Christmas in Snowflake

We had a fun Christmas in Snowflake. This year we stayed with my parents and Christy, Tennyson and Hudson were there too. The kids had so much fun playing together and played really well. The day before Christmas we took the kids to see Tangled. It was the first time we had taken Kelton to a movie. I think he was a little scared at first, but he liked it. I really liked the movie and can't wait until it comes out on video so I can watch it again.

On Christmas Eve we went over to Webb's so all the grandkids could open their pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa. Our whole familly got matching U of A pajamas. It was really fun.

Here are a bunch of the grandkids in their new pajamas.
Here we are in our matching pajamas on Christmas morning.

Natalie got up at 6:30 on Christmas morning. A little while later she asked if she could wake Kelton. I told her no. She then went right in and did it anyway. I guess she was just too excited. After everyone was awake, we needed to wait a few more minutes for Melanie and Sean to arrive from Show Low. I found Natalie up in the window watching for them.

Damon is 8 months old, so this is his first Christmas. He loves to eat paper, so he was a fan of wrapping paper. He did actually seem interrested in the presents underneath too.

Damon also thought all the big boxes were really fun to climb on. He pulled himself up onto his feet for the first time on Christmas day. He fell over and cried a few seconds later. Also, by the end of our stay, he was crawling everywhere. Before we went to Snowflake, he could crawl a few "steps" but then would flop on his belly because it was faster that way. But now, he is pretty good at crawling on his knees.

You can't tell from Natalie's face, but this was her most favorite present.

Over Thanksgiving, Nate's neice, who is a junior in high school, had one of those dolls that simulates a real baby that she had to take care of. Natalie was fascinated by this doll that cried and had to be fed and changed. She decided that she wanted one for Christmas. I found this doll that the face moves when you give her a pacifier/bottle. The eyes open and close (not the old school ones that use gravity--this actually looks real) and the mouth looks like she is sucking on the pacifier. It makes sucking noises and if you take out the pacifier, she cries. If you leave it in, she falls asleep, closes her eyes, and her chest rises and falls as she sleeps (and kinda snores). If you pick her up while she is sleeping, she will wake up and make playing noises. It's a really cool doll. I would have loved it as a kid. And Natalie does love it. She has been the best little mother to her doll. We got the doll a rocking basinet and I crocheted a blanket for it. We actually didn't know the doll cried. It didn't say anywhere on the box that it did. So when it first started crying, we thought it was one of the real babies in the house. My sister Melanie even went down the hall to check on Jade because she thought it was her. That night, Natalie pulled the doll in her bed next to where she would be sleeping. She came to me and asked, very seriously, "Mom, what do I do if my baby starts crying in the middle of the night?" It was so cute. Who knew I would be giving motherly advice to my daughter so soon? I assured her that her doll wouldn't cry in the middle of the night. I then made sure the bottle and pacifier were far away from it's mouth. The last thing I needed waking me up along with my real baby, was a doll crying.

Nate combined all his resources (including some left over birthday money) to get himself a PS3. I also published his missionary journal and all the letters he wrote home (and also the letters his mom wrote him) in a hardbound book and gave that to him. Nate surpried me with an iPod shuffle and an under the cabinet stereo system for the kitchen. I didn't even know that I wanted any of that, but I am really excited about it.

We had one little setback at the end. We tried to come home on Monday night but a little more than an hour into our trip, Kelton threw up. Natalie followed suite about a minute later. They had eaten some cottage cheese right before we left, and I think it might have been bad. So, the kids and the car were a mess, so we headed back to Snowflake for the night. By the time we got back and got everyone and everything cleaned up, it was about midnight. We then got up in the morning and started our trip over again. It was lots of fun. But that part aside, we had a great Christmas and had a lot of fun seeing our families.

My spirit is...

This little girl of ours. She really does keep us entertained.

We told her it was her turn to teach FHE tonight. She's been waiting for this for a few weeks. She told us she didn't need any help and then she said she needed to make a picture first. So she ran off to her room.

A few minutes later, she came back. We sang, we prayed, and Natalie started her lesson. She held up visual aid #1...

and said... "This is my spirit. It's white because I have a clean spirit."

Then she held up visual aid #2...

and said, "This is Kelton's spirit. It's black because he had a dirty spirit."

Nate and I started laughing, as quietly as possible, of course. Apparently, in her mind, she has been an angelic child and her brother has some repenting to do. Anyway, she later told us that people with clean spirits return to heaven with Heavenly Father and people with dirty spirits go down to the bad people. I asked if Kelton was going to go down to the bad people, and she said no. So that's good at least. We then had a nice talk about what you do if you have a dirty spirit, i.e. repentance.

Silly girl. We love her tons!

All I want for Christmas is...

Not the two front teeth, but close. The two bottom ones. Natalie's two bottom teeth have been loose for a little while now. As I was brushing her teeth last night, I wanted to take a picture, mostly because her permanent teeth are coming in behind her baby teeth. (Her dentist said this happens in about 10% of kids.) So she has two rows of teeth. It reminds me of a shark and how they have multiple rows of teeth.

So then, I decided to wiggle the tooth, like I do every night. It was so loose, but still stuck. I asked her if I could just pull it out. She said yes. So I started pulling and she said it didn't hurt, so I kept pulling, and... out it popped! I think I scared her though, because I gasped and she didn't know her tooth had come out and she thought something was wrong.

Then I showed her the tooth and she was soooooo excited. She couldn't keep the laughter inside. She could only be quiet for a few seconds at a time before the next round of excited laughter came out. It was so cute. You can tell she is way excited.

Here she is in bed with her tooth tucked in beneath her pillow, waiting for the tooth fairy. Who, by the way, took her tooth and left her a dollar. She is very excited to go to the dollar store and pick out "whatever she wants." Her other bottom tooth is really loose too and I've noticed her working at it more today than ever before, because now she knows how fun it is to loose a tooth. That one will be gone too within the week. Oh, and Natalie also discovered yesterday (before loosing her tooth) that her top right tooth is a tiny bit loose. So there is still a chance that she might be wanting her two front teeth for Christmas. If so, I will definitely teach her to sing the song. And I will record it.

And Natalie is not the only one... At about the same time that Natalie's permanent bottom teeth started poking through, Damon started getting the exact same two teeth. (this was 3 or 4 weeks ago) I thought it was funny that they were both getting the same teeth at the same time. Natalie, however, was a lot less grouchy about the whole process.

Look closely, they are there! As of today, they are a little more than halfway in. I forget how razor sharp they are. I love how these super sharp teeth coincide with them being mobile enough to get all the little things in their mouth that you have to fish out with your fingers. I wonder if Heavenly Father thinks that is funny. I have to admit that I would be up there laughing too... if I weren't the one being bitten all the time.