Secret Santa

Has anyone ever been on the receiving end of a Secret Santa? Well, thirteen days ago someone left a gift on our doorstep.  Not just a plate of cookies mind you.  Try movie tickets for our entire family!  What?  I thought that was one of the most generous gifts!  How often do we get to do that as a family?  Well, there was a note along with it.  In that note it said that they would be coming back.  EVERY NIGHT!  For twelve whole days until Christmas Eve.  I was shocked and humbled.  I don't even think my gift to Joe this year was as awesome as our "day one" gift from our Secret Santa.  Someone must know that this has been a rough year for us, or maybe they just figured that with young kids, we'd all get a kick out of the experience.  Let me tell you, it has been so much more than that for us.  I feel like with all the stresses of finances and Joe switching jobs mid-December, this has brought so much magic into our home.  For our kids, hearing that knock on the door every night ignites this fire inside them like it's Christmas morning every day!  Because, essentially, it has been!  For Joe and I too!  I know in our "less-humble" days when Joe and I were both working and before we had a zillion kids, we found a lot of joy in ringing and running.  Sometimes we'd leave treats or a turkey dinner.  And sometimes we knew they needed just a little more than that.  To this day these people still have no idea it was us and it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.  Being on the receiving end of this kindness (times twelve days) is such an interesting feeling.  I don't feel deserving.  I feel like maybe others need it more than us.  I feel touched.  I feel more than grateful to the point of tears (Joe and I both)!  Just a few weeks ago, Joe caught up on paying tithing even though it was hard to do and we didn't have the money in our bank account for it.  Let's just say all that first (tithing is a sure part of my testimony because we continue to have experiences like this).  Well, the next day I noticed a Costco Cash card in my wallet.  It had been there forever.  Like at least a year or maybe even two.  I thought there was only about $20 bucks on it or less and just kept forgetting to use it because my wallet is kind of an abyss when it comes to cards.  Well, we used it because we needed to and came to find that there was $400 dollars on it.  I don't even know where it came from or when we would have returned something of that value.  I think God zapped it there personally.  But it was such a helpful boost to our Christmas and allowed us to be a little more generous to each other this year.  And THEN Joe has a generous Grandma and Grandpa Burnham that always seem to know when we pay a difficult tithe (this is not the first time we have received money from them directly after paying a hard tithe.  She has a direct link to God).  Not to mention his parents who have bent over backwards helping us right left and centre.  I can't even begin to count the many ways in which they have helped us both financially and spiritually.  And THEN this.  A Secret Santa who isn't just dropping off plates of treats.  They are dropping off gift cards: Anywhere between $25-$100 dollars to Sobeys, Esso, Costco, Toys R Us, the Keg, Indigo, Itunes, EB Games.  And it doesn't just end there.  The kids got brand new Christmas pajamas, sticker books, puzzles, family games, even MORE treats, a fruit bouquet delivery, books, a gingerbread house with extra candy because there is never enough in the box, clothes, build-a-bear packets with matching dresses, video game accessories and stuffies, and the list goes on.  Even Joe and I got spoiled with bath bombs and shower gel and date night stuff.  Every night there has been one more thing to add to our Christmas fun (which is where I truly feel spoiled)!  I think one of my favourite evenings was putting together a puzzle of the Nativity as a family with the kids in their new pj's, drinking sparkling apple juice and munching on the treats that were given to us.  Puzzles were never a big family tradition in my family (it is on Joe's side though), but because we were all together as a family huddled around the table with Christmas music playing, it was just such a magical feeling.  I think I might grow to like puzzles.  And I'm pretty sure the kids favourite gift (aside from all the major slew of gifts we got Christmas Eve) was the "melting snowman."  They have all been playing with it non-stop.  A close second was probably being able to make a ginger bread house with all that extra candy.  Zoe couldn't even eat dinner that night because I think most of that extra candy made it to her tummy before it made it onto the house!  And I have to add that the fruit bouquet that was delivered got devoured like my kids have never eaten fruit before!  Haha!  I will be forever grateful for this experience and only pray that those who were on the giving end may know how much you have touched our hearts this Christmas!  This has made me more cheerful and hopeful and kind this season.  It has made me look outside myself to see where I can be better at serving in whatever capacity my body will let me.  It has made me feel watched out for and blessed.  Secret Santa, I may never know who you are, but I need you to know how truly grateful we have all felt from your kindness and generousity, from the bottom of our hearts!

