Frodo

Jarren had a school project this month. He had to choose a person to do a biography on (in first person) and then decorate a 2-liter bottle with a Styrofoam ball stuck on top of it (for the head) in a way to represent this person. For example, if one did Sacajawea, then you could decorate it with yarn hair and button eyes and in Native American clothing. Or Neil Armstrong--decorate it like an astronaut. Jarren is obsessed with The Lord of the Rings, so he decided that he wanted to do his report on JRR Tolkien and decorate his bottle like Frodo. I helped him with the clothes, but he did the face (he wanted it painted and that thing soaked the paint up like crazy!) and he wrapped the yarn around for hair and all that. It turned out pretty good.

So much for New Years resolutions!

I decided that this year I was going to be better about blogging and what happens to foil that plan? Our computer died. Jarren has really been into writing stories lately. Kristen was helping him type for a little bit and he wanted to google a picture to add and so she copied and pasted the one he wanted and the computer went crazy! Pop up after pop up after pop up popped up. Then everything, and I mean EVERYTHING disappeared! We weren't sure if it was the age of the computer (almost 6 years old--for a laptop) had anything to do with it, but we were pretty sure it was some kind of virus. Jon just barely managed to get his profile up and working. Things aren't gone, they're just hidden for some reason. So...I can blog again, but none of us (except for Jon) can access our iTunes or our Word documents or anything like that. Phew! I was worried it was all lost. Now...onward and upward on that resolution.

Railing Artwork

The railing, fully decorated.

A little elf

A reindeer

Ho Ho

An ornament and sleigh

This is the first year we've had a railing to decorate. I wound some pine around it and Jenna declared it looked to bare and needed to be more decorated. She set to work drawing, coloring, and cutting out cute little Christmas figures and had me help her tie them to the pine with curling ribbon. Sooo cute and creative. I don't want to take them down.

O Christmas Tree

Our tree this year was....interesting. Jenna helped Jon pick it out, but there wasn't much to choose from. We got it and set it up on December 2. The next day we decorated it and the day after that, we came home from church to find it had tipped over and all the glass ornaments that were on top had hit the wood floor and shattered. Toby was in the kitchen barking like crazy--it probably scared him to death. The elves were hiding in the tree, so we joke they were partying a little too hard in that tree. :) It's very lopsided. Jon had to anchor it to the wall. Anyway...the tree in the pictures looks slanted and that's not the camera--that's how the tree is. It is kinda pretty, even if it's not perfect.

Christmas Eve and Morning

We went to visit family on the 23rd and 24th. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. :(  We got home in time for dinner and made a favorite stir fry and egg rolls. We frosted sugar cookies, read Luke 2, and watched A Christmas Story.

Kendall woke up around 6:30 am on Christmas morning. He went upstairs to where Santa usually comes and there wasn't anything there!! He went to the downstairs family room and found the gifts there. He went and woke Kristen up and told her that Santa didn't come. She went running upstairs and saw that nothing was there and immediately came to wake up us. Jon told her to look around the house and she found things hiding downstairs. Pretty funny....

Lining up on the stairs to go see their gifts. Jenna wasn't happy at all about having to line up and wait.

The aftermath. Phew!

Christmas Morning--Jenna

Jenna's wish came true--more Littlest Pet Shops!

I've never seen a girl who takes the holidays to heart as much as Jenna. She was soooo excited to open gifts.

Jarren had her name and gave her a Zooble with a baby.

Jenna got a ton of craft stuff, some Littlest Pet Shops, teensies, clothes, snap-on earrings, Just Dance Kids 2, and a webkinz Chihuahua, etc.

Jenna loved Christmas!!! She savored all the gifts and hasn't stopped playing with her new stuff. She got a lot of craft stuff and has made a ton of things with it. She enjoys everything so much. Her heart and soul was put into Christmas this year, which made it a lot of fun.

Christmas Morning--Jarren

Jarren got a new mountain bike, a Star Wars Lego set, SW Lego wii game, beyblades, and Mario stuffed animals, etc.

Cool new 6 speed bike!

Kristen had his name and gave him some socker boppers.

So excited to sit by the fire and open gifts.

Jarren was awake pretty early. He came in to get us up and  Jon told him to come back in 40 minutes. He came back in 30 minutes and said, "Dad, there's only 10 more minutes until I can come back!" He was thrilled with his gifts!! He hasn't quite mastered the gear changing on his bike, so often asks me to do it. Since you have to change gears while pedaling, it makes for a free neighborhood entertainment show, watching me eat my knees while riding his bike around. :)