Christmas day

I left my camera out for Santa to take a picture of everything before he left and this is what it looked like! The presents under the tree are all from Santa, the davis family gifts are in the window, our family gifts to eachother are behind a chair and the Jones family gifts are elsewhere. We really wanted our kids to understand which ones were from eachother and family. Instead of just thinking Santa brought everything.

When the kids woke up they had a package with pajamas sitting outside their door. So they put these on and got ready to come downstairs. Remi was SOOOO excited. So were the other kids, but I think Remi had been laying in bed awake for a while. The others were just waking up.

Remi trying to peek

Remi helping Alissa get her new jammies on and Parker watching.

Broden, Remi and Alissa ready to come downstairs. Parker was grouchy and couldn't figure out why we were all so happy so early.

He figured it out when he saw the candy in his stocking.

Broden with his new ball from Santa.

Parker's "choo choo trucks" from Santa.

Remi was so thoughtful and made Broden a little wallet and put money in it.

Broden, Blake, Parker, and I made this for Remi and Alissa

My new shoes from Santa

Remi and I made these geoboards for Broden. He loves them!

Alissa and I made these aprons for Blake and Broden, Parker got one too.

Christmas morning we woke up and did Santa presents and our family gifts to each other. Then we headed to Sandringham which is about an hour away. This is where the Queen of England spends Christmas. We got to see her drive up, get out of the car and walk to the church. Then after the church service all the kids could line up and give her flowers. It was a pretty neat experience and something special the kids can say their whole lives.

When we got home we opened more presents while we skyped first with Davis', then with Jones'. The kids were spoiled like they are every year! I keep hoping they are understanding the real meaning of Christmas and that it is about giving and receiving. We have had lots of fun with all the gifts though.

At the beginning of the year we set goals and one of my goals was to learn to play the piano. Blake told me that if I learned to play a song in the real Hymn book he would buy me a new lens for the camera. Well, when I got called as Primary President that goal went out the window. So I made a deal with Blake. If I got the blog printed into a book he would get me a new lens. Well, for Christmas without him knowing I printed the year 2008 of the blog. And, he got me a new lens. I guess we both won on that. We both love our gifts!

At this time of year we are so grateful of the many blessings we have. We both have great families and both love each other's families as our own. We are so grateful we don't have "in law" problems. We are grateful for our own children and how much fun they are. It is so fun to see them learn and grow and accomplish things. It is amazing to see their testimonies grow as they learn more about the gospel and learn to recognize the spirit. We are so grateful for the gospel in our lives and the knowledge we have of eternal families. I still remember what the sealer in the temple talked to us about on our wedding day. He talked about all the blessings we have been promised, but then made a point that all of these things are based on our faithfullness. This is so true and I know that it is only through Jesus Christ and the atonement that eternal life is possible. Life would be hopeless without this knowledge. That makes it a very Merry Christmas no matter what our circumstances, where we are or what is going on. Christ was born, he died for us and he lives again!

Christmas is coming

So when we returned from our trip we immediately started getting things ready for Christmas. We got out our limited decorations(I left most in storage, so what we have was given to us or made with the exception of the tree from the used store for $20) 

Our tree after the kiddos decorated it. I rearranged, but I think it got rearranged every day. I gave up after doing it for a few nights.

Alissa loved unpacking the nativity Blake's parents got us in the Philippines. 

For our ward Christmas party this year we did a night in Bethlehem. The primary was in charge of the Primary's Pita Inn. The whole gym was decorated light Bethlehem may have looked when Christ was born. We started in the Chapel, then paid our "taxes" or canned food and were given a bag of coins for our food. The primary served bagels, pita, cream cheese and hummus. There was also hard boiled eggs, chicken, cheese, fruits, veggies, drinks and cookies. They even had games for the kids to play. After everyone ate there was a nativity put on by a few people in the ward with singing. Blake was one of the wise men. The whole evening was awesome!

The day after our ward Christmas party was Fast Sunday in our ward. Broden wanted to bear his testimony. We told him we wouldn't tell him what to say that he needed to know himself what he was going to bear his testimony about. So I went up with him completely unprepared for what he said. He said, "Our family read the Book of Mormon and it said to pray about it to know if it is true and that he knows it is true."

Such a simple testimony, but so full of truth. You could tell that he knew, he wasn't just saying it because we told him to. He really knows it is true. We were proud parents!

After the ward Christmas party we got a lovely round of pink eye. I think we all had it over about a week and a half period. Here is the picture of Parker the first day, before going to the doctor. He had a cold too, and had been water painting, hence the black and red. I just thought it added to the misery of the picture. He wasn't actually bothered by the pink eye, other than having to lay still to get eye drops.