Niner

Jackson's birthday was on Saturday.  And what a day it was!  In fact, the fun kind of began the day before his actual birthday with school letting out early on Friday.  All but Ellie seems thrilled about this.  Probably because I make them walk halfway to meet me (so I don't have to compete for parking OR get parking tickets.... which happened to me a couple weeks ago.  Super fun.  Merry Christmas to that really mean lady who called the cops on me even though I moved and was non-confrontational) and this was one of the colder days we've had this winter.  Minus 10-ish.  Dat ain't bad for five whole minutes.  Well, Joe was home and took Jackson on a special father-son lunch date.  And by "date" I mean, they got to run some much needed errands for me and then they treated themselves to some Asian delight.  I thought Jackson would want Costco poutine, but as it was his day, he choose Chinese, which ended up being Japanese because the Chinese lunch buffet was closed by the time they finished errands.  Sad.  He has always been my "I'll try whatever" kind of eater.  Bless that boy!

Since it was Friday Night, we always have movie night, so Jackson got to choose which Christmas movie to watch, "Home Alone."  A classic.  Before the kids went to bed, Jackson kindly reminded me that I needed to make sure I decorated his door.  I started doing this a few years ago and the kids LOVE it.  It's just one little extra special touch to make them feel special when they roll out of bed.  Good to know Jackson is not too old for this fun.  I did a bad thing though.  So, Zoe has had a few nights in a row where she has decided to wake up crying at 2-3-4 in the AM!  I have NO idea where this is coming from and she is making a habit of it.  SO!  I told her if she went straight to sleep that she would get to move in to the room with her siblings (right now she has her own room, and the other three share a room).  This was my plan eventually anyway because we need to free up her room to make way for this baby!  A sooner-than-later transition is fine with me.  Well, this news for Jackson the night before his birthday was DEVASTATING!  Brought him to tears.  I felt so bad.  Apparently Zoe is a chatterbox at night and then wakes up too early.  I would say the same about all of my kids, but Jackson says she is the worst and was not happy about this news.  Way to crush your son the day before his birthday.  So, I let Zoe share a room with Ellie and let the boys have Zoe's room (which is why her door is decorated instead of the other one).  It was a compromise but Jackson and Zoe went for it.  And as Jackson predicted, Zoe was up WAY too early.  THAT GIRL!  This is not allowed right before having a baby.  I already lose enough sleep as it is!


A while back Jackson requested a "Kirby" themed birthday.  I had no idea who Kirby was, but apparently he's a video game character.  And coincidentally enough, he was ALSO hoping to get this video game for his birthday.  I had set the breakfast table (for pancakes) the night before and Joe and I hung pink balloons with various Kirby faces all over the kitchen (courtesy of Joe's handy art-skills).  We even let Jackson open up his gift that morning right after breakfast, and of course, he was so excited that he played it until all his friends came over for a pizza party at noon.  This was my plan, because I still needed to decorate his cake.  One thing about being a Mom is that you somehow have to become this expert cake maker for all of your kids' birthdays.  My mistake is looking at pictures on Pinterest WITH them, because they see something and think that magically I should be able to recreate it.  Haha!  Well, I am going to chalk this up to another Pinterest fail.  Honestly, it turned out WAY better than I thought it was going to, but if you knew what I was trying to create, you'd agree with me (and what you can't really see in the picture is that I did NOT have enough icing and there are cake bits all mixed in with the icing.  Yum).  Thankfully kids are forgiving and Jackson and all his friends thought it was the coolest cake.  Ego boosted again.  Thanks kids.  Let's just not ask the experts!


I told Jackson he could invite however many friends he wanted, because honestly, it's such a gamble around Christmas time.  You just never know how many will be around to say yes.  I had one year that only two came, and it was Hannah and Taylor.  So, with Jackson I just say GO FOR IT.  Well.  It was chaos.  For three hours.  But the best kind of chaos.  We started with a pizza party and then got all dressed up for sledding.  Nine friends plus our own family was a little stressful with just Joe and I, but we lucked out and no one got hurt on the hill.  There was a little drama about sharing sleds because not all the kids brought their own sleds.  Ack!  But.  It was only an hour of drama, and then back to the house for cake and presents.  Jackson got spoiled to death.  Nine kids means nine gifts!  Pokemon cards, a Nerf Gun, A Lego set, treats, and lots of money.  This kid is RICH!  I just asked him what his fav gift was, and he responded with, "hmmmm.... let me review...."  Haha!  ...He can't choose.


