Dec 31, 2005

December 31, 2005

Wow! This year has seriously flown by! I cannot believe we are headed into 2006. Does time speed up the older you get??

Well, we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!! It was so relaxing. On Christmas Eve, we made Christmas cookies and fudge. We also finished doing the twelve days of Christmas for 3 families in our ward. One family had their dad deployed to Iraq recently and the mom just found out she is pregnant. Anyway, they left a thank you and a goodie plate for us. That was an unexpected surprise.

Kayla started asking questions about whether or not there was a tooth fairy. I asked her why she asked and she explained that her friend gets $5.00 for each tooth she loses and Kayla only gets 25 cents and that doesn’t seem fair. She is one you really have to be honest with or she will never trust you again. So, I told her that the tooth fairy is made up. That is when Marisa piped in saying "I found out when I lost a tooth and didn’t tell mom. It was under my pillow for weeks and no tooth fairy came!!" (Yes, I received the lame mom of the year award). Then you could tell she was thinking and she asked if there was an Easter bunny. So, I asked her if she believed in it. Her reply was "Yes, I believe there is one, but the kids at school say that is stupid to believe there is a gigantic bunny running around leaving treats for kids." So, I told her that it was not true and she said "Oh". Then I saw total panic hit her face and in a small whisper said "Is there a Santa Claus"? I told her that Santa was someone that loved her very much. She looked at my like I was an idiot and said "Seriously mom!". I knew the gig was up, so, I told her that no, he didn’t exist. There was dead silence for the space of several minutes when she looked at me and calmly said "That is disappointing..." I laughed so hard. She asked tons of questions about who puts the stuff out, who drinks the hot chocolate etc. It was a fun conversation. Then, she got another panicky look on her face and asked if Jesus was real. I quickly explained to her that YES, he is, of that I have absolutely no doubt!!! For that split second it made me question why we would pretend about easter bunnies, tooth fairies, and Santa. I am sure it confuses children a tad. Anyway, I did threaten her that if she told her younger siblings, then "Santa" would no longer come (hehe). Marisa only discovered there was no Santa this year as well.
Anyway... we woke up in the morning and opened our stockings, went to church, and then came home and opened each present calmly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to see what everyone got and felt so incredibly blessed for all the loved ones in our lives! The kids got everything they wanted and more.

On Tuesday, we ran errands for several hours, including going to Barnes and Noble to pick out books. Then we went to the mall so Marisa could get her ears pierced (part of her Christmas gift) Plus, I am starting to let her wear makeup. I showed her how to put it on yesterday and it freaked me out a bit that I had a child old enough to wear makeup. I am thinking I don’t have a clue how to show her how to do this, I think I need help of my own to figure it out! Oh well! Then we took the kids to Osaka, a Japanese restaurant where the cook all the food in front of you. The kids loved it and we had such a great time! It was our reward for reaching our goal of reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. What an amazing experience that was! Now the kids are so excited as we got the new Old Testament Family Edition and they want to make a goal of reading it by the end of next year and then go to the restaurant again, they claim it is their favorite now. Sounds like a good deal to me!

We spent the week having so much fun. We watched 2 Star Wars, 2 Lord of the Rings (kids had to close their eyes through a lot, but were able to see why I LOVE Legolas so much!!!!), played Cranium (then we went and bought the family edition which was a blast!), watched National Treasure, played Twister, put together puzzles (several Alayna trashed right after they were done) and Bob and the kids built snow forts and had a snow ball fight. We have just thoroughly enjoyed being a family this week!

This weekend Bob and the kids headed to the Harts for a New Years Eve Party. I stayed with my ginormous list of things I can’t get done with Alayna around. So, I have now finished my last class and just have the final to take. I did watch Lake Placid on TV last night, which was dumb, so I had to sleep with the hall light on. How old am I again?

Marisa made the 2006 Metro Honors choir. She also made 1st place in the section 6A Geography Bee! She now goes on to compete with the other sections. We are so proud of her.
Well, I guess that is all that has been going on with us. We hope you have had a joyous holiday season. We love you and wish you an even better, happier, and more fulfilling year!

Happy new Year!
PS- I will post more pictures on Monday.