White Christmas 2010

This Christmas was different from any other Christmas. Jay and Kathy came out to celebrate with us. We have asked them several times to come out, but it wasn’t until Savannah asked that the answer was yes. I think they had a great time watching the kids get so excited.
Christmas Eve we had a party with friends. The Daltons, Andrades, Simpsons, and Dollars came over for lunch and games. Bingo with prizes was a favorite for the kids. The adults competed for the coveted ping-pong trophy. The Dollars won. You would think that since it’s our table that we would rock the competition, but sadly, no we did not make a good showing at all. Next year is our year I’m just sure of it.

The Boys: Brad, Patrick, Jay, & Mike (missing Andy)

The Girls: Jeannie, Betsy, & Esther (missing Jessica)

More Girls: Kathy & Betsy

Fierce concentration

Ping-Pong is a contact sport: all participants must sign a waiver

The Hunter

The Hunted

The Victim

After the party we took a break and watched Santa Paws. That evening we assigned parts for the Nativity. Emma Grace was Mary. She was very tender with her baby. I spoke with her about who Mary was. I explained to her that Mary was baby Jesus’ Mommy. That she rode on a donkey a long way and then had the baby In a stable. We talked about the star and the shepherds. It was a very sweet conversation. She added that Mary loved the baby. I confirmed that yes she loved him very much. She replied, “That’s right Mommy, Good Job, that’s what my teacher told me, too.”

Mary Mother Mild

That was the extent of our full family pagent. The babies were too tired to last any longer. Savannah and Alyssa's version of the story was a bit more dramatic.

No, you can't stay here! There's no room!

Angels we have heard on high!

PJ's for all

Hiding from Santa is a big deal at our house. Santa writes us a note letting us know how the deliveries are going and what time we should be sure to be asleep. We make sure that we are waiting to watch the big guy at work. Grandma and Grandpa had never seen Santa in action. They were very excited. We all got into our hiding places and Savannah acted the Santa role. “Ho Ho Ho. The Baughs are a great family. Grandpa I can see your head. Ho Ho. Savannah sure has been good, but Alyssa is on the naughty list. (Hee Hee). Grandma your hair is fluffy I can see it.” When everyone was sufficiently hidden then girls were encouraged to go to sleep. Yeah, right.
Santa came right on time and we were there to see it all. Amazing how he knows all about us, even that Logan needs to quit hitting Emma Grace. He spoiled us rotten as usual. The kids got new ATV’s and the babies got John Deere’s.

The cherry on the top of our perfect day was when snow started falling from the heavens. Real snow. Real go sledding, build a snowman snow. The girls had fun sledding down our hill.

Christmas is a fun time. It’s fun to be with family and friends. It’s also fun to remember the eternal gifts that were given to us. Jesus Christ, is attonement, and the gift of Resurrection. I love my Savior and I love celebrating His birth.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Goodnight

stuffed with fluff

I made some "PRAY" pillows for my young women for Christmas. I had to buy several bags of fluff to stuff them all. One day while I was otherwise engaged my babies let me know that I should "stuff it".

Snow!!!???? Kind of.

The kids were so excited when they looked out the window to see SNOW! Too bad it didn't stick to anything and all their dreams of school being canceled were smashed.

Preschool Christmas Program

Emma Grace loves her preschool. She comes home full of stories and adventures of the day. One of the highlights of the year is the Christmas program. All of the little children come to school dressed in their festive attire. They get to perform for their parents in the main worship hall. It really is a beautiful thing to see tiny children singing praises to our King.

Emma Grace was in rare form. She sang with her whole soul. There was a particular note in a song that she loved the very best. To show her enthusiam for it she raised both hands above her head when she sang it. I really think she thought the whole crowd was there just to see her. At the end of every song she would put on her most humble face, close her eyes, and take a little bow. It was hysterical.