Here's Jackson holding the Lego set he ended up working on after all his friends went home (and while Joe and I took a much needed nap.  MUCH needed).  And he's been recreating it over the past few days, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this was his fav gift.

Only one more year and we will have a kid in the double digits!  A small part of me looks forward to that stage solely for the purpose of knowing that we will be a step closer to having a free babysitter around the house.  Haha!  Jackson even said he is willing to babysit now (bless his heart) but I'm not sure what social services would think about that).  But everything else inside me hates how fast everything is moving.  Thankfully Jackson is still my sweet innocent boy in many ways, so I will hold on to that as long as possible.  He asked me if Santa was real several weeks ago, and I asked him what he thought.  His conclusion is that he knows Santa has helpers all around, so sometimes the guys at the mall might not be the real Santa, etc, but he believes the real Santa brings you presents on Christmas Eve.  I love that I have another year of magic in my house.  Speaking of which, our family has been the target of a very generous Secret Santa this year (that I will post more about later), and after a few days in the kids started getting the hang of knowing that our Secret Santa came in the evening, knocked and there appeared a special gift on our front step.  Well, one evening, our Secret Santa had knocked when Jackson just so happened to be a few seconds away from the door.  He bolted so fast to the door, swung it open and to all of our surprise, we saw only a present.  No one running down the street, or even a bush moving.  At this Jackson exclaimed, "It HAS to be one of Santa's magic elves because there is no way someone could have gotten away that fast!"  I love this.  SO MUCH!  I promise to post later on this, because I feel this deserves its very own post, but what I wanted to focus on with sharing this story was that Jackson is still my sweet, innocent, good-natured kid.  Yes, he can be obnoxious and loud and crazy and even occasionally mean to his siblings or grumpy, but on the whole, Jackson is a genuinely good kid.  He wants to make good choices.  A few weeks ago, Jackson seemed be having a rough day, which in turn was making my life a little rough.  This is not really like him so I asked him what was up in a quiet moment and he just started crying and said he had a bad day at school and it was too personal to share with me.  What?  Too personal?  But he shares everything with me, right?  What is going on?  All sorts of things came to my head!  But he would NOT share with me why he was so upset.  I let it go for the time being and told Joe he had some work to do on Jackson.  Maybe he would talk to his Dad.  Well, thankfully he did.  Apparently (and he was too ashamed to tell me) he had said a swear at school.  And he felt really bad about it.  I was relieved that that's all it was, but he felt terrible.  He knew he had done something wrong and wanted to make it right.  Oh man.  That was such a relief.  I know saying a swear isn't the biggest deal in the world (every kid has done it), but Joe was able to turn this into a positive learning experience and they were able to talk about repentance and making sure we try our hardest not to do it again.  BUT, if we do, we can repent again and try again.  Man, I think of all the ways I make mistakes all day every day, but I am hoping what he took home from this was that he can say sorry, and tomorrow is a new day to try, try again!  Sometimes a hard concept, but boy am I grateful for it.

Jackson continues to be my ever-faithful servant.  I mean.... helper.  Haha!  Honestly though, if I ask him to do something for me, I can count on him to do it WITHOUT having to ask a million times OR without hearing about how much he doesn't want to do it.  I was about to say that he will make some woman very happy some day, but according to Jackson he plans to NEVER get married.  I've asked, "what about having kids?"  "I'll adopt."  "Well, won't you be at work all day?"  "I'll take him with me."  "But won't he have to go to school?"  "Maybe he won't have to go to school."  Probably his own wishes about school for himself!  Haha!  I guess he's got it all figured out.  Not surprising.  Your Dad and I love you Jackson!  Thank you for all you do and the good boy you are!  Happy Nine Years!

Christmas Till Now

School just let out today, so the REAL Christmas Holiday fun can begin!  Actually, looking at all the pictures I've taken thus far, we've been able to squeeze in quite a bit of fun already.  Christmas for me starts the week after Halloween.  I like to set up the tree and decorations post haste! Heck, if you're going to take the time to set up decorations, you might as well have them up for a while to make it worth it.  Plus, our house looks so festive and happy.  Who needs pants to decorate the tree?  Not this girl.  Ever.  At least she has undies on!


