Special Sunday

 January 2nd was a pretty special Sunday for our family. Corbin was ordained a Deacon and received the Aaronic Priesthood. Matt was able to ordain him after church and both Matt and my parents were able to be there. I really didn't hear any of the blessing because I was trying to keep Van distracted from wanting either my dad or Matt. It was still pretty cool though. Afterwards, the counselor in the bishopric gave Corbin a calling to serve as the 1st counselor in the Deacon's quorum. It is so weird to have Corbin growin up! He is loving it all though. He has loved all his Young Men activities and already has an assignment to teach his next YM lesson.

Claire also had a big day because it was her first day of Primary as a Sunbeam! She was super excited, but also a little sad to leave nursery. I asked her what she talked about in class and she said, "Oh, mostly Jesus." I love her! She has definitely missed being with the toys and her awesome nursery leaders, but she has great Sunbeam leaders to. She was a little disappointed to find out her teachers name was Heather, not feather though. 

New Years sledding

On New Year's Day, Meri called me and was going out to her parents to have her kids get pulled behind the Ranger in a sled. Matt was working, so I hurried and bundled everyone up and headed out. It was a pretty cold day so it didn't last long, but it was fun to have something to do for a bit. My kids actually had the most fun just sliding all over the tramp before the sledding started. 

Van went around the park one time and hated it so I walked him down to my parents to hang out for a little bit. The other kids only went once or twice, but I managed to get a picture of each of them. I didn't hang out there for long because it actually stressed me out that we were at the park with a no ATV sign right in front of us. 

Later that day the boys went with Matt to see Spider Man in theater and that was definitely the highlight of the day!

New Years Eve

 We aren't ones to party too hard for New Years. I hate staying up late and having my kids stay up, but this year I let them ring in the New Year awake for the first time, except Van, he only made it to 9:30. Austin and Shawnee came over to our house and we had a little party. The kids had lots of fun together and we played a few little games. Every half hour they had a balloon to pop to help count down and then we would have a little activity. We played glow in the dark ring toss, ate a cute clock cake Maggie made, did sparklers, and a scavenger hunt.

Mac and Claire were so cute together. They didn't play very many of the organized games, but they played together so well the entire night. 

Christmas Day

 Christmas was wonderful this year! Claire made it magical, but all my kids were super fun! The kids woke up earlier than normal this year, but still only at 7. We let them get their stockings out of the piano room and then they wait downstairs. Claire, Kent, Maggie, Corbin, and Matt all slept in the boys room together. We waited until about 7:30 and then I woke up Van to start presents. That was a little sad because he had a terrible night and had been up from one to three, but I didn't want to do it without him. We took our traditional picture and then started with Van.

My kids got pretty spoiled. Claire got an amazing Elsa Castle and dolls that she had asked for. Kent got a new book series and is almost done with all five books just one week later. He has been reading non stop. Maggie got a chrome book and dance bag. Corbin got some backpacking gear, and Van got plenty of new toys. I got spoiled with a new tv for the family room upstairs.

My favorite gift of Christmas morning was from Maggie to Matt. She had talked to Shelly, on her own, I didn't know. She told Shelly she had $10 and asked her to buy her as many bath bombs as that would buy so she could give them to Matt. So on Christmas Eve Shelly had a nice box of bath bombs and Maggie paid her and wrapped them. It was so cute, Maggie is the most thoughtful gift giver in our family and finds a way to make it possible.

We went out to both Grandparents for the afternoon. Van was so tired I brought him home and napped him. I put together Claire's castle before she got home and she was thrilled when she saw it put together. It's taller than Corbin. 

The next day was Sunday so it was fun to go visit family again and have just a down time day. The rest of the break went by quick. We just stayed home everyday and enjoyed not having anything. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always pretty low key. Matt got off early and Malcolm and Ellie stopped by to say hi for a while. Then Matt took the kids shopping while I finished up the wrapping. The Jenkins' party doesn't start until about 7:30, but we go a little early to eat dinner. Grandma read some cute stories this year. My favorite is always That Thy Alms May Be In Secret, which I actually read this year, and I didn't even cry. 

My kids opened their cute jammies and we headed home!

Davis Christmas Party

Our annual Christmas party at Steph's house was on a busy day this year. We had our ward Christmas party in the morning. Maggie played Angels We Have Heard On High out of the hymn book for the talent show. Van was pretty loud because the center pieces of the tables were nativities and he was obsessed with nativities throughout the season. He thought all the animals were dogs and wanted to hold them, no matter what nativity it was. It was actually really cute, but got a little annoying by the end. 

In the afternoon Maggie had her Christmas dance performance to Winter Wonderland from the Polar Express. She did great! It was her first performance with her new team this year. 

Then that night was our family party. We each brought games with prizes this year. Steph did the poke a tree which Maggie enjoyed facilitating. I brought the saran wrap ball and had one specific prize for Claire as the first one to make sure she would be happy right at the start.

We exchanged presents with cousins, which was super fun this year because my kids were able to tailor their gift giving to what each person liked. Kent got Kael a hole punch to make guitar picks, Abby and Beau both got games, Ben got a Weber State hat and poor Gage got a lump of coal. His present didn't come so I bought coal until it did. It still hasn't come a month after I ordered it. I am about to give up and just give him $20. I feel so bad. It would have been darling though. It is socks with his dog, Winnie's face on them. My kids all loved what they got too!

We gave my parents the traditional calendar which they always enjoy. This year we also gave them new canvas pictures of each family since theirs were super outdated. Kent was my littlest in the picture they had on their wall. It was definitely time to update. 

We have a pretty amazing family and I love getting together to party!