Christmas, Tanners Big day and sledding

I haven't been much into updating my blog lately. I don't know if its just that I'm too stressed and in the evening when I do get the time to blog, I'm tired, but for whatever reason, I didn't blog about Christmas in fact, I hate to admit this, but I didn't take many pictures either. Sorry. I did get my Christmas tree though. As oddly decorated as it looks, its with the kids help and you can't just go and undo all their hard work.

So, here are the last few weeks leading up to this great day. Monday, December 15, I had my piano recital. That was my first major stress. It was in our home, so once that was over, we were able to get our tree. For the last month and a half, Tanner has been involved in a Draper City play, which has taken a chunk of our time every Tues-Thurs and Saturdays as well. Then for the two weeks prior, it was Mon-Thurs and Saturdays. I'm telling you, I have been SO grateful that gas has gone back down! So last weekend, they put that play on and then we were ready to begin Christmas Crazyness. On the 23rd, we had Tyson's grandmas family party, then it was Christmas Eve and we had my family party.
Then came Christmas. Oh Christmas!!! Yes, so my kids finally got to the point where their own excitement was what woke them up, instead of us waking them up. Well, that awakening came at 2:15am!! Yes, Tanner and Tyler woke up on their own that early! You might ask what we did at that point. Well, I think part of the reason I heard them, was because Jefferson was waking up to eat, so for the first little bit, they showed me what Santa brought, then as he was finishing up, I told them when I was little, I liked to get my pillow and sleep with all the toys Santa brought. That worked for about...it didn't work, they were still too excited to sleep. So I went back to bed while they kept looking at the new stuff. Well, for the next hour, they came in every 5-10 min. asking if it was time to open presents. At that point, Tyson told them to go down and turn on Disney Channel. That worked for about an hour. At that point, we figured 5:30 was good enough, so we let them encourage Jake to wake up. We opened presents and toys and in about 15 min, this long awaited event was over. Tyson's parents came over at 9am to see what Santa brought and at noon we went the their house for Christmas Ham and roast beef. YUM! Then we headed down to my families to open presents. That night, I went to bed only to wake up at midnight and bow to the porcelain God for the rest of the night. I hate the stomach flu! But I have to say, nothing brings off the Christmas poundage like throwing everything up and not being able to eat anything of real substance for the next 30 or so hours. Despite the little flu, everything was great. We had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a great new year.
Jake proudly showing his elmo knee pads Santa brought. He got a helmet as well and a Hulk Big Wheel bike. Sadly, this is the only picture we got of the gifts santa brought. We were so tired, I don't think it occurred until after the matter to take pictures.

Today, I decided to call the dentist to see if we should have one of Tanner's teeth pulled. So we headed down to Alpine so my mom could watch the other kids. So, this long awaited day has finally come for Tanner. He has now lost his first tooth and is very proud of it. I was very impressed with his reaction to the whole thing. They did numb the area of his tooth, but that tooth was out in less than 20 seconds. I have to say though, unless we have some real serious tooth issues, we won't be taking that route again. Not only does the tooth fairy have to deliver, but this tooth cost $54 to pull out! I wish I made $54/min. :)

Tanner looking horrified, but this is just because we couldn't get a picture without him looking drugged because his eyes would be half shut as the picture took.


Saturday, Tyson decided he wanted to take the kids sledding. I didn't go with them, because Jefferson has been trying to kick a cold and I didn't want him out in the freezing cold!! So there weren't too many pictures taken, but enough to show we do like to have fun with our kids. This was also Jakes first experience. He was so excited, but from what Tyson said once he got on the tube, he had other ideas of what fun was.