Santa Came to our House

I guess my kids were pretty great this year because Santa definitely stopped by and left a few surprises. We told them it would be a smaller Christmas but they were still spoiled and got so many great things. I think my favorite moment of the day was when Clint and I opened our presents to eachother at the same time. We both got eachother waffle irons (and then returned them both). Here the kids are waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought.

Crazy hair...even Amelia was excited.

Susanna and her pillow pet sitting on her pink and yellow plasma car. Her Christmas list was very specific.

Eliza got her tent and wanted to keep all of her stuff inside of her tent. Here is Amelia's one toy. She is still a little young but Emily has one and I have always thought it was a fun toy for kids.

Justin wanted a unicycle. He has practiced and practiced and can ride it pretty good now. It definitely took some trial and error.

Nathan wanted this new toy called the Sole Skate. He is pretty good at it and looks like a typical stay cool teenager here. He is getting ready to rip off his tear away basketball pants he loves (which were junk and have to be returned...that's what you get for trying to save some money).

Clara's pink motor scooter.

Twin elephant pillow pets.

Eliza got a water baby. She is darling holding it here but she really doesn't play with dolls much. She is much more into digging in the dirt. I almost got her a box of dirt. It is her favorite things and she hates it when dad won't let her dig because her pile of dirt is mud.

We had a very relaxing casual Christmas. Mom even waited til the day after Christmas to put all the decorations away. Usually by Christmas night I can't stand it anymore. Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Eve Traditions

We have very set traditions on Christmas Eve and our children will not let us change them. We always go to the same restaurant and every year we say lets change. Then we're off to see the temple lights. We used to be more bold and one year Nathan walked out to the wisemen and we used to always take a picture with them inside the fountain of blue lights. I guess we have matured and try not to break as many rules. We just took the simple picture this time.



I told them to act excited for Christmas and this is what I got.

My oldest and youngest. i love seeing them together.

Eliza picked this purple tree to pose in front of. She was very excited.

Three of my favorite people ever.

This is Eliza's favorite way to travel.

After the temple lights we head home for our traditional nativity puppet show (thanks aunt jenny, it is always the perfect length). Then the kids open up christmas jammies and a movie to watch. This year it was despicable me and Eliza was so excited. I was also smart and bought most of the jammies last year on clearance for super cheap. They have pajamas coming out of their ears but you can't mess with tradition. So excited for the next day.

Family Christmas Party 2010

We had our annual Christmas party this year. It was very strange without mom and dad, we missed them. It was also wierd to host and not just show up. I hope everyone had a fun time even though it broke tradition a little. We used our pool table as the buffet table, it was kind of a nifty little setup (thanks Susan). We had lots of yummy food.

Grandma has done gingerbread houses in the past but I tried something different. We made these candy train ornaments that I used to make when I was little. They were a hit and Susanna had fun helping organize and run it. Maybe we can find a new little craft each year that is simple like this.

April helping her boys finish up, doesn't even look pregnant. She is such a trooper, I was done by this time in my pregnancy. I heard she went on a 3 mile hike right before she delivered, ugh.

I was so busy I didn't get many pictures but I did get one of the talented family. The Jones played some great music and was super. There were piano numbers on our horrible piano, dance moves, guitar solos, and other fun talents.

But then the real fun started...Grandma and Grandpa called in and Benjamin set them up on skype or gmail or whatever. The kids all started performing for them. We did our traditional nativity song (you would think by now we could just learn the song, it is so sad and I think I am the worst) Little Eliza just kept following the computer around and smiling at it, so darling. I think it was fun for everyone to see them and feel like they were there. They all got worry dolls and a Guatamalan ornament (a little animal) They loved them, I even heard Jack loved his dog so much it is not getting put away with Christmas this year. It's fun they managed to be there even when they weren't.

Merry Christmas...We love you Grandma and Grandpa.

