In Case You Were Wondering

In case you were wondering if we got our kids any size able gifts for Christmas, other than our vacation to Quebec, each of the older three got one the last Friday before the break.


Victoria got a bike (we used a gift card Jason received from work, so this was free!)

 Karissa got a guitar. This one we knew everyone would like since they all like to be "rock stars". They have done a good job sharing it.

Austin got a train table that I convinced Jason to make for him. Isn't it awesome?! He did such a great job. We got the rug from IKEA. The rug isn't currently on it right now, since the girls have set up their "tiny town" houses on it. It's great b/c it's another gift they can all enjoy. It's a little higher than we thought, but it keeps their toys safe from Erik right now and he can enjoy stuff on the ground. It's very sturdy, so they can just sit on top of it and we can also use it as an extra table for eating!

Quebec Trip

For Christmas this year we thought we would do something different. We took advantage of Jason's time off work and drove up to Quebec City. Driving up there was a cinch. Canadian roads are nice and straight and we kept cutting back minutes from the "arrival time" on our Garmin, which usually never happens! (Driving back was another story with a snow storm, but the kids did great.)

We took two shorter days to drive there, stopping near Kingston for church the Sunday before Christmas. It was a nice little branch with less than 20 pews and they weren't even a 1/3 filled up! Christmas Eve found us at Benjo's Toy Store (one of those really expensive toy stores that you just look and dream and play with the displays). We then hiked, in our snow suits with strollers, up the hill to the "old city" which is still surrounded by walls. It's the only North American city surrounded by walls. Walking up reminded me of Geneva. The city itself reminded me of a combo of different villages and cities in France and Switzerland. Add to the fact that it's French-speaking and our kids felt like they were with us in Europe! Victoria worried about communicating with people, but as I suspected, pretty much everyone speaks English as well. I just approached with my polite, "Par le vous Anglais?" (I'm sure my spelling is very off) and all my questions were answered and problems solved!

Benjo's Toy Store

Stuffed and ready to go! Erik wasn't thrilled!

Included in our day in "old city" was a ride down the slide, a visit to the castle, a very tired and cold-footed Erik, dinner at the creperie, and a walk through the alleys passing all the beautifully decorated shops. The city really enjoys the holidays and it showed- it was beautiful!

The castle (chateau)

 Getting ready to go down the slide

 Enjoying warmth in the castle



We brought some small presents the kids opened Christmas in the hotel, which was not bad being in a hotel on Christmas. I didn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning, just relaxing and playing! We went swimming in the indoor pool, that had a slide, skyped with grandparents, ate a rotisserie chicken heated in our room microwave, then went to Montmorency Falls and for a drive on Ile d' Orleans (Orleans Island in the river).

 Austin just went down the slide here

 The kids loved climbing the "snow mountain"

 The falls are 99 feet taller than Niagra

Our final day in Quebec City we ate at another French restaurant, played on more snow mountains, went to an exhibit at a museum about ancient tribes and animals of Canada (Erik's favorite since he could walk around on the hard, unfrozen ground with no snow clothes on!), and saw the battleground where the English defeated the French.

For the next leg of our trip we drove through a major snow storm (20 inches of snow fell that day!) to get to my step-brother Bob's house in Sherbrooke. The kids enjoyed being tourists, but I think they really liked being at a home with other kids and toys. Bob and Jennifer surprised us with a birthday cake for Karissa's 6th and a delicious lunch and dinner. We enjoyed visiting and the kids enjoyed playing with toys and in lots and lots of snow!

Our last day before the big drive we went down to see Josee, Bob's x-wife, who is still a good friend of mine. We followed Bob as he took his kids. Our kids met her younger three and enjoyed more toys, snow, and food with family. 

We had a great time and we would do it again!

'Tis the Season

We're busy as can be around here with all the holiday fun. Such as Karissa's class service project to ring the Salvation Army bell in front of JC Penny one evening. Austin got to help and sing Christmas carols before Jason came to hang out for Karissa's rotation while I took the boys home out of the cold.

We had our church Christmas party. It was a pioneer theme as they would have celebrated in Nauvoo. Some of us dressed up. Yes, Austin is our pioneer doggie.

 Victoria and her good friend, Kayla.

 We had "Nauvoo stew", a program featuring Joseph and Emma Smith and Christmas carols, cookie decorating, tin ornament making, letters to missionaries, stick pulling, a Nauvoo "museum", and of course a visit from Santa. The ward photographer took the pics of the kids with Santa, hopefully I can get them soon. I couldn't take any other pics between chasing around Erik and being in charge of the the decor and some of the food. It was very fun, though!

Victoria had her winter piano recital and did very well, despite feeling very nervous.

One more week of holiday activities before we can flee the country! (literally)

Gingerbread Trains

We made gingerbread trains on Saturday. The kids had a great time and they didn't OD on candy, either! If you noticed, we used rice cakes for the wheels instead of cookies, and that cut down on extra cookie nibblers! Cute- huh?!

My 3- Year-Old

Austin pretty much rules the roost around here, don't most 3-year-olds? One of the things he likes control over is the lighting. When my mom and Jim came about 2 months ago, he had all the curtains closed and the lights off, so it was pretty dark in the house the afternoon they arrived. Sometimes he likes to have it all dark like that, sometimes he likes to shine a flashlight. Luckily, he's getting better at letting me have the lights on that I need. Now that it's Christmastime, he loves to keep the just the Christmas lights on, all day long. We have a little game. I will turn them off, when he's not noticing, and he will turn them back on as soon as he realizes they're off. Sometimes that's right away, sometimes not.

This year our tree is on a table so Erik doesn't ruin it.

It's right next to the Village set-up, so all the lights there are plugged into a surge protector. All Austin has to do is press one button and all the lights go on!

 You can't even see the lights are on with the flash in this pic. He wanted me to take another one with the lights shining without him in it.

The other Christmas thing he wants control over is the stockings. For some reason when I first made Jason's, mine, and Victoria's stockings, back when she was a baby and I didn't have toddlers or kids learning their letters, I wrote our names in cursive. It was easiest to do with the glue and I thought it would look fancier. When the girls were Austin's age, they were okay with it, even though they didn't recognize all the letters. But Austin was not okay. This is the way our conversation went the other day:

me: Here's your stocking Austin.
Austin: That's not mine.
me: Yes it is.
Austin: No, there's no A.
me: It's a special A. It's in cursive.
Austin: That's not an A!
me: It looks like a lower case A.
Austin: I want a big A.
me: Do you want me to fix it?
Austin: Yes.

Instead of scraping off the glitter and making it look awful, this is what I did.

 I just cut out a golden-colored piece of paper. He's happier now with this temporary fix. Since then, I have made Erik's stocking. Now Austin thinks that is his too because it has a "3" on it!