ready and preparing for Daphne's Baptism Day.  So, Labor Day was "Get the Kids ready for School" Day.  We went to Super Target AND Super Wal-Mart.  All of us.  Together.  I know... you're jealous, right?  

While at Target, we found new clothes for Isaac (who will ONLY wear basketball shorts and white t-shirts), but I was worried that the shorts would be a little big.  The line at the fitting room was so long that we decided to just risk it. Of course, by the time we finished our three and a half hour shopping trip, we got home and they were way too big.  Ugh!

I set in to preparing dinner, dividing up school supplies, labeling, baking the "Back to School Cake" and washing everyone's clothes.  In the midst of all of this, Isaac accidentally dropped a can of coke which started spraying all over in my basement food storage.  AAAAHHH!!!!  So after cleaning that up, Dinner, Dishes, Family Home Evening, Baths, Bedtime and Lunch Making, I headed back to Target to exchange the shorts and pick up a few much needed items.  I drove all the way back home only to find that I was missing an ingredient to frost the cake.  And for the one millionth time, I am grateful that we live right behind a grocery store.    One Mommy Meltdown and about 200 tasks later, I fell into bed at about 1:30 am.

The next morning, I got Victoria and me all ready for school and wiped back the tears and choked back the guilt as I headed off to my school and left Isaac, Daphne and  Dad to figure out the first day stuff.  Matt got them all fed and ready and went to the meetings and took notes for me, like the wonderful partner he is.  But alas, when my heavy heart compelled me to text him at 10 and see if he took pictures of them, I received back a text that said, 

"I forgot." 

I realized that I never asked him to take pictures... And with that, all my guilt and sadness bubbled over until I was a teary-eyed mess right there in the middle of my own classroom.  Sweet Victoria came over and rubbed my hand and kept saying, "it's OK , Mommy.  I love you."

And so then I felt bad for crying in front of her and causing her unnecessary worry to her tender heart.  Seriously, could my week of Parenting Fails just stop?  Oh, yeah... I haven't told you how Daphne was supposed to give a talk in Primary on Sunday and I totally. forgot.  We came to church empty-handed... and when they came to get me out of my class, I ran into the primary room to see her standing next to the child-sized podium:  arms folded, eyes panicked and chin tucked into her chest in complete mortification.  Nice job, Mom.  With a little love and coaxing and "Blame it on Mom" reasoning, she left Church smiling and unscathed.  ( I think)

Having learned my lesson that it will all be ok, I sucked back my tears, took a deep breath and did what any Mom would do:

I took pictures after school and posted them on Facebook like they were taken in the morning! 

 

Honestly, I have NO idea why I make this Back to School Cake every year.  When I first got the idea to make this cake, I thought how great it would be that they could hold the cake for their pictures in the morning and then we could have a piece after school and talk about their day.  And, I do love that about it.  

For some reason, the fact that I am completely incapable of decorating cakes completely slipped my mind when I started this tradition, and now I am too far into it to go back now.  Every year, as I decorate this cake in the wee small hours of the morning (heaven forbid I prepare enough to have it done any earlier), I think, "Next summer, I'll take a cake decorating class and it won't look like a first grader made it."  But, I still have not taken a class and the cake looks as ridiculous as ever.

That said, I have  had a  few friends compliment my decent singing and say to me, "I wish you could sing my kids lullabies at night"... which is always so shocking to me!  Your kids DON'T want someone else singing them lullabies.  They just want their Moms to sing with them; off-key, scratchy, however it comes out. So... as far as the cake goes, I'll take my own advice and remember: My kids don't care if my cakes aren't pretty.  They want Me.  My time, My love, and My Ridiculous -looking Cakes.

So, when we sat down after school to have a piece, I didn't even apologize for how pitiful it looked.  I just sat with them, ate cake, and listened:  Daphne's teacher has a Pirate theme and took their whole class on a treasure hunt all around the whole school!  Isaac's whole first day was like on big party... there were only 5 minutes that were boring.  :)   

After all, these days go by so fast.... I didn't want to miss a word!  

Happy Back to School, Y'all!