Christmas Day

Part 3: Christmas

After our Bean Boozled game we all got ready, packed up the car, and headed up to my Mom's house in Northern Idaho. Justin joined us and we met up with Kelley and Elle. My mom's house was beautiful, festive, and the absolute perfect place to celebrate the holidays. Chrismas music was playing...amazing food was cooking...and we got the party started!!

The Johnsons and the BF

Mom, Elle, and Kelley

Mad for plaid...Kameron, Elle and Justin

Our family with Mom and Justin

Twinners! I know that Kam definitely appreciated having another guy around.

And so did she!

Opening gifts from Grandma...

Our kids all wanted her to make them some new cozy blankets for Christmas and they were so excited to get them. My mom also made handmade ornaments for everyone. So beautiful.

Kam loved his Royals blanket!!

There was even one under the tree for the BF. He loved it!

Bryn and Elle had requested that Grandma make them something different and extra special for Christmas. (They had received new blankets for their birthdays which was the spark for everyone else wanting one!!) Bryn was so excited to open her gift that she could barely contain herself.

They wanted Elsa Frozen capes!! Look how cute they turned out!!

The girls were THRILLED!! They lived in them for the rest of the time...and still do!!

Good job Grandma!!

Look at this gorgeous ornament my mom made!! Just beautiful.

Dinner was amazing!! Ham, funeral potatoes, my mom's famous caesar salad, rolls, and a million different kinds of homemade cookies and treats. My mom is the BEST!

That night we stayed up late playing games and had the best time!! Another wonderful Christmas in the books.

Early the next morning though...

This little cutie needed her tonsils out. My mom and I headed back to Spokane to be with Kelley for Elle's surgery. Elle was a little trooper. She did great!!

We stopped to visit our good friend Jennifer after Elle's surgery. Jennifer is a fellow vintage enthusiast and puts on the Funky Junk Antique Show in Sandpoint, Idaho every year over Labor Day Weekend. Her house was a vintage Christmas dream!!

Check out that cute kitchen of hers...and Jenn in her christmas jammies!! :)

I loved her china hutch with all that gorgeous transferware!!

We had the BEST time visiting Jennifer, Nathan, and Glenn.

My mom even held one of their chickens!! That is not a smile of joy on her face...that is PURE terror!! My mom has a fear of chickens...but look at her facing her fears!! Good job. (Let the record show that I did not hold nor touch a chicken as I don't like them either.)

Later that afternoon the snow started falling and lots of playing in the snow began!! Bryn was so stoked to get outside and play.

And...about that time my brother Kirk, his NEW FIANCE Meki, and her daughter Kaiya arrived. Kirk proposed on Christmas morning!! Very exciting. Ailey and Kaiya are the best of friends and they were so happy to be together again.

Ailey, Kaiya and Brynnie

Kirk and Meki brought with them two of their three huge dogs and Bryn was so happy that Milo was one of them!! He is her favorite.

We hung out some more...played video games on our phones, played regular games, played in the snow, watched movies, made snow slushies (thanks to Justin) and had a fantastic time!!

Snow slushies made with the freshest of North Idaho snow...pink lemonade, grape crush...we also made ginger ale ones, strawberry crush, and orange crush ones. I think grape crush slushies were the best.

Tyler Van Gough?

We also built the world's greatest snow fort!!

Reilly, Ty, Kam, and Bryn

Kam and Kirk

Brynnie helping out 

 

Ty and Kirk

Putting a roof on it. Look how crazy that falling snow looks...

The kids loved it and played in it all week.

To be continued...

Christmas Morning

Part 2: Bean Boozled Challenge

Santa brought these magic beans and put them in the kids stockings this year. We have had the Bertie Botz Every Flavor Beans before but the Bean Boozled ones have kicked it up a notch and allow you to challenge one another. I tried to pick just a few of my favorites but I love them all. However, I am only posting some of them, some of everyone, and ones where I am not yelling at the kids to stop spitting them on my tablecloth. Believe me...I could have posted a whole bunch more. They are all gems in their own way. Here are some for your (our) enjoyment.

Bean Boozled Challenge Round One:

Reilly and Kam: Tutti Frutti or Stinky Socks



Ailey and Bryn: Lawn Clippings or Lime



Kameron and Reilly: Dog Food or Chocolate Pudding



Tyler and Reilly: Peach or Puke



Tyler and Reilly: Moldy Cheese or Caramel Corn



(Yes, that was a real gag from Tyler, ignore Reilly's swearing, and let the record state that both Tyler and Reilly ate the candy cane piece WITH the plastic on it. THAT is how bad the moldy cheese was!!)

You might be wondering why I didn't participate in a round. I have played this game before and gotten both puke and booger and am still haunted, but don't worry, I played the game later with my brother Kirk as you shall see.  Ailey and Bryn also played multiple rounds but their reactions weren't quite as dramatic shall we say. Stay tuned...

Christmas 2014

Christmas

Part I

We had a fantastic Christmas this year...well anything would be an improvement over the big Christmas Barf-Fest of 2013. But seriously, we had a wonderful holiday. For whatever reason this year the Christmas season didn't seem as rushed and hectic and that was a wonderful gift of the season to all of us.

This year we had Christmas Eve at our house and then went up to my mom's house on Christmas Day to meet up with Kelley and Elle. Then the day after Christmas, Kirk, his fiance Meki, and Kayia drove up from Utah for a week. It was wonderful!! Reilly's boyfriend, Justin, was with us off and on also.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner of all sorts of good things...like lobster!! Delish. You might be wondering "Is that Tyler in a hideous turtleneck?" Why yes, yes it is, to my great dismay. I thoroughly hate turtlenecks and thought that all had been banished from our home but on Christmas Eve Tyler unearthed one from who knows where and thought it would be funny to...in a Clark Griswold sort of way...put it on and come to the table. But then...he liked it little too much. He wore it all night.

After dinner the kids put on a little Christmas program. Ailey, Bryn and Kameron had been working on it all day. I thought it turned out spectacularly...there was singing, dancing, trumpet playing, and all kinds of good things.

Kameron played multiple Christmas carols on his trumpet which sounded great!!

Ailey sang a few songs for us as well. Very lovely.

Bryn sang a cute solo and then Bryn and Ailey sang a duet.

There was even a family band rendition of Jingle Bells with Kam on the trumpet, Ailey on the toy drum, and Bryn on the jingle bells. Pure awesomeness.

Reilly did a dramatic reading and was the narrator for our Christmas Nativity Pageant.

We had a beautiful angel:

Mary and Baby Jesus:

Joseph:

They did a fantastic job!!

Turtlenecks for days...have you had enough of it yet? 

And then the REAL Christmas caroling began...toy drum. maracas, and all. Sing it baby!!

A good time was had by all!!

Then it was jammie time!!

The timer on my IPhone just doesn't do a good job, and digging out my other camera and tripod wasn't happening, so these will have to do.

We had our usual Christmas jammie fashion show which I will spare you the video of...yes, I was a part of it too!! Then we turned out all the lights including the tree and read the scriptures by candlelight and walked each child to bed also by candlelight. Our kids love this!!

Christmas morning dawned a beautiful, sunny, snow-free day and I wasn't complaining one bit. It was a gorgeous Christmas day. Santa treated us all very well this year.

We had a fantastic morning and enjoyed a delicious and leisurely Christmas breakfast. Then we played this:

Little did we know that this game would take over our entire Christmas break and become our game of choice and a family obsession. Have you taken the Bean Boozled challenge?

Stay tuned...