Shelly's Note to Santa

Emily's Poor Chin!

Poor Emily has taken several falls to her chin lately...  I hope it recovers at some point :(

Sorry about the poor picture, I'm pretty sure she took this herself, I'm just taking advantage since I never took one myself.

Christmas Gifts

The kids got some awesome stuff for Christmas.  Many were well thought out, some were last minute or random impulse buys, and a few were later regretful.  

This one was an impulse buy that would have been better if we had a flat door...

The kids didn't seem to notice

This one I regret...

Yea, I think this one is going to go in a box somewhere out of reach

for a long time...

Lights at Temple Square

Tonight we went to see the lights at Temple Square.  The kids mostly sat through the nativity show they do.  Other than the fact that it was freezing, we had a good time, but I think we were all ready to come home.

Shelly's Dancing Santa Hat!

This was one of the most disappointing things that happened this Christmas.  Mark's family has a gift exchange every year (both sides do, actually.  This one happened to be with the Schofields).  Somehow I managed to pick up a dancing singing dog.  Yea, so not a fan of that.  I was rather excited when a couple with a small child decided to 'steal' it from me.  

Shelly on the other hand was devastated.  

The aunt who had brought that particular gift (at least I think it was her...) had the 'perfect solution'!  She had a toy in her trunk that Shelly could have.  I was trying to subtly let her know that it was ok for Shelly to be disappointed - I did not want a dancing dog in my house, but no luck...

In she walked with ... a dancing Christmas Tree Hat...  Yea!   

Roasting Sticks

We got some roasting sticks for Christmas!  I have been wanting these for years!

I was so excited that I might have used insider information to acquire a second set at one of the gift exchanges...

Fire in the Microwave!

Gotta love having the kids come bursting in the room yelling 'fire in the microwave!!' Sure-fire way to add excitement to the day.

Emily had put our plastic salt grinder in the microwave, and it did not survive. The house stinks, but the 'fire' was more smoke than flames. Actually there were no flames, but that didn't stop the kids from putting on jackets and running outside to get away from the 'fire'. Guess the real fire last March had an impact... :)


From Facebook:

Becca Taylor That was pretty funny to watch you go running off the video chat screen after Jason ran in and yelled "fire in the microwave!"

Rachel Gardner Schofield They were so traumatized that half an hour after I put the grinder in the sink they were still outside and insisting we go to the in-laws until the house was safe.  I took them...  Jason keeps peeking out the window to check on our house to make sure it's not on fire. Adventures...

Kids' Christmas Presents

We had the kids pick out their own gifts for family - from the Dollar Store (they were picking out their own gifts and we didn't want to spend a fortune on what would inevitably happen). Here are some of the highlights.

Jason's gift to:
Mom (me) - disguise glasses, with a fake nose and mustache even!
Dad (Mark) - fake monster teeth, three different kinds in one package! Nice!!
Grandpa - a bean game (I still don't know what it was really)
Grandma - balloon powered cars for racing
Annie (6 months old - not even crawling yet) - a set of 3 rubber balls, so she can bounce them and they won't hurt her
I forgot what he got for Aunt JB, but I'm pretty sure it was just as useful and appropriate.
He did fairly well with the gifts to the other kids, considering...

Shelly's gift to:
Grandma - a set of markers
Grandpa - a light-up-magnifying-glass-reader-thingy
I'm sure there's more, but my brain isn't working at the moment. Basically we decided that Shelly is mostly old enough to do this on her own, and Jason is not to that point yet - We didn't even try Emily... :)
Merry Christmas!







J.b. Schofield I got the Play Dough from Jay-man and Headbands from Shell Bell!! They Spoiled Me!! So cute! Loved their little gifts!!

Pink Pajamas Penguins on the Bottom

We just realized that Emily's new Christmas pajamas are pink pajamas with penguins on the bottom (Lion King anyone?)

Christmas Breakfast w/ Uncle Jim

Big Squash!

Elaine grows pumpkins and squash up in the big garden with the corn.  It gives the squash more room to grow.  She often grows a few different kinds of squash.  One of the ones she grows is called Blue Hubbard, and it rarely gets much bigger than about basketball sized-ish.  She was quite shocked to find this massive beast growing in her garden this year.

That thing is huge! (for a Blue Hubbard - or even for a pumpkin!)

The kids like to sit on it like it's a stool

I'm not sure what she's doing here, but that's not horribly unusual...

I think she's going to have a hard time getting that thing in the oven to cook it!

The squash, not the child...

Christmas Eve w/ Clingers