Christmas Cookie Party

Our 4th Annual Christmas Cookie Party was a success. 

Seven moms and twenty one kids.

160 cookies.

6 bowls of icing.

14 bowls of assorted candies and sprinkles.

We ended up decorating in shifts. The boys got lots of playing done and I was so grateful for Jen who came up. Jen is always a great help and our kids play so well together. After the cookie party and all our friends left, the cousins played all afternoon. Another great day being a mom and a kid.

Accidents and Sunday Selfie

Here is our Sunday Family Selfie.

See their smiling faces... cute eh.

Keep that in mind.

Its been a long week.
A long week of a accidents.

In the last week.

A child vomited in our bed, and did not tell us. We found it 3 hours later as Justin was crawling into bed. I was already in bed, and Justin fresh out of the shower, grabbed the blankets to pull it back... got a handful of barf. Our white sheets are stained.

A child peed in his closet. PEED IN HIS CLOSET!! Why??!?! We have no idea, once this child gets in trouble, he shuts down. Sulking and will say nothing. I opened his closet to put away clean laundry and was blown away by the smell off pee in his closet. I thought it was a pair of pants he peed in and hid. No... Was it a dirty diaper. No.... I felt pee in the corner.... the carpet, the wall the baseboard. Mommy and Daddy were not impressed.

A child smashed the screen of a ipad. Jumped on it. Because (he/she) was mad. Smashed to smithereens the ipad screen. This happened while Mommy was napping. Of course this happened weeks after Justin bragged we have had ipads for years without any issues.

A child spilt a blob of green paint on our bed. Our other set of sheets stained. Our mattress stained.

Our Children have cost us a lot of money this week.... maybe we should take all the Christmas presents back to pay for all the extra cost.

Christmas Cookies

I did a cookie exchange last Christmas. Totally enjoyed it.

I made Chocolate Chip Cookies last year. 

I made Chocolate Chip because thats what my family likes. And totally got

mocked for it :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies they said!!

At Christmas they said!!!

Then I mentioned I might do them again this year.

Same response.

So I determined to make Chocolate Chip Cookies Christmasy.

I found this amazing.

AMAZING recipe.

I used York Mints for the Peppermint Crunch Thins. Chopped them up.
When Justin got home, I demanded that he try them and tell me how great they are.
He was a stinker and ranted and raved about how good they were, loudly. Teasing me and being a general pest. I thought he didn't like them. Then all of a sudden when they are gone, he asks "Where are those cookies" Thats his way of saying, those were yummy and I want more.

Every. Single. Person. who has tried these Cookies have been FLOORED.

They are amazing.  I can't even... you must try them

HERE is where I got the recipe.

I need to make 9 dozen for the Cookie Exchange. 

I have already made 4 dozen... but they are gone. 

I have a feeling I will make 9 dozen, for the exchange and then need to make another 4-6 dozen just for our family. Er... and Kalia and Annaliesses' teachers who both have tried them and put in requests :)

Snapshots

Remy has a thing with babies and her monkey. She is awesome.

Barker went to school in his spiderman cape again. Justin is worried about his safety.

Annaliesse is turning 7 in 2 weeks. Her biggest regret is having to go to school when she would much rather be playing with toys. Her imagination still operates at 100 miles per hour. Everything is a game and she always has toys with her.

YW got a hold of my phone on Tuesday.

Barker made me a hat on Monday. His goal was a hat with food in it. A hat that I could wear when I was hungry. He was right mad at me I would not pour Honey Nut Cheerios in the top. He even cut a hole in the side to have the cheerios come out.  He was sorely disappointed with me....

Christmas FHE

Our Family Home Evening the last Monday in November was on Gifts we can give Jesus this season. We looked up scriptures to see what he would like to receive from us.

It was painful. The girls are still learning how to look up scriptures. Its painful to watch and help and the 2 little ones could care less about the task.

I am sure FHE will at some point flow a bit easier. I know it isn't going to be anytime soon so until then hopefully the spirit can be a bit louder at our house then he normally is?!

