This last weekend has been full of Christmas Parties. It all started on Friday with Emily's class Christmas party. As the room parents, we were in charge of the party. Luckily this year we have quite a few parents that want to help out (unlike last year). So for the party we just rotated the kids through some fun games, a craft, and a treat. Each parent taking one rotation.
I played the Candy Bar game with the kids. They loved it. Some groups really got into it and played really fast. Another group didn't really understand the game and I had to keep pushing them along. It was so fun to watch the kids fight over the dice, gloves and spoons in order to get the candy unwrapped. One boy was so funny but kind of scary too... He said, "I've played this game before! All you have to do is stab it!" Then he proceeded to stab the candy bar present over and over with the spoon while the other kids faces were right up next to it. I was glad Russell told me to use spoons instead of the butter knife and fork! Needless to say that candy bar was pretty hacked but it was opened the fastest.
At another rotation, Vanessa, Ayzleigh's mom, played a build a reindeer game with dice. She also gave each of the kids a funny elf name. Emily's named was Energetic Peppermint Patty.
The next rotation was a craft center with Shanda, Tanner's mom. They read a story about a Gingerbread Mouse and then made little red felt mice with candy canes for tails. They were really cute.
The treat rotation was by Tasha, Gabe's mom. She read them a story about Santa's first flight while they ate cupcakes decorated as reindeer.
Finally Russell had the kids play Pin the Nose on Olaf. After they were done the kids wanted to pin the noses on themselves! This was such a fun party. The kids also liked being able to wear their pajamas to school for it.
After school got out, we headed down to St. George for some more parties and to visit for Christmas. Russell works Christmas Eve this year so we were not able to stay down for Christmas.
While we were down, Russel and his siblings helped LeeAnn clean out her "Black Hole." This is a room in their house that I have never seen in all of the 10 years I have been in the family. It is the catch all room, hence the name "Black Hole." This project has always been a goal and it finally had its beginnings. Russell said they found a lot of good things like baby pictures, his birth certificate, and even his original patriarchal blessing (which almost ended up in the fire). They were able to get a lot done and donated many things to the DI as well as took a lot to the dump. Russell said they had a good time reminiscing together.
Saturday was the Morwood Christmas party. It was nice to see everyone again especially Grandma Morwood.
Emily loved seeing her girl cousins again especially her best friend Brielle. During the party we ate, visited, had a snowball fight, and acted out the Nativity.
And of course got one gift from Santa. This is always a favorite part for all of the kids. Logan was so excited to see Santa come in the doors that he ran right up to him and hugged his leg. Then with all seriousness a two year old can muster, looked Santa in the eye and said, "Santa, I need a new Thomas because my other one is broken!" Santa just patted him on the head and walked up to his chair. Then when their names were called, one by one Logan, Colby, and Emily ran up to set on Santa's lap and get their gift. Low and behold, Logan got a new Thomas the Train! This one's name was Emily. He was so excited to play with that train and drove it all over the room. Colby absolutely loved his new Lego's he received. The best part about it was that the Lego's built into a Spiderman car with a little Spiderman man and a mean black Spiderman man. Emily was also excited to learn how to make the butterfly latch hooked rug she received. Before we left, she had already done one row. What a fun party.
The next day, Sunday, was our family party. Russell and I were in charge of it this year and since no one wanted to come up to our house, (something about snow and cold and travel...) we brought the party down to my parents' house. For the party this year, we really wanted to do something that would take the focus off of ourselves and help us focus on service and helping others. It seems like when we get together there is always drama so we thought this would be a good way to hopefully forget the drama. So for our party, we found a family in my parents' ward that needed help for Christmas and I assigned each family member to each of my siblings' families. At the party, we had a little lesson on service, brought all of the gifts together, wrapped the presents, and then put them together into a big box along with food for a nice Christmas dinner and treats. After putting it all together, Russell, Braden, Jason, Jacee, and I went and delivered the gifts. Braden pounded on the door and we all ran, the teenagers diving into the trunk of my van. When no one answered, Russell went and knocked again and this time the little boy answered as Russell was walking away so he told him to go get his parents and continued walking to the van. We watched from the van as we drove away and the dad looked so surprised and the kids were so excited. It made us feel really good to help this family out. Later we found out that they really appreciated everything we did and the bishop thanked us personally (well my mom) and told us how awesome it was that we were willing to help. My mom told him to plan on us doing a family next year as well. It was amazing.
When we got back to my parents' house, we ate dinner and played a few fun games.
Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and I think it was because we were in the right frame of mind. We all got along and there was not that drama as in other times.
Then we got out the spoons...
Okay we still got along but it sure was a wrestling match to get the last spoon every round. It was intense. We could not stop laughing. In one dive, without knowing it, Josh totally socked me in the face. My body went one way and my head went another. It hurt so bad but we were too busy laughing to notice. Later we found out that Klint had gotten that dive on video and when we watched it we totally saw Josh punch me in the face. Josh said, "Oh man! I am soooo sorry! I didn't realize I socked you!" We laughed so hard again.
After everyone left, the kids got to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa. They each got new jackets. They love the jackets and want to wear them all the time.
We left to head home on Monday. We had a great visit and a fun time with everyone at the parties. Now to prepare for Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment