Christmas Part 2

 Welcome to Christmas part 2. I know, you've been anxiously awaiting it... and I hate to spoil it for you, but there will be a THIRD installment as well. Lucky, huh?

It's not a Kohrman party without having some 'love-ya' tattoo time. We are pretty tough stuff.

 Alli was pretty creative, she decided to play 'brave'. She made a bunch of monsters (one big one, lots of little ones) and made a bow and arrow , and a play to go along with it. She was outside practicing her skills all day. It was fun to watch her duck and cover and dodge and dive, and everything else.

 And that night she and Molly put on a play for us. It was FREEZING outside.

Alli made some housecoats as their costumes.

 Aunt Zaikea helped the boys find a fun new game... rolling balls between their legs. They squealed with delight... and probably stayed at the game for a good 15 minutes.

 M& D found joy in lots of things- especially hanging out in Gramma's room with her (and steeling her "candy cane" aka: walking cane and jumping on her bed and steeling her walker)

So we all know that 2 year olds have the recollection powers of a gnat- but there is something about Gramma these boys haven't forgotten. Any time they see pictures of her they instantly scream "Ga-Ma!"

 Nunnums and Aunt Ruthie made the boys a car/airplane out of the Christmas tree box and ice cream lids. They played in it forever! I love how this captured Dexter's attempt at making car/airplane noises. So cute :)

 Next comes New Years Eve! You know, the time where you trick the kids into thinking that they actually stay up until midnight, when they actually only stay awake until 9:30.

 The Kohrman's have a tradition where you set out a shoe on New Year's eve, and when Santa passes back over the house on his way home to the north pole he drops the leftover stuff at the bottom of his sleigh into your shoe. Usually it consists of like a small little dollar toy and some candy. This year we got a little carried away.
(Can you guess who's shoe is who's? All 15 of us are represented)

Bright and early on New Years Day, Brian and Sarah had to take off on their airplane ride back to Utah. It was sad to see them go. We had an impromptu photo shoot before they left (notice John Wayne is part of the family too??) 1/2 of the family is still wearing their bed head and pj's..... but we needed to get in one last shot of us all together. Glad we did.

Stay tuned for part 3....

You're on pins and needles. I can feel it.

Christmas Part 1

 I am finally getting to these Christmas photos.... all 1500 of them. It's a little overwhelming- in every sense of the word.

So this is part one. It's just going to be TONS of photos.

And a sad thing is: They didn't load in the correct order. I'm not going to stress about it (okay, yes I am, I'm just not going to fix it).

The above picture is the BEST picture I got of all my turds children wearing their new Christmas Eve PJ's. It's always been our tradition that we open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it's always Pj's. What's funny, is that they haven't seem to have caught on to that yet. Every year they are surprised.

 I love how all of their mouths are open! haha.

 We all gathered around (all 15 of us) in Patsy and Nunnum's room to read the Christmas story from the bible and read The Night Before Christmas together.

 This year Alli wrote a list of questions to Santa. They were pretty cute. Brian, Chip's brother, filled out her questionnaire- and wrote a note back to her. She was pleased as punch that "Santa" took the time to reply. (Is this normal for 10 year olds to believe still?)

 Helping Dexter open his stocking.... Chip was helping Miles.

 Playing with the choo-choo train that Santa left.

 Maggie BEGGED and begged for Dr. Seuss books. She was so delighted when her wish came true.  (can I just say how delighted I was that her two biggest wishes were for a Hello Kitty Lunch box and Books??)

 Alli was absolutely adorable when she unwrapped her new Nintendo DS. We really aren't big Christmas spenders here- usually spending about $200 for the entire family/extended family.- so this was a BIG purchase. 
(#1- we try and keep Christ the center of Christmas, and less about the presents. and #2- I usually end up throwing away their toys when they are left out and I step on them. I'd be really ticked off if I had to throw something away that actually cost lots of money.)

 For Christmas Patsy and Nunnums made each of their children a story book of Patsy's life. Filled with pictures and his memories. It is wonderful to look at everything and just smile- and filled with love. That was the best present.

 I am so thankful that I caught this tender moment. I love them.

 Patsy LOVES John Wayne. like... LOVES him. (It's John Wayne and Louis L'amour for him)  Anyway, Sarah and Brian had the wonderful idea to get Patsy a LIFE SIZE John Wayne cut out. It was hilarious! and of course, Patsy loved it.

 Ruthie and Molly eating very politely on Christmas morning.  :)

 Brian, Sarah, John, and Patsy.

 We were introduced to 'Dance-bombing' (I think that's what I remember what it was called) Anyway, basically you have to dance behind people while they aren't paying attention and not get caught. We, of course, had a blast with that.  Here's Jeff Dance-bombing Brian.......

 (told you it got out of order). On Alli's birthday she woke up bright and early and made this get-up. It's a hat that says "TEN YEAR OLD COMING THROUGH!!" along with a saber. Very appropriate.

 ....... .and Chip dance bombing Brian......

 Patsy wanted a lot of "Guy Time"- where all the boys went into his room and sat/talked/cried/laughed/watched movies/etc together. Just the guys.

He also wanted "Girl Time"- were all of us girls got to have some time with him too. Such precious memories! Alli decided we all needed to have a battle. So she made us knives/swords/shields/armor so we could battle.  Maggie and Molly were monsters.

 I love how Patsy was laughing at the shenanigans....

And I'll round this post out with Alli's birthday. Dexter was so sad that he didn't get any presents (we gave all the other kids a small present)... but he waned ALL of the presents.

