Christmas Surprise

The plan for this Christmas was to do Christmas at home and then just the kids and I would head to my parents' house for New Years week. All of my siblings were going to be there then except for my sister Sarah, who wasn't going to be coming to Pittsburgh this year. Well about 3 weeks before Christmas she had a last minute chance of plans and decided to head home after all, but her and her family were going to have to leave on Christmas Day. That meant every one of my siblings would be together for Christmas except me. At first I said I couldn't change my plans because John had to work the days leading up to Christmas and I didn't want to ditch him and I didn't want to deal with transporting Christmas presents to and from Pittsburgh. Well after about a week of thinking about it, I realized that I would be devastated knowing that everyone was there and I was alone in Michigan with no extended family. I mean one of the whole perks of moving to Michigan was supposed to be being able to see my family more often and we haven't all been together for Christmas in 7 years!

So we decided that I would leave the Sunday before Christmas with the kids and then John would drive down on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, to meet us. Once we decided that, we thought we would surprise the kids and have half of the Christmas presents show up on the Saturday before we left. We just told them that Santa had heard we were traveling to Pittsburgh and wouldn't have room for all the gifts. Of course they didn't mind! Here is a pick of King opening his Green Yoshi. Somehow he got really hooked on Yoshi over Thanksgiving and has been begging for one ever since. Thank goodness for ebay for these random gift requests. Oh and I love the look on Netta's face in the background. 

Another new obsession of actually all the kids is Homestar Runner. I loved it during college and they have started making new little videos again and my kids are hooked. EZ got this cd of all of Strong Bad's songs. It's pretty awesome.

Before we left town, Netta brought home this lovely picture from school. We don't actually have an elf on the shelf, but if we decide to get one he better not mess around with her.

When I decided to change my Christmas plans I thought it would be so fun to just surprise everyone and show up. I really wanted to tell keep it a complete surprise and let no one know, but then I realized I should let my mom know so she could plan for us to be at the house, which was jam packed. I am glad I told her, because then she let us know that everyone would be at Meghan's house celebrating her birthday on Sunday night, which was the perfect way to surprise everyone at once. I didn't know this till after the fact, but I after I texted my mom and told her that we were about to pull up to the house, she started telling everyone that maybe Santa would bring a special surprise to the party. This really confused my dad, but then I snuck up to the window and held up Conrad's face to it and started knocking and really surprised/scared everyone. I wish I could have gotten pictures, but my hands were a bit full. People laughed, people cried and it was all around awesome. 

I am extra glad we decided to go to my parents early, because John ended up working basically non-stop while we were gone. We thought they were going to be really laid back days with not much to do, but he was working his tail off to finish the deal he started in Italy. The poor guy worked all day Christmas Eve and then literally drove through a snow storm to be with us, so you can excuse his slightly tired face Christmas morning.

In my post about Thanksgiving I mentioned Netta's somewhat scary stuffed dolphin from the thrift store. Ever since she got it she has been saying that he needs a friend, so when Sarah asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said a stuffed dolphin. I did not have high hopes that Sarah would be able to pull it off, but she did! Netta couldn't have been happier.

Poor John was only able to stay for 3 days before heading back to Michigan. Luckily, my parents watched the kids for us so we could go out for a little lunch date and of course we went to Primanti's. There were 14 extra people at my parents' house so it was nice to get away for a little bit

I trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo is always a must and we made the most of the relatively mild winter weather. I thought we would get a white Christmas, but alas there was no snow in Michigan or Pittsburgh. I don't actually want a lot of snow, but come on, a white Christmas was supposed to be a perk of moving here. Anyway, we had a blast with the cousins at the zoo. Conrad seemed to really bond with my brother Ben. He lives in Seattle and we haven't seen him in 2 years, so it was big a deal that he was there. 

Despite the lack of snow, EZ was determined to go sledding and he decided to pull a National Lampoon Christmas move and spray non-stick cooking spray on the bottom of the sleds to make them slide down the grass. They didn't move very fast, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun.

It was a bit of a challenge to change our Christmas plans last minute, but I am so glad I did. I may have cried when I had to get in the car and drive home. I love having all of my family together!

Pre-Christmas Fun

The 3rd grade classes at Brown put on a production of the Nutcracker. It was a really cute version where all the songs have lyrics and each kid either had a speaking part or a dancing part. EZ was very excited to be a toy soldier. He had to have a black turtleneck and let me tell you that is not an easy thing to find. I didn't want to pay a lot for one, but even if I had been willing to pay a ton it didn't matter because no stores around here had any. Thankfully, his school has a facebook page where I posted asking where people found their's and the librarian posted that she had one we could borrow. I am so grateful for such helpful people! EZ is the 2nd from the right on the pic below. It was pretty much impossible to get a good pic or good video for that matter, but EZ and all the kids did a great job. It was crazy how many people showed up to watch the show. The gym was standing room only and we had to have kids on laps to all fit. Luckily, EZ's part was in the beginning because by about half way through Conrad was all funned out so we spent the rest of the time running in the halls.