After our Lesson we gave the kids Christmas Pillow Cases I made this week. They turned out darling and I see another fun thing for the kids to look forward to when we decorate for Christmas. Also, this is when Justin told us that he had special Christmas Pillowcases when he was a kid, too. I never knew this, and Justin acted like everyone does this... are we the only family to not have done this until now??!!

Anyway late Band Wagon jumpers I guess :) OR how I prefer to think of it. Great minds think alike. (Mom Moxley and Me)

I started sewing them Saturday and finished them Monday morning. Funny thing, when I was finishing them Monday morning Remy saw the Reindeer fabric (the one she is holding) and she was so excited. She kept stroking the fabric and going "Ohhhh!" and "Ahhh" she fell in love. Kept pointing at different Reindeer and yelling at me to look and acknowledge her new found love.

Obviously that was now going to be her Pillowcase. As I was handing them out, Kalia really wanted the one Remy had already claimed but she was ok with the other Reindeer fabric. But then Barker was mad about the snowmen he had gotten. Kalia traded Barker, because she is kind like that. Annaliesse grabbed the blue snowmen just as happy as a clam. Barker loves his pillow and thinks its hilarious that Rudolph is hiding his nose in his pillow. Remy still pets her pillow when she goes down for a nap. Annaliesse is happy with hers and Kalia, the sweetheart, she is OK with her snowmen.

Knowing this, check the last picture in the post, check their faces.. Their feelings show plain as day on their beautiful faces.

Books wrapped :)

Its year 5 of our Christmas Book Countdown. 

Its funny how when I started this, our books were mostly falling apart ones from the Thrift store. 

It took me a couple months of gathering, and spending of money we didn't have.

 But it has been such a fun tradition. I am not sure how long we can keep going with the kids getting older and way more things to do in the afternoons between after school and home reading and piano and extra circular activities and everything else going on in December.

We now have 42 books. I wrapped 24 books and put the rest in a basket under the tree. Annaliesse and Kalia have been reading the extras for home reading for the last couple weeks.

Remy loves the books. I left out almost all of the board books and Remy is simply delighted.
She plays with the books almost daily. I have read them constantly to her and Barker. I love the smiles and hugs and snuggles that seem to come with books.

Beeswax

This is our favorite Nativity. Justin and I got this for a wedding present, September 2006. It is made out of Beeswax. It tends to chip and break if it gets bumped and we are missing some hands after almost 10 years, but it so special to our family. It smells heavenly and we adore all the animal figures and the sweet way the wise men look.

I wish I remembered who gave us this special gift, but it somehow managed to get by the Gift List and I am sure the Thank you card list. So who ever you are, and if you read our blog... Thank you. It has been and well be, greatly treasured.

Naps, Harry Potter and pillowcases

Its not often we have a weekend with nothing really happening.
At the same time.... it was sooo nice NOT to have to get kids up and ready Saturday OR Sunday morning.

Saturday we kept it simple, Mommy worked on some sewing for Christmas. Grandma came over and we watched Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I got some Remy snuggles in and Justin did a bit of Christmas shopping. Nice and easy.

The kids loved loved loved Harry Potter. They can not WAIT to read the second book. I am going to make them wait, space it out... after the third book they are going to have to wait a while anyways.

I got it in my head to make Christmas Pillowcases for the kids this year... they are so darling and came together rather quick. So spent lots of Saturday sewing or picking out fabric.
I also finished a Christmas Present for Aunt Laura and Uncle Miles.

Sunday was just as quiet. Justin and I took Kalia to the Montreal Temple Dedication Broadcast at 7:00 am, Grandma and Grandpa watched the other 3. We then spent the day watching DVD's, playing in the basement and napping. Annaliesse and I did make Chocolate Pudding Poke Cake for dessert, but once again, a easy mello day.

I know for a fact this was our last weekend of calm as the Christmas Season approaches... but we sure did enjoy it :)

Snapshots

We finished Harry Potter and started a new book his week! Farmer Boy! Way old school but I am hoping the girls will enjoy it!

Justin is a phenomenal Dad. He really is. He got home from work and was getting ready to shovel the walk- the 2 little ones dashed outside to help. Remy was right behind him or under his feet or sreeching at him the entire time- and he just went with it. He had to reshovel areas after Barker helped and constantly slow way down cause Remy was right under his feet. We love you Daddy!

