December 2010

 Lucky for me the kids are as excited about putting up the Christmas decor as I am! 



Go Utes!

 

Jackson trying to prove that the snow is higher here than in GreenBay, thus winning the "Snow Wars" against Grandma Louthain-not going to happen, but good try buddy!

Our ward pulled off the most amazing Christmas party, "A Night in Bethlehem", the gym was packed with shops to "buy" food and spices etc from, places to mold clay pots, write in Hebrew or make jewelry.  It was really neat.  Andy somehow got roped into being a Wiseman for the Live Nativity.  Andy isn't the most "stage happy" kind of guys (I guess that is why they asked me, not him)!  But he was fab!  It's kind of funny, my brother got roped into being a Wiseman up in Chicago for their Live Nativity! hmmm...there's a pattern here...when needing a husband for something...ask his wife! heehee
(The below pictures were taken by Erika Pike, one of my best friends and the then Ward Activities Committee Chair.)

 Andy had the week before Christmas off, yaah for us! Indianapolis does the 12 Days of Free Indianapolis-there's a free museum each day leading up to Christmas.  We went to the Indiana State Museum. Super fun.  They had this cute little play where a snowflake was searching for the best gift ever, there was a Christmas train and rudolph graced us with his presence too.  Eliza loved waving to him but standing by him for a picture was a "no go".

 Jackson and I also got to go on a "One on One" together to "Rythym Discovery" Downtown by Circle Center.  The museum itself was neat, but a bit crowded on a free day and too noisy for Jax.  So he and I explored the Circle Center a bit, then did a quick jont in the freezing cold to Monument Circle where we took an elevator to the top of the monument.  We could see everything, including the NCAA office where Andy works!  I then took him for icecream at the Chocolate Cafe right on Monument Circle.  If you haven't gotten cake, chocolates or some other goodie there...you should!! Just being with Jackson on an outing was so much fun, it made me think that scheduled "One on One's" with each of the kids should become a regular thing. 

Now that we have a couple of kids, I've been dying to do a Live Nativity with them...ya know, kids walking around in old bathrobes and whatnot!  I knew the Whiteheads were the perfect family to come over for Christmas Eve dinner, when I asked Heather if she'd be OK with acting out a Live Nativity-she answered, "Oh Yeah, we already have al lthe costumes for it!"  Thanks guys for making Christmas Eve so special, it's way more fun making a nice meal when there are other adults to appreciate it!





Eliza was adament about wanting to be Mary.  Sierra was so sweet and took off the Mary costume and gave it to Eliza without hesitation.

Andy as "the donkey" Mary rode into Bethlehem on.



We had a really nice Christmas Season.  Zeke, the Christmas Elf visited the kids with little surprises each morning for the 12 days of Christmas.  We went to a hilarious Ugly Sweater party, a dinner at Andy's Aunt Joan's home and a party with the Young Women's presidency and our families.  Andy and I got to go out to for a nice dinner with friends to India Garden (I've been craving Indian food ever since!).  We also went to the "dancing light house" for FHE one night, (this cool house that has corresponding light show to music on a special radio station). 

My only regret was that I didn't take any pictures of our Annual Avon Book Club dinner!  This is the 3rd year I've hosted it and it was such a lovely evening! (What am I 60?) It was a lot of fun!  We had about 16 girls there for dinner, gift exchange, prizes and just chatting the night away.  I even took the time to make centerpieces for all the tables.  Me. Centerpieces.  And I didn't document it for future generations to revere. Sigh. Ah well, life goes on!

This was the first Christmas Andy and I had with just our family at our home.  We missed not being with grandparents.  But it was really nice not to travel.

A high moment for Jax and the rest of us was when we opened his present to Andy and I (and Eliza too)!  He'd carefully taped up two pieces of newspaper.  When we opened the newspapers up there was nothing inside.  "Uh, Jax-what is it honey?"  He enthusiastically responded, "LOVE-the best gift ever!"  And then proceeded to give each of us big hugs.

A low moment for poor Jax was his discovery that the one thing he asked for, the one thing he'd taken the time to write out and personally give to Santa...alas, was not under the tree!  (Last time I checked on Amazon it was over 200$-yeah, not going to happen!)  "But mom, I even asked Santa and everything!" I told him that it wasn't Santa's job to give us everything we wanted.  Then I made the mistake of saying, "Maybe Santa had already gotten you some other toys."  His response, "I will just have to ask earlier next year!"
Any suggestions from you moms who have experienced this scenerio before, send them my way!Well we hope y'all had a VERY...

MERRY...

CHRISTMAS!!!