Keeping Busy

The weather was pretty cold and wet during Christmas, which meant the kids spent a lot of time trapped indoors. Christmas distracted them for a while, but then we desperately needed to get them out of the house! Thankfully Claudia got us into the Clay Center at a great price. All the kids enjoyed running a bit crazy with their cousins. 

An entire wall full of Blood girls

Of course, it isn't just the kids who need some fun! Thanks to Mom Blood and Jocelyn being willing to watch kids, the rest of us enjoyed a delicious meal together with Dad.  

Not pictured: us enjoying some delicious Thai food with Aaron & Ashley for our respective anniversaries. The food and the company were both amazing! We're still trying to lure them out East...

We also discovered this really cool new park not too far from the house. It was mud-free, which made it better than any other outdoor options. But it also had really cool equipment, like these parent-and-kid swings: 

Elise was ecstatic. The higher the better!

Catherine scaled to the top of the climbing web.

There was also an obstacle course complete with a timer and a 50 yard dash with a timer. There may have been a friendly competition among the original Blood boys as to who could run it the fastest. Jon was winning for a while with 5.69, but Timmy eventually took it with 5.31. 

But we couldn't stay at the park forever, which meant spending a lot of time in the house together. Seth just couldn't resist teasing everyone, which earned him some more Uncle Stephen love: 

We spent New Years Eve playing games and eating junk. We didn't make it until midnight because we're boring and old, much to Seth's dismay. But Jon wanted to get enough rest before we made the long drive back home. 

It's Christmas!

After waking up stupid early and being very not quiet, I finally gave up and let the wild beasts go investigate their stockings. 

All the candy!

Army guys! And bright lights!

Aaron always looks so concerned about his stocking.

Giant chocolate Christmas tree for breakfast?

Why not?

Santa made all of Elise's wildest dreams come true with these tiny babies.

The babies were quickly stripped naked (as all Elise babies are) 

and wrapped in her special blanket.

Elise's turn to open gifts.

Aaron's turn.

Catherine asked Santa for a diamond necklace and was extra helpful in the hopes of getting one.

Santa delivered!

Moonstones in the center, diamonds around.

Aaron & Elise gave Catherine a glow-in-the-dark slime kit for Christmas, which she immediately begged to use. Once most of the chaos was over, I relented. It was only a tiny bit of a sticky mess with all the extra helpers: 

What was extra fun was when we found them playing with it in the dark bathroom a few days later. There had been some kind of accident and there was slime glowing EVERYWHERE. Thankfully it cleaned up quickly and easily!

Jocelyn, baby boy & I ready to cut into all the delicious pies.

Definitely not an awkward picture at all.

We left most of our gifts at home to save space in the van, but we were still very spoiled and enjoyed the chaos of Christmas with all the Bloods!

Christmas Eve

The three troublemakers ready for Christmas Eve.

Seth spent a lot of time pestering people while we were there. Basically, if he wasn't watching a screen, he was pestering someone. Didn't really matter who, although Brianna seemed to a particular favorite. When his obnoxiousness got out of control, Uncle Stephen threatened to beat him. But then he realized that the answer is always...LOVE. LOTS OF LOVE: 

This generally stopped him for a few minutes. 

Opening Christmas Eve gifts (we loved our Moose jammies!): 

Aaron & Eowyn were the most adorable Mary & Joseph I've ever seen: 

Joseph may have left Mary & the donkey behind to find their own dang way to the stable, but it all worked out in the end.  

Ethan was a surprisingly cooperative Baby Jesus.

He very much enjoyed receiving all his gifts.

We ended the evening listening to Dad bear his testimony of the Savior and singing hymns around the tree. Then it was off to bed!

Treasures

I discovered a treasure trove of old photos in one of Mom's albums this year and had to snap some pictures of little Jonny. I hadn't seen most of these before! 

I used to wonder where Aaron came from.

I don't wonder anymore. 

Jonny at Catherine's age.