Nov 20th was a special day for our family.  We finally finished reading the Book of Mormon together.  It only took us three whole years but we did it.  I am so proud of our kids.  They have been so good at helping us remember.  We've tried lots of different things, but what has been working the best for us this past year was reading right before bed time.  We have each child read aloud one verse, or for those who aren't quite at that level, repeat the verse.  To celebrate we let the kids choose any family activity they wanted and bowling was the winner.  Some people do Disneyland.  We bowl.  Now we are on to reading the New Testament.  Maybe Disneyland will be in our cards in another few years!


Sugar cookies at Christmas is a MUST.  And honestly, this picture captures pretty perfectly how 70% of the cookie-making went.  The other 30% consisted of tears and fighting and Mom almost losing it.  But hey, that's not too bad.  When you have four helpers, the 30% is to be expected.  Same with Zoe not wearing pants.  Or undies.  Good thing the oven cooks off any germs!  Haha!  (Promise I made them all wash their hands).


Writing a letter to Santa is a MUST every year as well.   And by "letter" I mean their "list."  Because once that list is mailed to Santa, they are not allowed to change their minds last minute (like they do with their Halloween costumes every year).  Jackson's list was quite extensive, and Ellie pretty much just said she wanted a Zoomer Zuppy and pokemon cards, but Noah's list is my fav.  He even had a hard time coming up with just these three!  He's just an easy going kid, happy to get what he gets.  Love this boy.  And well Zoe, ...she didn't write a letter but has been asking for a kitty.  Hopefully a toy kitty will do.  Because it has to. 

We also decorated a gingerbread house last week.  I feel like it's not really Christmas until there is a half-picked off gingerbread house displayed for all to see.   

The kids had their School Christmas concerts last week.  Noah even had his own speaking line!  What?  He didn't say a word about it.  I just showed up and got to be surprised.  Going to three different concerts in one week was quite the experience!  Pride mixed with "I'm tired."  We'll see how I feel about five all in one week!  

We've been having really mild weather this winter. So mild in fact that we have had no snow for the past two weeks!  It had me a little stressed out because we were planning on going sledding for Jackson's birthday party again (for tomorrow) and just a couple days ago we finally got some snow!  I think this is the first time in my life where I have actually been praying for snow.  Promise it will never happen again.  But entertaining 9 kids (on top of mine) in a tiny house just didn't seem like the funnest alternative.  Yes, I let him invite a bunch because you never know how many kids can actually come around Christmas-time---it's always a gamble.  Well.  They are ALL coming.  I will post more about Jackson's birthday tomorrow.  Because, well it's tomorrow.  These sledding pics were taken while Jackson was at another friend's birthday party a few weeks ago, so it was just the three younger kids and myself along with my belly.  I wasn't sure how it was going to be because Joe wasn't there and Zoe was pretty dependent last year.  I know I sure as heck was not interested in walking up and down a hill and I knew I sure couldn't sled down!  Well.  THIS year I didn't have to worry.  Zoe went up and down that hill all by herself the entire time.  Her first run down she wanted to do by herself even.  What?  In fact, she even made a little friend after a while (an older little girl) who helped her carry her sled up and kept wanting to go down with her.  I could tell that Zoe was getting annoyed after a while and just wanted to do it all by herself, which is basically her theme these days.  Ellie and Noah I didn't even see the entire time because they were too busy having fun going off THE jump.  Ellie and jumps you say?  I know.  My girls are fearless.  They just act fragile when they want to.




I love these next two pictures. The posed one, and then the reality.


We have had no shortage of our share of hot chocolate this season.  I have been taking any opportunity I can to make hot chocolate for the kids (and myself, of course).  P.S.  I love Noah's smile.  Is it possible that this boy just keeps getting cuter and cuter?  Love, love, love.

I love that Christmas is only one week away! I still have so much to post about and this month has been so, SO great already.  And Christmas hasn't even begun!  Feeling so blessed this season.  I love my family.  And I love good people.  And I love fun.