So I am slowly starting to adjust to the grocery stores here. It has taken almost a year, but I no longer want to cry every time I go grocery shopping and I no longer wander around lost and continually unable to find what I need. Don't get me wrong, I would kill for an HEB, but I can work with Meijer. The kids love to get to ride this horse at Meijer and I love that it only costs a penny. For Christmas they had this special display up and you could take a picture of your kid and then post it online and enter to win some contest. Well that contest part never happened, but we did take some fun pics. EZ had an especially fun time.

Now I normally do everything possible to avoid taking all 4 kids to the store, but this time I had no choice because John got to spend the second week of Dec in Italy! There was a possibility that he was going to go there right before we went to Utah for Thanksgiving and I was going to have to fly to Utah by myself and have him meet us there. Thankfully that did not happen. Now being gone this close to Christmas wasn't exactly ideal, but it was way better timing then the November trip would have been. Of course he spent most of his time working and didn't get to really do much sight seeing, but he got to eat some amazing food! Italy is on my bucket list so hopefully I will get to go with him there sometime.

With John gone, we were left to do all the Christmas decorating on our own. Keeping all the kids inline was a little difficult and some decorations never made it out of the boxes, but we got enough up to make everyone happy. Of course, all I wanted was a picture of everyone in front of the tree and it was Conrad's turn to be the one who refused to cooperate. 

We watched a bunch of Christmas movies and one night the kids brought down their sleeping bags for a little movie party. Conrad really wanted to share a sleeping bag with Netta and I don't know why he does't have a shirt on, but it was really cute. Chances are he spilled something on his shirt, because lately if he spills a drop of anything on his clothes he has to take them off, so he is running around naked a lot.

 Netta and John get to spend a lot of quality time together after he picks her up from dance class. She always seems to get him to take her out for dinner or a treat. Sometimes I will wonder what is taking so long and when he finally gets home he says "Netta wanted hot chocolate" and apparently that is all she has to say to get what she wants from her dad. But let's be honest, he just wants some hot chocolate, too. Her Netta is on one of the post-dance treat runs showing off her now 2 missing teeth. She is loved all the attention and everyone's "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" comments. 

I am really impressed with Netta's dance teacher Ms. Lisa at The Citadel. Netta loves class so much and she is learning a ton. They did a little mini-performance of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Netta was super stoked to get to be Rudolph, because she got to be the head of the line and was the only one with a glowing nose. She hounded me relentlessly to make sure I went to the Dollar Store and got her one. I ended up getting the last one and I am glad I didn't have to face her wrath if they had been sold out ;)

There is a little and I mean little house they set up in downtown St. Joe with a Santa inside that the kids can deliver letters to and take pictures with. This Santa was legit with his own real beard and all. He was also a miracle worker because somehow we were able to get a good picture of all 4 kids together on the first try. Each kid also got a coupon for a free chocolate bar from the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Score!

After Santa we made our way down to the carousel to get a picture with a live reindeer. It was crazy busy and John was stuck at work so we rode the carousel first to kill some time. 

The line to see the reindeer was out the door and I tried to convince the kids that we should just go to the children's museum instead, but EZ was dead set on meeting that reindeer so we made it work. Luckily, John finally was able to make it once we were about half-way through the line and he could take over chasing Conrad, who I had already lost like 3 times. We got a picture of our whole family with the reindeer, but of course I can't find it right now, so here is one of EZ and the second reindeer who was just for petting.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our kids are always anxiously awaiting our yearly trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. Before Thanksgiving EZ has to make this chart at school comparing the first Thanksgiving and our family's Thanksgiving activities. It became clear that the highlights are Aunt Buffy's motor home and Aunt Nikki's rolls. Netta was also super stoked about seeing the motor home again and for a couple weeks before we left that is all she wrote about in her writing assignments at school. The motor home was being stored and the kids didn't actually even get to sleep in it this year, but they had SO much fun with their cousins that they weren't bothered. 

This year we started off staying at John's brother Jeremy's house. There kids line up really well with ours in age, so everyone has a buddy to play with. They live pretty close to Thanksgiving Point and there is a newish kids' museum there that is amazing. I have never seen one so big and my kids loved every area of it. They had a water room and had this awesome water table for babies. There are high chairs in the table and the babies are surrounded by water to play with. Conrad isn't really a baby anymore, but he was small enough to still fit in it and he loved it.

They also had this wind machine and my kids couldn't get over how funny their hair looked in the wind. The picture doesn't do it justice, but they really thought it was hilarious and wanted me to take a tons of pictures. 

