Christmas; Part Two

This Christmas was a little different this year because so many of the Burnhams were planning on being away after Christmas, which is when we usually come to visit.  So we switched things up and came before Christmas for a couple days.  The second we got there, Grandpa B invited us to go on a nature walk, which Jackson and I are usually always up for.  It was kind of nice just us three.  Jackson really opened up and talked almost the whole time.  I asked him some questions about basketball and then he easily kept the conversation flowing.  It was cute.

We had some beautiful weather.  Perfect for killing our opponents in hockey!  I mean.  Having a fun-filled hockey experience.  (We killed them).  

Actually, I came on the scene pretty late into the "hockey experience" so there was a bit of shifting of players.  Such a fun time though.  Noah didn't want it to end.

 

 

 When everyone comes for Christmas, it's like we get to go camping.  Winter-camping.  The kids love it.  I don't mind it because it means we get to sleep in, but the draw backs are the no-bathroom thing.  You better hope that the time you go right before bed is enough! 

 Joe likes to tuck Tuckers lips up so it looks like he's "smiling."  Haha!

We've started doing a cousin-gift-exchange which the grandkids all look forward to now.  At first, to me it just felt like one more thing to buy that I didn't have time or money for, but once I saw how much the kids enjoyed it last year, I had a better attitude about it this time around.  Do I have to be way more organized?  Yes.  Did I forget two of the cousin gifts at home?  Yes.  Is it possible for me to be more organized in the future and learn lessons?  We'll see.  Something always seems to get forgotten at Christmas and I'm not sure I'll ever really have my crap together enough.

We had the sibling exchange at BP's this year and then did lessons learned when we got home.  Jackson and Noah wanted to be grown-up so they joined us.  Jackson said his lesson learned was learning how to go for it and take hard things on.  My lesson learned was the opposite.  Haha!  I am taking on too many things, all of which are good and which challenge me, but I am failing in other areas, like keeping up on Mom-things (laundry, dishes, being there for kids, etc).  I find that every minute seems to be filled to the brim and it's fine as long as nothing derails my plans, like a child getting sick, or me, etc.  There's no room for error like that.  So, as soon as something happens where my time has to be divided even more than I had planned, I feel like I am drowning.  Everyone seemed to have advice.  Scale back.  Stop taking things on.  etc.  And then Jackson spoke up.  My wise 80-year-old thirteen-year-old.  He said, "well, it's called the plan of happiness, isn't it?  So if these things don't bring happiness then don't do them.  But if they do, then do them.  God wants us to be happy."  He just simplified the heck out of my problem.  The things I am taking on DO bring me happiness.  They shape me and make me better and I am learning new skill-sets.  But they sometimes take me away from my family, which makes me sad sometimes that I can't be there for everything.  So.  I have some decisions to make this year on how I want to spend my time, but I was grateful for the words of my son who brought me back.  It's called the plan of happiness, isn't it?

We headed over to Shannon's on Christmas eve morning to stop by for a few hours and say hello!  My parents were visiting and it was so nice to see everyone, even though the time was short.  Mom made some cookies and bless Shannon's heart, she bought a bunch of treats to decorate them with.  It made for a really fun morning for my kids.  We also had some sing-along fun.  Ellie brought her ukulele and sang Silent Night, and Mom brought out our old Christmas binders from Ord Family Singers.  It made me a cry a little.  Partly memories, and partly Shannon's voice it just so beautiful.  That woman needs to sing more.  But for all to hear.

Dad's eye-lid is broken.  Jane commented on it right away.  Haha!

The crew.  It's weird without Justin.  Change is hard.  Firsts suck.  I love Shannon and those boys and I know they are hurting.  I was happy we could spend a little time with them over the holidays though.  These visits needs to happen more often.  We love you guys.

Christmas; Part One

There are many parts to our Christmas shennanigans, but I will start here.  I bought two gingerbread houses this year because I am realizing we just have too many artists in our house for one measly little gingerbread house.  Good thing too because we kept cycling through sick kids, so we did this in rounds.  The girls did their house one afternoon (with Jackson's help).

...and then the boys did theirs on another day when Noah started to feel better.  Their's was more of a haunted gingerbread house.

We managed to get some skating in as well.  The weather has been so nice so I was worried we wouldn't get to skate on the Lake, but we did!  Sadly, they didn't open the whole lake up and the ice was pure crap, BUT, we got our skating in.  It was lots of fun with the Olsons and Batemans.  We even got in a hockey game or two.

And I was really impressed with Jane!  She was skating with this thing like a champ!

We had some sickness leading up to Christmas, so making cookies kept getting pushed back more and more.  Finally, I just decided to make them with Jane while kids were at school.  I left a little dough for a batch or two for the other kids when they got home, but got the bulk of it done during the afternoon.  It was kind of nice to have a chill cookie-baking session.  Tucker REALLY wanted to be apart of it.  Poor guy.

Jolly Holly and I have the same addictions.

...same with Tucker and I.  Except I'm allowed to eat this.

The saddest part of Christmas.  We had plans to go to the live Nativity and only had one evening that panned out for us.  Well.  That evening happened to have awful road conditions and even Joe---who usually drives through anything---said the roads were too bad.  This is my favourite tradition since moving here so I was really sad to miss it.  A lot of friends from my Stake were in it AND they asked if they could use my music video, "Born To Be a King" to show on the main screen while people waited in line.  So.  Sad to have missed that as well.  But we got doughnuts and hot chocolate at least?

