One of the fun things this year is that Christopher had a lot of vacation days in the "use it or lose it" category, so we've had him ever since the kids got off school! Hooray! One of the first ways we took advantage of that was to sleep in and have a killer breakfast. Christopher got this recipe from a co-worker and forwarded it to me a while back. Hostess cupcake pancakes. I'm not a chocolate fan myself, but the rest of my family sure is.
The white swirls melted, but my husband had three helpings, so it was a success anyway.
The next night, a friend invited us to come on the "Polar Express" with her family. She made awesome tickets for each of my kids too, and we tried out the new Frontrunner trains that go up to Salt Lake City.
It was so much fun! The kids loved hanging out on the train. And once we got up there, we bundled up for the cold and headed to a toy store first.
"Look, Mom! There's a dinosaur head on the wall!"
Jasmine didn't care for the snowsuit, unfortunately, but it did keep her warm. She sat just like that, zoned out, almost all night.
The water fountain show was pretty cool. But the kids probably were more impressed by the hot chocolate we brought along.
And then we walked to our favorite part - the lights at Temple Square! They really are just gorgeous.
And a wonderful way to bring meaning back to the holiday adventure.
I love Tyler's face in that shot. Silly kid.
The next day, I decided to try out an idea from Pinterest. I cut some green felt into Christmas trees, and let the kids go to town with my felt stash making "ornaments".
The original person said that she made the kids their own trees "so they can play with their own ornaments and they won't touch the real tree!" I laugh at the naivete every time I think of that. Clearly that person had never seen a toddler in action.
So while this would never stop the kids from playing with the regular tree, I think I'll do this one again. They thought it was great to cut whatever they wanted and stick it on there.
Sunday morning they looked so cute for Church that I told them I wanted a picture first. And when I told them to stand by the tree, they went into this hug.
Which Kaitlyn declared was "just like we are getting married!" Which is sorta creepy - and true.
Unfortunately, baby Jasmine and I did not get to go to church that day. That poor girl woke up in the middle of the night with a solid fever and a raspy cough. She has been better during the day the last two days, but still rather miserable each night.
Thankfully, the bug hasn't affected anyone else as much. So the bigger kids got to make some Gingerbread houses.
You might be able to tell that Kaitlyn had almost no help with hers. I put the house up, made a door, and let her go. Tyler never did get the hang of the icing though, so he just directed Daddy on what to do.
And then today was the annual Skarda family bonanza. Poor Jasmine was still sick, but she soldiered on anyway.
Kaitlyn got to be Mary in the nativity play this year, which she was pretty excited about. This is her acting out her part - "surprised" when she found out she was going to have baby Jesus.
Daddy got to play his plastic trombone in the annual "Tuba Christmas" event.
And Tyler was SO excited when Santa came to see everyone! I wish I had a better picture, because he went a little crazy happy for a minute there.
And for the first time, he actually said something when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas! I couldn't hear him, because baby Jasmine was sobbing at the moment, and Santa couldn't understand what he said, so here's hoping it is something he is getting.
Though, honestly, the kids have no idea what this Christmas has in store for them. Daddy has been giddy for weeks about these presents. Amazingly, they have been just stashed under a tarp in the garage, and neither kid has questions that huge elephant in the room. And of course, now that we need clear sidewalks to test them out, we have a beautiful white Christmas outside.
Time to head to bed until my little ones come get me!
No comments:
Post a Comment