Christmas Break 2015

The kids had a super long Christmas break and Sam had several days off of work too.

It was nice to lay low and hang out as a family.  We did so many things during the break.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of everything, but here is a few in no particular order:

Grandma Ward gave Katie a TMNT Leonardo sandwich cutter.

Katie said, "Thank you!!  I LOVE IT!!" to Grandma Ward.

When the boys were out at The Jump Zone, I let my girls pick out their own outfits and we had a Girl Date.  Katie chose to wear many layers: a new sweater, a windbreaker, a nice coat, a beaded necklace,  a navy blue purse, an Anna & Elsa lunch pail, and a Halloween bow.  Julia chose to wear her monkey footie pajamas, her sneakers, her cheetah print coat, a beaded necklace, her Anna & Elsa lunch pail, and a Halloween bow.  They put their own granola bars in their lunch pail for a snack.  

Anyway, I took my girls to Main St. where we walked past the store windows looking at the gingerbread houses.  Katie has been really into gingerbread men because they'd been talking about it at school for weeks.  It was a super cold night.  It was sure a pretty sight walking down the lit up tree lined street.  I forgot to turn off the van headlights.  When we returned, the van wouldn't start.  (That was the third time in December that I forgot to turn off the headlights.)  I had to have Sam and the boys come and jump start the van for us.  We drove around town looking at Christmas lights.  

Sam had a lot of downtime, which was so nice.  

The girls loved having Daddy read Princess books to them.

Julia is really into watching YouTube videos on my cellphone.  

Her favorite is a music video she calls, "Princess Shake It Off."

She also likes to watch videos of girls playing with Disney Princess toys.

One of Julia's favorite Christmas gifts was a Cinderella doll with 2 clip on dresses.  

It is a small toy that is easy lost around here.  Sometimes, Julia wakes up in the middle of the night crying for "Cinderella!"  Sam and I just laugh and say how we think Julia must be dreaming about princesses. 

I caught Tyler watching a show and eating Cheetos with his Mikey mask on.  Haha!

My brother, Mark came for Christmas with his dog, Blue.  

He surprised my boys with some Christmas gifts... a couple of video games... Paper Mario and something else.  They all loved playing video games.  Sam made us egg casserole for Christmas breakfast and a lovely turkey dinner too.  Sam took everyone sledding on Old Main Hill (except for me and Julia who were resting at home).  

We had a very nice white Christmas!  The kids were thrilled with all of their Christmas gifts.  Some of the main gifts this year were: Sam - panini sandwich press, Lisa - hand lettering class, Mark - snow tube, Brian - telescope, Mom's old stereo, Tyler - Beyblades, joke book, TMNT games, Katie - banner paper roll, puzzles, art supplies, Julia - Princess Mega Blocks, TMNT blankets (made by me for both of the girls).

Other things that we did on Christmas break: read, played games, celebrated Tyler's birthday, Tyler's baptism, went to Orem to see Sam's family (we met Staci & Kyle's baby, Cohen), talked with family on the phone.  Although Christmas break was quite relaxing, I am so ready to start the new year off right.

2014 Ward Family Greeting

This digital greeting card customized with Smilebox

Moose On The Loose 2013

On December 1st, Santa snuck over to our house and left a special delivery in our mailbox.  When Sam and the boys were taking out the garbage, they discovered the special delivery… Mortimer the Moose was back for the third year in a row!  The kids were thrilled!

Here's the note Santa included with Mortimer: 

Dear Brian, Tyler, Katie, and Julia-

  

This is SANTA CLAUS here with a special treat for you!

Are you ready for some holiday fun?  Do you enjoy playing hide-n-seek?  Then you'll love this new game I'm going to play with you.

OPEN THE GIFT.

The game is called "Moose on the Loose."  Mortimer the Moose told me that he wanted to meet all four of you kids.  So I agreed to send him to your house for the month of December for a nice long visit.

