Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

 Every morning in December right after breakfast we ran to pull the slip on the advent calendar from our cousins. Dec.24 said to put together a nativity. There was also a package that came with it. Here is Spencer opening the package.

 It's a nativity!

A beautiful, homemade nativity. Wow!

 All set up on our mantel. We've now put away our Christmas decorations, but something won't let me put this away. I may keep it up the whole year to remember the love of our Savior we felt through Seth and Kira's special family. It makes me tear up just writing this.

In the afternoon I ran next door to invite our neighbor to our children's nativity performance and when I got back Alexis was in tears because she had accidentally broke this snowman cookie jar. It was special because 7 years ago when we first moved here someone did 12 Days of Christmas to us and had given this to us. I encouraged her to take many pictures of it for the scrapbook to remember it by.

A Secret Santa brought us all these presents and a delicious Christmas Eve dinner.

A short time later someone else left a tote of presents in our driveway.

The tree before the Secret Santa presents.

The tree after the addition of presents. Wow! We've never had so many presents before! 

I usually like things small and simple. I'm not a "stuff" person and with 10 people in a 3 bedroom house I don't like the kids to get a lot of stuff either. However, I realized this Christmas was not for me, it was for the children. They needed to feel the love of their friends and family even if we didn't know who it was giving us all these gifts. They needed to know what it feels like to be on the receiving end so some year they can pay it forward. They had a wonderful Christmas and were overwhelmed with how many people showed them love.

Caroling to Ray's house across the street. We do this every Christmas Eve and this year he took a picture of it. The nice thing this year was that Christmas Eve was in the 70's!

Performing the nativity for Ray and Yvonne

Looking through the piles of bubble pipes that was on our doorstep for "11 Pipers Piping"

Lining up Christmas morning in the girls' room to go downstairs. (Makenna is behind Kaitlyn)

 Nathan opening the rocket making kit Alexis made for him.

Alexis demonstrating how to put the tiny cardboard rocket on the launch pad. Nathan is holding the controller. 

 Sam loves the candy cane and puzzle he got from Secret Santa.

 Alexis with a special book from grandparents in ...where else? Florida!

 Nathan opening his present from me. The money was actually from a ward member to help with Christmas expenses. I wrapped it up and gave him a coupon for a date to get glasses. His broke a couple of months ago. He's been going without most of the time but wears one lens for driving or when he wants to see things like opening presents. :) (His other eye is almost blind anyway and glasses don't correct for it.)

After lunch I enjoyed a nice walk with this cute guy and several other kids. We took walkie-talkies and talked to kids at home. We got 4 walkie-talkies for Christmas and it was so fun talking to kids in various places.

 Alexis playing with the new arrow she got for her homemade bow.

 Samuel trying to put his shoe back on (he loves shoes!) and Makenna on the porch after the walk.

 Watching out the upstairs window for our 12 Days of Christmas Santa to come. This was the last night and we really wanted to get a glimpse of him. Every night he came around 6:30 so we sat there and waited and waited. Finally I put the little kids to bed (they usually go to bed at 6:30) and then he came just after 8. Still don't know who he is but we're sooo grateful! It was so much fun getting door-ditched every night. I wish we could do it again.

Just before bed Nathan used Lexi's rocket making kit to make himself another rocket. Here it's about to liftoff the launch pad.

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

Thank you to everyone who made it so much fun! It was a Christmas we'll never forget.

Pictures From the Last Month

Making turkey cookies for FHE.

 Random picture of our two babies.

 Opening our surprise advent calendar from my sister-in-law and her kids. It's so awesome!! Every day we draw a piece of paper and it has a fun activity for us to do like "draw a picture of Christmas", "make snowflakes", or "sing a Christmas carol". Many of them come with a package that is dropped off later in the day by the mailman. It will say, "Watch a Christmas movie", "Play a game", or "Warm your toes" and opening the package we will find a new movie, game, or fuzzy socks for the entire family. Our favorite so far is the Piano Guys Christmas CD. We're having a blast!!  It has made our holiday so special. We hardly care about Christmas coming because everyday feels like Christmas when you have such a fun advent calendar. It will forever be a special memory for us. 

 Kylie's traditional choco mallow brownies she makes when we decorate our tree.

 Watching the Christmas devotional

 Ready to listen to "The Christmas Carol" that Nathan reads on the day the calendar says, "Read a Christmas story." They love to crochet while he reads and the little three are in bed. More sweet memories!

 A little cyst that was removed. He told my family about it, so I'm posting the picture for them to see. Next he's getting his adenoids removed in January.

 How Samuel looked for a five days while he had a 104 fever. He wouldn't stop dripping. (I don't know how I got him to smile for this picture; he rarely smiled.)

 Next Makenna got it.

 And Madalyn was the 3rd.  

 Trying to get Samuel to eat. He hardly ate for over a week.

 Recovering, but still got the rosy cheeks.

We're all well now and I love seeing Samuel running around again, full of life.

 Kaitlyn's first haircut. I've put it off for a long time because she had such pretty curls. But lately it's mostly straightened out or tangly. 