And after I got over being upset about things not turning out, I let the kids play in dirty snow in the parking lot.  

We got invited to an "Elf" party at the Moore's where the kids (or whoever) got to eat candy and maple syrup on their spaghetti.  In this case, just Zoe.  Fun times.  

...and Jackson.

 

I was involved in a lot of music things leading up to Christmas.  I'm not going to lie, it made for a bit of a stressful time because my song choices were all very difficult, but all in all I'm glad I challenged myself.  I auditioned for the Messiah and got to sing, "There Were Shepherds" and all the solos that followed, along with the aria, "Come Unto Him All Ye That Labour."  This is an aria that I didn't realize was part of my solo until well after I got the part, so I was freaking out a little because I kept getting sick and couldn't work on my higher range AT ALL!  Very frustrating and very stressful.  In fact, I was supposed to sing, "Ave Maria" at my Chamber concert but was out with the stomach flu.  I still came to sing with the choir because I didn't want to miss out---all that work all season to miss the concert?!  No thanks!  Actually.  It was really hard and I should have just stayed home.  Haha!  But Bishop was at the concert and said I should just sing it in sacrament meeting for Christmas.  Well.  We have 9am church, and that song is already hard enough to sing at a decent time of day!  But, I said yes, because it's something I worked really hard on and I wanted a chance to perform it.  So, I did.  On this day (in the pic below).  It was SUCH a beautiful and peaceful morning with fresh snow.  Look at those trees!  And the Messiah went okay.  The first night I was really nervous and it showed, so the second night I decided to just own it and pretend I was the best one in the room (not true).  Considering all the sickness that was going around, I was happy enough with my performance generally.  I think I needed to just realize that given the time I had of healthy practice leading up to it, there was only so much I could work on, so I feel like my high points were high, and the points that weren't so great were not that great!  What can you do!  Joe, however, was a sweetheart and said I sounded beautiful and to shut up already.  That's my sweetheart Joe. 

Teenagers!

Just one.  One teenager.  It's so weird to think that I already have a teenager.  I guess Jackson has felt much older to me from the get go so to call him a thirteen year old seems a little young for him, but it's old to me!  I remember this age!  I remember the awkward haircut and glasses and crooked teeth---none of which he has BTW, although teenage-hood DID welcome him with a chin-zit.

Joe picked up Jackson from school and took him out for birthday lunch at Denny's.  My handsome boy!

Joe also picked up his birthday cake from DQ and told them what to write.  Haha!  I had a good laugh.  After school Jackson just had a few friends over for some pizza and a movie.

We gave Jax the choice of a low-key party and a shopping date with me and Joe, OR, he could do something bigger with friends and no shopping.  He chose shopping.  So, they day after his birthday we took him to the Mall to pick out something for himself.  At first, he was really hesitant because he realized how much things cost and didn't want to make a bad purchase.  Finally I said, "hey!  It's your birthday, so if something speaks to you and it seems expensive but is within our price-range, go for it!  Don't worry about getting a bunch of little things on sale for a good price when you can go all out and buy the one thing you really love and know you'll wear."  Shopping 101 people.  So, he bought this gem.  I actually will take props for this because I saw it from the window, tried it on (didn't fit), and then Jackson tried it on (fit like a glove), and then my shopping 101 conversation happened and BAM!  A great purchase happened. 

Happy Birthday Jackson!  You really are such a great kid.  ALWAYS looking out for others, and especially me.  You are so observant and can always tell when I need a hand.  I often talk about how sober you are as a young man, but you also know when to be goofy and can enjoy a good laugh.  You are at an age where your Dad and I find you really fun to be around.  A lot of our evenings are spent hanging out with you and Noah because we genuinely love to be around you two.  We love playing cards and board games with you and having late night binge-watching sessions of whatever our favourite movie or TV show happens to be in that moment.  Right now it's Season Two of "Lost In Space."  Thank you for paving the way as my first kid.  You made it really easy to want to have more and more kids until I realized not all of them are as easy as you!  Haha!  Too late now I guess.   Keep on being that inquisitive kid you are.  Keep doing your best in school, even though you kind of hate it right now (every teenager's right), keep on keeping your mind active (by learning new languages.  Right now it's Spanish, Russian and Mandarin), and your body (you made the school's basketball team!  Woot!), and your Spirit (by reminding me to pray before each meal and reading your scriptures before bed).  I love you Jackson.  You are a good kid.  Happy Birthday!

Princess Ballet

Every little girl needs to experience at least one dance class in their life.  But what little three year old gets to have a Princess as their teacher?  This Lucky girl got to have Princess Anna as her teacher.  She loved it.  At first, she was the girl who ran around the room and found ways to be a rebel (she was usually one of three.  I am SO sorry Princess Anna).  But after about the third class, she really started to listen and actually follow and it wasn't a total waste of money.  Actually, either way it would have been worth it because it was so entertaining to watch.

This is her first time meeting her teacher.  She was SO shy and start-struck, but not too much for a hug.

Here she is on her last day.  The girls were all allowed to wear a princess dress (adorable), and parents were invited to watch.  Joe happened to be home and was able to come!  Jane learned that marching backwards is way cooler than marching forwards like the rest of these weirdos...

...jumping after a plea is way more fun than not...

...and sitting beside your teacher instead of standing with the group is the Princess way.

Thank you Princess Anna for a fun experience!  And for always bringing candy.