Emma Grace with Ms. Elina

Little House in the Big Woods

Entire cast

Alyssa with Mrs. Anderson

Laura with her Ma

Laura in front of the family Christmas tree

Alyssa has been enjoying Mrs. Anderson’s 4th grade class. One of the perks of having Mrs. Anderson as a teacher is having the opportunity to participate in her Christmas play.
As a class they read “Little House in the Big Woods”. They learn about American History as they study the book. They learn about fractions as they learn how to quilt. They learn about science as they dehydrate apples and learn to make biscuits.
I just have to say that Harbins will be saying goodbye to a whole teaching style when Mrs. Anderson retires at the end of this year. I’m not sure where the system started going downhill, but it seems to me that the creativity has been taken out of our public education system. Both of my big girls have been greatly blessed to have Mrs. Anderson as a teacher.
She really pours her heart and soul into this play. She writes the script to fit the personality of her class. She teaches them all to square dance (and they LOVE it). They each make a quilt square to give to their Mom for Christmas, and a rag doll to place on their tree. She sews all of the costumes herself and insists that every other year she has a short class and every other year a tall one, meaning that she has to re-hem the costumes every year.
Every child gets a part in the play, but the coveted parts are those of the Ingalls family. And, the most wished for part is that of Laura Ingalls. My Alyssa was given the part of Laura. She was so excited. She was pretty confident that she got it, because Mrs. Anderson didn’t have her read for any other part. She was great. I just have to say that Alyssa was AWESOME. She’s very confident on stage. She said all of her parts with such enthusiasm. I spoke with Mrs. Anderson after the first play and she told me that when she needs to smile, she thinks of Alyssa saying her “line about the bear”.
The play starts out by talking about a family journal. Mrs. Anderson actually has a journal that she has had every “Laura” record her feeling about the play. Alyssa has really been thinking about what she will write as the last “Laura” in the book.

The play opens with the Ingalls family in "time-out" position

Pa shows Laura and her little sister the family journal

The girls beg to know what the surprise is.

Laura anxiously awaiting the arrival of her cousins.

Laura square dancing with Uncle Peter

Laura records her feelings about this wonderful Christmas in the big woods.

Nan turns 12!!!

Savannah has been planning her birthday party since December 22, 2009. The plans have changed slightly, but her overall theme stayed consistant.

Theme: Service

Her first thought was to take her friends that could go to the temple and perform baptisms for the dead. But, our temple is closed for remodeling, so that idea was a no go. Her second idea was beautiful and with some finagling we were able to help her pull it off. She decided that instead of having her friends bring gifts for her, she would ask them to bring money so that they could buy Christmas gifts to a child in need. What kind of kid does that? I just have to say that I’m very proud of her. She never boo hooed that she didn’t get any presents at her party. She was super excited to go shopping for her “Christmas Angel”. I chose and “Angel” for her off of the Salvation Army tree at the mall. She is a 4 year old girl. She need clothes, shoes, panties, socks, and PJ’s. She would love a bike, and a Princess and the Frog toy.
It was kind of hard to decide how to ask the parents to send money. In the end I was blown away with the response. We had over $300 to spend on our Angel.
The girls came to our house, stuffed their faces with pizza, and we were off to Target. They were really cute picking out clothes. Our basket was overflowing. The toys were the hardest to control. They are all so spoiled that it was a great lesson in budgeting. They had to take the $35 purple and pink bike over the $65 princess bike. Don’t worry, they splurged on the Princess helmet. They even put together a stocking for her. All of the girls enjoyed thinking of the sweet little girls who would be so surprised to have such a wonderful Christmas.

After the sleepover and all the friends were gone Mike took Savannah to the Salvation Army to deliver her gifts. I asked her how it made her feel to have done what she did. She got quiet and just said, “good”. That’s just about all you can say. Helping others just feels good. I’m very proud of her.

Never fear. She gave up her gifts from her friends, but her parents came through quite nicely. The caboodle and the i-touch were the highlights.
Now it’s off to Young Women’s. While we were out to dinner, the Beehives broke into our house and “Heart Attacked” Nan’s room. Welcome Savannah, you are now officially a “Beeve”.