Remi and Broden both had Christmas presentations this year. Broden did Christmas with the Aliens. It was about these aliens who crashed on earth and met some kids who were talking about Christmas. The Aliens didn't know what it was, so the kids took them to school to see their Nativity play. It was awesome! I love that they tell the real story of Christmas and talk about Christ and how important he is to us. 

Remi's presentation was at the church down the road from our house. They sang songs, did a nativity and talked about Christmas in other countries. The pastor closed with a prayer and in her prayer she would say a phrase about remembering Jesus Christ and all the kids would repeat it. She said it like 4 or 5 times in her prayer. I love that it really reinforced this concept to them.

And, just because I couldn't resist. Parker was helping me fold socks after he got out of the bath and this is what he came out wearing. It was hilarious! They are Blake's church socks. I couldn't stop laughing and had to take a picture.

I wish I had more pictures of our decorations. I made 3 stockings this year, to go with the 3 I made the year Remi was born. I didn't get any pics though. They weren't anything fancy. I cut up a knitted sweater and made it into stockings. The greenery on the mantle is 2 extra branches from our tree and one I took from the back where no one would notice. I love greenery with lights. Too bad the picture didn't turn out too good. Santa needs to work on his photography skills:)

We did so many fun things with friends this year for Christmas. The Friday the kids got out of school we got together with Ingersoll's and Hatch's ate pizza and each brought a bunch of treats and other gift type items. We compiled them into 15 plates and delivered to 15 different families. We caroled at some and rang and ran at others. It was fun doing nice things for others. Then we went to Hatch's for game night.

Sunday night we did a Christmas dinner for 9 of the Dental Dorm residents. We thought it would be really lonely being so far from family at Christmas time, so we invited them in to our home. It was tons of fun. We kept the kids here for dinner, then Ingersoll's picked them up so we could play games and entertain. Parker and Alissa both attached themselves to one of the girls. The sat on her lap and played with her while we talked and ate appetizers. Then the kids were in the play room eating and Parker got hurt. He was crying, so I went to get him, he walked past me, looked at Blake then kept looking. I pointed to Heather and he ran to her and cuddled with her for like 15 minutes. It was so cute. I think we found a new babysitter.

Christmas Eve we joined Hatch's and some other families for a big dinner at a town hall. We ate, had a white elephant gift exchange and the kids acted out the nativity. We had so much fun and are so grateful to have such great friends here in England. Our ward is truly our family.

Paris

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and headed to Paris. When we walked in to our room we realized there was only 1 king bed. By that time I was done dealing with hotel people, so we just left and went out to see the city. 

We decided to take the double stroller because we figured we would be walking a lot. We walked down the street to the subway station and had to fold the stroller to fit in the door. We just left it folded and had to lift it up and over gates, carry it down stairs and up stairs and through more gates and doors before we finally got to where we were going. We came out of the subway station and around the corner and the Eifel Tower was right there. It was awesome!

After strolling around for a while and taking pictures we decided to go get info about going to the top. We had to carry the stroller down more stairs, then could finally just walk and push it. We walked around the bottom and got some info, then walked to get some food before returning to get in line to go to the top. When we got in line they told us we needed to fold up the stroller. So Blake got to carry our folded up stroller in line for 2 hours, up stairs, around all 3 levels of the Eifel Tower and down again. Next time we'll take the backpack.

It was cool to see the city from the Eifel Tower. We were going up just as the sun was going down. So we go to see the city in the light, then in the dark. I though it was neat, but the kids, especially Remi thought it was amazing! She was so excited, running from side to side pointing out everything. 

After leaving the Eifel Tower we walked to the Arch De Triumph and thought we would see a Christmas Market. We didn't see one, but had fun looking at the lights and the shops. When we got back to the hotel we arranged the kids on the floor and in the packnplay and slept good all night!

Sunday morning we woke up and checked out of our hotel. We decided to just walk and not worry about strollers or backpacks. The first stop was Notre Dame. It looked cool from the outside, but after seeing so many churches it was another church on the inside. The kids did enjoy exploring the outside and feeding the birds.

After walking around the church we walked across this cool bridge with all these locks on it. The kids loved finding their favorite locks. We just strolled around that area finding some money and food. We found the perfect street with so many different bakeries and restaurants. We got a crepe and some different pastries to hold us over until lunch. It was all really yummy.

Next we went to see the outside of the Louve. We didn't think we would get much out of going inside with 4 little kiddos. It did look huge from the outside though! After the Louve we grabbed some sandwiches and headed back to the hotel to get the car and head home.

It was a relaxing Sunday and we enjoyed seeing a few more sites, but we were ready to go home. I think us and the kids are ready for an adult vacation. Between hotel stresses with a big family, not speaking the language and it being stressful getting around we all agree the kids would have more fun with friends and babysitters when we are going on sight seeing trips!