Merry Christmas Sickness and a Barfy New Year.

I feel like I always hear of a family sick the week of Christmas, and this year it was US! Or IS us, as it is still going on.

We've had some really good non-sick hours though and have filled those with lots of fun things.

Christmas Eve brought my favorite event of the year. My friend Annette hosts a big Christmas Eve party at her house. There are tons of people of all ages, and there is a fantastic dinner, games, singing, and chit chat. Annette's family is Swedish, and we participate in a bunch of Swedish traditions, including St. Lucia and gifts to the people who find an almond in their rice pudding (yours truly TWO years in a row, baby! Dan found one this year too but he had to eat all of the kids' pudding in order to do it. Haha!)

I love it. I used to think I didn't want to Christmas Eve with people outside my family, but I have changed. I love the feeling of family within the larger community. I love that my little family still does some stuff on our own before the party. I love that my kids get worn out at the party and go straight to bed after the party. I love the feeling while we sing the sacred Christmas hymns. Dan told me on the way home--I felt the Spirit so strong during the hymns. He was right.

I need to carry this event on to the next place we live. I'd miss it too much if we didn't have it.

We came home and lit the tree and left out the cookies and went to bed. And Dan and I got to work putting presents under the tree. We can't put any presents under the tree or the babies (Beck and Harris) will rip them open. And then I went to bed, and Dan hid the Santa presents and made a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Santa presents.

The next morning, they all lined up. And we led them to their stockings, where their first clues were. 

June's Santa gift was a new bike, Gwen's was a soccer net, and Harris's was a little basketball hoop.

And then we opened presents from each other and grandparents.

June was very excited to give Dan this nutcracker. She got it at her last dentist appointment. Our dentist always has really fun prizes. She picked it specifically to give to Dan, which touched my heart.

And June gave Gwen a "cat" she made out of a toilet paper roll.

And Gwen gave the family a picture of herself she made at kindergarten.

And Dan gave this to me. Can't wait to play it.

He also bought me a spa day at spa in Hershey. I'm so excited!!!

And I bought him a kindle.

The kids also received books, toys, gloves, art supplies, etc. Harris received a racetrack. June received an art tracing projector. Gwen received her beloved magic wands that she has been begging for. And poor Baby Beck got new crib sheets because that's what you get when you're a baby.

It was a great year.

Oh! And Harris got this most-coveted-by-all-the-kids gift of a recycling truck from Grandma Sandy. This is no regular truck. It does LOTS of things, and the older girls have stolen it from him many times, which results in many tears. 'Tis the season!!

Another awesome thing we ALL received was tickets to the science museum from Papa and Grandma Kristi. Kristi had asked me what she could send, and I thought an experience the day after Christmas would be nice. And it was! I want to do this instead of a material gift every year!


At the Liberty Science Center:

In front of the beehive. Dan LOVED the beehive. He probably could have stayed all day at this exhibit. They had plaques up describing how they have tracked some of the bees' journeys throughout their lifetime, and that just really pulled at Dan. I think he wants to find more meaning in his life by tracking bees.

The music and sounds room.

My favorite part was the animals exhibit:

Harris and a turtle.

Monkeys and our monkey:

It was the best exhibit except for this. Cockroaches. So disgusting. I took a picture to punish myself for anything wrong I had done that day.

Btw, I read an article earlier this year that cockroaches have become immune to almost all pesticides and will not be killable in the foreseeable future. So instead I will be exiting the earth. We cannot co-exist, cockroaches and myself.

The girls with whatever this weird, big fish was.

This suspended-in-air play area.

Snake class!

Rock climbing!

Dinosaur Train Exhibit!

Captain Forced Fun attempting to force Harris to wear the pterodactyl wings that were available. The forced fun did not happen. 

Beck taking a nap during the museum, making it a much more wonderful experience!

Playing with the big blocks!

And the "touch tunnel" (they should really come up with a better name) where it's pitch black and you have to feel your way though. Somehow I was volunteered to take the girls through that one. The employees sit you down before you go through and explain what to do, what not to do, how to get help if you need it, etc. I truly felt like I was about go on a space ship or tightrope across the Grand Canyon. And then the whole thing was as easy as could be and only lasted like a minute and a half, but one of the girls must have looked pretty freaked out because they flashed the lights on for us. 

Dan took a picture of us up on the camera. Pretty comical.

There was also an amazing Angry Birds Exhibit, and it was truly cool. We were at the museum for four hours, and then the Angry Birds Exhibit turned into the Angry Jolleys Exhibit, and everyone was crazy hungry and then everyone got crazy cranky and mean, and we had to run to the car before the whole museum exploded from our wrath. Luckily, I packed sandwiches in the car.

And then the sickness. Here is the sickness order: June, Harris, Beck, Me, Gwen, and Dan got the final touch last night. 

So we've been lying around ever since.

Including today, which is why I have no Sunday church picture. We figured they were better off without us.

Harris is currently in my lap with his eyes closed while I type this. But no one is allowed to move him to his bed because he'll scream. 

I wish he would have left that wrath at the museum for the general public instead of for his sweet mother.

Me, guys. I was talking about me.

The End.