Low-Key Christmas

Christmas Day was pretty low key - even for us. We opened presents in the morning had a nice breakfast and then played with toys... John went to the Laker game so we went to the movies and saw BOLT. We ended the day with left overs and an early bedtime... I was wiped out!

Here are a few highlights...
Brock and Owen got their, ever so desired, train set. I heard it took Santa and the elves over 5 hours to put together. WOW!
Paige got the DS she had been wanting... in fact that is ALL she would ask for. I guess Santa is nicer then her mother.
Owen got plenty of toys, but one special gift was "DJ" from the movie CARS. Owen has been collecting CARS since last Christmas and DJ is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find. Thank you Jenny for the perfect find! I think we were all excited - especially for Owen to stop reminding us that he was without that specific car.
John and his brothers (including Fletch) went to a Laker game. I'm sure many people wonder how I allowed it. To be honest it was hard to say no when he was just so excited. Merry Christmas to you Honey!

Jam Packed Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was packed full of activities this year... we decorated cookies for Santa, made a big Christmas dinner and performed a Nativity program. Busy... busy... busy... but way fun!
John helped Brock with his cookie decorating - It was hard to keep the cookies on the plate and out of the mouth of kids. Don't worry - it was impossible for me to resist. Once the kids were done I had to sit down and decorate my own special ones - I just can't pass it up.
I think Paige had more frosting and sprinkles then she had cookie.
All the kids were gathered together - it was like a juggling act with sprinkles, cookies and kids. I think I was sweating when they were done.
The little ones sat at the kitchen table - I can't believe how big they are all getting.
After dinner, and before dessert, the kids put on a Nativity program for all of us. This is their second year doing it - and we look forward to many more years to come. One day they may even be able to read their own parts.
Paige was Mary and Fletcher was Joseph. Owen was a Wise Man but he had a hard time giving up the spotlight - he sat right in their with Mary and Joseph during the birth of baby Jesus. I'm not sure that is how it really went down, but he didn't care. Kate was the angel and sang a solo of Silent Night for all of us.
After the festivities were over the kids opened their one present on Christmas Eve... to no surprise it was p.j.'s - how cute are these kids. We thought they looked like little elves. We put the plate of cookies for Santa on the fireplace and headed up to bed - well they went to bed. Owen couldn't wait, he knew going to sleep would only bring Santa here. I've never seen a kid rush himself to bed so quickly.

Christmas Caroling

We were lucky enough to get a Christmas Caroler at our door on Christmas Eve - low and behold, and baring gifts, it was Tess singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas - how cute is that?

Christmas in Camarillo

We drove up to Camarillo a few days before Christmas to celebrate with John's siblings and the kids. Their dog had just had puppies a couple months before and only had a few left. The kids were super excited to see the puppies and their cousins.
After lunch we enjoyed Chocolate fondue with all sorts of treats to dip.
Brock learned about swords and how to fight with them. He got a little too possessive and started slashing at other kids.
It's always nice when we go to Camarillo - the kids disappear for hours playing in the backyard, up in their playroom, with the dog or in this case - holding their snake.
Here is Owen with one of the puppies... I think they plan on keeping this one (how could you not - just look at him).

Santa Comes to Town

Santa made his way to the Barber's house again this year. The kids were all very excited to go see him. Owen couldn't wait to tell him what he wanted... in fact Owen was the only one to tell him. Paige avoided Santa like the plague and Brock wanted nothing to do with him. Owen walked in and when he saw him he took a step back and said, "Woooo!" It was like he got confirmation that he really did exist.
Owen and his friends... yes they are all girls - the kid needs to make friends with some boys.
He told Santa that he wanted.... "A TRAIN SET!!!!" Everything Owen says is told with mounds of excitement.

Preschool Christmas Program

Every year the preschoolers put on a Christmas performance - due to John's schedule he usually can't make it. Today he could and Owen was so happy to see him. I thought he was going to explode with excitement. Here he is doing his best "Ho...Ho...Ho..." impersonation.
Thomas, Londyn, Owen, Bree, Cash, Taylor, Bennett and Avery
So Excited!
After the performance the kids were going to make gingerbread houses. Owen ran up to John before anything started at asked, "Daddy will you make the gingerbread house with me." Ahh, the boy was just so happy his daddy was there. Of course Brock couldn't be left out (I think he has a mouth full of candy here).

Paige Get's the ABC Award

This week at school Paige received the ABC Award. I'm not sure how often they give out the awards but only 3 kids in the class get it. The principal announced her name and what the award was for, "her super math skills, terrific journal writing, beautiful penmanship, and kindness to others."

For all we know they give these awards out monthly or weekly - but either way we were so proud of her!
Brock was there the congratulate her!

Good job Paige!

Christmas Party

This year the Christmas Party was back at our house. It was a lot of fun, as always, and plenty to eat. Here are a few snap shots I took at the party. OK, looking back I didn't take very many pictures - there had to be at least 18 - 20 couples there! Sorry guys!

Patrick, David & Steve (holding baby Kendyl)
Jenny, Annalee, Aleisha & Laura
Christy, Julie & Lori (holding baby Max)

Christmas Pictures Take 1

I tried to take the kids to the San Juan Mission to take their Christmas pictures and it was a bust. They were going to charge us $75 just for ME to take their pictures there (OK, Julie ) but still!!! Instead we walked across the street to the train stop and 400 shots later we were unsuccessful. Here are a few...

