A Little Christmas Cheer

What happens when you try to take Christmas card pictures of 3 kids by yourself?

a) Oldest child is mad and crying because the tie on her dress isn't around her waist and it is "weird and itchy"

b) Middle child is crying because he feels like he is going to "frow-up"

c) Youngest child is crying because he doesn't like the idea of mommy being 3 feet in front of him and not holding him

d) All of the above

Yep....the answer is D - all of the above.

And this is the result of the dreadful photo shoot:


I hope this brings you some Holiday cheer even if it didn't bring me any!

The Nativity At Kirtland

We enjoyed a few days together as a family after Christmas. In the past5 or 6 years Dane has had to work the day after Christmas. Finally he got the day off! We had lots of fun together. We went and saw a movie: Bedtime Stories. We went to the mall. We also went to Kirtland to see the Nativity display they had there.

The kids had so much fun dressing up like Wise Men and Mary and Joseph.

Bennett liked playing with the Nativity play set.
They had Nativity scenes from all around the world that we got to look at while the kids played.

Hailee and Braden taking it seriously, obviously.

Christmas Day

The day finally came!! Hailee swore it would never get here. I remember feeling that way...so excited that you could just jump out of your skin! She was so much fun this year. She is getting more curious about how the whole Santa thing works and continually asked detailed questions on the logistics and specifics. Sometimes I really don't know the answers. She is a little too smart for me! Hailee got what she wanted...a Fur Real robotic dog named Biscuit.
She also loved the digital camera!!

Braden got a Leapster and has already mastered the games.

He also got some roller blades which he is working on every day...and has the bruised knees to prove it!
Bennett loved all of his toys. It wasn't until we were playing that day when we realized all of his toys required batteries. We will be buying stock in Duracell because we added up the amount of batteries used to power our Christmas morning. The grand total was........40! A little ridiculous!

Here is his letter magnets. He is already singing the ABC song thanks to this toy!
He also loved his car track.
And his Elmo guitar. It doesn't look like he's having a good time but it's his "dance face". He gets serious and intense when he is dancing.
Hailee enjoying our yummy cinnamon rolls!
Braden will just pass on all food until he conquers the game, thanks.
Bennett will just go ahead and eat an entire bag of Animal Crackers. He is very particular about the brand of Animal Crackers...these are the only ones he'll eat and he LOVES them. We think he takes after his Grandpa Mike!
Up a little too late?

Christmas Eve Traditions

We have adopted the Sanford tradition of driving around on Christmas Eve and looking at the lights. This year we went down to the Blossom Light Festival. It is 2 miles of lights you drive through.

We opened up one present each - Christmas Pajamas, changed into our jammies and drove around. We usually find some poor gas station to hit up and get egg nog and chocolate milk and Diet Coke for me. Don't be jealous of my nostrils, double chin, and no make up...sexy!
We get home and put out cookies for Santa and celery and carrots for the Reindeer. Hailee left Santa a note just to be sure he knew what we wanted:
Dear Santa Clase,
Daddy, Mommy, and us, have been very good this year. Daddy wants a J.P.S. for his car. But, he thinks it's to expensive. Mommy wishes for us to be happy. Braden wants a car. Bennett would like anything!!! I would like Biscuit from Target. Well these are for you exept for the celery and carrots. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!! (you can take the note if you want)
Love,
Hailee, Braden, and, Bennett
Another tradition from the Sanfords is doing a stocking dance. Every person gets a turn to hang up their stocking on the fire place but you have to do a dance to get it there.
By the way...I realize Bennett isn't in any of these pictures. He fell asleep on the way home and well, that's just what happens when you are a baby. Sorry Bennett.
The famous Christmas Stocking Dance:

Christmas Eve Day

Christmas Eve has always been one of my favorite days. In years past it has consisted of me going shopping with my dad and a big family party with all the Morgans. These last few years we have been away from home so my favorite traditions have not taken place for me. I woke up a little sad that I would not be partaking in those activities I had grown up with. But I was excited with the anticipation of Christmas Day with my kids.