So this is how the game works.  Every night before you go to bed, you put Mortimer on your Christmas shelf.  And during the night, one of my elves will sneak in you house and hide Mortimer.  When you wake up in the morning, it is your job to find Mortimer and return him to his spot on the Christmas shelf.

Does that sound like a fun game?  Beware that Mortimer can be mischievous at times.  He will probably hide in unlikely places.

Have fun, Brian, Tyler, Katie, and Julia.  Be good kids and I'll be sure to stop by your house on Christmas Eve with some special gifts for you.

Love, SANTA

Mortimer built marshmallow snowmen.

He also left a special note on the bathroom mirror.

#ourfamilysversionofelfontheshelf

Moose on the Loose - Year 2

Mortimer the Moose came back to visit us in December.  When Mortimer first arrived, he brought a paper chain that he made to help us count down the days until Christmas.  Here are the letter Santa sent with Mortimer:

Dear Brian, Tyler, and Katie-

   

This is SANTA CLAUS here with a special treat for you!

Are you ready for some holiday fun?  Do you enjoy playing hide-n-seek?  Then you'll love this new game I'm going to play with you.

OPEN THE GIFT.

The game is called "Moose on the Loose."  Mortimer the Moose told me that he wanted to meet all three of you kids.  So I agreed to send him to your house for the month of December for a nice long visit.

So this is how the game works.  Every night before you go to bed, you put Mortimer on your Christmas shelf.  And during the night, one of my elves will sneak in you house and hide Mortimer.  When you wake up in the morning, it is your job to find Mortimer and return him to his spot on the Christmas shelf.

Does that sound like a fun game?  Beware that Mortimer can be mischievous at times.  He will probably hide in unlikely places.

Have fun, Brian, Tyler, and Katie.  Be good kids and I'll be sure to stop by your house on Christmas Eve with some special gifts for you.

Love, SANTA

__________________________________________________________

So every morning, the kids would wake up and go search for Mortimer.  That darn moose was more mischievous than last year.  The kids got a good kick out of Mortimer's antics.  

Gone Fishin'

Best sleeping bag for a long winter's nap!

TPed the boys' room

Having a picnic at the "beach"

Proud of his snow angel

TPed the Christmas tree

Trapped

Uh oh!

What an artist!

Christmas Saying & Winter Song

"Shepherds watch their flocks

And care for them each day  Knowing the lambs depend on them 

To safely show the way

I need you to watch me 

To care for me each day

I depend on you

To safely show the way

The candy cane represents

The shepherd's staff of old

He used the curved end gently 

To bring lambs back to his fold

hand this little candy cane 

High on your Christmas tree

When you see it sparkly 

Think of gently guiding me."

Snowman Song 

(the tune of "You Are My Sunshine")

You are my snowman, 

My lovely snowman,

You make me happy when skies are gray,

You'll never know, snow

How much I love you, 

Sun, please don't take my snowman away!

Christmas is Coming

Moose on the Loose

The Elf on the Shelf is something that I wanted to do with my kids.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money on it though, so Santa came up with this alternative idea.  On the eve of Nov. 30th, Santa stopped by our mailbox to drop off Mortimer the Moose to play Moose on the Loose with our kids.  Here's a copy of the letter that was sent with Mortimer:

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 30, 2011

Dear Brian, Tyler, and Katie-

   

This is SANTA CLAUS here with a special treat for you!

Are you ready for some holiday fun?  Do you enjoy playing hide-n-seek?  Then you'll love this new game I'm going to play with you.

OPEN THE GIFT.

The game is called "Moose on the Loose."  Mortimer the Moose told me that he wanted to meet all three of you kids.  So I agreed to send him to your house for the month of December for a nice long visit.

So this is how the game works.  Every night before you go to bed, you put Mortimer on your Christmas shelf.  And during the night, one of my elves will sneak in you house and hide Mortimer.  When you wake up in the morning, it is your job to find Mortimer and return him to his spot on the Christmas shelf.

