Catching up!

AAAACK!  I am so behind.  I have so much to catch up on, so this is going to be a really long post.  Here goes:

On Friday, September 5th we had a Sinterklaus celebration with Dave & Melis and Jan & Jen.  Sinterklaus is part of the Christmas holiday in Holland.  Here are some pics.  (Thanks Jen for giving the pics to me.)

Annika was doing all kinds of dancing before we got started, it was so cute.  This is one of her ending poses.

Emma and Annika listening to a little story about Sinterklaus.  They were enthralled.  Then when Sinterklaus left presents at the front door and knocked, Emma was terrified.  She wouldn't go to the door because she was scared for some reason.  She did like getting presents though.

Dave and Melis gave Janice a "How to Catch a Man Like Dan" kit.  It had a box, a maple donut, and a stick with a string attached to it.  The idea was to prop the box up with the stick and put the donut under the box.  Then when the man came to eat the donut, Jan could pull the string and box would drop on him so she could catch him.  For those of you who don't know, we're always joking about how Dan is Jan and Jen's "substitute husband."  He does things like carry heavy boxes and stuff that husbands would do.  He really likes maple donuts, thus the maple donut in the box.

Daniel made a sphere out of butter for Dave.  Then he cut out the continents and put them on, thus answering the eternal question:  "What would it be like if the world were made out of butter?"  The perfect gift for all those deep thinkers out there.

Jen gave the infamous Christmas horn to Daniel.  He of course gave the honors of ringing in the season with the horn to Dave who gladly blew it.  It never quite feels like Christmas till Dave blows the Christmas horn.

Dave and Melis gave me "The Official 'Dancing Queen Kit."  It had wings, a tutu a crown and a magic wand which was made out of a toilet bowel cleaner.  It was hilarious.  There was a picture of me in it, but I can't find it.  Anyway, we laughed a lot.  It was a very fun night.

The following Monday, the 7th, we went to see a live nativity.  It was so great!  Emma loved it and I really liked it as well.  Matthew was really bugged at first.  We had to stand in line for a while waiting for a trailer to come pic us up and take us to where the barns were.  Then we had to walk up a long hill to get inside.  That all took a while and Matthew was bugged the whole time.  I finally got him calmed down by wrapping him in a blanket and rocking him.  My arms hurt a lot the next day from holding him for such a long time.  It was worth it though because it was really cool.  The first barn had a camel, donkey, sheep and a bunch of people dressed up and making things that would have been made back when Christ was born.  That was kind of cool.  Then the next barn was awesome.  There were men standing up in the loft area above the door you walk in.  They were singing Christmas hymns.  Then we walked in  and there was the little manger scene.  A man and woman dressed up like Mary and Joseph and a little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.  There was really an amazing spirit there.  Mary was holding the baby because he was a little fussy, and it was just so neat to see what it might have been like.  Mary put the baby in the manger for a minute and I could see that he had a binkie in.  I thought that was pretty funny.  The best part though, was to see Emma looking at the baby.  She absolutely loves the baby Jesus in all the manger scenes she sees.  She was so reverent looking at the little baby portraying Jesus.  I love that she loves Him so much.  It was wonderful.  (Thanks Melis for the pics especially since I lost my camera.)

Matthew all cuddled up in my arms.  I was so glad he finally calmed down.

Our little family with the camel.  I know you are all jealous because you want to have a picture of you family with a camel.  :)

Emma looking at Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.

Mary putting the binkie back in the baby's mouth.

It was incredible and made me really appreciate all of the blessings of our day, and most especially the love that the Lord has for each one of us.  I cannot comprehend how much He must love us to do what He did for us.  What an incredible blessing.  I love this time of year to think and reflect about the Savior.  I hope I will do more to serve others to show my love to Him.

300,000+ Twinkling Lights

We went up to Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights on Dec. 3rd.  (Yeah I'm way behind on blogging.)  We had a lot of fun.  Jan and Jen came and we were able to park under the Church Office Building since Jen works there, so it was really close and we didn't have to walk far to get there.

First we went and got some dinner at the Lion House Pantry.  Jen was leading us there and telling us how she is so savvy about Salt Lake because she works there now.  We kept joking about that all night because anyone who knows Jen knows that she is not that great with directions at times, especially when she hasn't eaten in the last five minutes!  :)

Emma was so excited to see  the statue of Christ, which she of course loved when we finally did see it.  She liked seeing the manger scene as well, especially the baby Jesus.

Matthew was fine just being bundled up in the stroller most of the time, but towards the end he got bugged, so we got him out and held him.  He did quite well the whole night though.  What a good little boy!

Here are tons of pictures:

Matthew kept doing his cute little tongue thing.

I love the temple at night, especially with Christmas lights all around!

Our little family.  Emma was bugged because she wanted to be with Janice.  Feel the love!

"You are the love of my life.  Baby put your arms around me."

Daniel loves too see the Christmas lights.  Well, he loves being with his family anyway.

Emma with her favorite aunt.

I love Matthew's face in this pic.  It reminds me so much of some of Daniel's childhood pics!

Emma was bugged that we made her take a picture of her touching the temple before we went to see the statue of Christ.  I'd say that is a pretty standard face for her.

