Friendly competition

December 29, 2014 | Stacy

With no major project slated for the two-week break we took over the holidays (um, the kitchen update left us too broke to take on our pending master bedroom project), we had to come up with other ways to entertain ourselves.
Somewhere along the line we though up Monopoly…
We started our first game ever that first night around 7 PM. Next thing I knew John was excusing himself at 8:15 PM to put Hanny and Katriel to bed. THEN the next thing I knew it was 10:20 PM! For! Real! I decided that we’d have to just end the game at 11 PM, because, well, do I really NEED a because???

Tabby was the first to go out… but she played well against these vultures.

We played multiple times over the course of the second week of vacation. It was mostly fun. Mostly.
How did we manage this with our two too-young-for-Monopoly-girlies?
Well, we tried to do it during Katriel’s naptime. And Johanna would just play dolls near us.

Or… in the case of at least two evening games I know of…

Heh – thanks technology!
But don’t worry. We played LOTS of Princess-friendly games, as well, over our break.
She’s a CandyLand queen!

Christmas Adam…

December 27, 2014 | Stacy

I’m posting this out of order… but I want to remember it.

On December 23rd, my mom had the oldest five to her house for a sleep-over party to celebrate, um, Christmas ADAM. Get it? Adam comes before Eve? They had snacks and Christmas movies and a fantastic breakfast.

John and I had Katriel. JUST Katriel. It was really cool.

First, after I dropped the kids off at my mom’s house I ran through the drive-thru somewhere and grabbed her and I each some lunch.

We dined together in utmost quiet. I pulled her chair right up to mine for our own table-for-two.

I then tucked her in for a nap. She slept soundly for THREE HOURS. (Of late she’s been more of a two hour girl.) I’m guessing a silent house had a lulling effect. At first I dove into cleaning. I got a lot done in an hour. And it was SO boring. After 90 minutes I was watching the clock wondering WHEN she would get up. I decided to wrap the last few gifts and looked up some stuff online. But really – I was bored. I am not designed for child-free-ness.

FINALLY at 4 she started to make some noises. I shot upstairs to collect her.

When John got home the THREE of us (yup – that felt weird) went to the food court at the mall for dinner. I love food court Chinese and only get to eat it about twice a year. This was the night. I realized how dumb it was to buy her nuggets at lunch, b/c now what was she going to eat? She eschewed the fries and only licked the ketchup off the burger. It didn’t seem right to give her Kung Pao or General Tse chicken, either. After we poked around JCP for a few minutes we decided to head home for my $10 off coupon at JCP. Except when we got there we couldn’t find it. So we went to Wal•Mart instead. And that is where John did something I’ve never done before. He let Katriel walk in the store. You can imagine when I take kids solo into Wal•Mart that I NEED to contain the smallest ones. I’m the lady with that monster-sized cart with the big plastic fore-piece where I can buckle in Johanna and Katriel. But tonight, Katriel delighted in the opportunity to use her own two feet to navigate the store.

We headed back to the baby section where so I could find some onsies for her. (Yes, she was seeing her Christmas gift.) As I considered the merits of the different brands and sizes she and Daddy checked out one of those things where you can push the squares representing all the children’s CDs for sale. She pushed and listened and danced.

Merry Christmas Day

December 26, 2014 | Stacy

Kids started waking around 7 A.M. and some dressed… some did not. We took a few pictures and waiting for Nan, Nene, Ba and Poppy to arrive.

As if there were not already enough presents… Grandparents are known for bringing a “few” of their own…

Katriel couldn’t figure out why we were just eating…

But then we showed her what we DO with those colorful packages and everything changed. She was into it after that. 😉

My funny boys…
Yes – that small Elsa-wrapped gift was his, while Stewart opened that enormous one.

Marie got her own bow.

We paused for a feast.

Katriel got a new toy animal? doll? animal-doll?
Katriel got a new pillowcase.
Katriel took good care of her new baby.

New Jersey and cap for Stewart.

And let’s just say there is a lot more princess stuff in our house as of this day…

Katriel was so enamored with her new clothes that she sought to put them on immediately.
She did this with each gift of clothing.

We have a Barney Fife fan in our midst.

Marie is so tall that she can no longer wear dress-up gear meant for kids. We had to locate women’s-sized options for her. The good news is they are much better made!

A recording device for the boys for their movie productions.

Every dad needs Cookie Monster jammies – right?

My treats — eight new candles to cheer me through the winter.

It was a fun, fun day. LOTS of rest and an easy dinner of steak and pasta Alfredo. We watched two new movies in the evening. One before the littlest two went to bed and one after.
The oldest 6 of us give 12 enthusiastic thumbs up to the 1996 movie, “101 Dalmatians” with Jeff Daniels and Glenn Close. It was just hysterical!