Does that sound like a fun game?  Beware that Mortimer can be mischievous at times.  He will probably hide in unlikely places.

Have fun, Brian, Tyler, and Katie.  Be good kids and I'll be sure to stop by your house on Christmas Eve with some special gifts for you.

Love, SANTA

------------------------------------------------------------

Moose on the Loose was a big hit.  The boys came running up to our room every morning to tell us where they found Mortimer hiding.  Sounds like Santa started a great Christmastime tradition at our house.  Thanks, Santa!

Christmas Break 2011

We had a fantastic Christmas season. 

 A few times we ate dinner at our candlelit table under the "stars" 

as Christmas music filled the air.  Very pleasant indeed.

 The Beary Merry Christmas calendar I grew up with
was a big hit at our house again this year.

The boys loved falling asleep with this colorful strand of Christmas lights around their bedroom window.  

Brian made this "gingerbread boy house" in school.  

 He loved the fact that the "snow" was made out of "rotten eggs."

 My little sister, Laura was here with us over the break.  We had so much fun.  Here's a quick list of some of the fun things that we did:
turned on our infamous Mitch Miller and the Gang Christmas CD
and loaded everyone in the van for our annual Christmas light tour of the valley,
went shopping at the mall and nearby stores,
painted our nails,
put Katie's hair in curlers for the first time,
baked,
watched tv (Home Alone, The Devil Wears Prada, Lost, etc.),
stayed up late talking,
loaded more music on to our iPods,
did a fun photo shoot a couple minutes from home,
played in Katie's room, had dance parties downstairs,
and visited with Grandma Hallstrom

Christmas Eve was our baking day (aka. making a royal mess in the kitchen day.) 

First, we made peanut butter sugar cookies that we frosted and decorated. 

Next, boys and I made two more "gingerbread boy houses" with Aunt Laura.  

The boys LOVED the whole thing and I think we have a new tradition at our house now.

 Tyler got really creative and taught Brian how to make roof top guns out of pretzel sticks.  

Tyler decapitated the poor gingerbread boy after being "shot" by the roof top guns on Tyler's masterpiece.

Santa enjoyed powdered doughnuts and the neighbor gift from Jenny Smith's family on Christmas Eve.

Santa came to our house!

Our tree looked gorgeous after Santa came.  

On Christmas morning, had Netflix's Fireplace with music going as we opened gifts.  Mix music, a "roaring fire," and the giggles and excitement of a young family, and you get pure happiness! I didn't pick up my camera once as we opened gifts.  I just enjoyed myself and soaked up all the excitement.  (I promise that I will post pictures of the kids playing with their favorite gifts soon.)  Anyway, Sam volunteered to be on kitchen duty that day.  He fed us so well.  We had Sam's famous egg casserole for breakfast and an amazing turkey dinner.  It's so nice to be married to a man that can cook!

A couple days after Christmas, we went to Sam's parents for another Christmas celebration.
We felt lucky to have 5 of the 6 Ward kids there with their families.
\It was nice to see everyone.
Sam's parents had a few gifts under the tree for our family. 

 Katie with her favorite gift from Grandma & Grandpa Ward 
- a shape puzzle picnic basket that teaches her through song

We had an evening of fun when some of Sam's aunts and uncles came for some yummy food and a White Elephant gift exchange game.  I was #7 in the game and I was the first person to steal a gift.  I stole Aunt Susie's candle and boy did she get "mad."  I ended up having the candle stolen from me and then chose a fancy small box with two ugly his and her watches inside.  I whined enough about the watches and out of pity, my sweet sister-in-law, Sarah traded me a bag of M&Ms for the watches.  Sam ended up with a 750 piece puzzle of Bryce Canyon.  He's been working on it for awhile and is now more than half way done.  I sure hope he doesn't lose any of the pieces!

We sure hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas too!