New Year's Eve

We had the New Year's party at our house this year with all the Spencers. We eat and eat and eat and eat, and then watch the ball drop in New York at 10pm and go to bed. It's fantastic!

This year we had a nacho bar and buffalo blasts (a cheesecake factory appetizer) and doughnuts & snacks. I ate way too much as usual, but it was a great party with fantastic company.

And I was in bed before midnight. What could be better?

Silly

Think her new tights are a little bit big??

Future Missionary

Allergic

We found out this week that Henry is allergic to Penicillin. Here's how it happened.

On Sunday during church we noticed Henry was getting spots on his neck above the collar of his sweater. We had given him a bath that day with different body wash than usual, and we had also changed laundry detergent the day before, so I thought that's for sure what it was. When he woke up from his nap after church, this is what he looked like:

He was also on day 7 of Amoxicillin, but it was the second time he'd been on it and I didn't think a reaction could occur so late in this round of antibiotics, so I gave him another dose around dinnertime and that's when his hives flared up like crazy.

We called the nurseline and talked to a doctor, gave him benadryl, etc. In the morning of day two of the reaction, this is what he looked like:

Poor thing! Allergic to Penicillin, just like his daddy. We even took him to the doc (it was Christmas Eve!) just to confirm it was an allergic reaction, which it was.

Each day his hives slowly got better but they looked really bad for a few days. This was day two by the evening:

Day three:

Day four:

So now we know! No more Penicillin for the little man. :)

Skype

Isn't technology amazing? On Christmas Day we got to skype with Amy in Norway, my parents in Spain, and three of us at different locations here in Utah. Then the next day we got to do it again with Stuart. It was so amazing to hear their voices and hear their stories. It was the best Christmas gift ever! I can't wait for next year.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was fairly low key at our house this year. We let the kids open their presents one by one. Emme has the most expressive faces! It's so fun to watch her open things.

She got some cute Cinderella slippers from Henry and a princess soccer ball from Grandma Pace.

I got a new wall clock (pictured in the background). I also got a new freezer for the garage and half a grass fed cow! (Thumbs way up for Chris's effort this year.)

Emme also got a fancy fan all the way from Spain.

Henry got a new sleep sack. Yay!

Emme's "dora kit" she kept asking for (???) and a t-ball set. We did lots of outside toys this year because I feel like we are exploding with toys inside!

By far the best reaction of the morning -- her princess figurines set.

Henry was content to crawl around with a bow on his bum and tear apart the tissue paper. So we let him!

We skyped with our missionaries in the morning and then spent the afternoon with the Spencer family. It was such a good day!

Goodbye Jingle

We participated in the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year, and Emme LOVED it. She named him Jingle. Incidentally, our elf was not mischievous like some household's elves are...but maybe he will be next year.

She would wake up each morning and run out to the family room to see where he was that day. She got SO excited about it. On his last day, Jingle brought with him a note. It thanked her for being so good this year and told her he had let Santa know. It also said she could take him down from the shelf for a few minutes to give him a kiss and a hug before he had to go back to the North Pole until next year.

Emme totally dug it. We can't wait for Jingle to come back next year!

Lookin' In The Rearview Mirror

{Don't worry...Chris was driving.}

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening at the Flanagan's house with all the Spencers. In addition to great food and good company, we were privileged to watch the Flanagan kids put on the full theatrical version of A Christmas Carol for us in the basement. It was seriously the highlight of my whole Christmas season this year!

Emme, Preston and Braden all wanted to be in it too, of course, so during intermission and at the end we let them stand on chairs and sing us a song. They felt so special.

Emme couldn't take her eyes off the show. She was enthralled.

Wade played Scrooge, and I kid you not, he had every line of the whole darn thing memorized, complete with British accent. 

Even Hannah and Logan had all their theatrically-correct lines memorized. I have no idea how long it took them to practice this but it was amazing. I think the show lasted over an hour!

I hope there will be an encore next Christmas again! I can't wait!

Langeland Christmas Party

We had the Langeland family Christmas party at a church this year, and it actually turned out great. The kids had room to run and the adults had plenty of room to mingle. The food was amazing, but the highlight of the evening was when Santa came to give the grandkids their presents. They were so excited!

Emme sat on his lap to get her present and then tore it open. It was "a prince for her barbies" like she had been asking Santa for. She couldn't believe it! If she'd hugged it any tighter it would've turned to diamond.

Henry, on the other hand, was unphased by Santa. We set him on his lap hoping for one of those great reactions, but he was more interested in the present than the funny looking guy that was holding him.

And of course, he had plenty of help opening his stacking bowls from Santa.