Today Brad told Emery she couldn't bring her purse into church. She was OK with that and we go out of the car and went in. As Sacrament was starting Brad noticed her boot looked a little bigger than normal. The reason she wanted to take her purse into church was because she had her camera in it, so she was sneaky and just put it in her boot. How do kids think of stuff like that? She was pretty mad we found out and that we put it in our bag. Now we'll have to check her boot before church.
I'm pretty sure last Christmas was a week ago. This year has gone by way too fast, but here we are again. The kids have been really excited this year. This year we had the boys earn most of the money for the gifts they had to buy. We did a family exchange and an Arrington cousin exchange. In the morning the kids opened a present from Brad and I and each other. They loved starting the day that way, but it made them more excited for that night.
For Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa Arrington's house. Kiara put together the game and we did a minute to win it. It was a lot of fun.
Next was home evening. Grandpa read a book. I love that he read to all the kids and that Jacks is so into him reading it. One of my favorite picture.
We opened our pjs and took a family picture.(I guess Hurley had to be part of that too now)
We set out cookies for Santa, and that when they heard the bells. They love each year that Santa comes and visits them before they go to sleep. Beck wanted to go outside to see him, but we told them that he was busy and it was time for bed.
They all camped out in the boys room. Emery and Jacks fell asleep pretty quick but Cam and Beck couldn't sleep. They came out and asked to sleep somewhere else. We told them to sleep on Emery's bed.
When we went to check on them this is how we found them. For whatever reason Beck thought sleeping in the small spot and not on the top of the bed. They woke up at 130 but then went back to bed and woke up at 645, so not too bad.
The tree....
We recorded Christmas but I forgot to take pictures until after.
Emery got a Doc McStuffins truck thing, a cabbage patch doll and a stroller.
The boys got a tablet, which means we won't see them all Christmas break
Jacks got a lot of small figures and a TMNT sewer set. He loves toys, so he was in 7th heaven.
Lots of planing for a quick morning. It was a lot of fun to see their excitement though. Until next year.
A few days before Christmas we had some pretty sick kids. I'm pretty sure they had the flu and it wasn't fun. Emery was sick the longest, she still doesn't really have all of her strength back. She didn't really eat much from Tuesday night to Saturday. Finally on Saturday I told her for every thing of food she ate she would get new pjs. (she loves pjs) She ate 3 things, which was more than I thought she would, so I got her 3 pjs. The 'best' part was since it was almost Christmas and I'm pretty sure now that everyone gets new pjs on Christmas, most stores were out or her size, so it took forever to find some.
Jacks was sick too. This was the first time in his 3 years of life that he's been actually sick. He's had a fever for teething but nothing that lasted more than a half day. We learned that he likes to cuddle when he is sick. I have to say I liked it for the first day, but it got old, and hot, fast. I had to sleep Thrusday for work, so for my whole nap, he napped on me chest too.
When giving him medicine I first gave it to him from a cup, which he did just fine with. Then I found the syringe ones and he refused to use it. For whatever reason it freaked him out.
The kids go cookies in their sock for Christmas. Jacks was eating some tonight and when he was done he put the cup on the table. Later Brad noticed the cup. He ate all the middles out and left the cookies. He likes the frosting but not the cookies. He does this most of the time with Oreos too.
The kids always get a shirt or two for Christmas. I found this one for Jacks and thought it was cute. It says Mr. Messy, so it is a boys shirt. For whatever reason the mess is pink. When Jacks opened it today he took one look at it and threw it to Emery and said "here I opened your shirt." He refused to wear it. I tired to sneak it on him but once he noticed he took it right off. I guess we'll have to return this one.
Brad has wanted the movie posters for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies so for Christmas he got small sizes of them. We have REALLY outgrown our house. We have an office wall in our room where the pictures are now hung. One day they will look really sweet in an office.
We are making the boys do chores to earn money to buy presents for the Christmas gift exchange we are doing. Yesterday was the final day they could earn money. I hate to mop so that was one of the chores Camden got to do. He came up with a sweet system and it really makes you wonder what goes through their head to think of this stuff. .
I know it's blurry, my phone didn't take a good picture, but he's spray, hold the bottle with his legs and mop. Takes out the hard step of putting the bottle down.