The highlight of the museum trip actually happened outside and had nothing to do with the museum itself. We were in the outdoor play area when all of a sudden some guy started yelling about how their was a girl up in a tree. Well it turns out a little girl who was there for a school field trip decided to climb like 20 feet up this tree and in the mean time her school group had gone inside and no one had noticed she was missing. So the guy ran inside to look for her teacher and meanwhile the girl started yelling that she was stuck and "allergic to the tree." They finally found the teacher, but the tree branches were really skinny and I don't think any adult there wanted to climb up and possibly hurt themselves or sadly take the risk of being held liable if the girl got hurt on the way down. I swear 10 years ago someone would have just climbed up but everyone is so quick to hold someone liable now, even a good samaritan. Anyway, the fire department had to come to get her down and of course we stayed outside the whole time watching everything unfold. 

We watched a lot of movies while we were there thanks to Joe's seemingly endless supply. He is also a baby whisperer so Conrad and his cousin Caleb loved hanging out with him. It was hard to get a really good picture of the 2 of them together, but they look so much alike that Kimmy and I kept confusing them. It was especially hard when they were wearing almost matching outfits like in this pic. This is the first time one of our kids has looked a lot like a Brown cousin or any of their cousins for that matter, so it is fun to see.

Whenever we go to Utah it seems like John always has to work a couple of the days, so that is always my chance to head down to Provo for a BYU trip. Katie and her family were also in Utah for vacation so we got to see them and we got to see my friend Marlene from MSU, who now teaches at BYU. Her and her husband actually both teach there now and I am really jealous. I loved my teachings days at the Y. Oh and I even saw Eric, one of my old BYU Arabic students who was living in Austin and is now back at BYU getting his PHd. I was hoping to see his whole family, but then his girls starting throwing up and after the barf fest we had a few years ago I could not risk getting any of us sick. On that nice note, we ate a lot while we were in Provo. In fact, we ate a lot the entire trip. I know we always eat a lot at the holidays and when we visit family, but now that we live in the land of no good restaurants we took it to a whole new level this trip. Of course the creamery was on the list of musts. It's amazing ice cream and it's cheap. It doesn't get any better than that.

For Thanksgiving we all met at Buffy's church building. We have become such a big group that it was hard to find a room outside of the gym to set up all the food in so that we could have food and games going at the same time. Of course the highlight of the games is always frisbee dodgeball. I should say it is the highlight for John and my kids because I have no desire to get beamed by one of those things and I am usually busy trying to keep our little ones from getting bowled over by everyone. (Netta got these antlers at her cousins birthday party and wore them the entire trip till they fell apart).

King was not so interested in the game and instead he preferred to sit with the older boys and play their video games. I have a picture of EZ doing the exact same thing when he was King's age so I guess it runs in the family. Luckily, my kids have amazing older cousins who are more than happy to oblige them.

While we were staying at Misha's house I looked over and Conrad had climbed in this baby swing, buckled himself in and turned it on. We still refer to him as the baby, buy clearly that isn't true. I am not sure when we are going to stop saying it though.

EZ got really spoiled on this trip and got to go to 2 basketball games. First he went with John and his nephew Winston and his wife Andrea to a Jazz game and then John's brother-in-law Adam got some sweet VIP tickets to a BYU game and so EZ and his cousin Arden were living large with courtside seats. They got to have a special meal at half-time and also got loaded up with a ton of candy and treats. I was really jealous of the treats more than the basketball.

A highlight of the trip for Netta was that she finally lost her first tooth at 6 1/2. She has been anxiously awaiting her first loose tooth since she was 6, since that is when EZ lost his first. She also became obsessed with this partially pictured stuffed dolphin that she got at the DI thrift store. I always take the kids there and they always want stuffed animals. I have to admit that buying used stuffed animals creep me out a little. 

We got to have lunch with John's brother Tim's family right before they left town and their one daughter just kept crying because they were leaving. Heather said she does that every time they leave Utah and she pretty much cries the whole way home, because she hates leaving her cousins. Oh the guilt is almost too much. Unfortunately, we will never be able to be close to both sides of our family. I love being close to my parents right now and I would hate to be far away from them, but then again I wish my kids could spend more time with their Brown cousins. Maybe someday we will end up out west at least for a little bit.

We also had a chance to stay with John's sister Buffy and her family. Back in July her son Harrison committed suicide and I actually didn't blog about it, because I don't know, I felt like it was their experience, but of course it did affect our family and I was really affected by how their family has handled it. Harrison was 21 and had struggled with depression and was trying to get his life in order, but he just couldn't handle it anymore. It still makes me cry to think of anyone feeling that sad, especially someone who was so loved. He even told his mom at one point that if he killed himself, it wasn't because he didn't feel loved. He just couldn't handle how the depression made him feel. I have known depression is an illness, but having something like this happen to a family member has really opened my eyes to how powerful of an illness it is. When John went out to Utah for the funeral he commented on how amazing Buffy and her husband Stewart were handling it and I got to see that first hand this trip. Their faith is so amazing and it has reminded me that no one is safe from trials in this life, but if we are doing everything we can to strengthen our faith and testimony in our Heavenly Father and the atonement of Jesus Christ then we can make it through the most difficult trials.