Christmas Break

We had a pretty quiet Christmas break.  We didn't plan to travel anywhere and then a bunch of us got sick.  It started when we figured out Eli had hand, foot & mouth disease that had been going around the ward.  Then, Elizabeth got it.  She had to miss the last day of school.

The sickies snuggling and watching a show:

The kids didn't get out of school until the 22nd so we didn't have much time before Christmas.  It was mostly full of shopping, wrapping, delivering plates of goodies, and finishing up watching all our Christmas movies.  We did a fun Little People Nativity scavenger hunt with scriptures to read. We also sang songs on Christmas Eve and watched It's a Wonderful Life, as per tradition.  

Christmas morning, since we still had sickies, we decided to stay home from church, sadly.  We were supposed to perform but it worked out that we could stay home.  So, it was a pretty relaxed morning.  The kids got up to open presents at 7.  I forgot to get a before picture, but here is the after:

Yikes.

Poor Lizzy was pretty sick on Christmas.  Then, Joe and I went for a walk and he was struck with some stomach problems, too.  So, they both napped the day away.  While they did that, Natalie gave us one of her presents:

That's right--Christmas the Restaurant!  She took our orders and served us.  It was a lot fun.

That night, we had a nice candlelit meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, grilled asparagus and salad.  My mom gave me some of her Christmas china and it was so fun to use.

It was a great day.

We had a fun break after that, too.

It wasn't all sunshine.  Natalie gave me this nice note after a particularly difficult time with some of my children:

I just like to remember the nice notes they write. :)

I helped Natalie sew a blanket:

The kids and I had our own Chopped competition one night.

Here are some of their creations:

Natalie's:

Lizzy's:

(Eli and I made that soup and it turned out really good.  He loved chopping up vegetables and throwing them in the soup.)

Nate's:

Desserts:

Natalie's:

Lizzy's:

Nate's:

Eli's (mine):

(Turned out pretty gross :)

It was so fun:

Joe and I ended the year with a great anniversary celebration.  I got a babysitter and left the kids early so I could take the BART to the city to meet Joe for dinner.  

We had a delicious dinner at Wayfare Tavern:

We even tried beef tartare.

Sadly, something didn't sit right with me and I got really bad stomach pain.  We ended up canceling our plans to go to the temple (why we were so dressed up!) and hung out for a little bit until I felt better and then went to a movie.  It was still such a fun night.  I sure love this guy and I'm pretty proud of us for making it to 13 years still best friends and as much in love as ever.

Goodbye, 2016!