December 2010

It's weird, but because I took such a long break from blogging, now even when I do have time, I forget that it's something I could do.  So it's taking me a long time to catch up.

Here are some of our December pictures from before our Christmas trip.

At the beginning of the month, I was working on a "2010 Mott Family photo book" type thing to give away as a gift, and I wanted some Christmas-y pictures for the December section, but obviously I didn't have any Christmas pictures yet to include.  I only had one day to figure something out before I had to order the book (to get it done and shipped in time), so I decided to try out a nativity scene photo shoot with the kids.  It went way better than I expected, considering the rushed manner it was put together in - throughout the day I collected random possible outfits and set them up on my bed, swapping things in and out and mixing and matching, etc.  I hung up a blue sheet over our fireplace, taped a little star on it, got Lizza and Henry ready, and then as soon as the older kids walked in from school I started throwing different clothes on them.  At the last minute I woke Cindy up from her nap, swaddled her in a blanket, and called it good. 

I was really happy with the results, but don't look too closely, or you might be able to tell that Joseph is wearing a pillowcase draped around his legs for the bottom half of his outfit (I never claimed this was going to be a professional photo shoot, okay?)

 Mary and Joseph with their sweet little baby.

I kept laughing at Lizza, because for some reason I couldn't get that book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" out of my head - can't you just picture Lizza fitting right in with the scraggly Herdmans?  And crazy angel Gladys yelling "Shazam!  And into the black night. . . ."   That used to be my favorite part.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, I guess you'll have to read the book.

 

She was a very sweet little angel though, even if she did keep asking if she could hold baby Jesus the whole time.

Miss Cynthia was the star of the show, and didn't fuss the whole time.

Once the photo shoot was out of the way, I was able to forget about Christmas for awhile, and enjoy the nice Texas weather.  After seeing how easily Rachel picked up bike-riding, Lizza decided she wanted to try it out (I know in normal families all the 4-year olds can ride bikes, but in our family this is way early, so we were amazed that she could do it right away). 

Here is a little video clip of her cruising down the hill by our house on Rachel's bike, and the thing that I am SO SAD about is that I turned off the video camera right before she realized she didn't know how to stop, drove into our front yard, up into a planter, and smack into a tree.  I can't stop laughing even as I type this, because it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and to think that I missed capturing it on video! 

It would have been better than this even.

And here are 3 little bag ladies I found by my front door.  Rachel was being the mom and Lizza and Henry were her children (so I am taking no responsibility for their outfits). 

I know I have said before how much Elizabeth likes holding Cynthia and taking care of her, but seriously, it is getting to be a problem because Cindy is going to be the most spoiled baby ever, and it won't be because of me - it will be because her 4-year old sister doesn't ever put her down!

Henry has entered a huge puzzle stage, and I love it!  We have a whole bunch of cardboard puzzles that he really wanted to do, and at first I thought they would be too hard for him, so I wrote letters on the back of the pieces and on the spot where they go, so he could match up the letters.  He loved that idea, but after doing a few like that, he figured out he could do all the rest without any letters.  He will sit and do puzzles all day, which is just fine by me. 

 

We didn't want to haul all of our Christmas presents for the kids to Utah, so the week before we left on our trip was "random Christmas present giving week".  Whenever Daniel and I felt like it, we would announce that it was present time, and someone would get to open something.  Everyone loved this arrangement, and it was fun for the kids to be able to play with some of their things before we left.

Oliver finally got a new bike (like I mentioned before, we are always a little behind in the bike department, and Oliver had even stopped riding his old one out of embarrassment because it was so tiny and too small for him). 

Rachel doing a dramatic pose with her new Fancy Nancy puzzle.

Henry's new basketball hoop.  And okay, I admit, I ordered this right after watching the BYU basketball game where they showed the special about Jimmer Fredette and they had video clips of him playing when he was really young - I had just told Daniel I had no idea what to get Henry, and then I watched that, and I was like "That's it!  I'm getting Henry a basketball hoop!  We're going to create ourselves a little Jimmer*!"   

*I should probably report that we're a month into "project Jimmer" and progress is slow.  He may even be getting worse - it's hard to tell. 

Tristan loved his new Star Wars Legos.

But who are we kidding, new Legos are like a "Merry Christmas" for everyone, right?

Elizabeth also requested Legos this year.  Only she wanted GIRL legos, like Rachel has. 

She also wanted a scooter more than anything in the world.  I didn't really want to get her one (because she already has her strider and as soon as she learns how to avoid trees she'll be ready for a real bike), but for $10 on craigslist, it was worth the joy. 

After opening most of the Christmas presents, the next thing on the "things to do before we leave" list was finishing up Elizabeth's reading lessons.  We did lessons #99 and #100 the day before we left - hooray!  She is a great little reader, and the only one of my kids so far who remained excited the whole way through the lesson book - she begged me to do her lessons every day. 

This book and I have been together for awhile.  Now that I'm done teaching Lizza, that's four down, two to go.