Christmas Eve 2014

December 24, 2014 | Stacy

This year’s Christmas Eve was hosted at the Brookses’ house. I dare say it was one of the funnest.
Food was different. Maybe that was part of it? Our menu changed as new dietary restrictions have crept up amongst the kids. It made Emily and I be more creative.

Nigel offered up some happenin’ dance moves.

While there was a full-on nail salon in Leah’s room.

Stewart became close friends with Minky.

Photobomb. It’s what brothers do…

We forgot to take our kids-only photo…
but I like the moms-and-kids ones…

NINE kids! And the boys are sorely outnumbered!!!

Unposing was another story…

Nigel looks perplexed!

And the littlest ones enjoyed a pilfered candy cane!

Then it was off to church where Marie and Tabitha decided to ~~defect to~~ sit with the Brookses.

For reasons I don’t understand, Emily refused to take Johanna. Could it be she had a premonition that Hanny would roll all over the chairs and the floor and sing to herself while waiting to light that candle?

It’s hard to be a four-year-old at Christmas.

Disciples’ Construction Company

December 20, 2014 | Stacy

We’ve had different gingerbread-building experiences over the years and have always enjoyed ourselves. This year we went with the at-home-kit plan and had a blast. At $8 a kit (even with Rollback prices) I just purchased 3 sets. I gave resident cheerful-person, Marie, the first box and asked her to pick a partner. All these disciples love one another, but not everyone can work together. Marie lovingly selected the high-spirited 4-year-old, thereby creating just about the best possible building-buddy-sets I could have hoped for…

Stewart and Nigel were a team, and Tabitha and Katriel were a, um, team… (Hard to build from your high chair…)

I lent some hands to Tab, and Daddy lent some hands to Marie. (Hanny proved a rather disinterested builder. She was more into exterior design and taste-testing.)

The boys had a few glitches. (They seemingly do not have the engineer gene.)

What the boys lack in math and science they more than make up for in other areas… like creative design.
They were the first to finish their project.

Marie finished second, sweetly labeling it M & J, although J had very little input.

Tabitha managed to complete hers on her own…and as such, didn’t offer Katriel any frosting credit. 😉

One Wednesday in December… Part 3

December 17, 2014 | Stacy

What can I say? It was a busy day…
For the three Wednesdays in December I cancelled afternoon school with Mom (they still did their independent stuff) and we made cookies.
Not because we needed cookies. But because my youngest kids need to make cookies with their Mama. And so we did.

Okay – so I did stop long enough to help Stewart with some Algebra.

One Wednesday in December… Part 2

December 17, 2014 | Stacy

I had to stop by the mall on the way home from CBS to pick up a package. On a total spur-of-the-moment I asked the kids if they wanted to head in and see Santa. I had five yeses. (Katriel didn’t agree or disagree.)
So we headed in and four of the kids talked to the fella.

Santa gave them each a ducky dressed like a ~~snowman~~ snowduck.

One Wednesday in December… part 1

December 17, 2014 | Stacy

I believe this is the twelfth year I have seen the kids sing for their CBS Christmas Program.
My photos stink… Mostly. But I was so blessed to hear them shout praises to Jesus one more year.

Sweet little Hanny. Check out her dress. ♥

In 2008…

The Gospel According to Scrooge

December 16, 2014 | Stacy

Since September, we have been rehearsing with our church family for a production of The Gospel According to Scrooge.
It was a lot of work, but in the end we were genuinely tickled to be a part of it.

I played a townsperson and a caroler. I had a few lines. All the kids were in the school room scene, and Marie was also cast as Jennifer – a friend of the Cratchits. Nigel was cast as a Lad on the Street. But at 4:30 PM the day of dress rehearsal he was asked to step in for the boy who was to be Young Scrooge who had come down with the flu. With two hours to curtains, Nigel demonstrated his love of acting and his penchant for memorizing lines by astonishing everyone involved. Except his siblings and I. God Bless you, Nigel. Use your gift well, son.
This bumped Stewart up to Lad on the Street (a/k/a turkey boy).

Nan sat in the front row of opening night and took many a photo. Almost 200 to be exact. Her photos were with my camera – which she had never picked up before. Her photos are better than the ones taken by planned photographers, IMO. And – I will share a few here.

I must tell you, by production’s end I was VERY TIRED of curlers, bobby pins, hair spray, and the like. My head hurt! 🙂 But it was fun to have glamorous hair for a while. The stage make-up was a little less fun.

This was a “hair rehearsal”.