Christmas Eve!

The past few days have been a little insane......to say the least! I mentioned that Brianna and Cadence were both sick on Friday. Well we just went down hill from there. Friday night, Abbi woke me up and she was saying her stomach really hurt. I got her a bucket and set up on the couch and 10 minutes later, she threw up. She did it again about 2 hrs later. So we all stayed home Saturday and I cleaned while the kids layed on the couches. I needed them to feel better. By that afternoon, everyone was perking up.

We were hosting a dinner for my parents 40th Anniversary at our house. I made arrangements with a really nice family in our ward, the Killians. I explained that the girls have been sick but were starting to feel better. She was fine with that and said they would have a movie night. So we got a new movie for them to take over. We took them over just before 6pm. My kids were super excited to go play at the Killian's.

Cadence was not feeling good on Friday. I finally told her she needed to take a nap. I layed down beside her and rubbed her arm and she was gone in minutes. She slept for a good 2hrs. What a sweetie!

My parents came over and were pleasantly surprised to see most of us here. We were missing Steve and Stacey, Cody and Emily, and Cam. My parents spent the night before with Shelley and Travis. Anyways, I didn't tell them anything, just to come to my house at 6pm. We had our dinner catered to us by Megan Orr. It was very yummy and filling. We just had a good time eating and chatting and laughing. We didn't have to worry about kids running around or going crazy. It was very relaxing. We just wanted to do something nice for my parents and I think they enjoyed it too. After dessert, I had everyone come into the living room and I had a slide show for everyone to watch. It was really fun! The evening was a success!

I went to get the kids at 8:15pm. My dad came over with me. We got there and found out DJ had thrown up EVERYWHERE. I felt so bad. But they cleaned him up and he was cuddled on a bed on the floor watching a movie, with a bowl beside him. We brought them home and I got him ready for bed. The poor kid was throwing up all night long. He even threw up in the morning. He was miserable. Richard woke up early Sunday morning throwing up too. So we all stayed home from church. DJ had a 3hr nap in the early afternoon. He was starting to feel much better by that evening. Poor kid. Richard slept all day and was feeling better by supper time too! Sheesh, what a weekend! Luckily, I haven't gotten sick and hopefully I won't.

By later Sunday afternoon the kids were so bored, so I pulled out the small gingerbread houses we had so they could decorate them. They all did their own!

So back to Christmas Eve! My kids are super excited and driving me a little nutty! I'm trying to keep them busy so I can get everything done that I need too. I made the girls' cakes today and I will wrap them and put them in the freezer. I will ice them on Boxing Day. I've finished wrapping gifts and I took the girls to the grocery store so they could pick out their Birthday cereal. They were excited about that. So I have things ready for their birthdays! Yeah!

I am waiting to go pick up parcels at the border. There is one more package that is coming in today. Probably later this afternoon. So I will probably leave here around 4pm and get all the packages. They are actually all of Richard's gifts. Hopefully they are all there! Talking about leaving things to the last minute!!

So we went to my parents house in the early evening. We got there and relaxed and helped get dinner ready. Megan didn't get home till 7pm. Then we all sat down to eat. This was her Birthday dinner. Poor Megan came home from work sick. So she sat with us as we ate. Then we sang Happy Birthday to her and my girls blew the candles out....that we she didn't spread her sick germs!! ha ha! Then she went to bed. I felt bad for her.

Us, singing Happy Birthday to Megan!

DJ, all of the sudden, decided that we were too loud! It was kind of funny!

My girls blowing out all of Megan's candles!

We cleaned up dinner and then got the gingerbread houses out to decorate. My kids were pretty excited. Each kid got a house and an adult helped them. It worked out perfect. They were crazy houses and things kept falling apart! I was having problems! Ha ha! But everyone had a blast and were happy with the results.

DJ loved helping his dad do their own house! Can you tell?!

Brianna and Grandpa worked good together and had fun!

Abbi and Jill made their house look super pretty!

Cadence and I did ours. It kind of fell apart half way through! But we fixed it!

By this time it was getting late. So we went into the Living room and I handed out the kids a present. They all opened their Christmas jammies. They all got slippers too and some new books. I always loved this part of Christmas. I was and am a book worm. I love to read. I hope my kids are the same! They were all super excited about their books. So that's good!

Cadence, Brianna and DJ getting ready to open their presents!

Abbi opening her present!

Abbi, DJ, Cadence and Brianna in their super cute jammies and showing us their books!

David and Jill look so cute together in their matching jammies!

Giving Grandpa a good-bye hug!

Saying good-bye to Grandma.

Then we got everything and headed home. When we got here, we sat in the living room together and Richard gave a quick spiritual thought about the real meaning of Christmas and we said family prayers together. Then the kids got Santa's plate of cookies ready with a glass of milk. Then they were all off to bed. I thought it'd take them forever to go to sleep, but they were all gone within 30 minutes! I'm so blessed with awesome sleepers! ha ha!

Putting the cookies and milk out for Santa!

Christmas is ready! I am off to bed!

Then the real fun began! By this time I wasn't feeling the hottest! But I had to run out to the trailer to wrap Richard's big present and then I lugged it into the house. It was HEAVY! Then we both went out and brought all the presents in and got the stockings all stuffed and everything ready to go. We were done that before 11:00pm. Then off to bed we went!

I love the Christmas season. It's fun to see the kids get super excited about things. We've had FHE lessons on the real meaning of Christmas and try to talk about it all the time. I really want them to understand why we celebrate and it's not just for presents. They always have fun helping me take treats and things to our neighbours and friends. I'm so thankful for my family and our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's through him that I can be with my family FOREVER and that makes me the happiest of all!