An Explosion of Christmas Decorations

It has been on our wish list for a while now to get a new Christmas tree. We started researching it seriously last Christmas, when our large, vaulted-ceiling front room (that doesn't have much furniture in it) seemed to dwarf our cheap-o Walmart tree even more.

So this year, true to form, when Costco started putting out their Christmas wares in August, we started considering their trees. We researched tips, lights, and competitive prices, and came to the conclusion that the trees at Costco were the best deal we had found. We decided to go ahead and get it (even though it was still September/October).

Actually purchasing the things and getting it home was a little more dramatic than you might realize. It comes in a huge box that is sturdy. We knew we wanted the nice box to store it in every year, but there was no way we could fit that thing in either of our cars. We ended up taking it apart in the Costco parking lot. Putting the different pieces of the tree in loose in our two cars and breaking down the box to fit in as well. When we got home we reassembled the box and repacked the tree. Kind of a hassle, but at least we didn't have to rent a truck! Sometimes a bigger vehicle would really come in handy!
We justified the price ($380!!) by saying it would be a combined birthday present for ourselves. Considering getting Christmas decorations as a birthday present is kind of a sore point for me, this should show how excited we were about the tree.

We got the 9-foot tree, which means that the only one who can reach the top is John, if he is using the step stool. It has a ton of LED lights that can either be colored, white, or alternating. Alternating gives me a headache, and we wanted colored and white lights, so we got extra colored lights and kept the pre-lit lights on white. It was a very lit tree!

But it wasn't just getting the tree. We had to get the perfect star! This included hunting online and at different stores. We ended up finding one we liked at Target, but it was kind of expensive. We got it anyway, and had our eye on an ornament set there. But then we found one that was a pretty good deal at Home Depot, but then we saw the Black Friday deal at Target on Christmas decorations. See how it was, yikes?! We ended up doing the Black Friday deal at Target which was buying $100 worth of Christmas décor and getting $50 off. So we bought two different sets of ornaments, 5 or 6 things of garland, lights, and a star.

And, we decided to buckle down and get the real ornaments for the 25 days of Christ tradition that we have. This ended up being super fun. We got the cheaper set that we had to paint and assemble ourselves. Turns out I love staying up late with my husband crafting, chatting, and listening to fun music. It is now a goal of mine to figure out a way to make that happen again. :)

The tree turned out gorgeous. I love our tradition of buying a Christmas ornament as the souvenir that we get from our trips. It sure makes decorating the tree wonderful.

Holland loved the tree too, although she was vehemently opposed to lying underneath and looking up through the tree. Almost everyday as I was carrying her up and down the stairs, she would point to the tree and say "whoa." (One of the few words she knows!) She didn't know that word before the tree--I wonder if she thinks it means tree...:)

This was also the first year that we set up a substantial amount of Christmas village. Up until now it has been stored in my parents' house. I received Christmas village houses as my birthday and Christmas presents for a lot of years. I knew it would break my mom's heart though if I told her that I thought it was too much, or wanted something else. So I kept receiving them. Hence the decorations as a birthday present is a sore spot for me. On the other hand, she took me traveling a bunch growing up, so you win some, you lose some.

Christmas village is pretty though, and the girls are the perfect age for it. They loved those houses this year. I think I ended up with a total of about 90ish houses, and we brought about half of those to our house. We shared the rest with my siblings and more specifically their kiddos. I hope they liked them. We had literally every conceivable surface filled with houses at our house. 

Our house was so festive this year! It was fun! Holland was surprisingly good about leaving the houses and tree alone. She's such a good baby...when she wants to be.

Then we had to do photos with the tree. We love our little family!!!

Sweet baby!

Love her.

John had to get in on the photo taking action too.

Miriam in her deer antlers. I love you "deerly."

All I Want For Christmas Is...House Projects

Businesses expect people to buy things around Christmas time. They try to compete for your sales and hence a lot of different merchandise goes on sale trying to get you to buy from them. This includes home improvement stuff. 

So a lot of the things we have had our eye on, upgrades to our house, went on sale. So the house project to-do list just got a lot longer. One of the easiest projects, switching out the brass doorknobs, came in some pretty funny packaging. 

