Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas Fun

Christmas Eve we invited my parents to come over for dinner. I made ham, squash, corn, rolls, and mom brought the cheesy potatoes. After dinner the boys played Christmas bingo while mom and I cleaned up. Then J played the piano for us. J, James and Jakub opened their jammies, and a Christmas adventure book that Santa had sent them in the mail. We started at 6 and by 8 they boys were in bed sleeping. When John and I went in to check on J he was laying sideways, we moved his head to the pillow and he said, "these jammies make me run faster."
Our Christmas Miracle was the boys sleeping until 7:30, they are usually all up by 6:00. I made breakfast cake, we opened presents and watched the snow fall. John surprised me with a new set of scriptures. He wrote his testimony inside. What a good husband. We were planning to head for Clinton at 10 but we decided to wait until 2. The boys have all been sick but it wasn't going to stop of plans just slow them down.

Ofter 2 hours in the car we made it to Grandma and Grandpa Mills'. Again we had present time. James and Jakub got the Little People Nativity, outfits, and books. J got 2 Wii games, an outfit and books.
On Friday Jaren and Sarah came over and we gave them our gift. I made them a levi quilt. It was made with blood, sweat, and tears, but mostly love.

Jakub loved playing in the box. But the funniest part of this picture is James hair.

On Saturday it took us 2 1/2 hours to get home. It was a fun filled holiday. I am grateful for this time of year to reflect on traditions and Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed to know he is my Savior.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Christmas at the Sparrow's

Today was our family Christmas Party. Charlie and Melissa leave for California tomorrow with her family. Scott and Paige will be spending Christmas Eve at home and then with her family on Christmas Day. Karen and Brandon will be with his family for the holiday, so today was Christmas.
We celebrated with our traditional Christmas Eve Menu. Everyone's favorite finger food. This year the only people that stayed true to there usual was Grandpa (stuffed mushrooms) and Karen (Ham roll ups) The rest of us ventured out to new found loves. I made John's Aunt Brenda's cheese ball. It is the best recipe. I usually choose pumpkin roll. Charlie and Melissa brought fondue. Scott made bacon raps. And Grandma made bread sticks and the none finger food, Broccoli soup.
After lunch was present time. There were 7 big huge boxes in the basement one for each grandkid and then a small package for baby Elle.

James was slow at getting started so John helped.
Jakub opened his one tiny rip at a time.
Inside the big box was 3 presents and a bean bag chair. Each kid reseaved a blanket made by grandma, jammies and a stuffed toy. J's bag was blue, his blanket said future missionary and his monkey had a future missionary tag. James and Jakub got dragon blankets and Yo, Gabba, Gabba toys.
After the Grandma gifts the kids played in the big boxes while the adults exchanged gifts. Youngest first.....Charlie and Melissa opened a down comforter from Mom and Dad. Karen and Brandon opened a broken snowman cookie jar from Charlie and Melissa. It had dropped out of the bag when Melissa had carried it in the house just hours before. They gave Taylor some books and Elle an outfit. Scott and Paige's family opened a Blockus game from the Rawlings. Our boys received a hand made car map track from Scott and Paige. They gave John and I a flag badge that Scott wore on his uniform in Iraq and plaque thanking us for our prayers while he served. It also included a picture of his group of guys that he was in charge of. If you know me well you can guess that I cried when I saw it. Paige also gave me a headband. Way Cute!

Then it was mom and dad's turn, we had them this year. I made a 8 x 8 Christmas Scrapbook, it had pictures of Christmas' past and blank pages for the future. I am hoping mom can handle one page a year.

Mom and Dad gave all of us a plaque with our last names and it had the temples we were sealed in. Some money to go shopping and food storage.

Grandma read the Christmas Orange Story to the kids while they ate oranges in their new jammies while sitting in their chairs. Grandpa read from the bible the story of Christs birth.

It was a wonderful "Christmas" day!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Little Star/Gingerbread/FHE/Birthday

The Little Star Party is a family tradition for the Mills Family. John's Grandma Mills brings a small rapped gift for everyone. Everytime you hear the word star in the story you pass the present to the left. Whatever gift you have after the last "Star" is yours.
James and Jakub love hanging out with their uncles Bin and Jaren. Our 2nd activity was the gingerbread house decorating. Here you see Megan and Tanner working on the Noble house.
Then it was upstairs to reenact the nativity. Luke (Grandpa) told the story of Christ's Birth. In the stable you see Joseph (J), Mary (Rylie), and Baby Jesus (Wyatt). The Angel (James) with his heavenly host (Jakub) visited the shepherds (Tanner, Camden, and Caleb). Later 3 wise men (John, Bin and Jaren) came with gifts.
After FHE we sang Happy Birthday to Lara and ate Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Icecream.
Because we will not all be at Mom and Dad's during the same time on Christmas day we surprised them with a gift from all of us.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Visit to the Library

I am sad to admit that this the the first picture I have of J with Santa. He is 6 years old and I have never taken him to visit Santa. (another bad parent moment)J told Santa he wants an Ipod. Lucky for me Santa found a cheap MP3 player online a few months ago.
Taylor would not even look at Santa. But she told Grandma she wanted a doll, a toy for her baby sister, and a bone for Barkley. Grandma passed the information on to Santa.
Jakub took Santa's hand and smiled while I took a picture. He kept saying, "Santa, Santa"

James wouldn't even get close to Santa. So Grandma held him next to Santa so I could get a picture. What is a picture of Santa without a screaming child?

There was a tree with books underneath for the kids to choose from after saying hi to Santa. I love our community. Small and Generous. We didn't have to drive far or wait in line to see Santa.

The boys all wanted to go home with Grandma, so she took them. I spent an hour cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, and vacuuming. Those tasks take all day when the boys are home. The house was only clean for about 1/2 hour, when we got home it was time for dinner and the mess what back again.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

She's Here!



My sister's c-section was this morning at 7:30. It was so fun to go see her baby girl just hours after she was born. I gave her a bottle and changed her diaper. The newborn diapers don't even fit. She is 8lbs 8ozs. that is one pound bigger than Taylor was. Her blood sugar was low just after she arrived but they are keeping an eye on her. Karen looks so tired. Her poor diabetic body struggles when pregnant. As you can tell by all the "she's" this baby girl is still with out a name.