I cannot believe that it is already January 1, 2014. That is completely unreal to me. So much happened in 2013 that I am a little sad to see it go so soon. The rest of December was filled with tons of fun. Here is the recap.
Rick and Ella-Rene stayed with us until December 11th. We really enjoyed spending time with them. Baking cookies and watching Despicable Me 2 were the highlights. Ella-Rene kept me sane while trying to get some old VHS tapes converted to a digital format. I went through two VCRs before we finally found one that worked and would play my VERY old tapes (from high school!!)
Grandma Ella-Rene made this blanket for Jeremy when he was little. It is his favorite. He still has it on his bed.
This desk belonged to Rick's grandpa and then to his dad and then to him and now he has passed it on to Steve. Ever since Steve was a little boy he has loved this desk. It is gorgeous.
Making cookies!!!
Eating cookies!!!
These cookies are for the teachers at Lake Norman Charter.
Naomi gave a very festive performance of "Jingle Bells".
When Rick and Ella-Rene left I was forced to return to reality. I got all the presents ready to mail. As you can see from the picture below, that was no small feat. We baked and delivered and had a great time getting ready for Christmas.
December 12th, Steve received his certificate of completion of the Premier PhD program. For months he has been working in small groups learning different management skills and putting together presentations and programs that were considered for implementation in the company. Only 8 people a year are invited to participate so he is one of a small group who has been through the program. It was a great experience for him.
Our ward Christmas party was on Friday, December 13th. It was really fun. The dinner was great. There was a slide show with past and present pictures of members of the congregation. We had a program put on by the sisters and elders and then came the visit from Santa. Naomi was excited this year as she has not had a chance to visit with the big guy in quite some time and has never had her picture take with him. Her childhood is now complete.
The next day, while shopping for some tools at Lowe's, I got to visit with the big guy as well. It has been years. He was just as nice as ever. I love Christmas!!
December 14th Jeremy rented a tamper and got all the gravel placed and tamped down in preparation for laying the stones. We are almost there!!!
December 14th was also a great day for Nick. He scored two points and shot two foul shots. He is really getting excited about playing basketball. Everyone played great and they really started working like a team. In the end, they didn't win based on the most points, but they won based on their level of teamwork. Way to go, Navy!
December 19th I took Jeremy to the Urgent Care because he had another ingrown toenail that had gotten infected. I naively thought that going on a Thursday, in the middle of the day, would be a less busy time. WRONG!! Three-and-a-half hours later!!! Oh well, his toe feels better and the infection will soon go away.
December 22 Sister Cobb and I gave our cute little Sunbeams their pillowcases for Christmas. They were so cute about it. We also found out that we were not moving up with our cute little class, but getting to stay as the Sunbeam teachers with a whole new group of kiddos. We are certainly going to miss seeing this group every Sunday. They have been such a great class. After church we fed one set of sister missionaries at our house and then took dinner to the second set since the two sisters schedules were so different for the day. It was a long day, but we all enjoyed it.
December 23rd, Naomi had her friend Emily come over to play. They had a great time playing games and doing weather experiments.
Nicholas goofed off in the backyard with his basketball hoop. He got my small kitchen ladder and was using it to help him "stuff" the basket. I think these pictures tell a great story. He did this for at least an hour before he finally got tired out.
Christmas Eve was a great day! We got to have our "sisters from another mother" come and play with us while their daddy had some surgery on his knee. They thought this was a great way to spend the day. We played and rode scooters and bikes and baked cookies for Santa and sent them home nice and tired so hopefully they would sleep through the night.
Christmas Eve night the kids got to open their new pajamas. This year they wanted custom-made pjs and even picked out the pattern, fabric and design.
We had told the kids the night before that they had to wait for us to be up before they could go downstairs. About 7 a.m. we hear Nick and Naomi at the top of the stairs (which is right outside our bedroom door) having the following conversation.
Naomi: "Let's just go down."
Nick: "NO! They said to wait."
Naomi: "They won't know."
Nick: "Yes they will."
Naomi: "No they won't."
Us: "Yes we will."
