Christmas was so much fun this year. We were excited to actually be able to get our kids some things that they wanted and things just for fun instead of just what they needed. Even though we are still far from family we have started to make some good friends here that we enjoy spending time with. We spent Christmas Eve with our friends the Fosters and some others from the ward, that we were able to get to know better. We did a nativity with all the kids which was a little crazy at times but fun.
Adie was a shepherd, Lottie was a sheep, and since Porter was the only boy (older boy I should say, there was a baby boy), he was Joseph. It was a lot of fun. Here are all the kids in their outfits.
Here is Porter getting his hunting/fishing wii games. He was excited, but now he keeps begging Eric to take him out to do the real thing. And it was funny, about 3-5 days before Christmas he started asking for Santa to bring him a fishing pole.....well, Santa didn't come through on that one. I guess it was just to close to Christmas for that. But birthdays are coming.
I wish we had pictures of the girls. Adie just wanted to play with a couple of toys in the princess tent she got from Santa, and Lottie just wanted to look at all of the books that we already had.
On another note, Eric had the best Christmas EVER it seems. He got a compound bow with arrows and other things to go with it. Now when he is home from work early enough, he is out in our "backyard" shooting it because you can do that here. He hasn't missed the bag once. Now he just has to find a place to go hunting so he can really use it.
We also had Porter's birthday party. He has been begging for an Angry Birds birthday party for 6-8 months. So I figured we should stick with that. It was so much fun. It kept me busy especially having sick kids the whole week before. Luckily everyone was mostly healthy on the day of his party. We made sugar cookies as thank you gifts for all the kids.
And since Porter doesn't really like cake, he wanted cupcakes. I don't really understand the difference, I would prefer cake that has layers and a filling throughout but whatever, he is his fathers son. But they were fun and easy to make. And I think they turned out pretty good.
Here is his table of "treats" and snacks for all the kids. Thanks to so many people for the ideas and whatever for this. Stephanie Sams, thanks for the banner. Natalie Dayton, thanks for the lime slushie drink that my family can't get enough of and can be dyed any color. Thanks for whoever decided it should be National Popcorn Day on my sons birthday so we will always have his favorite popcorns at his parties. And thanks to pinterest for the pig watermelon idea. That was a huge hit in itself.
The kids were excited about everything....boys are fun! And I am glad that Porter doesn't cry anymore when people sing to him.
They played "Pig Stomp" where they had to stomp on each others King Pigs. Poor Adie had a hard time getting into this game with all the rough boys.
And I did venture to make a pinata. Of course I forgot to take a picture before they started whacking it. But all my fears about it not lasting long were put to rest when we had to bring in Dad to make the initial crack so they could do the rest. Way to go paper mache, you held up to the test.
It was a lot of fun and good to meet the kids that Porter talks about all the time. The kids from school that he likes a lot have all invited him to their parties, but they hold them on Sunday's and we just don't do that. So I am glad that they came to his. And he did get a fishing pole for his birthday.
I have made a new year's resolution to update this once a month. So here is hoping I will be able to do that.
