Quelf

If you are interested in acting, making up languages from an alien planet,laughing until your face hurts, and even giving yourself a wedgie... then you would be interested in this game! If you are not so interested in those things... then you are missing out on a really fun and memorable time... where the laughing never seems to end, and neither does the antics!

Well... we opened this game at the end of the day... and just the beginning of the night. We decided that it would be fun... to finish our Christmas Eve Activities while playing this game, eating PaPa Murphy's Chicken Garlic Pizza,( a great tradition started by the in-laws, where you get take-out! Brilliant, I must say, and a definite keeper!) a relish tray and cookie salad... and in order to do this... we needed to open our "Open Christmas Eve" Presents from Nana.
We all got... jammies!! Another great tradition. So we changed into these fun pajamas... and we had options... 'cuz our Nana loves us, and gave each of us TWO sets of jammas!
After we changed we gathered back around the table to see... Kate hiding in a fort, Afton having to say "Wonka Wonka Wonka" everytime someone laughed (which was often), Dylan talking in Alien language, and Sarah dancing in a tu-tu! Yes, we were quite the sight to behold... and we had a fantastially fun night!

Daniel and Jocelynn, becoming conjoined twins. Jocelynn, being a "Rockette",
Kate unable to use her arms, and hearing ..tsk before everyone of Afton's sentences.

Christmas Eve!

For Christmas Eve this year...we decided to start a new tradition. For several reasons...so we could make it through the day...because of all that excitement in the air...because we knew it was going to be a long day... we decided to do different activities through out the day. Some of these were activities that we didn't quite dget to for our Annual Christmas Countdown. So we put activities in a jar, and then pulled them out. I forgot to take picture of all of the activities (silly me), so I will just have to go by memory.
I believe our first activity was to open a present... (they were coloring books and word searches (for the Sunday bags). So the kids opened their presents, and then colored for ahile (I believe that Mr. Hubby was being Mr. Fix-It, and was working in the basement). After they were finished with that... we drew another activity... which was to watch a Christmas Movie. That was nice to be able to sit down and relax. We watched a Christmas Matlock! Funny, hugh? But it was good.
After that we pulled out... make a Christmas Craft.


I had bought this window cling Christmas craft about a month ago, and it was fun to see the kids have fun and decorate them (even though they actually needed a few days to dry, before you could hang them up... live and learn, right?)


When we were finished with that we pulled out... make cookies for Santa. We know that Santa loves OREOS, so we believe that homemade Oreos are just what Santa needs to know that he is loved by us! A little shmoozing never hurts, right?

After that we pulled out "Go to the Church and play games!" There are some perks that come from people having to go to early morning meetings (and that perk is keys to the Church!) We invited a few other families to join us! The Johansons and the Wildes came. We played "PIG" and "Lightning" while the kids performed on the stage. And then we all played Dodge Ball! It was nice to be able to run around for a little while. We wanted to go sledding, but there wasn't enough snow :-(.


When we came home it was time for another Christmas show, and then we pulled out the last activity from the jar... which was... "Open another present, as a family, and then participate in that activity"...
Boy oh Boy we didn't know what we were in for!!

The Month of December, quickly recapped!

Always a month behind on this silly blog, catch up... or not catch up? That is the question! The month of December... quickly recapped.
First Afton and Dylan both had piano recitals (the same one), where they did great. They are so good to practice, and I am proud of them for developing this talent. After that, Jocelynn, my Mom, and I went to a second cousins reception, it was fun to see some distant family, I haven't seen in a while.


I was in charge of "Enrichment" night, now known as Relief Society Meeting. We had a Christmas Activity, where we read the story "I Believe In Santa Claus", and watched the natvity from "Joy to the World", and then I spoke about remembering why we have Christmas, and we gave the Sisters, a Christmas Testimony Journal, where they were asked to start a new tradition, of sharing their testimonies of the Savior at Christmas. Then we had dessert, while we decorated our journals. I was so glad when that night was over! This is a quick pic of the kids after church one Sunday, in their Christmas Best! (That my mom provided for everyone... Afton was wearing last years dress... because she wore her new dress for two weeks before that, and I was slow in taking the pic).


The night after that was Dan's work party, where we had dinner at his boss's newly rennovated home. Most expensive place I have ever been. Million(s) dollar home. We had a good time, even me in my new $19 dollar dress from Wal-mart, and at home dye job (that i did that day). Yummy shrimp. It was the also the ward party that night, so my sweet friend, Britt, took my kids to it. That was so nice of her and her family.!



The next weekend we had our annual Progressive Dinner, the forth one since we moved to this neighborhood. We had a really good time. We had 10 couples involved, so we got to eat lots of yummy food, and got to talk to lots of other couples, and make some fun new memories. We played the toilet paper game, and the game "After the manner of the Adverb", and then this game where one person tells you how to draw something, when you are back to back, and have to listen to their directions. That was hard! I was bad, and forgot to take pictures, next year I think I need to have one of the activities, be taking pictures of each couple, and then giving to to them later... one big group shot would be fun, too!
After that, the kids were out of school, and we got to hang out together, and spend some time together. I'll post more later about the rest of our Christmas festivities.
This is a picture of our "flocking", there was a lag in the snow for a couple of weeks, where we had this beautiful fog, and one day we got "flocked", everything looked so beautiful, with this crystal snow effect. I was mesmerized, and loved how beautiful everything looked, and so happy I didn't have to shovel the walks. It didn't last long, and then we really got hammmered. (Not really, but enough to shovel, and slide upon!)