Christmas Day

The kids get their stockings first thing.

 Millie embraced the holiday spirit and was eating her chocolate before anyone noticed.

 The rest of the day was spent eating, opening presents, and enjoying each other's company.

Making cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon rolls are a fun Advent Sunday breakfast. Henry is spreading the filling for the giant ones we will bake tomorrow.

Update: They were good, but the middle is hard to get cooked all the way. A cinnamon wreath might be better.

Thanksgiving Feast

The Tacomans joined us at Mimmu and Iso's house for our traditional festive lunch.

Sandwiches and pie for dinner. Her Christmas tree was already up and decorated which gave the event a little extra sparkle.

Road trip to Idaho

We were there for Halloween so there was lots of dressing up in Grandma's costume collection. These were both made by Aunt Cindy for her cousins. 

One of our audiobooks this trip was Where the Red Fern Grows. "It wasn't impossible even though it was a long way from the Snake River Valley in Idaho," the narrator read as we drove through the Snake River Valley. There is a statue of Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann in front of the Idaho Falls library because Wilson Rawls lived here for a time. We stopped by after the library trick-or-treat for a photo.

With cousin John and cousin Abby (and Billy and the dogs).

There was pumpkin carving at the house and a harvest festival at the church (Penny loved the bounce house) and lots of candy.

This little ladybug took some unassisted steps while we were there.

We got to press some cider with Mark's aunt and uncle and some of the cousins using his Grandma's cider press.

A fun-filled visit for sure!

Taking the Christmas card picture

I like to start this project as early as I can, because I  know that it is rarely a straightforward process. I tried one Sunday morning before church and was not successful.

The best expressions ended up in pictures that were much too dark or only had four out of five kids in the frame. Part of the problem is that group pictures happen so rarely that I forget all my tricks between sessions.

Ah, well. At least there's time to try again.
Our second session produced a winner, but there were about a hundred rejects.

These poor kids look miserable, but they recovered quickly.

Happy Easter!

I like to get a group photo of the kids occasionally. It's very nice when everyone cooperates.

But for every image where that happens, I have several that look more like this.

I'm grateful for digital cameras. And for funny pictures. We had a lovely Easter. It was a warm, sunny day. All the Easter baskets were on the breakfast table and the kids had some candy while waiting for our cinnamon rolls and bacon to be ready. We rounded out breakfast with some of our colored eggs and fruit salad.
The Easter church service is a favorite every year. Our choir opens with the same song almost every year and the hymns are accompanied by the organ.
We were home for lunch and naps and then went to my parents' house for an egg hunt and some remote control car racing. And a turkey dinner.

Coloring Easter eggs

The big kids are getting good at this so the process feels less stressful even though there is more happening at once. 

 Nora made a solid colored egg in each available color.

The finished product always looks so cheerful.

 Happy eggs for lunches.

Valentine's Day vegetable

I made heart-shaped carrots using this tutorial.

That's fun, right?

Mark brought home heart-shaped balloons which was also very popular. Millie didn't get one this year, but she did like it whenever she got a chance to see one up close.

Christmas Day

Mark's mom had sent gifts with us last time we visited. 

The kids each got two indoor frisbees (or berets) from her as well as a complete collection of state quarters. She sent the placeholders from the coin folder and the kids had fun matching them to the state they came from. A quick holiday geography lesson for everyone.

This year the kids bought gifts for each other. It was fun to see them make decisions about what to get. Henry bought everyone an individual carton of goldfish crackers, including himself.

Mimmu and Iso and the aunts and Steve came over and had breakfast. They brought a mountain of presents. We made coffee cake, an egg casserole, and fruit salad. The kids had one round of breakfast before the guests came and we had to stop them before they consumed all the coffee cake. Next year we might need a bigger one. Or two.

We opened presents and played with gifts throughout the morning. It snowed, but we didn't play in it since there was enough activity inside. Had we known it would be almost the only snow of the winter we would have gotten out in it.

There was salmon and mashed potatoes for lunch with carrots and Brussels sprouts. Followed by some stocking candy.

We had turkey sandwiches for dinner. Nora got several craft sets. The day finished with a completed potholder made on the new potholder loom.

Merry Christmas!

Before Christmas

Nora dressed up in all of Anja's winter gear.

We started our holiday on Sunday with a turkey feast.

Do you see our paper chain hanging in the back? We did some Christmas crafting earlier this month!

The Nutcracker

This year Grace was going to be dancing in the ballet, so we were excited to see her!

The whole family went out to lunch together before the show and then Nora, Helena, and I went to the Nutcracker with Mimmu.

Henry got to deconstruct one of his toy cars while the little girls napped at home. It's hard to say who had the most enjoyable afternoon.

Thanksgiving

After our exercise the kids and I came home to finish cooking. Maryann drove over and made it in time for lunch. I made festive mashed potatoes (peeled!) with the ricer that is on long-term loan from my sister.

After lunch there was game playing and napping and reading and relaxing.

Desserts with coffee in the afternoon and turkey sandwiches in the evening. A good day with family remembering all we have to be thankful for.

Turkey Trotting

Two years in a row makes this a firmly established tradition.

But if we run into bad weather it's one I'm ready to relinquish. This year that wasn't a problem and we had another lovely sunny morning for our walk. Penny walked some and rode in the stroller some. Millie and Mark stayed home with the actual turkey in the oven.

Henry did some running and was our fastest finisher. It's fun to see the costumes that some of the runners wear.

Gratitude

We collected different kinds of leaves and made some crayon rubbings.

Then we cut out some of the leaf shapes, took turns thinking things we were thankful for to write on them, and hung them up.

Among other things, the children are thankful for...
air
turkey
Blue dog and Butcher bear  (stuffed animals)
Daddy
friends
stars
pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pudding
sandbox and shovels
chocolate
being tucked in by Daddy at night
family
candy

We are certainly blessed.

Easter Sunday

It was a very full day. The kids woke up a little before 6 AM. They had to wait a little while for Mark to wake up before I let them get their Easter baskets. We had bacon, eggs, and blueberry scones for breakfast. We had a treats at church before the service (muffins, fruit, and juice). After church we went to Mimmu and Iso's house for lunch with the aunts and some friends. The kids hunted for eggs before lunch. Penny was a quick study on finding eggs. The eggs are color-coded and each child hunts for one color.We ate salmon and ham, potato salad, bread, asparagus, and two yummy desserts. And candy. Penny likes to stick close to Mimmu at dessert time.

Happy Easter!

Even with all five of them, this year's picture turned out better than last year.

Easter eggs

We colored our eggs this morning. I boiled 18 this year. We used crayons to draw designs on some of them. Penny really wanted a crayon, but this resulted in our only egg casualty. She was more successful at dying eggs. Henry specialized in blues and greens. Helena tried every color. Everyone had a good time and it felt easy to do this year.