The kids had their first dance recital last night and it was awesome. They had a lot of fun performing and all three of them looked great. Emery is doing ballet and the boys are in a hip hop class. We are so proud of all of them and can't wait for more to come.
The boys had their school Christmas choir concert this past week. They love doing it and they are fun to watch the kids perform. I was super prepared and forgot our good camera, so all I had was my phone. The pictures and video weren't that great.
Here is Beck, he's in the green shirt and pink tye. You have to love that one is on the back row and the other is on the front row.
After the first number they had to sit with their sticks until their row was told to move. Camden listened very well to this.
Camden is to the left of the girl in blue You can see his grey pants.
I was also awesome and didn't push record for the first song, so all we have is the second one. Beckham is right behind the teachers hair. Next year Emery gets to do the Christmas concert.
Week one of our tree packages is over with. The kids have enjoyed a different package each day, and being able to see what is in them. We made Lego ornaments one day. They turned out pretty cute, I just hope the glue sticks.
Tonight we made snowmen pizzas. Somehow this made them a lot of fun to eat. It goes, Jacks, Emery, Cam then Becks. Cam said Beck's has boobs, Beck says its a vest.
One of the days they got a treat. Camden was really exited to get it because he said now it tells him the name of their elf, Russel Stover apparently is his name. At least they are enjoying it and believe in the magic of Christmas.
We had an exciting Thursday morning. I was sitting on the couch while Emery and Jacks were playing in their room. Emery just started to freak out and cry and came running out of her room. When she got to me she was really upset and had her mouth open saying it's gone, and that's when I saw her tooth gone. I know my reaction didn't help the situation; it was a very shocked face. We didn't know she even had a loose tooth. While she ran out crying Jacks started to cry too. I figured it was the blood that scared him. I helped Emery get something to stop the bleeding and we went to see Jacks and find the tooth. The only way I calmed Emery down was to tell her now the tooth fairy gets to come and see her. I asked her how it came out because, as I said, we didn't know it was loose. She had a mark on her face, you can see a small line above her eye and nose, so I thought she hit something, but she said she did that the night before. No one was talking, so I just dropped it. We found the tooth and she was happier. Not sure what made her talk, but... come to find out that her and Jacks were playing tug-of-war with a headband and one thing led to another, and the tooth came out. It had to be a little loose to pop out... right? So now she has a whole in her teeth and talks with a little lisp.
My guess is the tooth wasn't ready to come out because there was a little bruising and a lot of blood. Oh well, at least it was a baby tooth.
Well we are pretty much done re-decorating. I went a little crazy with the Cricket machine and vinyl letters, but we have one for pretty much ever major holiday. This one will have a way to hold a picture and the birthday person (or people) will have it up.
This says te amo. It's I love you in Spanish.
We made a door thing. It is quite large but turned out well.
We finished the shelves. They were a lot of work, but I think turned out well. I realized that I don't have stuff to decorate with, so we've had to buy a lot of things.
We also changed up our picture wall. We need to take new pictures for it but right now they work. I think it turned out really cool looking.
Thanks to Christmas, the shelves decor was changed really fast. I love having a place for the socks to be hanging.
Pinterest idea. It's nothing too awesome, just adds a little to the house.
The kids love setting the tree up. Doesn't Camden look happy? He was so tired from the busy Thanksgiving weekend we had. He is like me and doesn't deal well when he's tired.
As we were setting things up Emery kept asking when the elf would come. The past few years we've had an elf leave a treat every once in a while in their sock. I didn't think they remembered, but I was wrong. I had planned on doing an advent calendar this year, but it turned into an elf project. Our elf leaves a few presents for them to open one a day. It's a treat, lesson, or activity. So far the kids love it. tonight is FHE on the real meaning of Christmas.
I love Jacks so much, be he has a lot of different little quarks that we are finding out. The other day we notcied he had small pieces of fries left over. When we watched him we realized that he won't eat the part of the fries that his hand was touching. It was the only thing for a while, but then....
He was eating doughnut holes the same way. If you ever see his face it can be super messy, but his hands he hates to be dirty. I have a brother who did the same thing when he was a little older than Jacks. This should be interesting, well depending on how far he takes this.
The other day Jacks was dancing. He loves to make people laugh but when I go to record he stops. He has been obsessed with "Lion King" and "Fox and the Hound" the past month or so. He said he was doing the Lion King dance.