We finally made it to the statue of Christ!  Emma loved it and was so sad that she couldn't give him snugs and kisses so one of the missionaries gave her a picture of Jesus.  At least that helped her not to cry about it.

Emma loved the fountain.  She got to drop some money in and of course wanted to keep doing more.

Matthew all bundled up!

Emma all bundled up!

Setting up the Christmas tree!

We set up the Christmas tree on Saturday Nov. 29th, the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately I have been a little busy and so have not written about it until now.  

I was excited to set up the Christmas tree with Emma this year, because she was getting really excited about it this year.  Of course the thing she was most excited about was that she would get to play with her "Little People" manger set.  We actually ended up decorating my Mother's tree the day before and Emma loved it.  She helped put a bunch of ornaments on (which I surreptitiously moved after she put them on) and played with my mom's "Little People" manger set.  So, unfortunately she was not quite as excited to put our tree up.  She spent most of the time playing with her manger toys.  Oh well, it cute to hear her playing with the baby Jesus and we had lots of fun!  Here's a bunch of pics.

Emma playing with her "Little People" manger set

Bubbers was not so sure about the tree.  He did like it a little more after we got it decorated but has been surprisingly good not to touch it.

Emma did help put some ornaments on at the end.  She really liked putting the icicles on.

Putting the Angel on the top.  I wish I had waited and let Daniel help her, but I didn't think about it at the time.  Oh well, maybe next year!

Emma wanted to take a picture, and this is what she took.  Maybe being a photographer will have to wait till she can hold the camera straight.  :)

The finished product.

Matthew was not very excited about wearing the Santa hat!

But Emma loved it!

Emma was getting board at one point and decided to give Brother snugs.  Unfortunately, Brother was not in the mood to snug so it turned out to be more of a wrestling match (as usual).

I like helping with the dishes!

Matthew was a big helper today while I was doing the dishes...

Huh?!?  I'm not doing anything mama!

I love helping with dishes!

Thanksgiving

We went up to Preston Idaho, to Daniel's grandparents house for Thanksgiving this year.  The drive was a little over 2 hours each way.  Emma did great on both rides, but Matthew had a really hard time on the way home.  There was a lot of crying during that last car ride.  He did sleep for a little while however, so that was nice.

Grandma and Grandpa have a little child size "Way-TV" (that is what Emma called the ATV).  Emma loved it, and Matthew was not so sure about it.  Emma and her cousins took turns riding it, and she had the time of her life.

She couldn't steer at first, so daddy helped her.  By the last ride, she started to get the hang of it.

Matthew  didn't actually get to ride on it, but he sure looked cute sitting on it!

Watching the other kids ride the ATV and waiting for Emma's turn.

After the battery ran out on the little ATV, the kids played in the backyard.  I was so impressed with Becky's (Daniel's cousin) kids.  They are probably around 9 and 14 and they were so cute with the kids.  They let the little ones have turns kicking the ball and were so nice to them.  It was cute!

 

Dinner was quite tasty!  Emma really liked the olives. (notice her fingers)  She did not however, like her uncle Chris very well.  He kept trying to talk to her and play with her and she scowled at him every time.  She is not the most social person!

After dinner, we got to ride on the big ATV's.  Emma loved it, and so did her mommy and daddy.  Too bad they are so expensive.  Emma was a little dare devil.  She kept wanting to go fast, it was tons of fun!

Bubbers liked it okay, but not as much as Emma did.  He looks so small and cute!

Our little family with Grandpa and Grandma.  We love them!

After the long and loud drive home, we went to visit my parents for a bit.  While we were there, we saw this squoosh ball that had popped, so of course we had to try it out as a wig.

Matthew sure looked cute, but was not very excited about it.  However, he was not very excited about anything at this point because he was so tired.

Emma was excited to wear it.

Anyway, we had a really fun day, and were very grateful for the hospitality of Daniel's grandparents!

That was very funny!

Emma is so cute, I have been laughing off and on for the last five minutes...

Emma likes to sing.  She can often be found making up songs, or singing songs that we have taught her.  She was standing near me several minutes ago and began singing "You Are My Sunshine."  She sang, "The other night dear, while I was sleeping, I bonked my head and I cried."  I have been bursting into laughter ever since.  She is such a sweetheart and is very good at making me laugh.

FHE

Last night we had FHE with Dave and Melis and their kids as well as Jan and Jenn.  We had a little lesson on the first Thanksgiving and then Melis had a couple of really cute activities for the girls.  They made an Indian headband with construction paper and and a teepee out an ice cream cone.  It was really cute.  Here are some pics of the festivities:

Emma and Annika had finished their headbands and they were making some for Matthew and Mieka.

Our little Indian brave!

Matthew pondering deeply about the meaning of life.  Actually he was being fed some pears and was very excited to be eating, as usual.  As a matter of fact he was so excited that he left his little Indian headband on for a very long time.  He looked so cute!

Emma is trying to figure out how to apply frosting to an upside down ice cream cone.

She ended up getting help with the frosting, but she decorated the rest by herself.

In the end they both ended up just wanting to eat the candy.  They both had fun though.