We ordered thirteen door knobs. Seven came in one box (see above). The other six came in their own individual boxes (see below). All six could have easily fit in one box. It seems like this could have been done a little more efficiently...

Merry Christmas to us!

Ballerinas

This is the first semester that girls took lessons the entire time. I have been looking forward to the performance the entire time. The costumes, flowers, and girlishness is so fun! So I was very disappointed when I found out the showcase would be on a Sunday. Ugh. My girls didn't even question. "We can't do it on a Sunday. That would be breaking the Sabbath." Clearly I was more invested in the idea of the performance than they were. Thank goodness for their faith. They missed the showcase and didn't complain once. Bless their hearts. This is the best I could get to their final dance. Eliza's is through the door, and she is blocked for a lot of it, but you still get the idea. Still cute.

Thanksgiving 2016

Over Thanksgiving break this year, we...painted our house! (again!). We didn't take any before/after photos because we just painted the stairwell and the hall, but it was more of a project than that would suggest. We had to repair a lot of the holes in the drywall, and there were two different cracks in the ceiling (apparently cracks just happen with the swing of temperatures every year, but I hope that the repair job that we did holds a least for a while!). So we painted the ceiling as well. It was exciting. Actually it was tiring. Regardless, we had a nice Thanksgiving break.

On the last day of school before the break, each girl had a Turkey Trot at their schools. Unfortunately they were at the same times. Fortunately this family has two parents. So John went to Eliza's Turkey Trot, and I went to Miriam's. John didn't take any pictures though. :( The other sad part was that he got a parking ticket while he was there. Apparently they just changed (like a week or two before that) that you couldn't park momentarily and drop off your kid a field gate, like we have always been able to. I guess there were lots of other cars there too, and the officer was just going down the line. Nice. :( We learned our lesson.

Miriam's Turkey Trot was fun though. They did the chicken dance, ran, and had treats after. I think Miriam did 3 laps and Holland and I ran the last one with her. (Well, I ran while Holly was in the front pack.)

Miriam's little friend Elia is a friend in her class that is also a half day friend and they like to walk into the playground together in the morning. Actually, Elia wouldn't ever walk it to the playground, it made her too nervous. But one day we happened to show up to drop off in the morning at the same time and I (without knowing her fear of walking in) asked Miriam if she wanted to walk in with Elia. Miriam just grabbed her hand and walked through the gate with her. Elia's mom was astounded. Since then Miriam has walked with her a bunch of times and now Elia isn't scared of doing it by herself anymore. It makes me happy.

Miriam and her friend Elia.

 Selfies with my girl!

We were going to have an easy Thanksgiving of burgers and hot dogs at the park, but we got invited over to a friend's house at the last minute. It was so nice of them! There was another family in the ward too. Both of their families have 3 girls and a boy. I swear there is something in the water here.

I love Thanksgiving pie. Seriously! We got this yummy pie from our realtor. We also made my favorite dessert ever and topped it with fresh raspberries. Recipe below:

Chocolate Cream Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

YIELD: MAKES A 9-INCH PIE

I've only ever used 2% or whole milk for this recipe. The pudding will be less thick/creamy if using lower fat milk than that.

INGREDIENTS

Crust:
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (7 ounces, about 13 rectangle graham crackers)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted (add a pinch of salt to the mixture if using unsalted butter)
Pudding Layer:
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (about .75 ounces)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (about 5.5 ounces)
• 1/3 cup cornstarch (1.75 ounces)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk (see note above)
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) powdered sugar
Whipped Cream Topping:
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) powdered sugar
Optional Garnishes:
• Chocolate curls, sprinkled toffee bits, dusting of cocoa powder, etc.