Amelia was 6 months old today and I had to put in a picture of her. Life has gotten more busy and I haven't posted enough or taken enough of her. She is now scooting and crawling and is happier and happier every day (I guess until the teething starts up)

What's his name...Baby Boy Fillmore #4

This is the big brother Tyler. He was so excited for this new addition to come to his family. He is such a kind big brother and looks out for his little brothers so well. For some reason I didn't get any of his brother Jacob with new baby brother but he was so funny. He wanted the baby all unwrapped and wanted to check out every single body part to see what size it was...mighty small at 6 pounds 1 ounce. So tiny.

How darling is little Joshua. He was so excited with his little sweet voice asking questions and wanting that baby. What should we name him Joshua? Today it was House.

The Boys of the Family...

The darling family. Poor April was throwing up right before the picture and right after. She still managed to smile for the camera and look good. What a sweet family.

What a great dad.

This is what it looked like when the boys first came in. They were being lifted up to see their cute new little brother. It wasn't good enough for long and they had to get him out and unwrap him.

CONGRATULATIONS...please name the poor kid soon.

December Happenings

December is always such a busy month. Which is why i am so far behind in my updates. Here are a few snapshots of some of our happenings...

Eliza had her little Christmas show. Here she is with one of her best friends Bliss. She was not feeling well so looks a little loopy in her pictures and got super sick with double ear infections right after. She was a little off but so glad that her aunt April and favorite cousin Joshua came to watch her.

here is her little class. They danced to I want a hippo for Christmas. Cute class.

Susanna had her first Violin concert at school. Here she is next to one of her good friends Ashlyn. nathan was supposed to be in it too but he was home super sick sick sick. She did a great job.

Clara has been waiting and waiting and was finally star student. We got to go and talk about her and she shared her poster with the class. It was so fun to see her so proud of herself and a little shy as she told about her favorite things. Clara is such a star.

And Nathan finally got to miss a little school . Too bad her was really too sick to enjoy it much.
He missed his violin concert and even got a fever blister.

Christmas Throw-Up

This is what I have lovingly dubbed "Christmas Throw-up" It is our family tree. Last year I finally was able to get a tree to make pretty but this is the one that matters in our family. Every year it is a huge production to get this tree ready for the holidays. Here is kind of how it goes...


Everyone has to take their turn at the nativity puzzle that Lisa made me. Eliza is having a turn with help from dad. My kids are pros now but it still gives me trouble.

We have a big basket of Christmas books that come out and Susanna started reading some to Eliza while we unpacked the boxes.

Clara is standing around all the boxes as we figure out where we want to put everything. We clear a corner for our tree.

Dad puts the tree up and then the kids start unpacking all the ornaments. The boys were at a fireside tonight so the girls started on their own. Each child has tons of ornaments that are "theirs" and if they aren't really, they adopt them. They sort them into big piles and remember when they got their ornament and think about how special they are. Many of them have come from Grandma and Granpa Fillmore and they love each and every one of them.

Here is Nathan with his safely guarded pile.

Amelia has none yet so I thought I would throw a cute picture of her up. I try to start with one special one their first year. I still need to find hers.

This is one of her favorite activites right now. She is my next dancer in training.

AND she wants to be mobile so badly. I think she will be scooting around a little by Christmas. Watch out.

here are a few of Clara's favorites. She got the baby Jesus from Aunt Jenny (I don't think it is really hers because I think they came before she was born but it is one of those adopted ones.) And her ballerina bear from her Grandma. Oh the number of ballerinas on this tree.

Susanna couldn't decide a few favorites so she managed to get most of hers on her fingers at once.

Here they are decorating the tree. It is funny, they start out not wanting anyone to touch theirs. By the end, we are forcing them to get them all on. There are just too many but how do you stop the memories? Hence the word throw-up...too many ornaments, too many things, no rhyme or reason or theme. There is almost no room to put them and it is a little tree.

Had to put on in of Eliza working on the nesting Santa Claus. She loves that.

I think this is one of my favorite ones because it shows how tiny this tree is. Justin is as tall as the tree. It is full of fun and memories and I wouldn't have my Christmas Throw-up Tree any other way. Merry Christmas