We have had to start some of our own traditions since we are away from family. Christmas Eve day we have started making ornaments for Santa. We pull out all the crafts and glue and glitter and make a huge mess.

We make cinnamon rolls to have on Christmas Day and lots of other treats. We have Christmas music playing all day long.

I think this year will be forever in my mind. It was one of those moments you wish you could wrap in a box and remember forever. I was at the table with my beautiful babies making ornaments. The smell of homemade cinnamon rolls was in the air and the music was playing. They were all so excited and happy about their ornaments. At that very moment in time there is no where I else I would have rather been.

You have to take those tiny moments as you get them. They are fleeting moments. Pretty soon someone drops the box of crayons all over, someone gets "poked-ed with a fuzzy stick" (pipe cleaner), and glue gets in eyelashes. But I will treasure that little moment forever.


We also got to finish our Advent Calendars. This was so much fun for the kids. And when they asked, "How many days until Christmas?" about a hundred times a day, I could just tell them to count the closed doors.

Caught Ya!

We were wondering what happened to our Gingerbread house. Well...I caught him in the act. Bennett had been taking the pieces of the house and licking them and then putting them back. Yes, he does have a black eye. He fell last week and hit his head on the edge of the computer desk. The bump swelled up so much that the bruise spread down his forehead onto his nose and under his eye. Poor little clumsy boy. He sure is cute, though. I can't even get mad at him for destroying the gingerbread house!!

Just Some Pictures

It has been brought to my attention that there are no pictures on my blog of Dane without a baseball hat on. I guess we only take his picture on days off and he is always wearing a hat on days off. Sadly I had to go back a few months to find some pictures but here are some for the record (hopefully that answers your question, Caiser).

I love ya, babe! With or without your hat, you're sexy to me!

Santa Clause

Terri and I thought it would be fun to take our kids to the mall on Saturday. They haven't had a chance to see Santa yet and we thought they would like to go sit on his lap and get a candy cane. I should have taken the first clue when we were about a mile away from home and Bennett puked all over himself and the car seat. I tried to stop at Target to clean him up and just buy him some new pants. But it was beyond saving. We headed back home and cleaned up.

There we are at the mall with 7 - I repeat 7 kids and 2 moms. The kids were pretty great the whole time. We got some really awesome looks, though. It seems like no one out here has more than one or two kids so seeing 7 all together out in public looks like some kind of day care or babysitting service.

We visited some kid stores, got some lunch. Terri was nice enough to buy them a stuffed animal (that's really what saved the day). It was time to go see Santa. We get there and the line is at least an hour. Some of the kids are excited, some of the kids don't want to wait. I took Braden aside and brought him closer to Santa.

Me: "Look, do you see Santa? He's waving at you"
Braden: "Yea"
Me: "Do you want to go sit on his lap?"
Braden: Looks very confused. "No...I don't want to sit on that man's lap"

I guess we haven't done a good job on explaining the "rules" of Santa to him. And sitting on some weird old man's lap is not his idea of a good time. I never thought about it but I guess the whole idea is a little creepy.

Here's what we came up with...all the kids (except Bennett with Santa in the very distant background.)

Here's Bennett with his favorite baby - Lucy. She looks like a little doll.
More of Bennett "loving" baby Lucy.

A Not So Precious Moment

I almost didn't post this but I figure we all have moments like this. Last night Hailee and I were the only ones present and awake for family prayer. We had spent some really nice quality time together last night and were having some sweet bonding time. I said the prayer and this is the conversation that took place afterwards:

Hailee: "Mom, you said my name like 3 times in your prayer. I got tears in my eyes because you love me so much."
Me: "I DO love you. I say your name a lot of times in my prayers."
Hailee: "Sometimes I say your name in prayers but it is usually so you're not stressed and spazzy. You know...with the boys and everything."