Blessings Amongst Unemployment

I regularly read a blog written by a mom with 10 children. Her husband is also unemployed like mine is. She recently started titling posts, "Magic and Miracles in the Mess. Finding the Good During Unemployment." The day after I read the first miracle post, I started noticing all the little blessings that were similar to hers. I started keeping a list, some mental, some in my planner, of tender mercies from the Lord. I couldn't believe how fast they started adding up. So even though there are days I can't take it anymore, feeling His love shown through others keeps me going and warms my bitter heart. I've been meaning to write this post for several weeks, and now that I'm finally sitting down to do it, I realize it's Thanksgiving. What better time to write this?
Here are a bunch of blessings starting from a few weeks ago when my parents were here, until this week:

• My parents insisted they pay for some of the food in my cart because they were the ones going to eat it, but never did. After they left we had a lot of food paid for by them.
• We invited my parents out to eat, planning to use our gift card that was a Christmas present last year. Instead they took us to a restaurant and used one of their gift cards. Now we still have ours to use the next time Nathan and I want to eat out.
• My mom took my girls shopping and got them some new clothes. I think it's the first time they've had a shopping excursion like that at a real store and not a children's consignment shop or thrift store. They were so excited!
• When I went visiting teaching a sister gave us some bananas.
• A friend moving away gave us her dishes. We've never had enough dishes, so these were a big blessing. When I went to pick them up, she also gave us some good snacks: Goldfish, animal crackers, etc.
• A friend invited us over for dinner and wouldn't let us bring anything. 
• We harvested over 50 green tomatoes from our garden just before the first frost. They are now almost all ripened and we're still enjoying fresh tomatoes.
• Likewise, we got at least a dozen bell peppers. Fajitas is my favorite dinner!
• I opened the upstairs bathroom cupboard and noticed all these little bottles of conditioner and little soaps. I know my mom left them there on purpose. I've gone without conditioner the past few months and we're on our last bar of soap.
• We were out of wipes for a week and I was just about to go to the store to get some when a huge box of them appeared on our porch.
• I calculated our gas mileage and it was the highest it's ever been.
• Someone gave us a ham. Then someone else gave us a turkey. We'll have one for Christmas and one for Thanksgiving.
• The kids have been wonderful through this all. They are constantly adding up the cost of a meal and encouraging me to cook a cheaper meal tomorrow. It's actually been fun trying to cook cheaply. 

For the bad news, Nathan's car needed $420 worth of work to pass inspection. Ugg!! I finally decided to apply for food stamps. I was surprised to learn we get more than I usually spend on groceries. It will be nice not to worry about finding money for food. Nathan resisted the idea of government assistance for a long time but is now grateful to have more variety in our meals. It's also motivating him to apply for more jobs. I hope something comes from one of them soon!

I'm really grateful that we're all healthy and doing well. Homeschooling is going great; we're having a wonderful year. I'm so sad we haven't been able to do music lessons in 1 1/2 years, but I love the extra time we have at home to bond and play together. I have a lot of blessings to count even though things aren't what we'd like them to be this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week ending 11-16-14

 Makenna fell off her bike.

 I wish this weren't blurry. She's so cute!

 Samuel at his 12 month check up.

He weighs 19 lbs and is 29 inches.

 He was adorable waiting for the doctor. He crawled back and forth on the table, tried standing up, and chattered nonstop.

 Kaitlyn is a huge help with Samuel. Ever since he was born she's been my main baby holder. He has always loved to be held. When I put him down, say to get something out of the oven, he protests loudly and she snatches him up then packs him around the house.

Last week there was one day when it was 80 degrees so I took the kids to the Aquarium (homeschoolers go free and I've never once taken them), Fort Macon State Park, and the beach. We had a wonderful time!!

 Samuel about to make his escape.

 Kaitlyn

 Makenna

 Playing on one of those floor mats where you step on something like a fish and it disappears.

 Too dark of a picture but it was so cute seeing all of the kids looking at the tanks. I just love having 8 kids. It's so fun taking them places. When Samuel was first born we didn't go anywhere because we can't all fit in the van, but I decided I can't always leave someone home; we have to do fun things together. Since then we've been going on more field trips, even if it's just the library or park. I love being with all of my kids at the same time.

 Samuel

 The kids at Fort Macon

 And to the beach!

 Three kids played in the water.

 Three played in the sand.

 (Three in the water and three in the sand.)

 Two sat on the beach with me and snacked.

 I know these aren't good pictures, but for some reason I liked them anyway. Maybe because they were making similar faces. Or just looking at the pictures reminds me of the sweet memories of that day.

 One of my favorite memories of that day: watching Makenna and Kaitlyn hold hands and bravely watch the waves come in and cover their feet, suppressing the desire to run away. I loved hearing Kaitlyn gently talk to Makenna as if she were the mom, telling her how brave she was being and how everything was going to be ok.

 Just after we ran out of wipes someone sent us a whole box. That box has now become a fun train ride. The three youngest take turns riding in it and pushing the rider.

 My cute baby. I can't believe he's one. 

He still seems so small to me but I guess I feel that way because he's so cuddly, isn't walking yet, and there's not another one on the way, making me think he's big.

 Playing in the bathroom sink. He loves the leaf confetti we have around the house and has been eating it all fall.

 The hairdo Kylie tried on Alexis this week. She tries a different one almost every Sunday.