DIRECTIONS

1. For the crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter until evenly mixed. Press the mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Remove and let cool completely. Cover with saran wrap until ready to use (this can be made several days in advance if kept well-covered).
2. For the pudding layer, in a medium saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the milk and whisk to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to whisk as the mixture comes to a boil and large bubbles break across the surface and the mixture has thickened.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Scrape the pudding into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface. Refrigerate until chilled and set up (2-3 hours).
5. In a blender or an electric stand mixer (or with an electric hand mixer), whip the 3 ounces cream cheese, 2/3 cup cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar together until thick and creamy. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold this mixture into the chilled chocolate pudding until combined.
6. Evenly spread the pudding mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. At this point you can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days (the crust will get slightly soft if it's made in advance but it is still delicious) or go ahead and top with the whipped cream mixture and refrigerate for an hour (up to 4 hours) before serving.
7. For the whipped cream layer, whip the 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar together until soft peaks form. Gently spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and garnish with chocolate curls, sprinkled toffee bits, a dusting of cocoa powder - or whatever your heart desires. Serve chilled.

Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

November Fun

Holland loves that bunny. It is one of the only toys she will carry around with her. I have a video that I will post below of her walking around with those dress shoes and the bunny. What a sweetheart! We have also been going to the park more regularly now that it cooled down. We are so lucky to have a park so close to our house.

Fresh figs! We got a handful of ripe figs off our new tree. They were delicious. Somewhere between a grape and a pear. Yummy! Since then all of the leaves have fallen off the fig tree. I am hoping it is just in dormancy! January is the month that trees in Phoenix lose their leaves. Weird Phoenix.

Date night! We went to the temple together in November! It had been a while, but we found another family to do date night swap with. I hope it happens more often! The only problem is that they have one little girl and we have three. So it doesn't feel like quite a fair trade for evenings out.

John came up with this idea to do side walk chalk outside for a date night one evening. It was so fun! We traced our bodies, and BYU man was born. Here he is seen saving a damsel from falling off a building. I love us. :)

What, it isn't monsoon season still?! We sure have had a lot of rain this winter. I think it is pretty when the sun shines through the rain.

When we were just leaving for Lake Powell, Holland started saying "Mama" consistently and in the sweetest way. As soon as we got home I tried all week long to capture the tone of voice she used on video. This is the best I got. It is blurry the entire time, but she does say Mama once or twice in the cutest way. Love her. 

Holland has always liked books, but she has started to play with them more and more independently, not that I should just let her play by herself, but it sure is cute to watch her sit on the book, then try to turn the page, stand up, move the book, sit on it again. So fun.


Here is the video of Holland with her bunny and dress up shoes. She probably walked around the kitchen for ten full minutes before I caught on to what she was doing and started the video. She's a doll.
 

Here is the remnants of Lake Powell campfire singing. Mr. Dunder-o-beck, you're a goody. Also, a little creepy.


Miriam also identifies songs that we let them listen to on YouTube as Uncle David singing. It's awesome. She is convinced that Uncle David is the guy in the middle back and sings this song.
 

Park days make me feel like a good mom. It is so much easier to just keep them home, so I pat myself on the back when I take them over to the park just for their enjoyment.


Miriam and Ellie love taking videos. Here is a couple of their recent ones. I picked ones with less camera shake. :)

Halloween 2016

Wow, it really is impossible for me to stay caught up on this blog throughout the holiday season. Every year, I think to myself, "Kylee, this is going to be the year that you don't post about Halloween in January." Turns out, it isn't this year.

Ah, well, better late than never. We didn't have a theme this year in the girls costumes, and we were feeling too cheap to buy them new costumes, so here we have Eliza as a queen, Miriam as a wild princess kitty, and Holland as our little pumpkin. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat, where they got copious amounts of candy, which we have yet to run out of.

We did not take the girls trick-or-treating Halloween night because they got so much candy at the ward activity. But we did take them to both of their schools Halloween activities. At Miriam's school there was a petting zoo, games with the teachers, and food trucks. At Eliza's there was a pumpkin walk, live DJ with dance competition, games and concessions. They also liked playing on the playgrounds at each school. This maybe wouldn't be that impressive, except they were on the same evening. So we had a marathon of fun that night.

They were both a little nervous about the petting zoo, but Miriam was willing to go in with the animals. Miriam was a little too nervous to participate in some of the games at her school, but Eliza jumped right in a got a prize. To each her own. :)