Christmas Catch-up part II

Welcome to the 2nd and final Christmas catch-up post.  Enjoy!

 

Christmas Eve "Jesus Food" Dinner

We have the tradition in our not-so-little family of eating semi-traditional biblical food for Christmas Eve to remind us of Christ.  We typically do flatbread, grapes, dates, honey, etc.  We're working up to fish and locust (which are pretty much samesies to my offspring).

The chillins showing off the goods

Oak's pseudo-Jesus food

Christmas Jammies

Sometimes during our Christmas Eve program (which isn't as involved as it sounds. promise.) Santa's elves drop bedtime-inducing goodies off on our doorstep)

They were so darn excited to open the first Christmas gifts of the holiday

A little help from Dad

 As Georgie would put it, "nice and comfy."

Christmas Morning

The eternal stair-waiting

Oak enjoying his gift from Santa

Ez tearing into his Lincoln Logs from MiMi and Grandad

(heaven knows how we've made it 6 years with our little builder without having a set of our own)

The much-anticipated Lalaloopsy dolls

Sssssstrike a pose!

Vogue. Vogue. Vogue.

(cheesy, I know...I just couldn't resist)

Rootbeer-Concocting

After picking up 9 dozen free beer bottles off craigslist a few months back (there's lots of home-brewers 'round these parts) and getting a bottle capper for Christmas, Spencer was eager to follow in his father's footsteps and start brewing some yeast rootbeer of his own.

Georgia using her muscles for the cause

Offical Taste Tester Ezra.

He didn't die, so we knew we were safe.

The Maiden Batch

Spencer quickly learned what happens, however, when you leave too much room for expansion in the bottles.

Phew!

The End.

Ok, faithful followers....I think I might actually be all caught up from Christmas.  yay! yay!  Now I just need to fill y'all in on our recent travels, which, hopefully will be sooner than later.

Christmas Catch-up part I

 Meeting The Clauses

Ezra

Georgia

Scarlett

Oak

gettin' my Sweet Caroline on

In honor of the Great Neil Diamond's birthday, here's a playlist to help you celebrate...

what?

you're not cool enough to have a dance party to celebrate Bro. Neil's birthday?

too bad for you, huh?

Now go get an open-necked, sparkly shirt on and start shakin' those hips!

ps-if you want to see what a proper Cracklin' Rosie birthday party looks like, here's a link to last year's celebration.

pps-a big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my adorable nephew, Cooper too!!!

highest highs and lowest lows

Does it seem as if I've fallen off the side of the Earth?  If so, it's because I pretty much have.  I've been down to Oklahoma and over to Utah and then to California all since Christmas, hence the lack of blog posts.  Hopefully I'll have a big ol' uber-post to fill y'all in soon.  In the meantime, however, here's 10 highs and lows from our Utah/California trip:

Highlights

1-Getting to meet my newest (and only Lifferth) nephew, Taiven, Isaac's (Spence's little brother) bouncing baby boy.  It's more then a little funny to see what a "Lifferth Cousin" looks like (pssst...it's a heck of a lot like my kids with a heavy dose of Baby Mama Kate mixed in).

2-Welcoming home Kyle (another little brother) from his lds mission to Croatia.  He did an absolutely fab job on his talk at his sacrament meeting homecoming (which, by the way, are alive and kickin' in small-town Utah).

3-Trying out those G carinessa tops that everyone has been raving about.  Love, love, love, love, looooove them.

4-Meeting Kim's cute new-ish flame, Bounce Back Ben (thank you, Eric, for the nickname along with all the others you so liberally bestow).  Despite what it might seem, I promise Spencer really does like him too...he just likes to play the mean older brother/devil's advocate.

5-Seeing 12 completely different states in one shebang. (in the west too...which are the big ones!)

Lowlights

1-Having to spend 52+ hours in the car while seeing the 12 aforementioned states and dealing with kids adjusting to the 3 different time zones in them.

2-Oak trying out his 2 brand-spankin'-new teeth while nursing.  often.  much screeching ensued.

3-Dealing with an earache, teething, and pinkeye all on the same kid (Oak again), all at the same time.

4-Having the fuzz show up at a big ol' family photo shoot.  Oddly, the police appearance had absolutely nothing to do with my jailbird brother-in-law.  Instead, it had quite a bit to do with a crotchety old man yelling at us and then calling 911 because a bunch of hoodlums (us) were harassing senior citizens (him).

5-Having to sit in a stalled elevator for 20 minutes on the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland/California Adventures.  This time, however, it didn't have absolutely nothing to do with my jailbird brother-in-law.

Well, faithful followers, that's all you're getting tonight.  Stay tuned for an update coming sometime in the very near future.

(and by that I mean after I do the laundry)

ps-don't be expecting any pictures from my Oklahoma trip in my next post.  Obviously, from the extreeeeme lack of pictures from my side of the family, despite the frequency of which I see them, one can safely surmise I hate them.  If y'all have forgotten what they all look like or just require further proof that they actually exist, feel free to check out our recent family photo shoot here.

Sunbeam: a beam or ray of sunlight

 I have lots of catching up to do, both within the blogosphere and without, but I couldn't miss the chance to share my little ray of sunshine. Scarlett didn't have to wait until her first day of primary to be a ray of sunshine...she's been lighting up our home from the very beginning.  We love our Little Miss and are so very, very, very happy she's part of our family!

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

To shine for Him each day

In every way try to please Him

At home, as school, at play.

 

 A sunbeam, a sunbeam,

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

A sunbeam, a sunbeam

I'll be a sunbeam for Him.

 

That's all for now, folks.  We just got back from Oklahoma late last night and then we're headed out of town again on Thursday so I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to post a catch-up, but I'm going to try my dardest to get one done!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

ps-no, I'm not skipping church just 'cause.  Ezra woke up throwing up  with a stomach bug...his second in as many weeks.  boo! to that!

pps-Scarlett went into Sunbeams a week late as we were out of town since my little brother, Mack, came home from his Roseville, California LDS mission.