Christmas 2018

Aunts L, J, and S sent gingerbread houses for the kids to assemble this  year. They had a wonderful and messy time doing it! And then spent the next week or two picking them apart and eating them!

Ginny and Erik sang in the ward choir's Christmas program this year. They did a beautiful job! I couldn't resist getting this picture to commemorate Ginny's first time singing in the choir.

Ginny gave Ezra a nerf gun and some darts for Christmas. You can see how happy he was!

Isaac really just wanted another giant stuffed animal from IKEA, but I didn't have a chance to get there before Christmas. So we went a few days later and he got to pick one out himself!

And Ginny had been asking for an alarm clock for months, so she was very happy with this gift from Dad.

Ezra gave Erik a gameboy-knockoff and some emergency lanterns. He really wanted both, I assure you. ;)

Isaac had me this year, and I didn't get a picture of his gift (Illustrated HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban), but we took a nice selfie. :)

Opening stockings first thing Christmas morning!

These Squishmallows were a big hit!

Thanks, Grandma!

Blank comic books for our budding artist.

A new, bigger scooter. I still can't believe she outgrew her old one.

Gift cards are always a hit!

Ginny loved her new hat, and then promptly left it at Brad's house a week later.

Erik and the kids gave me a new scarf.

G and G Lindstrom keep us well stocked on fun, new games to play!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Random pictures from between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2018

Ginny was brainstorming for her Spanish essay about Utah. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing this.

I love Ezra's drawings. This one was his homework illustration when he did a reading response on electricity. :)

We have all three kids enrolled in a jiu jitsu class right now, and they love it. They work really hard and are learning a lot!

Sometimes the boys get to compete with each other, which is fun to watch.

In addition to jiu jitsu, Ezra also take Muy Thai, which is a kind of kickboxing class. He enjoys it and he gets some really good exercise from it. The coaches work the kids hard!

Here is Ezra competing with another student.

Isaac, working hard,too!

I found this on the counter after dinner one night. Ezra was not impressed by our meatless spaghetti. I found it exasperating, but also kind of funny. We are working with him on learning to communicate his emotions in non-destructive ways, so even though we clearly still have a ways to go, at least he wrote down his feelings, instead of destroying the crock-pot or something. Baby steps. :)

Thanksgiving 2018

I am in one of those moods today where I decide I should really catch up on the blog. So, here are the pictures from our Thanksgiving spent in New Jersey/Washington, D.C. with Brad's family. We had a lot of fun, even though I didn't really take very many pictures. Here are the ones I did get!

Thanksgiving dinner at Brad and Rachel's house on Wednesday night. It was delicious!

Brad vs. the Turkey

Food prep

Pie and Cheesecake for breakfast Thursday morning! This was the first time I've ever made the cheesecake (Erik didn't have time this year), and it turned out so well!

This was inside one of the Museums. American History, maybe?

Same for this one.

Learning how technicolor movies were made.

Some of our group in front of the capital building!

Eating lunch at a pizza place where Brad and Rachel went on a date. I think.

We also went to the National Zoo. It was FREEZING, but still fun things to see.

And the zoo lights were really fun once it got dark!

Ginny's Gratitude Turkey

Isaac's. For translation help from left to right: Mom, games, friends, ice cream/helado, music, home, dad. I love this stage of Isaac's learning. It kind of makes me wish he could stay little forever!!!

Bet you couldn't guess this was Ezra's. Can anyone tell what kinds of things he likes to do?