More Pre-Christmas-y-ness

We fit in a few holiday celebrations amidst the flurries of unpacking still plaguing our house. Jack the elf was a regular visitor.

(He hid in Jane and Megan's stockings, too, I just missed pictures on those days.)

We made it to our new ward just in time for the Ward Christmas party. Good dinner, good company.

Ben found a new way to eat the roll.

Apparently Dad approved of the trick and joined in.

Even better--a special visitor came right at the end of the party!

Don't you just love how Jane was wrapping Santa's beard around her fingers?

We had a Family Home Evening lesson last week about the story of Christ's birth. Ben was particularly entranced with the nativity set we used to act out the story.

In fact, he kept himself nicely entertained while the rest of us made cotton ball snowmen. Since it just doesn't snow in Albuquerque.

We rounded out that night with doughnuts.

New Christmas outfits for church!

Megan's dress was this year's prize find on Day After Thanksgiving sales--$44 price tag, I paid $6.60 on clearance. So so perfect.

On Christmas Eve, we had a party with a family in our new ward. Go me for inviting new people over! It worked out really nicely--they didn't have anywhere to be, we didn't have anywhere to be, and our kids are the same ages. Delightful.

After a lovely dinner of ham and potatoes fabulously prepared by Christopher, we helped the kids decorate cookies.

Then we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The girls were super cute all sitting together on the couch.

I wanted to get a picture of Ben, but anytime I told him to say cheese, he did this.

The pajama fairy came during the party--how sneaky of her.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Boxes

For our first official Family Home Evening in our new locale, we decorated our Christmas tree.

You may notice a few things, like the complete lack of lights. Or I guess first the lack of tree.

We couldn't find the lights anywhere. We moved the tree out of the way to get better access to more boxes to see if we could find them. Luckily Amy and my grandparents had given the kids some presents so they had something to be excited about while Chris and I went searching.

No such luck. So, we decorated the tree without any lights.

Don't you just love the boxes creating this quaint little Christmas tree alcove?

(Ahem. I don't think "quaint" is actually the word that was coming to my mind at the time... something more like "I WANT ALL THESE BOXES TO BE GONE NOW!!!)

But it's ok really. Most of those boxes are unpacked now, and it's only been four days since we decorated the tree. Really, we're decently close to being done, which is completely awesome. The only real problem we've run into so far is that we still haven't found the shelf holders for all the bookcases. It's killing me to not be able to unpack my books onto the shelves!

At least my boys are adorable.

My favorite tree moment was actually the next morning. I found Jane sitting like this for quite a long time after breakfast.

The next day, a certain little elf made an appearance at our house. Meet Jack.

Jane and Megan are impressively excited about this elf--way more excited than I anticipated. Which is awesome.

Ben doesn't get it at all, of course, but he did want to pose for his own picture.

Unpacking is coming along--soon enough I'll have pictures of a real tour of our apartment. Be excited.

Merry Christmas!

For Grandma Karrie's Birthday

 Happy Birthday to Grandma Karrie! In celebration, I thought I'd let Jane and Megan each contribute more to the honorary blog post.

1. What is something Grandma always says to you?
J: Thank you for saying happy birthday when I say happy birthday to her.
M: Clean so we can get a treat.

2. What makes Grandma happy?
J: When I tell jokes to her.
M: Us seeing her at home.

3. What makes Grandma sad?
J: Hitting.
M: Me not going to her house.

4. How does Grandma make you laugh?
J: Tickling me.
M: Tickle me.

5. What was Grandma like as a child?
J: I don’t know because I wasn’t born yet.
M: She went to her Grandma’s house.

6. How old is Grandma?
J: 16. She can drive.
M: 4.

7. How tall is Grandma?
J: As tall as Amy.
M: This big like Amy.

8. What is Grandma's favorite thing to do?
J: Tickle us.
M: Cooking.

9. What does Grandma do when you're not around?
J: I don’t know. I’m not there.
M: Find us.

10. If Grandma becomes famous, what will it be for?
J: Making cookies or making noodle soup or giving us a surprise treat.
M: For finding us.

11. What is Grandma really good at?
J: Cooking. Making noodle soup. Good at giving us two pieces of noodle soup.
M: Playing hide and seek.

12. What is Grandma not very good at?
J: Not very good at just holding tons and tons of kids.
M: Taking us anywhere.

13. What does Grandma do for her job?
J: Clean the house.
M: She works.

14. What is Grandma's favorite food?
J: Chicken noodle soup.
M: Eating cereal.

15. What makes you proud of Grandma?
J: Giving her kisses.
M: Being happy.

16. What makes Grandma proud of you?
J: When I give her kisses.
M: Being happy.

17. What do you and Grandma do together?
J: We like to go on dates on my birthday.
M: Play games.

18. How are you and Grandma the same?
J: We are the same because we both love each other.
M: She has a kitty shirt and me have a kitty shirt.

19. How are you and Grandma different?
J: I’m a girl and Karrie’s a grandma.
M: Me don’t go to work.

20. How do you know Grandma loves you?
J: Because she likes it when I come over all the time.
M: Cause me love her.

21. Where is Grandma's favorite place to go?
J: Grandma Petty’s house because that’s her mom and dad’s house.
M: To the bagel store.

Happy Birthday!