5.10 Years
- Pre Christmas Fun: Us girls snuck off to Lewiston when the boys were gone to get your ears pierced! You were so excited that we were finally getting this done. You were so braved about it. We made the whole day fun by playing at gymnastic 360, eating dinner at Panda Express, and going to the Train Park to see all the cool lights. We celebrated Happy Birthday Jesus with The Stanzak family this year. We were able to go to your music concert. I love how Ms. Carla is so good about including fun dance moves and this year you had glow sticks for Jingle Bells. You received the Empathy award for Character Counts in the month of December. I feel like that fits you well. Once school got out, we delivered flowers to some grandmas in the nursing home. We were able to have different families over for sledding parties. On Christmas Eve, we had Noah's family over. It was fun to see you guys explore the different hills. With the Stone's, you guys made it out to the pond (you called it the half pipe). By the end though you were pretty wet because the ice creaked at the bottom. It was nice to end each sledding session with the hot tub, hot cocoa, and cookies that people brought over. Also, we spent one evening decorating mini gingerbread houses. We have made an effort to try to watch new Christmas movies, though the Home Alone series is still your favorite.
- For Christmas Eve, Dad was able to make it back for dinner. We had shrimp, homemade bread, grapes, dates, olives, cheese, and grape juice. We set up the candles again and made it all fancy.You kiddos loved putting on the Nativity play. This year, your role was Mary. We did our We Three Kings song which ended with matching Mickey Mouse pj bottoms (to get us excited for our Disneyland trip). We ended the night with all four of you kids sleeping in your room. We dragged the kid tree into the room so you could sleep with the light on.
- Christmas morning was so magical. Santa brought you a makeup kit and a sticking full of goodies like ski goggles and LOL surprise doll. JoJo gave you a little backpack for your American girl doll, Sam gave you a slinky, and Maggie gave you a fairy potion kit. You gave Maggie and ribberband bracelet making kit, Sam a safe to keep his candy safe from JoJo, and JoJo the Rapunzel shoes. Dad and I gave you overalls, your own Alexa, and a Kindle reader. You loved all your gifts. We went to church in the middle. When you came up from getting dressed, you had put so much make up on. You had blue eyebrows, red lips, and blush all over. We ended the night with Salmon chowder. It was a great day.
- Two days after Christmas, we packed up to go to Utah. It was fun to be with Grandma and Papa. We went bowling with them, played games (Uno Attack is a favorite at their house), and ate way too much candy. We met up with cousins to play at McDonalds and played at Bonnie's house. We did have our big family party. We brought the dodgeballs out with us and introduced the Matthews to a bit of a Price family tradition. Grandma had to unwrap game and then we all ate a big lunch and opened up presents. Grandma gave you a microphone. Tally gave you a Barbie. You had Henry and gave him gift card and some popcorn. Dad and I left for a New Years Paper, so you got to party it up with Grandma and the cousins. She let you guys stay up to 11pm and shot off fireworks. It was a blast for you guys.
Five.Nine Years
- This month has been fulled with going to Sam's wrestling matches, reading to fill out your reading chart, and you quick primary activity with ice cream sundaes in the morning. You got as many toppings on your ice cream as the number of articles of faith you memorized. You memorized five of them. The bishop later told me how much he laughed with he saw all the chocolate dripped down your face and onto your dress. He said that it looked like you had more chocolate on you than what you ate.
- We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Oregon with all the Price family. We left Friday morning. Dad drove separately since he has to leave early. There was no waiting for cousin, Lainey was there, ready to play. On Saturday, Grandma watched you guys in the morning while Dad and I went to the temple with Dusty and Janecce. That night we drove out to Hood River to go on the Polar Express. It was the first time for us. All you girl cousins got your own booth. You got to sit with Sonora, and it was so fun to see you girls believe in the magic and get excited over all the details. Sunday, we went to church and had family photos taken in the cold. We had our first Thanksgiving dinner at Annie's house. Uncle Josh joked that he was going to make sushi. Well, he did and it was a huge hit. It was decided that is needs to be a yearly thing. Monday, Dad left to go home. Us girls all went to Woodburn mall in hopes of getting your ears pierce. Sadly, the employee was certified to do it. Instead, you girls raided the clearance section and we ended with sushi for lunch (you girls ended up with a stack of plates taller than you). I was able to take you girls to Target to buy Christmas gifts. On Tuesday, we moved our stuff over to Dusty's house and got to do a sleepover with the younger cousins while the older ones went to the temple. On Wednesday, we went up to Portland and did a hike to the Witch's house. Thursday was Thanksgiving number 2 because Joey's family was there. We were able to play dodgeball in the morning. We had it at Grandma's house, and yes Josh made sushi a second time. You definitely got your fill of sushi for the trip. Friday, we were able to attend Karl's Court of Honor for his Eagle and then head out to the tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree. We walked all over to find the perfect one. We tagged it with our ribbon and then walked all the way back to find grandpa with the saw. He asked us why did we pick one so far away, we are going to have to drag it all the way back to the truck. You kids did not want to do all that work, looked around for a half second and pointed to the tree next to the truck and said it looked great. we wrapped it up in plastic, threw it on top of the roof of the van, and headed home the next day. Crazy story about Mowgli. The last night, all the cousins where watching a movie at Annie's. I think Mowgli got overwhelmed and hid. We thought he ran away when everyone was loading up. We looked all through the house and all through the neighborhood. Annie even texted the neighbors, but no one had seen him. You kids said a prayer. I figured if we can't find him by morning, and he showed up later, Grandma could watch him until she came out in January. The next morning, I can hear Annie get so excited because guess who was sleeping on the couch, Mowgli. We think he was under Lainey's bed in the far corner and we just couldn't see him.
