December - family

We were blessed to have my brother and his family visit us all the way from Wisconsin.  My kids have a grand total of 5 cousins, so it's a big deal when we get to see some of them.

We only got to spend a couple days with them, but they were good days.

These pictures are all courtesy of my dad, because clearly I had lost the ability to take a decent picture,  (compare this one with the one I took of Maddie at the same time, same place in the previous post)

but it means that there's a near total lack of adults in the pictures. (which is fine by me.  Because clearly my appearance didn't seem to be a priority)

And he being the proud and happy grandpa and having ALL of his grand kids in the same place at the same time, he knew where his priorities and attentions belonged.

Shortly after Nick was born my dad said that if he had known how fantastic grandchildren were, he would have had them first.

And after a couple of too-quickly passing days of food, and playing, and music, and talking, and just hanging out, it was time for them to head back home.

And hopefully not too much time will pass before we can see them again.

Christmas

I have a confession.

Okay, it's not so much a confession as a statement of the painfully obvious,

but I take really bad Christmas morning pictures.

I wish I was better.

But I hate using flash,

and lighting is always an issue because who wants blaring lights first thing in the morning?

And the kids are excited.

And they can't sit still.

And despite my best efforts to contain it, the whole room is a mess.

And we all have bedhead.

And I don't have the heart to dress them up and pose them, and by the time I think about it, it's too late.

Sometimes I try and pose the kids by the tree at some point during the season, but this year I totally forgot.

And I could kinda kick myself for that because this was our last Christmas as our little family as we know it.  Nick will be off on a mission, and then there were three.

And while I wish I had more Instagram/Pinterest worthy pictures to share, I don't.  And I probably won't next year either.

It's not really about the tree and the mess or lack thereof, and the perfect pictures, or any of the above.

It's about family, and traditions, and being together, and celebrating the fact that a long time ago, in a land far away, a baby was born in the humblest of circumstances, and he would grow to be the Savior of all mankind, and die for our sins, then rise again, so that we too may live again.

And when I pause to think on that, the rest of it seems a little inconsequential.

(ok so in all honesty my ego is actually telling myself that next year will definitely be better.  Next year I will have something "pretty" to share. Cause if this is the best I've got, there is some serious room for improvement.)

December - Birthdays

December is so hard to celebrate birthdays.

Maddie and I both celebrated a birthday on the 11th.  With so many things going on, there wasn't much time to do anything.

I did pull her out of school for a bit and go to lunch.  There's all sorts of free food to be had on your birthday around here.

Nick's birthday is even harder.  It's Christmas Eve.  He turned 18.  Eighteen!! I have an adult child. Yikes.  Not too adult to wear the requisite sombrero at one of his favorite restaurants.

And then on to Christmas lights at the temple.

I think at this point even if he wanted to do something different, we couldn't because Christopher likes his traditions. This is the way things are done.  Christopher directed the whole evening.  Down to the sombrero and everything.

And we had cake.

Maddie had to wait two weeks for her birthday cake.

But I thought this was pretty priceless.

The two of them singing to each other.

I know I've mentioned it before, but I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see these two finally become friends.

And they are.

Which in my book is a fantastic birthday present for this mom.

(of course next year just HAS to be special.  Maddie will turn 16 and I will turn 40 on the same day!!)

December - Dances

Nick went to two different Winter Formal dances with two different friends-  Annika and Dani.  I'm really proud of him, he made it a goal this year to not have a girlfriend, but instead just have fun dating and getting to know as many girls as he can.  With his mission just around the corner, and high school coming to an end, his goal was to just go out and have fun.  (And might I add these girls aren't just pretty faces.  They're fun, smart, talented, and generally just awesome to be around)

December- Music

Despite the fact that it keeps us super busy, one of the reasons I love the Christmas season is all the music.   Not only the same old CD's that I trot out year after year, but the music my kids are involved in.  Concerts, recitals, plays...  It's all good,

Christopher performed the Nutcracker at his school.  The entire ballet of the nutcracker in 30 minutes with dances and someone even wrote words to the songs.  Which, thankfully at this moment I can't recall, but I had the words to several of the songs stuck in my head for days.  DAYS.

But it was an adorable production none the less.

And Christopher was so, so proud of it. Even the other day, (I'm actually writing this in May) after the older kids' end of school year orchestra concert, someone asked him if he liked the music, and which song he liked best, to which he replied "The Nutcracker."

Zach had a band concert, and that was fun.

He's come such a long way, and is doing so great but at the same time I look forward to watching him progress.  It's kind of amazing watching these kids go from playing "Hot Cross Buns" in the 5th grade (orchestra and band both- I'm learning to hate that song) to earning standing ovations as Seniors.  Like "bring tears to your eyes, couldn't be prouder, standing ovations." That happened more than once this year.

Nick's choir concert was amazing.

I love watching them perform.

I am so grateful for that day when the choir teacher caught him singing Les Mis in the hallway at school and smacked him upside the head and made him try out for choir.  It's been such a blessing in his life.

I didn't get any pictures of the orchestra concert.  It was at a dinner fundraiser thing, and although the food was good, and the music was good, our seats weren't and I couldn't actually see my kids.  But Maddie accompanied one of the songs on the piano, and she did a really good job.  I'm so proud of her.

Well, both of them.  All of them.  I'm really, really proud of all of them.  And I think it will be a sad December when I don't have a kid in a school music program to support.