Toone Family: Holiday Installment

I may as well just reconcile myself to the fact that my posts probably won't be any more frequent than once a month -- and possibly less frequent than that, at times (like this time). You should probably reconcile yourself to this fact, too. Still, this means that every four to six weeks, you've got a bang-up, mile-long post to look forward to (and I KNOW your sun rises and sets on this blog).

Anyway, December started out with Logan's birthday. I had surprised him a couple weeks earlier with a new TV (this was our combined birthday and Christmas presents from parents, grandparents, each other, etc.). He was thrilled with this gift, and the whole family has had the opportunity to enjoy it frequently. Woo hoo!

Amanda's birthday falls one week after Logan's. I had told her some time ago that she could have a few friends over for a birthday party -- a promise she was sure to make me keep! So here it is: Amanda's Fourth Birthday Party. . .

We began with a theme. Can you guess what it was?

The invitation. I think Amanda gained more pleasure from delivering these to her friends than from anything else. Seriously.

Let's just be honest here. The Teddy Bear Tea Party was MY idea, and I planted its little seed inside Amanda's head so that when I asked her what kind of party she wanted to have, she automatically replied, "A Teddy Bear Tea Party." I am 27 years old and would be ecstatic if someone invited me to a Teddy Bear Tea Party. Since nobody has (or likely ever will), I had to create my own and then pass it off as a birthday party for my four-year-old. Just want to be sure that we're all on the same page. And no, the fact that I'm living vicariously through my preschooler doesn't cause me any guilt or shame.

The table from Amanda's vantage point. Her teapot was pink because she was the birthday girl. Her place setting also includes the bell (which you ring when it's tea time, of course) and small music box featuring a little girl getting ready to blow out her candles to the tune of "Happy Birthday." That was a gift from Amanda's great-Grandma Neilson. All the teapots had milk in them, and the sugar bowls had pink Nestle Quik. Each girl got to pour her own milk into her cup, and then add the desired amount of "pink" before sipping. I have to say that it was pretty darn cute to watch!

Each chair had one of these bags looped over the back. They doubled as place cards and party favors. The girls got to embellish a little straw hat with ribbons and flowers for her bear to wear for the tea party. Anytime one of the girls would say "please," "thank you," "may I" or drink with pinkies up, Logan and I would drop a little treat into the bag on the back of her chair.

"Pinkies up" was somewhat misinterpreted, however. This little girl did, indeed have her pinky up, so she got the promised treat. Still, it wasn't quite what we had in mind... :)

The loot. Sort of sickening when you remember that Christmas was only two weeks away at this point. Sheesh!

Anytime Amanda looks at this photo, she says, "I love that picture!" She said that her favorite thing about the party was blowing out the candles on her cake. Yeah, because if you had your own teddy bear with it's own hat that you got to make your own self, and had sandwiches cut in the shape of hearts and little pink and white truffles, and Barbie/My Little Pony/Disney Princess stuff coming out your ears, and basically a party that any 27. . .er, 4-year-old, that is. . . would DIE to have -- of course your favorite thing would be to blow out the candles. Naturally.

The cake. The feelings that I expressed regarding Lily's cake (and all cakes, really) remain the same for Amanda's cake. If I'm gonna spend hours making it, and if I'm actually going to be expected to consume it, it dang well better taste good. And by good, I mean frosting that isn't gritty and bitter-tasting; anything overly sweet; and nothing that is going to turn your mouth (and all your party guests) some unnatural shade of red, blue, etc. Oh, and it should ALWAYS have ice cream. Everything is better with ice cream, no? This was a double layer white and strawberry ice cream cake frosted with whipping cream. Amanda described to me what she wanted, and I did my best to make it a reality (no seed-planting this time -- really).

All the little bears awaiting transportation to their new homes. All in all, I'd say it was a success. I'm glad we've established that friend parties are to be had no more frequently than every other year...

A little more than a week went by with the busyness of the Christmas season (more on this later). Then it was time for the Rowley family Christmas party. Ever since I can remember, this party has been held on Christmas Eve in the evening. I can only remember one time when we didn't attend, and that was when my family spent Christmas with my Rowley grandparents in Monticello. . .so it sort still felt like the same party because we were with them. Anyway, this year was a little different. In an effort to have as many family members there as possible, the party was moved to the 22nd. So that day, we all headed up to Nibley to my Uncle Eric and Aunt Brenda's house for the festivities.

I was in charge of coordinating the nativity pageant, which we finally have enough little kids to do again! Many thanks to my sister Lisa, who filled the part of stage manager while I was being the accompaniast.

I made little sheep headbands for Sawyer and Benson to wear. Unfortunately, they were more interested in removing the cotton balls and quickly eating them, so they had to be non-fluffy sheep.

The players. Amanda was very excited about her role as the shepherdess. I was relieved about this. Since we have more girls than boys in the family, and since there are more parts for boys than for girls in the nativity, I had to cast the only boys as the innkeeper, Joseph and the wise men. This meant that pretty much every girl was an angel, except for Amanda. I talked the shepherdess thing up a ton in the hopes that she wouldn't notice she was the only girl besides Mary who wasn't wearing a sparkly halo. Turns out all I had to was hand her the shepherd's crook and tell her that she was "in charge" of the sheep.

This is a picture of my grandparents and all their children (my mom is the eldest sibling and is pictured on the far right). It's been a long time since they all had a picture taken together, so I'm glad to have this one!

