Santa spotted on Hilton Head :)

Christmas 2012 Family Photo

Merry Christmas from the Deans

And now, A Christmas Poetry reading

A woman read this at the beginning of her talk in church a few weeks ago.  I almost cried laughing.  It rings true!  Enjoy!

SEE MOTHER, FUNNY MOTHER

By Sandra Gilbert

See mother, see mother laugh. Mother is happy. Mother is happy about Christmas. Mother has many plans. Mother has many plans for Christmas. Mother is organized. Mother smiles all the time. Funny, funny, mother.

‘See mother. See mother smile. Mother is happy. The shopping is all done. See the children watching TV. Watch children, watch. See the children change their minds.  See them ask Santa for different toys. Look, look. Mother is not smiling. Funny, funny, mother.

See mother. See mother sew. Mother will make dresses. Mother will make robes. Mother will make skirts. See mother put the zipper in wrong.  See mother sew the dress on the wrong side. See mother cut the skirt too short. See mother put the material away until January. Look, look. See mother take a tranquilizer. Funny, funny, mother.

See mother. See mother buy raisins and nuts. See mother buy candied pineapple and powdered sugar. See mother buy flour and dates and pecans and brown sugar and bananas and spices and vanilla. Look, look. See mother mixing everything together. See the cookies burn. See the cake fall. See the children pull taffy. See mother clean the kitchen with the garden hose. Funny, funny, mother.

See mother. See mother wrap presents. See mother look for the end of the scotch tape role. See mother bite her fingernails. See mother go. See mother go to the store 12 times in an hour. Go mother go. See mother go faster. Run mother run. See mother trim the tree. See mother have a party. See mother make popcorn. See mother wash the walls. See mother scrub the rug. See mother tear up the organized plan. See mother forget a gift for Uncle Harold. See mother get hives. Go mother go. See the far-away look in mother's eyes. Mother has become disorganized. Mother has become disoriented. Funny, funny, mother.

It is finally Christmas morning. See the happy family. See father smile. Father is happy. Smile father, smile. Father loves fruitcake. Father loves Christmas pudding. Father loves all his new neckties. Look, look. See the happy children. See the children's toys. Santa was very good to the children. The children will remember this Christmas.

See mother. Mother is slumped in a chair. Mother is crying uncontrollably. Mother does not look well. Mother has ugly dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Everyone helps mother to bed. See mother sleep quietly under heavy sedation. See mother smile. Funny, funny, mother.

If you Leave a Tomboy unattended

...you'll always find her doing this:

12 Days til Christmas!!!

And 14 days til I see my family!  Woohoo!

Well, lil Miss is sick .  Poor little miss!  She's got to be cutting molars because her mouth and nose and eyes are like taps, constantly running.  Poor thing.  She's been a trooper though.  She just sleeps it off.  Like last night, about 14 hours straight and about double the naptime during the day.

I've been giving her a nice bubble bath before her early bedtime.  She gets the big soaker tub to herself, no stinky brothers to share and hog all the good toys.  She's quite the teeny princess in there.  She stands up and walks to the other side to get any toys out of reach.  Last night we did a mohawk post-bath:

I am so excited for her hair to grow out.  It's already gorgeous!  This flash was a little deceiving, however.  Here is how she really looked and felt:

Dace tried on his new super soft, super cozy winter jacket that gramma got him ages ago.  It finally fits!

Isn't he such a boy?!  Not so little anymore, baby is all grown up!

Then there's these 2 gaffers:

And this is one of my favorite Christmas pics so far.  it's a classic- looking through the catalog to make the wish list:

Miss does a great job blending in with all these boys and all their toys.  But I really think she is hoping for something pink and girly to play with on Christmas morning:

This is how Ammon hogs all the cars:

And these two, while they do have their fighting moments, are such fun to watch because they are the best of friends and such a cute little tag team:

Zade totally idolizes his older brother and Dace misses Zade during his nap time.  Today during naps, Dace invented a car picnic game and couldn't wait for Zade to get up.  When he did, Dace exclaimed "Finally!!  come play with me!"  Oh precious brotherly love!

New Shoes for my Little Dolly

Halloween 2.0= Best.Christmas Party. EVER!!!

It was like a dream come true - 2 Halloweens in one year!

Tonight we had our church Christmas party - A Night In Bethlehem.  Our building was transformed into the streets of Bethlehem.  It was sooooo much fun and such a great party.

But first, costumes!  Oh how I love to make costumes!  I don't know what it is but it's just so much fun to dress up.  Our awesome kiddos transformed into shepherd boys, a mini Roman guard and the Littlest Angel:

Don't we look fantastic?!  I did all 6 costumes for a total of 5 bucks! 

 Ammon's costume I had made for Halloween for when we were Romans, Miss' dress and the boys tunics were pillow cases, I made my dress from a sheet I had leftover from the Dace's birthday pirate ship.  I spent $2 at the thrift store for fabric scraps and got my wraps and dallins and all the head pieces.  Then I spent $3 on one more sheet from the thrift store to make Dallin's toga.  Ta-da!!!!

Okay, back to the party.  Entering the building, you walked through fire torches and a candle lit path:

Then you had to pay your taxes (canned goods) and sign the scroll:
(PS- I had to go back afterwards and take pics.  Somehow I can't manage pushing a double stroller through traffic and herd 2 toddlers and take pics but imagine all this bustling because we had an awesome turnout as you will see)

Then into the town square to await the orders of the Captain of the Roman Guard (aka Bishop).  I could only snap this quick pic of him heading outside after it was over:

Food was served in the Market Place:

A short program followed dinner and our friends played Joseph, Mary and Jesus.  He was the cutest, fattest baby Jesus ever.  We love babyB!

There was also a Taylor Shop set up where you get get a costume.  Everyone was dressed up, it was so great!  There was a Photo Booth (that's where our family photo above was taken) and then a Toy Shop where the kids could pay coins to make different crafts or buy a mini driedel.

We got home at 9 and poured all 4 kids into bed.  They were so excited to go all day and we had such a great time.

Happy December everyone!  It's Christmas Time!!!!