Christmas 2007

I am pretending that it is snowing outside and really cold. I am not used to these Las Vegas winters. Although I am really liking the fact that during the warm afternoons we can still go to the park and play outside. We had a great Christmas, even though we miss all our family and friends back home. Ethan was so funny. Every time he would open a gift he would say, "I have wanted this my whole life." He was excited about everything and so cute. Cole just ran around in all the craziness following Ethan everywhere, and my sweet Liv had lots of fun also. She especially enjoyed all the wrapping paper, garbage, and left over boxes to chew on. We have Lego's coming out our ears. Shawn and I spent the majority of the day putting together Lego's. Ethan and Shawn didn't think that I could put Lego's together very well, but we had a race and I won (although Shawn's had more pieces, but I don't care-I WON). So, I proved my expertise in Lego building and now maybe Ethan will let me build with him. I tuckered out, but Shawn (with Coke in hand) continued into the early evening.

Last night we tried to read the nativity story in Luke, but the kids really weren't that interested. We missed the Nielson Annual Christmas Story Pageant and the kids were sad. Shawn remembered that we have this great DVD made by the church about Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection-so we gave that a shot. It was great. The kids sat and listened and I really enjoyed it. Earlier that day Ethan told me that he didn't really like Jesus that much because he doesn't give gifts like Santa. We talked about the gifts that Jesus did give and I tried to explain how he gave his life for us and that is an amazing gift. Ethan didn't really buy it, but during the movie he watched as the mean people hurt Jesus. Ethan was touched by this and concerned about Jesus. When I took the opportunity to explain further about Jesus gift to us and that he sacrificed his life so that we would not have to endure those kind of pains and suffering. After our little chat he proclaimed, "well, I think I kind of like Jesus now." It was a sweet moment for Shawn and I to watch him start to understand the ultimate gift that we have been given. Truly the real meaning of Christmas. After the movie we got ready for bed and put some cookies out for Santa. Ethan was upset because he didn't think Santa's reindeer's should eat all that junk (those were his words, I would never classify cookies as junk). So, we got out some vegetables for the reindeer and he seemed happy with that.

Now it is the end of the day and I am just about ready to put the kids to bed. We had a great Christmas and we hope all of you did as well. Here are a few pictures from the day.

And have you ever heard of a Scookie? Well, you basically cook cookie dough or a brownie mix in the bottom of a cast iron skillet. Take it out of the oven and cover it with ice cream (we used peppermint) and cover with chocolate sauce. It was delicious and fun! We all dug in with spoons and shared.


Also, Livy broke her first tooth today. It's about time so this is great, but it also makes for a cranky baby. Oh well-life goes on!