We've been enjoying the craziness that comes with the Christmas season and 5 birthdays from Thanksgiving to Christmas. A few days ago we had 32 people in our home for Thanksgiving and had a great time enjoying the friendship and food. With 13 pies for dessert, we all stuffed ourselves for several days!
Along with the terrific holiday events, we also have had the normal crazy routine which has kept us hopping. For instance, tonight at 8:00, David was fervently avoiding bed, I asked him why he had left his room. He said, "I need to go potty." When I showed him the toilet and said to go ahead, he replied seriously, "I'm hungwee." Since he hadn't finished dinner, I told him it was fine and to go ahead. He quickly responded, "I'm too tired!"
The circle of desires went three rounds before I finally convinced him that he had enough energy to eat.
He was very funny in church today as well. He found my used yelllow tithing slips in my scripture bag and started distributing them to the lovely senior citizens in the row behind him. I belatedly noted the fact when he started gladhanding like a politician. Embarrassed yet again, I collected the slips from the chuckling grampas and grammas, who no doubt felt better about their place in life.
Finally, we have enjoyed our advent calendar with scriptures and songs (and chocolates) and have been reading "The Forgotten Carols" with our kids. It's been great fun.
Aztec dwelling and garden
Anasazi pueblo and kiva
Demonstrating proper technique on the court
Rocking out on the tramp
Orange flowers are mesmerizing
The chef and her helper
The kids' Lego Hogwarts castle and Hogsmeade
Hagrid's hut
the castle
Birthday kid with his ice cream cake (Yum!)
Having fun with the baby
We hope to say hi again to all of you this season. In case we don't get around to it, we love you and hope you have a good Christmas season!
We had a wonderful month with memorable events like building gingerbread houses; birthday treats in Mrs. J's classroom; seeing lights around town from a school bus (thanks to our surprise visitor for joining us); bouncing with next door neighbors; seeing Zoolights (which were fun, but better thanks to the pre-party and free tickets); 
a neighborhood Polar Express party; a jingle jog at school (where mom and dad each got a turn at keeping up with their fast kids); a bit of time with cousins (though sickness kept that to a minimum); a Cub Scout who has now earned eight arrow point and is now a Webelo and always has several projects going; a bookworm girl who spent the month re-reading the entire Harry Potter (minus book 7) and Fablehaven and Septimus Heap series, with a few Roald Dahl and Chronicles of Narnia books thrown in, while still interacting with her family when required; a six year old who learned to play "My Favorite Things" on the piano while intermittently perfecting a front flip, riding a bigger bike, and beating Dad at horse; a preschooler who gets sick more often than all the older siblings combined, but still got to attend some fun preschool activities while progressing and regressing in language and potty skills (and spent many afternoons laying on the backyard cement driving cars through dirt, refusing naps and chatting with strangers while running errands); the eruption of two teeth for our youngest family member (along with lots of grouchiness, diaper rash and diarrhea) while she crawled throughout the house with random items in her mouth like a puppy, searching for items to climb; she has now earned the award for the half-year old who sleeps the least; the parents in the house are now wondering if and when they'll ever get a decent nights' sleep again and what the future holds for their little "big" family. Life is so good, even in the midst of all the craziness! We tried to spend a few moments most days reading a bit from the scriptures about the Savior and are planning to begin the New Testament for our daily reading as a family. We are grateful for the scriptures and the stories from Jesus' life that provide ideas for ways we can learn and serve others. He is our ultimate example for everything we do in life and we are trying our best to follow him.