Picking out the Tree

So we went the first week after Thanksgiving to pick out the Christmas Tree. Paige wanted it "really big, not small like the one we got last year" - so that was the plan. Unfortunately it took two attempts to find this special tree. They were out at the first Home Depot we went to so a couple nights later we went out again and found our special tree.

Brocky hiding with all the trees. Peek-a-boo!
Paige agreed that this was our tree!
All the kids watching closely as John unwraps the tree - will it be the one... no this one wasn't it. Notice they are in heavy jackets and caps but still wearing flippies - yep - it's So Cal here.

This is one of my favorite parts about Christmas. There is just something so fun about going out at night and picking the tree out. The kids love to run around and play in the pine needles.

If I Only Had a Brain...

I swear lately my brain has gone on hiatus. Yesterday was one of the worst so far. We got a notice in the mail saying that Paige has been tarty too many time. I know! Who's fault is that other then her mom who gets her ready for school and her dad who drives her to school. I also work in Paige's classroom every other week - and the past few times I haven't been able to go due to severely sick kids. Well I tell her teacher on Wednesday "Don't worry - I'll be there tomorrow!" I go to sign in at the office and they ask for my badge. The school has a new fingerprinting/TB Test policy and the deadline was December 1st. I was so embarrassed considering they even extended the deadline. I apologized and asked if I could talk to the teacher - they said, "No. You can leave a note." So I said sorry in a short hand written letter and then turned to leave, when one of the office staff follows me out and to ask if I got the letter from the Principal regarding Paige's tardiness. I told her yes and that I spoke to her dad who drives her. As I walked away another mom said, "Wow, they even came out to reprimand you!" I thought I was going to die, not only did they see I hadn't taken the appropriate steps to work in the classroom I was clearly an unfit mother who couldn't get her child to school on time. I left feeling ashamed and embarrassed. Later that day while at home I get a call from the school saying, "It's early out day today and school got out 20 minutes ago - Paige is here with her friend waiting for you to come get them." I had to drive to the school again and go into the office to sign them both out. I WANTED TO CRAWL UNDER A ROCK AND DIE! Embarrassed is an understatement. I don't ever want to show my face in that office again unless it is to pick up the Mother of the Year award. Then to top off my day I downloaded a huge virus from my Facebook account and it sent the virus to all my facebook friends. Ahhhh! Where is my brain these days - I have never done anything like that before. John spent half the night and most of the morning fixing the computer.

I'm not quite sure how I am going to handle 4 kids and a dog when clearly I am getting more and more senile by the day. Any suggestions???

Thanksgiving in Utah

Every year for Thanksgiving we go to Utah - this year when we went we were able to stay with my parents.  The kids had a blast at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  We stayed downstairs and had the place to ourselves... it was great.  We spent some time with my sister Emily (who is moving to Texas soon) going to the park and the movies.  We had a huge Thanksgiving Feast with my parents and still spent time with John's mother and brother's family.  We were there for 8 nights and we couldn't believe how fast it went by... a lot of fun!

Here is Brock being funny with some chocolate.
We tried to have fun whenever possible - here we are at a quick trip to a local grocery store... the boys were having a blast.
One morning John took Owen for some special Daddy time.  They went to a nearby creek and threw rocks in the water - you have NO IDEA how much fun this is to Owen.  This boy absolutely loves throwing rocks in the water.  Good cheep fun, right?
We met up with the Peterson family and headed to Chuck E. Cheese.  We don't get to see them very often so it was a treat. 

John couldn't help but feed into Owen's OCD... they lined up all the dominoes in order - Owen wanted to pose for a picture by them.
It was nice to visit with Great Grandma as well - she flew up with us and it only took a couple of days but then Brock really warmed up to her and couldn't get enough.  We would come home from an outing and he would run and jump on Great-Grandma's lap and say... "Baabaa!"  You just have to put in the time and then soon enough Brock with steal your heart!
We went to Jump On It, like always.  John can't help but get in on all the jumping fun. 

The day before we left we wanted to take the kids up to Salt Lake to the Children's Museum.  A friend suggested we go to the Dinosaur Museum instead - this was good because it was minutes away.  I thought we might kill a couple hours there and then do something else... oh no, 7 hours later more like it.  The kids LOVED it and didn't want to leave.  I couldn't' believe it!
Paige's favorite part was digging for bones... well "dusting" for them anyway.  This museum had a bunch of hands on things for the kids to do and this was one of them.


We even saw a 3-D Dinosaur movie.  I loved watching the kids reach out to grab the dinosaurs.  Note to self: Brock is still too young to go to movies.  I don't know when we'll learn our lesson - the guy was a disaster and John had to take him out.  It's a problem when your almost 2 year old tries to climb on other people.  Geeesh!



Another activity they loved was creating there own island and land for their little dinosaurs.  They had this area where you could move sand and water and create your own island.  It wasn't too messy because of the bibs, but fun.  I think our kids took most of the toys in there for themselves.  


After the Dinosaur Museum we started to drive off and saw two reindeer fenced up nearby for people to see.  We pulled over and ran to see who it was.  
Why, it was none other than Comet and Blitzon... well according to this cute boy who was taking care of them.  He went into great detail for Paige about how Santa dropped them off to be babysat while he got ready for Christmas.  He told her all about the reindeer and what they like to eat and how they help Santa.  He was super cute to her. 
Then he tried to scoot them over so she could pet them.  Very nice young man.