The Holidays

Well,  I know I promised to get you some pictures from Halloween, but, at least I put them up...so what if they're in with Christmas...Quick recap from Halloween: Halloween was fun, we mounted a wireless camera on our door and rigged a scary sounds speaker that we could control from inside coupled with the fog machine hidden behind the door.  We routed the camera through the TV so that we could see who was there and if it was age appropriate to frighten them.  Jason's brother Jody took Ila and Isaac out trick or treating and Aiden for a little while, but he ended up back with us shortly.  Jason's cousin Rachael and Tyler brought their little boy by and we visited for a while.  

After that Jason promptly put up our Christmas stuff the day before Thanksgiving.  His folks came out and were here for a few days.  They had a lot of fun with the children and we had a good visit with them.  Sometimes I forget how much they can change in just a few months b/c I'm with them day in and day out, so it's kind of fun for me to see the grandparents react to them when they first see them.  

Then of course came Christmas.  Jason was out of school and it was really really great to have him home more and on a regular schedule.  It's nice to just focus on work and not have to split the focus between work and school.  We stayed here in Idaho for Christmas (the weather was horrible and was just too long and dangerous to make the trip with the kids).  Rexburg pretty much closes down when the college is out of session which is nice.  Suddenly the town is full of better drivers, all of the good movies are left in Redbox and you don't have to be annoyed at every restaurant (or public establishment) by young couples who are full of puppy love.  I'm sorry, did that sound harsh...anyhow, we spent Christmas break battling the flu, counting down the days on the advent calendar, playing in the snow (and building a totally wicked sled run in our front yard), spending money we don't have and eating LOTS of goodies.  Then finally, Christmas came some how or other it came just the same (for all of you Grinch fans)!!! The kids were up at 7 AM but we were able to hold them off (with much trickery and cunning) until 8 AM so we could get both sets of grandparents on the webcam vicariously partake in the traditional opening of presents.  Between you and me, my kids weren't that good this year but they still made a haul.  We're looking into renting a storage unit just for their presents.  Next year, we have agreed to scale down so that way when they're older and they want all of the newest high tech gadgets and gizmos they'll be acclimated to disappointment.  The kids had a blast and they are still playing with all of their new toys and loving life.  

I have to tell you one small story about Ila and Isaac.  Ila from the get go had decided she wanted a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle Doll' for Christmas, a few weeks before she decided she wanted Liana instead of Alexa which was just fabulous considering for a month she had been asking for Alexa (which we bought in September and had hidden in the cedar chest), so my Mom rescued us there and got her Liana.  Now she has both and we are blessed with the joyous duet they can belt out together (the dolls, though the kids do sing along as well).  Isaac, our little cars nut and army guy captain had told us he wanted a Hot Wheels track that went around in circles so we had purchased that when we purchased the Alexa doll.  Well, we went to see Santa Claus and he told Santa he wanted a singing Troy doll (for those of you lucky enough to not get it, 'Troy' is Zac Efron in the High School Musical trilogy).  Yeah, no matter how hard he tried, Jason just could not convince him to go with a more masculine toy, poor dad...So, Christmas came and Ila opened Alexa first and was thrilled to have her, no mention of not getting Liana yet, and Isaac looked at Alexa and said, "Hey...where's my singing Troy doll?!" So, I suppose the lesson for us here is that letters to Santa are a good thing from now on.  We had a lot of un and now we are getting ready for Ila's birthday party at the end of the month so toward the beginning of February look for an update.  She wants a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle' party (can you tell she's in a phase?).