Hoping to find more treasures next time we go home!

Christmas in WV

Almost all of the Bloods (missing Mary & Elizabeth & families, plus Joanna on her mission) were able to come home for Christmas this year. I think the final headcount was 28 people, although thankfully not all in one house anymore! 

Much to Seth's delight, most of Christmas vacation looked like this:

There was always an uncle or two around and willing to play Warcraft!

And when screen time was up, he had Uncle Jacob to play war with in the playroom.

It was a good Christmas to be Seth.

Elise and Tauriel used to be enemies. They have since decided they actually like each other and have instead begun working together to get into trouble. This was the first time they got into my makeup: 

Very remorseful, as you can see. 

In the older girl department, it was a similar vibe: 

Megan, Catherine & Brianna

These three spent a LOT of time being silly together. 

Watching football by the fire with Grandpa is the best way to put Elise to sleep.

The whole crew on Christmas Sunday.

And yes, Seth pulled that face in EVERY PICTURE.

He gets to write apology notes to everyone. 

Photo Shoot and Field Trips

Jon subtly hinted to me that he would like an updated picture of the family for his desk at work. Since I was not up for family pictures during pregnancy again, I dressed the kids up and snapped pictures on our favorite couch. The lightning wasn't super great, but they turned out okay. 

Crazy to think there will be five of them soon!

The Lady Baby in her beautiful dress from Grandma

My best friend Aaron

Blue, blue eyes on Catherine

Looking too grown up here

Getting a decent smile out of Seth is never easy, but I persevered!

Grandma Cathy gave Aaron a trip to Port Discovery in Baltimore for Christmas. When I called about setting up a trip in January, I found out they were closing from January through April for major renovations. They managed to sneak us in mid-December at a great discount rate. Aaron was over the moon to be back! It was especially fun since so many of our friends from co-op (both this year and last) joined us.  

Spraying all the instruments.

We also found out a local donut place was closing and decided to make one last trip.

The kids insisted on a photo with the giant donut before we left.  

Catherine wanted a solo shot: 

And then it was time to pack up and head to WV for Christmas!

Feeling Like Christmas

I've always loved the East Coast look of wreaths and candles in the windows. Last year I got the candles and this year it was the wreaths. They ended up being a bit smaller than I expected, but it still makes me happy every time I see them!

Because of illness (both mine and my students'), I had missed almost a month's worth of lessons this fall. I decided to skip the formal recital and try something else instead: playing at an assisted living center. Our homeschool co-op visited this center a few times last year so I decided to arrange for us to come and play our songs for the residents.

We showed up that night only to be met by some very confused employees. Apparently no one had notified them and all the residents were in bed (at 6:15 pm!). Thankfully they let us stay and play for each other! It was very informal and fun. Just a little disappointing that my brilliant service idea ended up being a bust! 

Catherine played Jingle Bells

Seth played Away in a Manger

I really pushed Seth for this recital and had him play out of the Hymns Made Easy book. It's much harder than his regular stuff. It wasn't perfect, but he worked hard and is being challenged. 

Catherine, on the other hand, took on some challenges of her own accord. Something about Christmas music flipped the switch for her: she is LOVING piano and will often sit down and start playing just for fun. She particularly enjoys trying to play songs out of Seth's books (and isn't too far behind him). Now we'll see if the enthusiasm endures once the Christmas books are put away...

Thanks to another round of illness, we had to skip our traditional gingerbread decorating with the Knoxes. It wasn't quite as fun or crazy, but everyone still seemed to have a good time.  

Elise gave decorating a decent effort before deciding to just eat the candy.

Aaron was very meticulous and knew exactly what he wanted.

Catherine was also very meticulous.

Actually, so was Seth.

Somehow I didn't get a picture of his this year.

Making huge messes and consuming tons of candy.

This was my favorite part of Aaron's house.

That lollipop is a cannon, aimed at anyone who might approach.

Little boys are the best.