Kalia and I doing hair before school. 

We had a youth temple trip this week. Due to a rain/snow storm we do not have a big group shot- but here is a selfie with the girls in my van. 

Boys? Girls?

Above: Remy and Mommy with Remy in her new coat.
Below: Remy and Barker with Remy in Barkers old coat.

Fact. I have 4 children. 3 girls. I have a ton of girl winter coats, but I managed to loose the 2T winter coat. 

So for the last 3 weeks Remy has been wearing Barkers old winter coat. I was perfectly fine with it, as was Remy. Monday while the oil was getting done in the van and Justin and Remy and I were doing a bit of shopping at South center mall to pass the time along. Justin said she needed a girl winter coat- even though the one she was wearing worked perfectly. What's funny: 5 years ago- there is NO WAY I WOULD HAVE PUT MY GIRLS IN A BOY WINTER COAT.

#imabiggirlnow #mommylife#mommyoffourvsmommyoftwo#howdifferentwethinkthemorekidswehave

Outside lights and my first Christmas Quilt

Saturday morning off to Grandma and Grandpas early to put up Outside Christmas lights. 

I figured while the men were doing that, I was finally going to finish this Christmas quilt I started in 2012. See this blog post

Above the picture I took in 2012 when I stared it, below 2015 when I finished it. LOL

We got to Moms at about 9:00 and I spent all morning working on the quilt- with some help from Grandma! Justin and Dad got the lights all on by noon, then they headed over and did our house in like 30 minutes. LOL!

Annaliesse spent the day coughing and Kalia playing- never to be seen with the camera. Kalia was super hyper all day, and she had her fair shares of "SETTLE DOWN!"

After a family lunch, Dad headed home and Mom and I finished the quilt while Remy napped. It looks great and I am so loving it! A GIANT Thank You to mom who showed me how to bind it and helped with the math and whatnots. I can only sew because of her ridiculous talent in sewing. She knows all! Not a project goes by when I am not asking questions or worried about something. She assures me and tell me its not a big deal and its beautiful EVEN when I have to redo something or if I get a pucker or if I cant get over all the mistakes I make. She is the reason I have such a enjoyable time sewing.


After naps we spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, and running erronds.
The picture above is of Justin emptying the cart of all the boxes Remy put in while we were discussing our front window being lined with Christmas lights. I really wanted the window done, and after much discussion in Walmart- I won. Doesn't she look proud of herself?? LOL

After a long day we ended off with a house tidy and Justin fixing Barkers Dresser right before bed. A super productive day :)

Decorate!

SO Friday after the dentist and after a very long nap by Remy, Justin and I were discussing what to do Saturday. Justin reminded me that we had agreed to help Mom and Dad do Christmas lights on their house Saturday morning, and we should do ours after. So he got out our Outside Christmas lights to make sure we had enough for the new house. We didn't and headed to Canadian Tire for a few more sets. While were there we also picked up a new Christmas Tree. Our first grown up, non Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. 

On the way home from Canadian Tire the kids were so excited and they were pleading with us to decorate the tree tonight. We figured why not....

after supper we got busy.

The house had to be completely rearranged. After some discussion and not a lot of options we settled on this layout for the Christmas season.

See Justins face in the picture below?? Thats what he looks like after he lifts 9-11 Christmas totes down from the very high garage shelfs.

You know when you move into a new house, and that first Christmas you have to refigure where your going to put everything... thats the hard part :(

Justin and the kids did the tree while I got all the Nativity's out and did above the Fireplace. There was so many nativity's in so many boxes that Justin at one point was like "Breathe Heather and just put them somewhere!" and then he goes "Your not getting one this year!!"

Then after I got all the Nativity's done, I had to do all the "wood stuff" See that table FULL of wood stuff?!?!? Holy freaking Moly. I had to find room for ALL OF THAT. At that point I had already put my SANTA letter and GRINCH letters, out... We ended up put decorations around in the basement, after filling the main floor to Christmas capacity. I may have semi-promised Justin that next year I wouldn't make any new ones.

 The kids ended up in bed late, but very happy. I am glad its done, and we can enjoy it for a month and a half.