80's and 90's Dance Dance Revolution

I don't know the last time I went to a dance.  Nor do I remember the last time I spent hours and hours getting ready for one.  Well, this time I was in charge of it which also meant I had to go.  And so did my supportive husband.  My new calling is the Stake Cultural Arts Director and the first big item on the menu was planning an 80's/90's dance.  I'm not gonna lie.  It was a touch stressful since we only had three weeks to find a committee, meet and plan for it, promote it, and throw it all together!  I was so worried that after all that work no one would show up, or if they did it would be a snore.  But, I am happy to announce it was a success!  Great turn out, great food, great music, great costumes.  That's right.  I said costumes.  People were welcome to dress up in their best 80's or 90's attire and dance to equally tasteful music.  Joe even helped me do my hair.  Haha!  We had various older video games set up in the gym, a tacky photo shoot area with props, and even went as far as renting Sumo Suits if people weren't hot and sweaty enough from all the dancing!  As I have been in quite a bit of pain from this pregnancy, I found that somehow I was able to manage dancing my heart out as each song that played seemed to be just for me!  I think I sat down twice all night long.  Maybe three times.  Joe and I even won a dance-off.  They were playing this catchy 80's tune and began tapping people out.  Before I knew it we were one of four couples left!  Haha!  So, they spotlighted each of us and the crowd got to choose who they liked best.  Talk about pressure!  Haha!  We both turned to each other and were frantically like, "what are we going to do!!!??"  I suggested I dance in the middle and pull out some of my staple moves.  I have about five (like the windmill, Roger Rabbit, Running man, ...and others that I don't know the names to) while Joe does some dance moves around me.  Afterwards he told me he was basically doing a Will Farrell karate chop cheerleader move around me.  Haha!  I love my husband.  We may have even gotten some pregnancy points, which I daresay we deserved because I was peeing my pants the whole time.  Literally.

It was one of those events that I'm not sure I would have gone to had I not been in charge of it.  I guess that's why it's good to be involved in your Ward/Stake.  I ended up having a blast and Joe and I rekindled our love/attraction for each other by endlessly flirting and dancing the night away to some of the best music ever made.  Plus, we looked hot.  Sarah and Joe even came too---they are in my stake!  Well, ...not any more as of last week!  Sad.  At least I could guilt them into coming to one Stake activity while I had the chance.  Sarah and Joe went more late 90's and Joe and I rocked the 80's.  Super fun.  Only two more months until the next Stake Valentines Dance.    

Baby Five at Six and Seven Months

I am 30 weeks along.  THIRTY!  The end is near people.  Last night I decided to go through some old Blog posts and I happened upon my pregnancy experience at 30 weeks with Zoe just over three years ago.  Was it really that long ago?  Up until last week, I was thinking that this pregnancy was pretty terrible (and it has been), but upon re-reading my experiences with Zoe's pregnancy, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that THAT one was probably my hardest.  I think the reason why this pregnancy is so hard is because I just have more kids to take care of and I'm not allowed to stop.  I WILL say that one of the major blessings I've seen in this pregnancy is that I am no longer throwing up at this stage AND I just weaned myself off of my last Diclectin pill just last week!  Yay!  It took all month to slowly stop taking all four pills and each pill I took away left me feeling queasy for about a week---but I am through it!  Apparently in my last pregnancy at this stage I was still on three and threw up all day and night when I tried to wean one of my pills away.  Oh, I'm so glad that I am done with barfing AND with Diclectin!  Month five and a half to month six and a half has been beautiful this time around.  It usually always is.  You look your cutest before you blow up into a massive whale-like creature, and you are not yet losing sleep because your baby likes to party at midnight and makes you pee three to four times through the night and THEN she continues her party from 4am until your husband's alarm clock goes off and then you know you have hardly any time before YOUR alarm clock goes off and you have to function.  And then you are super dizzy for a whole day because of the lack of sleep you are getting days and days in a row and your husband rescues you by taking the kids to school in the morning for a whole week so you can kind of sleep in... except you still have a three year old who won't leave you alone in the morning.  Haha!  That is me right now at seven months.  And to top it off (but not surprisingly), my hips and back and legs and crotchety crotch KILL.  When I roll out of bed in the morning (or get up from any sitting or lying down position ever) it usually takes me a while to stand upright and I hobble around like an old lady.  It's not terrible in the morning, but usually by mid-afternoon up until bed time, my body gives up on me and I am basically in major pain for the rest of the day.  Walking up and down stairs is a massive feat for me.  And it doesn't help that I fell on the ice earlier this week!  I was trying to be so careful!  Flat on my back and winded myself.  Oh man, it hurt.  Still feeling it, but to be honest, I am kind of always in pain so the additional pain isn't too horrific, just annoying. My best friend right now is a wheat bag that I heat up religiously every night multiple times before bed to relieve some of the pain (thank you Sarah for making that for me!).