I guess her prayers were answered because I was painfully aware of my "spazzyness" all day today and I am trying harder not to be "spazzy" anymore!

BENNETT

My cute little Bennett is almost 18 months old! I can't believe he is so big already. But in some ways it seems like he has been with us forever. I can't imagine our family without him. He is getting to be so much fun. He is learning new words every single day. In the last two weeks his vocabulary has just exploded. I wanted to record some of his words before I forget. Here are some of the things he says:

Ti Ma Tee = Christmas Tree (this is said for lights or trees of any kind...not necessarily Christmas Trees)
HoHoHo = What does Santa say?
Ba Ba = Bottle or cup
Ba = Ball
Uh Oh
High Pitched Ah Ah Ah = What does the doggie say? It is also the noise for any animal he sees
Buh Bye (waves his fingers) = Bye Bye
Ssoos = Shoes
Hees O Ssoos = Here's Your Shoes (He is obsessed with shoes...Dane's in particular. We don't go a day without having a trail of shoes out of Dane's closet to pick up)
Eyeeee = Eye (this is only said while putting his whole finger IN your eye)
Bee Bee = Baby
Sissy (Hailee)
Ma Ma
Da Da
Loud scream = Braden is within 2 feet of him

That weird scrunched up face is how he "smiles" for the camera. We don't really know where he got that from but he does it every time we pull out the camera!



He has such a sweet personality. He really understands most of what I say if it is an instruction for him. He loves throwing things away. We have had to start checking the garbage before we take it out to make sure he hasn't thrown non-garbage in there.

He loves to "help" with anything. He is very helpful at dishes. Especially when he climbs IN the dishwasher to "help" take out the bowls and move them to the dining room.

He loves being included in playing with Hailee and Braden. His favorite is when they turn on music and dance. He just wants to do what the big kids are doing.

He loves his Daddy. If Daddy is anywhere near, no one else exists. Mommy will do if Dad isn't there.

He gets into the normal amount of 18-month-old mischief. Which is a little bit of a break for us since Braden got into an abnormally high amount of toddler mischief.

He loves his "auntie" Terri. She has been taking care of him since he was about 6 weeks old. He will seek her out in a room and will go to her over mom a lot of the time.

He loves babies. He is slightly obsessed with Baby Lucy and gives her open mouth kisses every time he sees her. He puts his face right next to hers. Never too rough. He is always very gentle and sweet with her. He has also started carrying around a baby doll sometimes.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We had our good friends, The Holmans, come to our house. We had so much yummy food!

Hailee and Braden decorated placemats for us.
Braden did such a good job of writing his letters by himself!

Hailee, Sam, and Tommy
Braden and Aiden
Bennett by his lonesome. He's too messy to sit by anyone. Get in my belly!
The men in their rightful place...at the sink, doing dishes.
I guess the women were too busy doing other things to get pictures taken.

We ate and after dinner we played "Rock Band". While the adults were playing, the kids decided to make "monster potion". If you don't know what monster potion is.... it is pretty much mixture of any and all kinds of food or liquid that you can think of mixed together. Here is what our little monsters mixed in with their "monster potion":
1 plate of fudge
1/2 bottle of Root Beer and Diet Coke
Mashed Potatoes
Whipped Cream
Olives
Celery
1 bottle (that's right...BOTTLE) Worchsershire Sauce
1 bottle Sesame Asian salad dressing
Mustard
Just in case you wanted to pour it down the drain...nope, the potion also includes ripped up pieces of styrofoam plate.
My house smelled like a hamburger for 2 days. But they had a blast!

Visitors

I love having visitors come. My cute cousin, Nicole and her husband, Tommy came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. That is the one good thing about living far away from home. People come visit you. We have loved living by Kirtland and other church sites so we can get extra visitors. Their baby, Brooklyn was so cute! We got to snuggle her for a while. It was so much fun to see you even if it was just for a little while!!!