Christmas 2017

Christmas time has come once again and 2017 was a great year!  It was the last Christmas we expect to be together for quite some time.  That's right. Our kids are growing up and are about to start fleeing the nest.  Here are some of our Christmas memories from this year:

McKay put himself on the naughty list by modifying the Christmas decorations.  He thinks he is pretty funny....ok, so the rest of us had a good laugh as well.

 Our elf Buddy Link was up to his yearly shenanigans.  He came in like a wrecking ball!

 We made dinners for the Food and Care Coalition with the White family and then delivered them.

We hosted our annual office Christmas party.  We had an ugly Christmas sweater contest.  Jeremy had a pretty sweet looking suit that was impressive!

 The boys decorated gingerbread houses with the cousins.

 

Grandma White made the grandkids her annual Christmas pajamas.  We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Whites.

Finally Christmas morning arrived.  McKay declared that he should be the first one up the stairs since it was going to be his last Christmas home for a couple of years.

The kids coming up the stairs to see what Santa brought for them in their stockings.

Checking out and even trying out their stocking gifts.

The boys were excited to see which presents were theirs. We started a tradition a couple of years ago that we don't put name tags on any of the presents.  Each child is assigned a wrapping paper and they don't find out which one is theirs until Christmas morning.

 Jaxon digging his Spurs sweatband while opening presents.

 McKay was excited that he had the largest present under the tree....until he discovered that it was luggage for his mission and college years.

 Kayden unwrapping Legos.  He received a new set from us and then McKay took apart all of his old sets and bagged them up with the instructions and gifted them to Kayden.  It was a very thoughtful gift.  Kayden has Legos coming out of his ears!

 

 Josh opening his present.  I love watching their faces as they opened presents.

Our neighbor and dear friend made this quilt for our family.  It was the most thoughtful neighbor/friend gift ever! 

Christmas was on a Sunday this year so Jeremy wore his Christmas suit coat and tie to church.  He said the whole suit was "too loud" to wear to church.  He wasn't the only one showing Christmas spirit at church, Jeremy's fellow deacon's quorum advisor showed his Christmas spirit as well.

We also celebrated Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Haacke's house with all the cousins.  I guess seating was short since McKay sat on his dad!

We also went on lots of outings and played with the cousins a lot during he break. It was a great Christmas break!

Kayden's Karate Belt Advancement

It just been a few months since Kayden started Karate and he has already advanced belts!  He loves going to Karate and has worked hard to be ready for his belt advancement.

Showing some of the moves he has learned over the last couple of months.

I got to present him with his new belt.  It was a very cool ceremony.

Kayden with all the kids from different studios that advanced belts that night.

Christmas Sing In

It's no secret that I love the school's Christmas Sing In.  The 4th grade changed up their songs this year and you could definitely tell his teacher prefers country music.

Kayden did not enjoy the 4th grade's selection of songs.  As you can see on the left that he isn't singing with much enthusiasm.  But he did enjoy wearing a BYU Santa hat for the Sing In.

Ding-A-Ling the Christmas Bell.  If you will notice he does not participate in the actions.

Holiday In Your Heart.  He does the actions in this one, but only because he is forced to.  Needless to say he was quite entertaining regardless.

Sunday Shenanigans

What does a house full of boys do on a Sunday afternoon you ask?
 

They dog pile.  Yes.  All of them.  Josh is on top, followed by Kayden, McKay and Jeremy.  Jaxon is at the bottom.

View from the other side.  Poor Jaxon.

Christmas Piano Recital

Josh worked hard this last fall perfecting his Christmas piano pieces.  It was fun to watch and listen to him perform:

Silver Bells

Feliz Navidad

9 Broken Ribs

My dad gave us a scare the day after Thanksgiving by breaking 9 of his ribs while trying to fix the Christmas lights on the house. Long story short, his ladder slipped out from under him and he took a spill onto the hard cement and also the ladder that was under him.  I spent a good deal of time at the hospital sitting with him and the rest of my family for a week.  It was definitely something that brought us all close together--and not just in a physical sense.

My kids weren't able to visit much since my dad was in the ICU for a few days and the kids had school. Kayden wrote him a get well soon note and made sure that I would take a picture of Grandpa reading it so that he would know Grandpa was ok.

I was grateful for all the tender mercies that were put in my path that week.  This was a beautiful sunrise one morning.  I was busy getting the kids out the door for school and getting ready to go to the hospital when I stopped and saw the sunrise.  God is real.

 My sister Caprice flew in from New Jersey just in time for my dad to go to surgery to repair 8 out of his 9 breaks.  She passed chocolate peanut clusters around the surgery waiting room.  My mom, my sister Juli and I all just giggled as she did so.  I think there were some pretty grateful people there to lighten spirits with chocolate!  My brother Paul came down from Idaho for a couple of days after his operation as well.

My dad post-op giving us the thumbs up.  Again, my kids wanted proof that he was going to be ok.  It was a scary time, but he will make a full recovery.  So thankful my family could all be here to help out and to support each other.