Silly Saturday

Since yesterday was non-stop fun, today was pretty low key.  We started off the morning by having waffles for breakfast and then Dad & Nick & Jon started bringing boxes down from the attic.  Lexie and I got to put up the Christmas tree, which is usually not fun to do, but when we work together, we get it done pretty fast.  We also had some Christmas music playing, which made it more fun, too.

Autumn wanted someone to dance to the Christmas music and so she talked Mimi into dancing in the hall way with her.  They were having a grand old time.

I was putting some finishing touches on the tree when Autumn came over and tugged on my shirt and asked me to tell her a story in a sweet little voice.  So, I stopped what I was doing and sat down in the big chair and told her the story of Mary & Joseph & Baby Jesus.  It was such a sweet and tender moment and I had to keep blinking fast so I wouldn’t cry.

Mom was making some super yummy turkey bone soup and I was shocked to see Nick peeling potatoes, b/c it’s rare to see him helping out in the kitchen so I had to get a picture to document that he was helping.  His big old cheesy smile and eyes are a little creepy, but he’s such a funny guy and I’m so glad he’s a part of our family.

I asked Mom where Dad & Andrew were b/c Autumn was looking for them and was worried they had gone outside to play w/ out her.  She said they were in the back room working on a special surprise for everyone and that we have the best Dad/Papa in the whole wide world.  I asked her why and she just told me to give her my camera so she could go take some pictures until they were ready for all of us to come in.  This is what she took a picture of.

Dad had set up a little Christmas tree just for Andrew so that they could put Andrew’s new train around it.  Andrew kept wanting to put his train around the tree, but we were still in there working and so Dad made it possible for Andrew to put up his train.  It was so cute of Dad to do and Andrew as in 7th heaven.

It’s interesting to see how much Dad has mellowed out w/ the grandkids.  He would have NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS have let us near our train when we were kids, but it’s completely different with the grandkids.  That’s a good thing and the way it’s supposed to be.

After all the fun morning excitement, the kids had worked up an appetite and needed a little snack.  Andrew asked for some applesauce and not two seconds later, Autumn appeared out of no where b/c she heard the word applesauce and wanted some too.  They are such good friends and get along 98% of the time.

The kids were getting restless, so I got out the Toy Story matching game they got in their free gift bags yesterday and we sat down and played a few times.  Andrew is so smart and remembered where the cards were and got the most matches every time we played.

The yummy soup was finally ready so we all sat down together to warm ourselves up w/ some soup and bread.

After all of our tummies were full, we decided to bust out the Wii, which we haven’t played since before the remodel in the spring!  We played bowling and Autumn and Andrew wanted to play too, so we helped them.  Andrew had so much fun playing it and knew what he was doing that Mom & Dad let Lexie & Jon take the Wii home w/ them so they can play it and then bring it back at Christmas.

While Andrew & Jon played Mario Party & Autumn watched a movie in Mom’s room, Lexie & I were working on our computers.  She was making something on her Heritage Makers website and I was blogging and editing pictures.

Earlier in the day, Jon had gone and gotten some more Christmas lights for the tree, b/c we ran out.  Lexie & I finished decorating the tree and were laughing and having fun the whole time.  I’m glad it’s kind of become a tradition that Lexie & I do the tree together.  It’s good sister bonding time.

Mom was dreading doing Christmas cards, b/c she usually does the addresses in her beautiful calligraphy handwriting.  Lexie told her she should just type them up and print them off on address labels to save time.  So, I typed them into a word document while Mom read me the address.  When we were done, we had 6 pages of labels!  We printed them off and a few of them didn’t print right so she gave those pages to the kids and let them play w/ the labels.  They were happy as clams and that kept them busy for a long time.

As you can see, they got a little creative w/ the stickers and after a while didn’t just limit themselves to putting the labels on their papers…they started to put the labels on themselves.  Autumn was laughing non-stop and thought it was the coolest thing ever that she got to put stickers on her face.  As you can see behind them, we were also watching the BYU vs U of U game.  So heartbreaking at the end!

The kids had so much fun w/ these Princess puzzle pieces.  They pretended like they were in a boat or a car.  They are really good about playing together and keeping themselves entertained.

Since they were playing so nice together and didn’t need us every 10 seconds, we decided to play a game.  We played Life, b/c we haven’t played that in years.  We have the old school version and it was great to play it together.  Dad ended up winning and it was funny b/c he landed on the doctor profession in the game.

The kids were hungry and Mom offered to make them macaroni & cheese b/c they loved it so much the other night.  Dad wondered why they didn’t just have soup b/c there was still some left over from earlier in the day but Mom wouldn’t hear it and said the babies wanted mac & cheese so that is what they were going to get!

Lexie & I went and laid down w/ them on Mom’s bed to watch one of the clay-mation DVD’s they got the other day.  I love the songs in the movies b/c they remind me of my childhood and I’m glad I can share those w/ Autumn and hopefully she’ll love them too when she’s older.  After the movie, we decided to write our letters to Santa b/c we hadn’t done that yet and the kids got a free packet in their Disney gift bags.  Andrew had quite a long list for Lexie to write out.  He knew exactly what he wanted.

Autumn on the other hand, didn’t want me to write her letter for her.  She just wanted to draw pictures.

Here’s Andrew’s letter and he was so proud of it and excited to mail it off to Santa.

Once Autumn saw Andrew’s letter, she decided she wanted me to write one out for her, which I did.  All she is asking for this Christmas is a Barbie DVD that we had rented once from the Red Box.  I keep telling her she has to be a good girl or else Santa can’t bring her the DVD she wants.  So far those threats seem to be working.

After finishing the letters, it seemed only fitting that we have some warm friendship tea.  As you can see in the background, the house was a little cluttered from all our stuff.  Autumn & Nick & I had been there since Thursday and it was time to pack up our crap and head home.  So, I got all of our stuff together and we headed home.  It was nice to sleep in our own beds tonight.