Party, Recital, and Play

Before Christmas, the kids sang at a senior citizen event had a little co-op party. We did a gift exchange and made gingerbread houses. Our co-op is called Kid Tribe. It has been great this year. Scotty and Annie have such good friends there. And I love all the moms.

Annie also had a Christmas recital. She has been making a lot of progress in piano. Her teacher makes her use a metronome. Annie wasn't a huge fan of that at first, but now she very happily practices with it. Her songs were Carol of the Bells and Silent Night. And the teacher and I played Sleigh Ride. So fun!

We also made a Saint Lucia outfit for Annie for a homeschool activity. Isn't she cute?

Annie was also in a kids' version of A Christmas Carol. She played Mrs. Fezziwig and Mrs. Cratchit. She did a great job. She's very expressive on stage.

Christmas

Christmas is really fun as a parent. As a kid, you are super excited for what feels like years and years. Then you start to grow up, and your excitement dims as your age increases. How lucky that the excitement returns as we anticipate our kids' excitement.

We did Christmas in our own home this year. Tickets to Utah were cheapest on Christmas day, so we flew out at 6:30 pm and had most of the day to do our own thing and then go be with family for the week. On Christmas Eve day, Aaron and I told the kids we would not use electronic devices of any kind. They were excited about that. And it is really, really good to disconnect once in a while. I have a testimony of doing that. So we had lots of quality time. We did our traditional Sandberg dinner with rice pudding and caramel rolls. This was actually the third time this year that I had made rice pudding. Once for co-op kids to try when we were talking about Denmark. Then for our ward Christmas party (The whole bowl got eaten. I was kind of surprised.) And then for Christmas. I'm like a professional rice pudding maker.

Scotty did not like the rice pudding. We told him he had to take three bites of it and thus nearly ruined Christmas. He would put it in his mouth and start gagging and saying he couldn't swallow it. Once he walked to the garbage and spit it out. We didn't count that bite. There were tears and gnashing of teeth. But there was also character building. We hope.

The kids went to bed, and Aaron and I set up everything so that it would look magical on Christmas morning. It was so fun! Being a mom is wonderful. We felt happy with how things turned out. And it was just so great to share the experience with my husband. Being a wife is wonderful.

Annie made some homemade presents. The one she gave me came in three parts. I opened each part separately and then got these instructions. It was a Merry Christmas sign for the front porch.

The first part of the gift was a cardboard tray for holding cans. It had been painted red and green and had a hole poked through it. The second piece was an empty wrapping paper tube. You stick that into the hole in the tray. Then you put the sign on top. It was my favorite.

After a magical Christmas morning, we drove to the airport. Everyone was very cheerful, and we had a direct flight to SLC. Such a miracle to get from Texas to Utah in a mere 3 hours. Isn't it great to live in a modern age?

We had so much fun being with the Dennis clan. We were all there together. It was really fun. We went sledding and made slime and watched movies and played Pandemic and went bowling and took family pictures and opened presents and ate good food.

Someone to play chess with? Best cousin ever!

After our lovely time with the Dennises, we drove south to be with the Olveras and Halls. We did New Year's Eve and Day with them. It was so nice to see everybody! What wonderful people!

We also had a quick catch-up with the aunties and the Lewises. So glad we got to see them! We felt so blessed to be with family at Christmas-time. And we're glad to be back in Texas where it isn't freezing cold.  

Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, I was in charge of the Thanksgiving turkey. It felt like an important milestone. I got a 20 lb turkey, defrosted it, salted it, stuffed it, and put it in an oven bag. Five hours later, we had a delicious, super moist turkey. It turned out really well! And Aaron carved it like a pro. He even came back after the meal and got every last bit of meat off that turkey carcass. Like a true Dennis--waste not, want not; there's a depression on!

We were glad to share our turkey with the Brimleys. They brought pies and rolls and sides that were all amazing. One of our best Thanksgiving moments was when we realized they had left the rest of the berry pie with us! We had 9 pies which was 1 pie per person (if you don't count the baby). We should have counted the baby!

 During the morning, my family was texting back and forth about the glorious pie-ness that was happening across the country. We made a pie pledge: "I pledge allegiance to the pies of the United Pie Eaters of America and to the calories for which they stand, one pie, per person, irresistibly delectable, with ice cream and leftovers for all." We took the pledge seriously. There was some dedicated pie-eating over here.

The weather was lovely. Fall colors have started appearing here in Texas. Naturally, we visited the park. And Amanda and I discovered that great moms dress alike.

This year I am grateful for so many things. I am still so grateful that Aaron finished his PhD and that we're here with a good job. I love our house. May sound weird, but I'm grateful for our budgeting spreadsheet and our credit union app that makes tracking our expenses so delightful. I'm grateful that I get to homeschool my kids. I love it! I'm grateful that I've been learning to play the organ. I'm grateful there are so many good books in the world. I'm grateful for mild Texas winters. I'm grateful to have siblings and a soul sister in Texas with me. I love that my sisters and my mom and I have been texting each other so much. I'm extremely grateful for Aaron and my interesting, funny, happy, healthy kids. I'm grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ. Yay for Thanksgiving! 

Family Pictures

We had a photographer friend in our ward take our family pictures. It was a quick, 15 minute session which was perfect. The kids easily lasted that long, and we got some actual smiles out of Scotty. Miraculous! This was the first time in a long time that I've paid to have pictures taken. I think I was waiting for our family to change (by having another baby) before I spent time and energy on family pictures. But I've been trying on a new attitude lately by accepting and cherishing this family that I've got right now. And that has been really good. I like us!