December 2013

Here go some more pictures, finishing up December and Christmas!

Danny's family side had a really fun Christmas party a few weeks before Christmas. They decorated it so cute and it was really fun!

They had a karaoke machine, so Alex sang "Jingle Bell Rock" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." He also played Jingle Bells on the piano for everyone to sing along with!

She was so cute on Santa!

Another cutie!

Alex asked Santa for a singing/dancing Santa. He said, "Just one hundred fifty dollars!" Santa told him he has a budget. Good thing!

Notice that Tristan didn't actually "sit" on his lap. He is growing up.

There is nothing like taking kids to see Santa, to hear about all the things that they want for Christmas... 5 days before Christmas! We told them they would have to ask for a lot of things for their birthdays, because Santa already had most of the toys made and we had already bought our presents for them.

When Santa got up to leave, Irelyn ran over and hugged him. If you squint, you can kind of see it.

Emme and Irelyn totally adopted Danny's Aunt Judy. She sat with them for so long, cracking their peanuts that were in their bags from Santa and talking. When she got up to go somewhere, they went, too. Then they made sure she came back with them. (Sorry these are all so blurry!)

Danny's Mom with two of her sisters, Colleen and Judy.

Piano Recital! Alex didn't want to be in a picture, but he was there, too. They all did great and Alaina was really excited that Georgia was performing, too. Alex put his arms in the air Rocky style after each piece he played, and Tristan played the ending for one one of his songs after both of his songs. :) It was really fun and it is great to see them all progressing, but it is really hard having three kids in piano.!

Our Christmas Eve dinner. It was different to not have lots of people this year, since only Phillip could come, but it was still fun. We had some appetizers and then did the Nativity.

Emme got to be Mary this year, Alaina was an angel, Ales was a wise man, Tristan was Joseph and Phillip was one of the Kings, but mostly him and Alex just sat.Oh, and by popular vote, the Professor was baby Jesus, which just shows what a quiet and good guinea pig he is. (I kept wondering if that was sacrilegious or something.) After this picture, my camera battery died. But, we sang Christmas songs as we read that went along with it, and it was really fun. Then, we gave Phillip his presents, which were a shirt that says, "You read my shirt. That's enough social interaction for one day." and another that said, "Trust me. I'm a Jedi." (It turns out that he has a sweater with that saying on it!) We also got him Superman knee socks and bacon flavored jelly beans (they were disgusting!) and a stocking with goodies.  Then, after the kids went to bed Phillip and I talked until Danny turned on Hotel Transylvania. We watched that and then Phillip went home and we stayed up too late. But it was fun. :)

Christmas morning! I love Alaina's hair!

Christmas present highlights- Alex- flying ghost, new coat and Jack Skellington hat, Jack Skellington sweater and Hulk shirt, superheroes book, picture calendar.

Tristan- Rock collections with book, lots of other books, newest Wimpy Kid book and Wimpy Kid wall calendar, new backpack, Angry Birds shirt, stuffed kitty, dominoes. 

Alaina- My Little Ponies, leggings and dress, book, stuffed kitty, pack of four puzzles, coloring pad with 50 pages to color

Emme- My Little Ponies, new boots and leggings, stuffed kitty, My Little Pony castle,  Dora puzzle, paint with waters pack

Irelyn- Teddy bear, kitty, Dora backpack, My Little Ponies

Danny- griddle, shirt, Subway gift card, fleece lined pants, jammy pants, picture calendar

Mel- book (The Book Thief), calendar, puzzle, speaker for ITouch, coat, purse

The girls also got a HUGE cardboard castle that you color and all the kids got Operation and a Leapster Explorer.

Thank goodness we were able to get almost all the girls' stuff at garage sales when we visited Megan! Especially the Leapster all the My Little Ponies. They love them sooo much and they are always playing with them. But it would be sooo expensive to buy that many all at once!

One of the best memories was seeing Irelyn unwrap the old ratty doll that Emme had wrapped for her, because she didn't want to be left out when the other kids were wrapping things for each other. See how she is hugging her teddy bear? Well, when she opened the doll, that we have had for years, Irelyn got a disgusted look on her face and just dropped it on the floor without another word. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face! Luckily, Emme didn't notice and probably didn't even remember that she had wrapped it!

The cardboard castle. They have a lot of fun in it, but it is kind of taking over our family room.

We played, I slept a little, we ate bacon and sausage and then later we went to the Campbells' for dinner and the kids got some presents from them, too. It was such a fun, relaxing Christmas. Really, it was just perfect.