(The sounds of scrambling back to their rooms. Steve and I laughed for a minute then got up to get ready for the day. We had to drag Jeremy out of bed. He is such a teenager!)
"Can we come down NOW?"
Nick got the new Hero Factory sets he wanted.
Jeremy FINALLY got the iPod he has been eyeing for months.
Sean and Brynn sent us these cool pants and scarf from Ecuador.
Naomi let her inner DaVinci come out with the paint set from her cousin, Andrew.
Nick has been talking about this camera for weeks and was so excited to find out that we really had gotten it for him. Now he had make all the movies he wants with his very own camera.
One of his first movies will include solar-powered robots! Thanks cousin Nate!
Steve got his bow. Several of his friends from church bow hunt and he has always wanted to give it a try.
Christmas afternoon we fed the Elders and had a great time goofing off with them. We asked the ward mission leader what they might need. We were told that neither of them had a really ugly tie and a pair of really ugly socks. No mission is complete without these two items. Steve and the kids had a great time picking them out. The elders loved the idea (and even wore them to church the following Sunday). It was a really fun day. We enjoyed every minute of it.
December 26th we all just chilled and did whatever we wanted. Steve and the boys went out to find us a new WiiU since the games we had purchased as gifts wouldn't play on the old Wii (which was getting increasingly tempermental each day anyway. We were waiting for it to die. Then end was near.) That said, you know what the boys did the rest of the day. One of the cool benefits is that now we can stream the internet through the WiiU. No more having to pull my computer downstairs, hook it up to the TV with the HDMI cable, fiddle with it until the image appears on the TV screen and then have to pop up every 8 minutes to move the mouse so the screen saver doesn't activate in the middle of one of the General Conference talks. YEA!!! Naomi and I made use of her new sewing machine she got for Christmas. She sewed a bag and then wanted to sew some clothes for her stuffed dog. We went to the fabric store and picked out some patterns (which were on sale!!!) and fabric to get her dog some new threads. She had a great time picking everything out.
She is "sew" proud of her new bag! It has a front pocket and Velcro to keep it closed.
Nick got to spend an entire weekend playing with his buddy Matt. They spent one day at his house and one day at our house. By the end of the second day Nick was a little worn out and had a moment of extreme frustration and lack of good judgement in which he threw a rock and broke one of the neighbor's windows. Luckily Moe is a great guy and was mostly concerned that Nick was so upset. We got Nick calmed down and came up with a plan to replace the window. Nick will have to work to earn the money, but he is willing to do the work and has hopefully learned his lesson on finding a more positive way to vent his frustration. Knowing his daddy's history with rocks and windows I am surprised this hasn't happened sooner.
December 30th I took all three kids to the dentist for their cleaning appointments. The good news is - No Cavities! Bad news - Nick is ready for braces. His teeth are so crowded in his mouth that the newer ones are growing in really crooked. Oh well, we knew it was coming eventually.
December 31st Steve, Jeremy and Justin spent most of the day at Hind's Feet Farm working on his eagle project. They were finally able to start laying the stones. He can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and is getting excited. He also finished up one of his final eagle-required merit badges. One more to go.
Jeremy and Justin hauling sand from the pile to the work site.
Making sure the stones are in the proper position.
By the time they stopped in the late afternoon, they had a 9-foot circle in place.
Lookin' Good!
Meanwhile, back at home, Nicholas and Naomi played with modeling clay. Nicholas designed his own car. It was awesome.
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Car close-up.
For New Year's Eve the kids wanted to have chicken tenders and fries with potstickers for dinner. We played games and goofed off for a bit, then watched Star Trek II and III (the kids wanted to see what the earlier versions of Star Trek looked like). At midnight we watched the ball drop. It was great.
Getting wacky!
A New Year's toast with IBC cream soda! Here's to a great 2014!
The following are just great pictures from the year that I found on Steve's phone while I was looking for something else.
Nick, Brother Barker and Jeremy at the Priesthood session of conference in October.
Justin, Jeremy and Nicholas goofing off at the Army Surplus Store!!
Happy 2014!