I have found it hard to admit to myself that this will be my last pregnancy.  When I feel all the horrors of this beautiful experience, it helps me remember that I cannot and should not do this again.  And if I am ever tempted, I just need to reread my last paragraph.  But then I think of the miracle of it all and the simple joys of just feeling your baby move around inside of you and I get sad thinking that this will be my last time.  But I don't think sadness will be enough to make me want to do this all over again.  My body is getting too old for this.  Or I should say, it's ACTING old.  Which is kind of no fair.  I'm only thirty four.  Anywho.  I digress.  What I WILL focus on is that in ten weeks (more or less) I will be bringing home a beautiful baby girl from the hospital.  Last night as I read over my old blog posts of my last pregnancy with Zoe, I also read over her birth story and it got me really excited/scared.  Sometimes I forget that at the end of it all I will get a baby out of it and this pregnancy WILL actually end.  Makes me wonder how that will change the dynamic of our family.  Ellie has already claimed the baby's nick-name to be "Alyria" (which I think is a unicorn name in one of her Fairy shows she's been watching these days, "Mia and Me").  Alyria is the perfect shortened version of "Jane" obviously.  I think this baby will be well-loved.  Even by Zoe.  Zoe is an entire year older than Ellie was when she was born, so I feel like this transition might-maybe be an easier one because Zoe is no longer a toddler (and Ellie was.  And she made it hard).  Zoe is also potty trained.  Already, that makes life 90% easier, baby or no baby.

Here are some pictures of me at six months.  The first one isn't a "true profile" so I had Joe take another while we were skating.  I have yet to snap a current one, but promise to do so soon!  I included one of me "skating" to give the illusion that I am actually "active" in my pregnancy, which couldn't be further from the truth.  I wish I could be active.  My body won't let me.  The first half of this pregnancy was full of too much sickness, and this last half has left me in too much pain to even take a walk around the block!  And to think I played soccer with Ellie's pregnancy until I was 17 weeks (and I only stopped because of a sprained ankle)!  How did I do that?  I added a couple pictures of the kids skating too because they were just too cute.  It was Zoe's first time, and she did NOT want to stop.  Each time I wanted to sit and take a break she'd get mad at me!  And then as soon as she was back on the ice, she was in Heaven.  Basically, she'd just slip and slide her skates every which way in constant motion while either Joe or I held both of her hands in front of us to make sure she didn't fall.  Man, I have cute kids.  And MAN, have I popped over this past month.  See what I mean?  Six months is the "cute" stage, ....and the whale-like seven month stage is just beginning!  I still have ten weeks left!  People ask me when I'm due and they have this surprised look on their face when I tell them I still have two more months to go.  Haha!  Ha.....  I'm sure I'll start getting "twin" comments soon.

My "Helper"

As soon as I step foot in the kitchen Zoe has already pulled up a kitchen chair to the counter top and has decided she is going to help me with whatever I am doing.  You thought Ellie was bad?  I mean.... good?  This happens a zillion times a day.  And she gets really mad if I start without her.  I could be doing something as simple as putting bread in the toaster, and she HAS to help me.  Her level of cuteness is usually dependant on how much sleep I'm on. Or whether or not she puts her chair away (which is never).  On this particular day we made our favourite chocolate chip cookies.  And there was no competition for who got to put however many cups of what in!  Yay!  And even though I may have butchered her hair with her last trim, you will be happy to know that I still get comments on how cute she is.  So, apparently I did not chop off her "one beauty!"  Just "one OF" her beauties.  Her personality is shiny and curly enough.

Sleeping Beauty

A couple weeks ago we had some friends over (Riley and Anona Adams and their family) for Sunday dinner. The kids played HARD! And for once, the millions of dress-up clothes in Zoe's closet actually got used. Imagine that! It was so cute to see the girls in their princess dresses playing with Zoe's tea set.  Yay for friends to help them remember that they actually DO have toys to play with.  (Every one else's toys are always way better than ours, of course).  Well, after dessert we adults sat and talked around the kitchen table and Zoe was acting very tired.  So tired, in fact, that she fell right asleep in Joe's arms---all in the middle of all the chaos around her.  That is a gift (a gift I wish I had sometimes).  And it is rare treat.  So, I had to get my camera out of course.  It was too cute to be true!  And then Joe laid her out on the table like Sleeping Beauty which was even cuter.   And then he staged the reason for her "death."  No spinning wheels here!  Death by chocolate is the only way to go!

...And she didn't even make it to sixteen.....