A few days after Christmas, Danny and I decided we would use our Christmas money for a babysitter and take a day trip to Salt Lake, just the two of us! It was so fun!! We stopped at every TJMaxx, since the coat Danny had gotten me, and gone to sooo much trouble to get up from Utah, was the wrong one.  So we were seeing if any had the right one. It was fun! 

Of course, we had to stop at the gym where we heard that Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) was training for the next Superman movie. 

It was really hard to find, since it had no signage or anything. This was all that was on the front door.

So, we waited and didn't know how long to wait, because maybe he had already worked out that day, or it was a day off, or whatever. Finally, we worked up our courage to stick our heads in and ask the front desk if he had already been there that day. I stuck my head in, and there was no front desk, you just kind of walked right into the gym! And- there was Henry Cavill in the middle of a workout!! Ahhh! He was sweaty and his hair was a little poofier than normal, but other than that he looked just like you would expect. I was so surprised that I just said, "Oh!" and turned around and went out. Danny didn't even get to see him! 

But, now we knew he was there and we were going to wait! It was sooo fun calling Megan and Haley and telling them that I SAW him!! After a while, a black SUV that said "Elite Limos" pulled up the the front door. It was obviously for Henry, so when the driver went in, we got out so that we were closed to the door so we could say hi. The driver went in and out a couple of times, then he seemed to notice us (I wish I had said something to him!) and then after going back inside he came out and drove off! I was sure Henry had told him to pick him up at a different door, and I figured that if he didn't want a picture, we weren't going to bother him. We were sooo disappointed, but we left to go somewhere else. After a mile or two I asked Danny if we could just go back and make sure the limo was gone. As we drove back, we missed the turn, but saw the limo driver getting kind of by a gas station, getting back into the car. By the time we got turned around and pulled into the parking lot by the gym, the limo was pulling away with someone in the back seat! Noooo! We were right behind them, and they were waiting to turn left, and I was sooo tempted to run up to the car window! But my greatest fear wasn't not seeing him, it was that he would be mad at us or mean. I didn't want to risk that, so we let him go. Goodbye, my loooove! 

It felt really sad, and I felt all personally rejected. But later, as I thought about it, there is a pretty good chance that he wasn't ready yet, so the driver said he would come back. We might have had nothing to do with it. Plus, there are soo many stories and pictures of him with fans, and none of him blowing them off. So, now I wish we had just waited there. Oh, well. At least I got to see him for 1/5th of a second. :) Here is another shot of the gym.

We went to HomeGoods, where I returned my coat and instead (since no one had the one I wanted) I got a nightstand for my side of the bed and a lamp. Here is a picture of it!

 
And we got a chalkboard for Emme's room-

And this super cute Froggy Prince bank for her room, too. Yeah, I spent more than my coat had cost. 

Then we ate some Chinese, and since we hadn't eaten for a loooong time, I felt a lot better after that. And not so personally rejected. It's amazing what food can do!

Then we stopped quickly at Temple Square and saw the amazing Christmas lights and then headed home!

Danny took a picture of me, taking a picture.

It was such a fun trip and we so enjoyed spending the day together. And, even though we didn't get to meet Henry Cavill, at least it gives me more reasons to go to Salt Lake!!

A few days later we went sledding. I made everyone put so many layers on that they were complaining about being hot!

Ben came, too, with Josh and Bethany. Josh mostly played with Emme on the toys or running around.

I gave Bethany one ride, but didn't realize that while I was using my heel to steer the sled, snow was flying in her face! So she didn't want to go down any more. But she seemed really happy just walking around and watching the kids.

Tristan with his "best friend forever!" that he just met that day.

 

We got soo far on the orange sled, we almost made it to the river! It was so fun and afterwards

we came home and had a fire and made Rhoades cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and watched some Christmas shows. Talk about sugar overload! But it was really cozy and fun.

Another couple of days later, we were going stir crazy, so I decided I would be so super brave and take all 5 kids, by myself, to the Museum for their free gingerbread house/ Santa displays. 

We went over all rules first, and Tristan was in charge of Emme and Alaina was in charge of Alex, although later I changed that to Alex being in charge of Alaina.

They were all quite good, and they had the most fun in the Discovery room.

Emme loved playing "Little House on the Prarie."

And to finish off the year, this is what I found in Irelyn's diaper the other day when I changed her! She must be stocking up for emergencies!!