We went to Logan's Grandma and Grandpa Toone's house for the traditional Christmas Eve party. All the traditional staples of this party were there, including...

A live-action performance of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Jim Carrey did not make an appearance). Amanda, with only a little sucking up to the narrator, was able to secure for herself the all-important role of Cindy Lou Who. Here she is with the Grinch (a.k.a Uncle Scott) reciting her one line.

The next staple of this party is the penny toss. The family is divided up according to age and gender, and each group gets the opportunity to clobber each other in an attempt to secure the most money. Ah, the Christmas spirit is alive and well!

Next staple: the nativity pageant. This time Amanda was an angel (and didn't even seem to miss her shepherd's crook).

During the course of the afternoon's events, Amanda and Lily got ahold of my camera. It's always interesting to see the world through someone else's perspective -- particularly if that person stands around three feet tall. There were many spectacular photos taken, but none were superior to this one. Okay, now I have to say it: Nice bum; where ya from?

In years past, we have gone directly from the Toone family party to the Rowley family party. However, since that party was held earlier, we just headed for home. It was sort of strange to be home so early on Christmas Eve. Anyway, we watched a movie together and then read from Luke chapter 2 in our own "stable" (a fort built from blankets and obliging furniture). Then it was time for "Follow the Leader" (the traditional way to go to bed on Christmas Eve in Logan's family). Nothing except for "Follow the Leader" is a set-in-stone tradition, and it looks as though we may need to come up with something for just our little family to do on Christmas Eve. I'd love to hear what traditions all of you participate in. C'mon, gimme some ideas! Anyway, this brings us to Christmas morning:

The kids inspecting the contents of their stockings. Not 100% sure what Logan's doing in this picture. You can see our birthday/Christmas present hanging on the wall in the background.

All the goods. I'd say a pretty good haul was made. A little side story about the red Jeep. I don't know about you, but as a child, I always envied the kids who had these. I don't know that I ever even broached the subject with Santa; I suppose I just thought it was completely out of the question. Anyway, don't think this is another "Kara living her childhood through her children" thing. This is more like a "Kara got something for free and made it into something she could use" thing (which happens much more frequently, believe it or not). This red Jeep once belonged to Logan's younger brother. He outgrew it long ago, and it sat in storage at Logan's parents' house for a long time. Then, a few months ago, they asked us if we were interested in having it for our girls. You betcha! It sat in our crawlspace for a long time. During this period, the girls were under the impression that it didn't work and was only good for sitting in. Little did they know, the battery just needed to be charged for it to come back to life! There was just one problem: it was very boyish-looking. It had flames on the hood and on the sides, and it just wasn't right for two little girls. So Logan and I removed the original decals and replaced them with some vinyl stickers I ordered from a friend of mine (thanks, Heidi!). Voila! I am now the mom who got the Powerwheels Jeep -- except I didn't actually have to buy it! I WIN!!!

It's been very snowy lately, so the girls haven't really had the opportunity to get into an open space and see what this baby can do. All I can say is, I hope Amanda's driving skills improve before she's old enough to operate a real vehicle. I think Lily's a better driver, despite the age difference.

After we opened all the presents, we felt it necessary to go somewhere to find more presents to open. We headed down to Logan's parents' house for breakfast and more gift-giving (and receiving, incidentally). Logan's mom made matching pillow and blanket sets for all the grandkids. The material of each set was different from the next. Here is Amanda with hers. She and Lily sleep with theirs every night!

After staying for a while at Logan's parents' house, we went to my Mom and Dad's. We spent the rest of the evening there -- and then some! As we packed up to leave around 8:00 p.m., a blizzard was swirling all around us. I expressed my concern about attempting to travel in such weather, but Logan was sure we'd be fine. As we inched toward the end of my parents street, we were met by a car whose driver had attempted to turn and ended up stuck against a curb. After Logan helped push the car into the right position, we decided to turn around and have an impromptu sleepover at Grammy and Papa's house. It turned out to be a lot of fun! We played games, ate (lots of) food and had breakfast together before leaving in the morning.

And since I just haven't posted enough pictures of the kids, I'll throw in one more of each of them:

This is Lily's new haircut. Cute? Yes. Intended? Not exactly. After she attempted to cut her own hair on two separate occasions, I was forced to take her to Dollar Cuts so something could be done. Unfortunately, self-inflicted haircut #3 took place after the Dollar Cuts intervention. Thankfully it wasn't too severe.

And now for a little more about the craziness of the Christmas season, which I alluded to before. I really felt like I lost control of things this year. And not just the obligatory gifts, pot-luck offerings, etc. (though I was certainly on the verge of not getting any of those things done either, until Logan swooped in to save me). No, it was beyond that. I want my children to know that Christmas -- and life in general, really -- can encompass far more than the parties you're invited to attend and how much stuff you can accumulate. I'm afraid I didn't get much past those two things this year. I'm certain that if I did't get past them, my kids couldn't have, either. So I'm making a vow today: next year will be different. Part of it can be fixed just by planning a little better, but mostly, I need to change my whole outlook about what is important. In the coming year, I hope to have more patience with my children. I hope to serve more dilligently in my calling. I hope to be an attentive neighbor and friend. I hope to deepen my religious convictions. I hope to have all these things culminate in Christmas next year so that when anyone walks through my front door, they are immediately enveloped by such a feeling of love, they cannot deny that a member of the Godhead lives and thrives in our home. Merry Christmas, everyone, and Happy New Year.