LAUGH MOMMY!: 2017

MADISON's CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Madison had her Christmas concert last night. She has been so excited about and has reminded me a dozen times since they started practicing. She told me three times on the day of the program that she did not have to dress up. She seemed really excited about not having to dress up. She was the only child not dressed up, well besides the chubby Asian kid on the same row as her, thank goodness for him. I died when I saw all the girls in there cute Christmas dresses. Why did I trust her? Why didn't I ask anyone? Mom fail. She didn't seem to mind though and even proclaimed when it was all over that the teachers said they didn't have to. Hilarious.
We had a really packed day. We were feeding the missionaries, the girls had two orthodontic appointments. Madison got her braces off and then had to be fitted for her retainer. Later in the day, we had to go pick her retainer up. I had a YW's Christmas party. I was really excited to go to it coincided with Madison's program. I had to make dinner and a dessert for the YW's party. I felt like I ran all day. The boy's were crazy to the orthodontist's office. I am surprised the keep letting us come back. The boys were just as crazy at Madison's program fifteen minutes into it Nate asked me for the keys to the car. He took the boys home and got them to bed. Sigh. On the way back, Madison asked if we could go out for ice cream. I normally do take my kids out for a shake or something but I couldn't. I told her there was ice cream in the fridge. She was so sweet about it. She came home and got ice cream, brushed her teeth and went to bed, without a word.

BAND CONCERT

I was so excited to hear Sierra's band concert. She has been practicing so hard. She has become really good at playing the flute. I encouraged Nate to come to the concert. He is very noise sensitive but I insisted she has improved so much I am sure the concert will be good. It was bad. Nate was dying. Sierra's improvement didn't equal overall band improvement. However, it was fun to see her in her element. She loves band. It has been a bit disappointing to change band directors this year. She really likes her new band director but says he has a very difficult time controlling the classroom. She says it is pretty chaotic. She wanted to play the piccolo. She asked her band teacher if she could and he said she could if she would take private lessons. I told her that we would pay for private lessons. She hasn't moved forward with it. We will see.

MEETING SANTA

We went to Madison's school to see Santa Clause. They have an annual meet Santa event. We have never been before. James was so enamored with Santa. He sat on his lap forever and threw his arms around him. Santa finally said, "So do you want a treat." James said, "Yes!" He said, "Then you are going to have to get off my lap." It made me giggle. My girls never liked Santa or meeting characters at Disney but my boys love it.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

I was trying to make the holiday season fun for my children. We didn't go to Utah. It was just us, our little family this year. I was so happy to just enjoy my babies. I made gingerbread houses with the kids. I was lazy and we used graham crackers. Ashton ate more candy than he put on his house.

MEGA BLOCKS AND DUPLOS

My boys will spend hours playing blocks. James always gets the duplos. Ashton gets the mega blocks. I can't believe how entertained they are by blocks. It has only been recently that their attention has been captured for long periods of time by toys or drawing and it is such a relief to not have to chase them around anymore trying to keep them out of trouble.