Christmas

A huge part of Christmas for us this year (and probably will be for all the years we live in Canada) was the Nativity Pageant put on by our church for the four days leading up to Christmas. Its an outdoor pageant at a park near the church that has been running for 30 years. They do two shows a night except on Christmas Eve, which was only one show, and we participated in almost all of them. The kids loved it so much and it helped them focus on what Christmas is really about. Asher wanted to be an angel almost every night, but since that is the spot that gets filled up first, he had to be a shepherd one night. Leif loved being a shepherd (there were real sheep that he got to pet), so he only dressed up as an angel once just to see what it was like. Heidi was a towns-person every night which fit her just perfectly because there was a little pink costume just her size that she loved. It was pretty cold and snowed two of the nights, plus we got home way past bedtime, but it was well worth it. On the nights that I went, I dressed up as a towns person just so I could keep Trevor tied to me and have a blanket wrapped around both of us (it blended in pretty well with the other costumes). One night I stayed home with Trevor because he was a little sick and Austin stayed home with him another night. On that night, I told the kids we had to leave after the first show so I could get home to take care of Trevor before bed, but Asher was so eager to stay that he begged me to let him come home with a family that lives close to us. We are pretty good friends with them, so I said it was okay and he was thrilled and felt so big. On the night that I stayed home, the cast was pretty low so Austin got roped into dressing as a Roman Centurion, but that was the only night he did it, so I didn't get to see :(

Heidi got to ride on the donkey a few of the nights and I got a picture one time. She just loved all the animals and kept talking about how nice they were (perhaps more to convince herself than anything). The kids can't wait to do the pageant again next year. I know they liked dressing up and sharing the story of the Savior's birth, but I think most of all they liked staying out past their bedtime and running around outside with their friends in the snow.

We had a lot of holiday treats this year too. The boys loved making a gingerbread house. I was going to make it from scratch, but didn't feel up to it after all and we bought a kit. They probably had more fun than they would have had with me being grouchy if it didn't work if we tried it from scratch.  They also loved decorating sugar cookies. We made them early in the month, so we froze them and saved them to put on a plate for Santa. They were very specific about which ones were for him :)

I tried to get a good picture of them all dressed up for church on Christmas Eve, but it didn't work outside and this was the best we could do inside. Oh well- they're all there!

The boys woke up at about 7:30 on Christmas morning (all those late nights at the pageant took their toll) and went down to the family room without waking anyone. They came up to wake Austin and I after a bit to tell us (with eyes glowing with Christmas magic) that Santa had set up our train track around the tree and left us some new train pieces, left a box of Legos unwrapped, a sled, a stuffed hippo, and filled their stockings. They were so excited and it was fun to see! We told them they could play with the things that Santa left, but they would have to wait until everyone was up to open all the other gifts. Heidi woke up not too long after, but Trevor typically sleeps really late (especially when he's had me up all night) so they had to wait quite awhile. Here they are with their stockings:

We had crepes for breakfast and Heidi was excited to help me make them. Her favorite part is "popping the eggs" which means breaking the egg yokes and she also loves to stir anything I will let her get her hands on.

When Trevor finally woke up, we opened all the gifts from their family members. They got spoiled with everyone mailing up boxes full of presents. The excitement was mounting as they saw the pile growing bigger in Austin and my room (there so Trevor wouldn't rip the packages open) and they were super excited when I finally put them under the tree on Christmas Eve. Opening them was really fun and they got a lot of great gifts.

This cement truck was probably Asher's favorite present, although he also loved all the Legos and this little zippy toy from his cousins.

Trevor loved all the wrapping paper there was to throw around.

I think Leif's favorite present was all the Legos.

Heidi is hugging this unicorn, but once she opened a baby doll from my mom, she totally forgot about it and has been tending to the baby and fussing over it ever since. It is by far her favorite present, but I didn't get a picture of her with it that morning.

Trevor really likes the sled that Santa left just because he thinks its fun to sit in it and get spun around.

All the kids really like the clothes from their grandparents. Heidi got this little pink vest which is a winner because it's pink and has bear ears. Leif got a shirt with a truck on it and some pants- he's worn  the outfit nonstop since Christmas except when I had to wash it today. Asher got a BB8 (Star Wars) shirt that he has informed me he is sure will fit him again next winter and he wants me to buy him the next size up so that he can wear it for the two winters after that too. He also got some nice pants too, but they are too big for him right now and will probably fit next year. 

Once Trevor went down for a nap, I took the older three to a little hill near our house to try the sled out. It isn't very steep so it wasn't hard for them to climb back up and I didn't want Heidi to get going too fast anyway. They had lots of fun, but only got to go down about four or five times each because it was so cold and the wind was blowing snow in our faces. But look how cute Leif was to help Heidi come back up the hill (Asher carried the sled for her) without being asked at all!

Here are some fun shots of Heidi. I was trying to get some pictures of her in her new clothes to show her grandparents, but she kept smiling really weird. I can't remember what inspired the first, surprised look, but the second look was because Austin said "think about daddy" and she turned and gave him this look- I can practically see little hearts coming out of her eyes!

ONE

Our little Sugar Plum is ONE! The kids were expecting him to magically wake up bigger and even thought he might be able to walk today. When he didn't fulfill their expectations, they said "but he's still really cute". Trevor had a fun, but normal day. The only thing out of the ordinary were getting a few new toys (which his siblings played with more than he did) and getting to have brownies after dinner. He seemed to enjoy the brownies, but wasn't overly excited about them. Pretty typical of Trevor- very chill and happy with whatever. I think he enjoyed everyone singing directly to him right before the brownies just as much as eating them.
Trevor is a little mover and into everything, but isn't walking yet. Asher loves to prop him up on a walking toy and escort him around moving anything out of the way and supporting him if needed, but he doesn't ever get up and do it himself. He'd rather just pull himself up on anything he can and pull things down. He favorites the drawer right under the oven where I keep two big skillets. Whenever he is in the kitchen he comes over, pulls them out and bangs them around. He also loves to get anything out of low cupboards that he can and really likes the stick that goes in the sliding glass door to hold it shut.
Trevor's newest trick is to screetch and yell whenever he sees something that he wants. He learned pretty quickly that he gets what he wants when he does that, so I'm trying to teach him not to do it, but its hard with so many other little people around. In the last few weeks its been a problem at church where I can't just let him screech at the top of his voice, so I've either had to find ways to distract him or take him out on walks.
Trevor's first word was "da" for Austin, which he said months ago, but I don't remember when. But just yesterday he said another word- "more". At dinner he made the sign and said it because he wanted me to give him more dinner. He hasn't said it since, preferring just to screech when he wants me to give him more.
Trevor continues to struggle with dry skin and scratching himself as you can see in the pictures. His head has little scratches on it, despite me rubbing him down in thick lotion twice a day. He scratches at his legs and tummy a lot too when I'm changing his diaper or clothes, but he doesn't have many cuts there since I keep him well clothed just to prevent them. (He either wears one piece fleece PJs all day or several layers of pants, shirt, onsie, and extra long songs to keep him from getting his sharp little nails on his skin).
He's a sweet, well-tempered little sweetie and we are so glad he is in our family, although it is bitter-sweet to see him growing so fast.