Family Pictures

For the past several years I've been wanting to take our annual family pictures at Saguaro Lake because it is home to some of our favorite family memories. We were finally able to carve out just enough time on a busy Saturday. We were racing the sun and made it with about 15 minutes to spare before the light disappeared. Ryder fell asleep in the car and was not too happy about getting woken up, then a vigilante sibling decided to elbow him for crying, which as you can imagine made the sobs spiral uncontrollably. We were down to the wire with the sun setting and every one was so grumpy and yelling at each other between shots. But just like in every year past, we seem to be able to capture at least one photo that makes us appear to be a happy loving family. I'm convinced family photos are the biggest sham. Afterwards we went to Dickie's BBQ where everyone giggled at the name, fought over the last bite of mac & cheese and had about 4 self serve all you can eat ice cream cones. Kylie drove us home and I sat in the back seat convinced we were going to die. Another year of family pictures, another year of memories. I love these faces, even if they drive me bananas.

Christmas 2017

The original plan was to have a magical white Christmas at the condo, but then there was no snow in the forecast and we realized we would have no room for the presents. Plan B was to go up Thursday after school got out and come back on Christmas eve. It was a good plan B. We threw the backpacks in the closet, said goodbye to all the holiday stress and escaped to our little haven where it was a rule that Christmas songs or Christmas movies had to be on at all times, holiday treats had to continuously be made and consumed and pajamas were the dress code. We got new family games for Christmas that we let them open up early and besides a few moments of getting separated to cool off from a heated game of Risk, it was fun lounging around all day and night playing games together. I loved this weekend so much, it was the perfect way to unwind and get in the holiday spirit. We decided to change out of our pajamas for an outing to the movies to see Jumanji, and oh my goodness we were all laughing so hard, it was so much better than I had anticipated. That is if you like juvenile humor. Every time we go to the movies I am reminded how nice it is to be able to do family activities like this after years of pacing the lobby with a restless toddler. 

Turned over the toffee making responsibilities to this girl. Now when she goes off to college she can make toffee, smoothies and ramen noodles, she's all set.

We've had a tradition for the past 6 years or so to go to Ihop for Christmas Eve brunch. Last year we decided we didn't really like Ihop all that much and since there isn't an Ihop around here we decided on a local favorite, Darbi's. It was so festive and charming and even though we didn't make it in time for breakfast, the food was so much better.

 

We made it back in time for our Christmas Eve traditions. Open first pajamas where Kylie claimed she didn't need any more presents after opening her Justin Bieber pj's, and also where Maddox's pajamas were too small for the third year in a row and he claimed Christmas was ruined. We did the nativity skit (always irreverent), watched the Polar Express, tracked Santa, left out milk and cookies, looked for Rudolph's nose in the sky and then read The Night Before Christmas before tucking them into bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. Jason and I also continued our tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve. I got him a pickle ball set and skull cap for snowboarding. He got me a new lens and vacuum. After years of having a vacuum that only half works, he was so amazed by the carpet lines the new one made that he proceeded to vacuum almost the entire house. It was a nice little bonus gift.

Christmas Eve tends to get rowdy around here.

Ryder woke up just after midnight ready to go open presents. And then he woke up every two hours on the hour after that. I felt like I had been up all night with a newborn and was reminded that I'm too old to have any more babies. I love the Christmas morning anticipation, even the teenagers that regularly sleep until noon can hardly contain their excitement.

After the last of the wrapping paper had been peeled off the presents we had cinnamon rolls and spent the day absorbed in their new gifts.

Heely's, Flick scooter, pogo stick, wireless xbox remote and soccer goals were Ryder's main gifts

An air soft gun, kindle fire, bike and pogo stick were Maddox's main gifts

A "real" basketball, Nike slide sandals, wireless ear buds, blue tooth speaker and pull up bar were Jayden's main gifts. We also got a new basketball standard for a family gift, but it's mostly for Jayden.

We probably spent the most money on Kylie but she had the smallest pile of presents. That's what happens when you want bronzer that costs $35/oz. I blame the YouTube beauty channels. So she got makeup, Vans, thread wallet, full length mirror for her room and beauty supplies as her main gifts. And then we took pictures as she laughed jovially while holding Christmas lights.

We came pretty darn close to marking almost everything off our holiday bucket list. Pinetop did not deliver on it's promise of snow so sledding and snowman building had to be crossed off.

After having a blast with Tyler and Margaret's foosball table over Thanksgiving, we thought it would be the perfect family gift for Christmas. And then I found myself having all sorts of anguish over where to put it. At one point Jason swapped it out for the living room coffee table and I thought I was going to lose it. Needless to say, just today I packed that thing in the back of the Sequoia and hauled it back to the store. I was too selfish to give up any precious real estate in our home. The kids were sad, but they'll get over it. In other news, Ryder cried most of the day because he had a canker sore (and most likely exhausted because he was up every two hours). We had a candlelight turkey dinner that night. The candles lasted about 5 minutes then everyone complained it was too dark. Jayden tried out his new speaker in the kitchen while we were cooking, I made him play "Supermarket Flowers" over and over and teared up every time. It was a good Christmas. 

Christmas-y

I love this time of year. Dragging the dusty bins off the shelves in the garage, sorting the Christmas tree branches according to size, plugging twinkle lights in, lighting extra candles and seeing the kid's eyes light up when they walk in the door from school and see that the house has been transformed to a winter wonderland. Minus the winter. 

This year we made a bucket list and it was fun spending the month of December crossing things off.

Paper snowflakes, so simple but hours of fun. Or at least 27 minutes. 

Our friends threw an amazing Christmas party. The only problem was trying to get these two to sit with Santa for a picture. How can they already be out growing that??

Sunday morning pajama and pancake bar. Because any excuse to load pancakes with chocolate chips, marshmallows, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and then call it a well rounded breakfast.

Grandma gave us a Christmas puzzle, Maddox and I were hooked. No one else seemed to have much interest but I loved spending some one on one time sorting through the 500 different black pieces and high fiving when we finally found the right one. We decided to make it an annual tradition, even if it is just the two of us.

One annual tradition that everyone is always on board with is the gingerbread house contest because anything with the word "contest" in it gets everyone all worked up. Have I mentioned everyone in the family is fiercely competitive except me?? But it does make for a fun night where the laughs tend to drown out the raised voices and accusations of copy cats and bribery. Not pictured, but equally note worthy was taking a golf cart ride around the neighborhood for a Christmas light scavenger hunt, decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread men, Christmas movies on repeat, Christmas books in bed, doing service projects, sending out Christmas cards, delivering neighbor treats, Christmas parties, homemade goodies...even though I feel the pressure to make every day of the month jam packed and memory filled, it still manages to be the most wonderful time of the year.