Christmas Break

We have had a great Christmas break this year.  After Pukemas 2010-11 we opted to stay at home this year and not do any traveling.  As no one came to us this year either,it was our first Christmas alone.  We are a big enough family that it was not lonely, and no offence against our relatives, but it was simply divine!  It was completely stress free, and so relaxing with lots of time with the kids. 

We have done a few fun things over the break that of course I did not bring my camera.  They include, going to parks, going roller skating at the roller rink, going to the zoo, having game nights, and many movies together as a family.   Including going to see Chipwrecked, which kicked off our break! Really a must see for Chipmunk fans such as the Campbell children are. 

As Da has 5 weeks off this break(yes, he has the dream job, believe me, we are aware) he wanted to get some projects done around the house. He pretty much finished painting every room in the entire house!(Except the laundry room, but who really cares?) It only took 3 1/2 years, but its done.  He did a great job! He finished our room, our bathroom, the half bath and the kids bathroom.  By the time he was done with the kids bathroom, he decided the laundry room was not important. I hardly blame the poor guy, as painting is a big project. 

On to some bigger news, Da and I are on a new diet. Its called the no garbage diet! Named by Da, inspired by Amy if the truth be told.  Basically the name sums up the diet.   The hardest part for me has been giving up pop. I have pretty much been drinking pop for like 20 years, minus a few small windows of time during pregnancy and nursing.  It has been rough, but I am committed to being healthier.  Da is of course struggling with his chocolate addiction, but we are really trying. We are planning on giving our selves a cheat day once a week. This makes it more realistic and gives us something to look fwd to as we feel like we are starving to death.  In reality we are not, but it is a big change cutting out a lot of carbs and living off fresh veggies.  But yeah! for us! I know we can do this.  Today when we were out shopping for some new shoes for Da, Sa asked if we could go get some ice cream.  Da did not even have to answer when Maddie piped in not happily with " No Sa, Mom and Dad are on a diet remember?"

We have loved spending so much time with the kids over the last few weeks.  It has even made me think about home school. I don't think I would really do it, but it has been so wonderful having so much time together. Although when the girls were fighting today, Da yelled out " It's time to go back to school" 

A few cute pics of Jack taking a bubble bath. He is a big sunbeam boy now! Its crazy that he is that big. I guess he loved it.  On Saturday night when I told him he was going to Sunbeams the next day he said he wanted to go to Nursery instead. I said, but you are a big boy now, and big boys go to sunbeams. He responded with " no, I still a little boy Mom, I will just go to nursery OK?"  But when the time came, he walked right in and sat in his chair and was happy as a clam.   He is just like Maddie in that way, not shy a bit.

 Over Christmas break the girls really enjoyed cooking,  Da and I  woke almost every morning to french toast or pancakes. They are allowed to use the electric griddle on their own.  They also really got into setting the table "Fancy"  Its so sweet.

Christmas eve was so wonderful. We made a ham dinner and ate around 4:00 pm.  We than went out and looked at Christmas lights.   Which is a tradition of my family.   Afterwards we came home and exchanged our family gifts. In years past, everyone has bought for everyone.  This year, with 6 of us, we decided to draw names. The end result was much better. Instead of getting 5 little and inexpensive gifts, you just received 1 nicer gift.   So we exchanged our gifts and than we had peach cobbler.  For Christmas this year Heath and Ashlyn made me an activity advent calendar. It included scriptures and fun things to do everyday of the month.   For Christmas eve it asked us to bear our testimonies of Jesus Christ.  Around the table while eating our cobbler, we took turns bearing our testimonies. Even Jack had something to say and it turned out to be so wonderful that we will make it our new tradition.   Something that we have always shared with the kids as well was the story of how we got engaged. Da proposed to me on Christmas eve, and that is the start of our family. Its something the kids always enjoy hearing, and Da and I like to remember it too.  

 While the Ham was cooking the girls decided to put on a holiday show for us.  We loved it!

 Christmas morning arrived at 4:23 am! Yes you read that right, it was the middle of the night!  But the girls had already seen all their surprises and there was not a chance that they were going back to sleep. We sent them back to bed, but finally just ended up getting up at 5:00 am.  We let them open their stockings, and we woke up Jack at about 6:00am.  We let Kev sleep, we are not  that crazy!  As it was, we knew we were going to be exhausted, the last thing we wanted was a grumpy baby all day too!

Kev ended up opening his presents after church.  He was adorable!

The kids of course were so frustrated by the speed of his present opening!  We kept trying to explain that it was OK, but they could hardly handle it.

And now what everyone has been waiting for.......pictures of the finished projects.  

This is the kids bathroom, I love the end result.

After Das finished painting our room, he said we had to throw the free bed I had found on the side of the road to the curb, and we bought our selves a new bed!  The first real frame we have ever had! This only took 10 1/2 years to get! 

Our bathroom

Half bath

And the kitchen has been done for awhile, but I never posted any pictures of it.  We had this done right before Thanksgiving.   We had the granite counter tops laid, and than realized that the cupboards needing to be repainted. So Da had to sand them down(just the top lip of them) and repaint the whole cupboard. After he finished that, he said " let's pick out some paint for the walls and just be done with this kitchen! It turned out beautiful!  I love the counter tops. I think they were worth the money. They always look clean and they shine beautifully!

The drop sink is one of my favorite things, its just so great to push everything straight into the sink and not worry about that lip. 

I really hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas season!  The kids go back to school tomorrow and than real life begins again!