Meet "Croc" the Uromastyx from Morocco. He is a yearling like Rocksy, but still pretty big. Jacob thought we got a crocodile when he first saw him!
Here is when I was warming up Croc from his travels to us. He is also meeting Rocksy for the first time and then we put them into a freshly cleaned cage so Rocksy would be less likely to be territorial. So far they are getting along great.
The family night before Christmas we did our family Nativity. Jacob was the only one willing to wear a beard this year. I think he really liked bringing "prizes" to the baby.
Michael enjoyed his very long shepherd's staff.
Diana is an angel! :)
At then end of our singing and scriptures, the kids are pretty reverent. A sweet time.
We had four days to wait for those Christmas presents. No school, no nothing. And it was raining all of those days! So we bought out the candy section at Target one morning and after doing some house cleaning, the kids got to make graham cracker creations!
Michael made a motel.
Nicole made a fish food truck.
Sweet Katy chilling while I make dinner.
I got a call the week before saying Jacob had a slight fever. I picked him up and he seemed totally fine to me. Beyond fine. No Tylenol needed or anything. The worst part was that the school policy was that he couldn't come to school the next day because he had to be fever free 24 hours. So he missed his class gingerbread decorating party and celebrations. Pretty sad! So I told him he could decorate one at home with a lot more candy than his classmates would :) Turns out he had told his teachers his neck was hot (he wore pants to school and it has been in the 70s here for weeks) so they sent him to the nurse who "didn't want to take chances". I told Jake to keep his sweat issues quiet from now on unless he felt sick :)
He did get to return for the day of their Christmas program. Yes, they actually called it a Christmas program. After all the craziness you hear about people going out of their way to be offended, it was just so nice to hear them sing a variety of songs about Santa, Christmas, etc. The only tense moment was caused when Diana threw her bag of graham crackers across a table and almost hit someone. So much for the graham crackers keeping her quiet!
Jake was a very cute elf!
The weather has been incredible. We finally turned on the a/c on Christmas Eve because it was 78 degrees in the house and very humid. Crazy! Plants and weeds especially are still going strong. We even have strawberries growing!
Diana is something else. Her favorite song is "Santa Baby" and Mike's favorite is the Transiberian Orchestra's "Carol of the Bells"
Diana never leaves anything in her hair. One day, though, she came to me at least 10 times to put back in her elastic and bow. She looked like Bam Bam.
Our neighborhood had bagels and Santa last weekend. Diana sat on Santa's lap only long enough to tell him she wanted a frog, and then nobody else wanted anything to do with Santa. So our Santa picture is kind of funny, but it works.
Jim was extremely busy this December and didn't get to hand out as much fudge as normal this year. I still made a ton that he delivered though!
We went caroling to people in our neighborhood. Other years we've driven to various friends but it can take a super long time and with little ones becomes more stressful than fun. So we just went to the 11 families from our church in the hood as well as some friends and neighbors.
I was talking with Marian on the phone after she didn't get to take her original flight to the Philippines (and didn't get to go until Christmas Day!) and was so distracted that instead of making two decent-sized calzone braids I made one huge one- and I made it on the counter, not on a pan! I consider it a huge feat that I was able to move it onto a pan and foil without destroying the thing!
One slice was as big as a plate! I wouldn't recommend doing this but it sure made for an incredible presentation for our Christmas Eve-Eve Dinner.
The kids practicing their duet for Jim. Having never played a duet before, having to pay attention to timing was pure torture for them! But I think we managed well enough.
One of the many days we had before Christmas, we had the kids make gifts for each other. Diana was studiously painting and then I look over to see that she had given herself a mustache and beard on purpose. She thought she was so funny it was pretty cute.
Michael making a house for Nicole.
Nicole making ships with pirates for Jacob.
One of the big hits this Christmas is the Hot Wheels sets. They absolutely love the set that whirls the cars around a ton and gives them a chance to crash.
Playing with their remote control cars after the rain settled.
I was amazed at how long the boys played Battleship. They loved the suspense and the joy of destroying ships. After not finding any "hits" for a while, they decided to stop playing, but they really like the game.
Nicole put together a huge Lego set on Christmas Day that I was hoping would take her all week! She was so happy to finish it so quickly.
Joe and Megan sent us Pie Face, a game where you turn the yellow knob the number of times a spinner gives you. The hand of whipped cream randomly comes up and gets you so it's intense and fun. The kids loved it!
Christmas morning we saw a huge rainbow. You can't see it in the background in this picture though.
This was the other end of the rainbow. A sweet Christmas morning treat!
Waiting to enter the room with the presents! The kids had a wonderful Christmas and we are so blessed to have presents and sweet time with them. Jim wasn't on call this Christmas and it was great for him to be able to relax. We have been playing, baking, and enjoying time together. I am grateful for this holiday and most importantly for the birth of Jesus Christ, my Savior. What a special time of year!