........Until next post.
(Only 1000 more photos to go through....)

Tick Tock

After seeing my grandparents have a clock like this- an alarm clock with ceiling display, I have wanted one of these puppies. We're talking for YEARS. And yet... I never got one. (most likely because when I'm in a store with the kids my mind goes on 'sprint' mode, and I just quickly get what I NEED {usually bread, milk, diapers, and wipes} and RUN out of the store before the boys screamed/destroyed something/got naked)

Guess what Chip got for Christmas?

Yep. One of these bad boys! Woot! I think I was a tintsy more excited than he was.

I kept thinking of all the joys I would have not having to roll over and look at the clock anymore (as if it was that hard... but seriously... it was hard.) I would list the benefits in my head as I would go to sleep.

Guess what?

I now want to throw it out the window.

Not because it's a bad clock, which it's not. It's perfectly lovely- and it CONSTANTLY reminds me how lovely it is every night.... at least a dozen times a night as one by one each of my children (except for Alli) comes in to bother me.

2:32am- Maggie 'checking on me'
2:45am- Miles screaming from a nightmare and running in my room wanting to snuggle.
2:55am- Me finally putting Miles in the middle of the bed so Chip can deal with him. He was sticking his fingers up my nose.
2:56am- Chip putting Miles back in his bed.
3:16am- Dexter running screaming from a nightmare and wants to snuggle.
3:20am- Me putting Dexter in the middle of the bed so Chip can deal with him. He was lifting up my eyelids.
3:30am- Dexter kicking me in the back over and over and over.
3:36am- Miles comes back into the room wanting to snuggle.
3:42am- LEG CRAMP
3:50am- Maggie comes back into the room checking on me and wanting to snuggle. Seeing the only place to go was at the foot of the bed- she lays across my feet/legs.
3:55am- Miles and Dexter start crying again.
4:02am- they finally stop crying.
4:15am- I give up. I go downstairs to sleep on the couch.
7:03am- I hear a little voice (usually Dexter's) saying "Mommy hiding downstairs, lets snuggle"
7:04 am- 7:30- I play dead.

Do you see why this clock bugs me now? Now I can SEE and COUNT the amount of sleep time I get. So annoying.

And this, my friends, is why I LIVE on caffeine. Don't judge. This nightly routine has been going on for-like-ever. Day in and day out. This is also why I stay up so darn late. If I actually went to bed on time  (aka: before 2am)  I would get absolutely no ME time. No alone time. Period.  I can't function like that. I need time by myself. Time where nobody is talking to me. Time where I'm not needed by anyone. Time where I can do whatever-the-heck-I-want-to-thank-you-very-much.

And there ya go. My dream clock turned into a nightmare.

Yeah.

It's still on my nightstand.

Mocking me.

Right Now.....

 Toddler bums. Between running them to the bathroom 30 times an hour (so not exaggerating) and going through 12 pairs of undies a day.... this has been my view. Little boy bums. I think I've gone through  more soap (both hand and laundry), toilet paper, and sanity than I ever had before.

I keep waiting for this to 'click'.... but it just hasn't yet.

(Like his little tan line left over from the summer??)

 One year for our church's elf day (craft day) I made this Family Home Evening chart. It had a bunch of ho-hum generic name markers- and to be honest, we NEVER used it. Not once. In like.... 4-5 years? It was just hanging behind our front door. Ohh wait- I lied. We have used it...... to hang stockings on it.

Anyway, I let the boys come with me to the craft store to pick out new name markers. We got a dozen or so of them and then let everyone pick their favorite. 

I was so excited and giggly when Dexter picked the pink cupcake with sprinkles and Miles picked the pink turtle. HAHAHA! They could have had rockets, pirates, knights in shining armor, monsters, and other manly things- and we even let them pick FIRST... and these were their choices. Pink cupcake and pink turtle.

I can't wait until they are teenagers with the same name markers. That will be awesome.

 Speaking of Family Home Evening- for the past while we've just been doing spur of the moment things and not really having much thought or spiritual discussions with our children. Every night was silly night. Now that we have this chart- we've been sticking to it! The past 3 weeks have been good for our family.

Last night Dexter taught the lesson on 'we are thankful for water in all forms'... we colored pictures- and we even made snow ice cream (big bowl of clean snow, add a cup of sugar, whatever flavoring you want {We had vanilla} and milk until you get the consistency that you want.) Dexter chowed that down! Miles and the girls just thought it was 'okay', but hey- it's good in a pinch and it fit with our theme. :)

 So a week ago Alli was begging me to go buy yarn because she wanted to crochet a blanket for her. I finally caved in after she reassured me that Gramma Louise taught her over Christmas break and she did know how to do it.

I let her pick two colors- she got this old lady oatmeal color and teal.

She came home and made a nice long chain... and then...... .

Quit.

Guess who's now suckered into crocheting a twin size quilt for that girl. That's right. Me.
With her plastic hook.

One skein down, a dozen more to go.....

Speaking of making things-

I've been trying to actually DO/make the things I pin on Pinterest.

Which may take me a while.... a L-O-N-G while, but I'm giving it a shot.

Right now my oven has this French Bread in it.

It smells sooooooooo good.

Before It got to the oven stage, I had just formed the dough into loaves and Miles came up to me and said "Try a widdle piece?" to which I said "Okay, Miles, just a little piece".....

That turd grabbed 1/2 a loaf's worth of dough and ran away... .simultaneously doing an evil laugh and shoving it in his mouth as fast as he could.


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So what is going on in your life?