Snowflake Lane

One of my very favorite things to do at Christmas time is to go to Snowflake Lane. It has been such a fun activity for our family in the past. Each year it gets a little bit more crowded than the year before. This year was no exception and a little disappointing. There were so many people that you could hardly move or see anything.


(See what I mean?)



We did however get to see the Snow Princess, our good friends Rudolph, Frosty, and get a candy cane sucker. That is all one needs to have a good time, isn't it?

Nutcracker

Cameron, Julia, and I were lucky enough to go to the Nutcracker with both grandmas, a couple of aunts and some cousins! This was Cameron's and Julia's 1st time seeing it. They did great. Julia got a little restless towards the end but seemed to enjoy herself. What a fun holiday event!

Christmas!

We had a nice Christmas. Got lots of fun stuff! I think that everyone's Christmas wishes came true. Mitch got a shop vac and I got a carpet cleaner so our house should be extra clean this coming year! We really enjoyed the kid's excitement and love for the holiday this year making this time of year so fun for us. Cameron informed me that next year he wants to celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas because they get to celebrate for 8 days instead of just 1. Smart kid. As you can see we are still working on the "true meaning of the season!" The kids came home singing Hanukkah songs this year, you know the classics: Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel and Shalom Chaverim! So for this year: Merry Christmas and maybe for the next Happy Hanukkah and Shalom....



Running down the stairs to see what Santa left!









A NFL football. Cameron has spent the last few days running back and forth in the family room throwing and catching the football to himself. Very cute.



For the princess artist!



What's a girl to do? Baby All Gone AND Cinderella!



The Christmas aftermath-

Christmas Eve

Here is a little snap shot of our Christmas Eve. Even though we were small in numbers, Cameron made up for it in loudness!



The annual bell ringing.
I haven't the strength/don't even want to put into words what Cameron is wearing....



Dad leading us in some Christmas carols
(Yes, Schvaneveldt's DO sing!)



Mitch reading us the Christmas Story in the Bible--after listening to it on dad's iPhone with a British narrator--not quite the same!









I didn't take any pictures of Bingo but to keep the tradition alive Natalie cried. After waiting patiently for his turn to win, Cameron finally got BINGO only to pick and open a Dora puzzle to his dismay. Natalie in turn starting screaming that SHE wanted that! In the end everyone got what they wanted although Mitch didn't end up with the lifesaver story book (only because there wasn't one). Maybe next year Mitch.



Cam and Laura playing on her new toy.



Pet Pillows!

Family

Today the kids were playing family together-Cameron the dad, Julia the mom, and Natalie the baby. They were pretending that it was night time and they were sleeping, Cam and Julia were in my bed and Natalie in her bed. Natalie started to pretend cry that she needed something. Cameron and Julia when had an argument/disagreement on who was going to get up and see what the baby needed. As I was listening to them play it made me laugh out loud, was this play or real life? This could have been a real scene from Mitch and I deciding who has to get up with the kids each night!

Santa Visit

Santa came to our house for a visit last night and we were EXCITED!

Cameron asked Santa for a Wii Party and a Cat and the Hat game...

Julia asked Santa for an American Doll and a Barbie laptop...

Natalie asked Santa for a Baby All Gone and a Dora book...

...we will see how the big guy did on Christmas morning!

After Santa left, Mitch had to stand guard at the door so the kids wouldn't run out and see Santa leave on his sleigh.

Merry Christmas!

Night at the Movies

I convinced Mitch to go to a movie with me last night! It has been at least a year since the last time we saw a movie together. No Joke. We got a babysitter too. Wow....
In the middle of the movie, Mitch's phone buzzed and it was the house. Julia wouldn't stop crying because she missed mom. (Hey, what can I say?) After the movie Mitch and I were talking about what the matter with Julia was when we realized how little we leave the kids and when we do it is always with grandma and grandpa. This was the first non-relative babysitter we have ever had. When we got home this is what we found. So sweet.



It was nice to have a night out but the prices at the theater are out of control. It cost $18 for a large popcorn and 2 medium drinks. HOLY COW.

Sweetheart

Cameron came home on Sunday stating that he was going to read the Book of Mormon. I asked him if they had talked or had a lesson in class about that. He told me no, he just wanted to "read the Book of Mormon so that he can be a better boy." He decided that he would read a chapter a day and if he had problems with some of the words he would ask me. Starting on Monday the very first thing he has done after hanging up his backpack is to read his chapter. It might be the cutest thing I have ever seen. Today I had to take a picture on my phone while he was reading so that I could remember this. Yesterday he told me "Mom, I am not just reading this book for fun, I am reading this to learn about the gospel." I don't know why I was so lucky as to have some of Heavenly Father's most precious spirits come live with me, but I sure feel blessed. What a sweetheart.



See what I mean? Precious.

Epic Fail

Dale introduced me to Epic Fail. Tonight Mitch and I did just that.

The past two nights Mitch has been putting together a kitchen that Santa will be giving the girls for Christmas. We decided to put it together early so that we could make sure to have all the pieces and so that we wouldn't be up until dawn on Christmas morning putting it together. The idea was for Mitch to take it to work and store it there after it was built. He finished so late on Saturday night that we decided to put it in our closet with a blanket covering it and to keep the kids out of our room for ONE DAY until he could take it to the office on Sunday night. Well we made it till 7:30 pm Sunday night. Natalie came into the office where Mitch and I both were, with a funny little smile on her face asking Mitch to come and see something. I knew instantly-- bad news. She had gone into our closet lifted up the blanket and saw a corner of the kitchen. She said to Mitch "Is that a little kitchen in the closet for little boys and girls?" Well we hope she doesn't have a long memory. HA, HA, right.... What were we thinking? Rookie mistake.

EPIC FAIL

The Stuard Family Christmas Tree

Our tree is a thing of beauty. Really. I let the kids decorate the tree this year with full intent on re-arranging everything when they were done but when I started to look at the tree it was too cute to fix. I hung the ornaments on the top part of the tree, the kids hung decorations on the bottom of the tree and the middle is lacking in ornaments. I am pretty sure the tree is leaning to one side more and more each day because of little hands re-arranging the tree on a daily basis.

We have some bare spots...


...some ornaments that are really close together

... and quite a few ornaments hanging from the bottom branch
(I don't think I have ever had a tree with the bottom branches so decorated.)

Pretty sure we won't be winning any tree decorating contests anytime soon, but I am LOVING it, plus it smells really good!

Mindy the Mean Angel

Christmas time- early 1980's

Hair Drying

After EVERY bath, Natalie MUST have her hair blown dry. Don't even think about trying to skip it, she will not stand for it.



True Story: On one of the first days home from the hospital after Natalie was born, my mom came over and helped me give Natalie a bath. It was November and so cold outside and she had so much hair...thick too! We didn't want her to get sick so we used the blow dyer to dry her hair after her bath. We laughed the whole time thinking how crazy it was to be using a blower dyer on a newborn baby. Not something you do every day.