This Week at Our House # 52 Christmas 2016

1. John and I decided to make it a bigger than usual Christmas this year. We bought most of the kids each an expensive lego set. The 4 who did not want legos got more than the normal 3 small gifts each. We were also generous in buying some clothes and needful things that we have not been able to afford for a long time. We had everything for the kids bought and paid for before the brakes on the van died, otherwise it would have been a small Christmas. So I was glad that we did all the shopping early and so was John. John worked up through the 23rd and was back to work today. Because his job is  a contract with monthly pay, he doesn't ever have official vacation time.
2. John was the last minute husband shopper this year. I thought I would not get any Christmas presents. He spent a lot of time looking and shopping, but by the 23rd, he still had not found anything that he wanted to get me. I had given him a list of Books and clothes that I wanted, but he didn't want to get any of those. By the evening of the 23rd, he gave in and went to the book store and got me a bunch of the books from my list. I thought he had just gone out to buy some chocolate so I would have something under the tree. I was very surprised when I opened a box of books. 
3. Ruth took the driving test and failed because we did not know what a 3 point turn meant. Now we know, and she will take the test again on Thursday and hopefully pass. We only have a 15 passenger van and that makes it really hard to both learn to drive and take the driving test. I have always been unsure about what to do with Ruth and driving. She was always terrified of the written test. She hated drivers ed. She hated driving. At first I pushed her along and made her get her permit before she was 16. She hated that. She hated when I took her out driving. I decided that maybe she was just not ready, so I gave up and quit making her do anything until she turned 18. At 18, I started nagging her to get he North Carolina permit. She was afraid to take that test. Finally in June I told her I was just going to drop her off at the DMV and not come and get her until she passed the test. She then said she would be willing once school ended. She got her permit and had to learn to drive on the van. I had to do all of the work. John was too scared to drive with her. Before she left for college, we did not have the money for the test, and she was not anxious to take it. At college just before Christmas, Ruth talked to her Bishop about a mission and he said she had to have her licence before she could put in her papers and that did it. Ruth changed. Ruth has been a bit of an emotional mess, but she has been determined to drive and practice driving. She actually did take the driving test and even though she did not pass, she is anxious to do it again and get this over with. I have no idea what I should have done differently or what I will do differently with the other kids as I have both pushed and laid off for the same child with not great results. Hopefully next week I will be able to say that Ruth has a driving licence. Other than that drama. We have been enjoying Ruth and having her home for Christmas. Her time with us is short. 
4. Kate of course is happier than she has been in a long time because her best friend is home. Kate and I bought each other the same book for Christmas, so we spent much of Christmas day reading the whole 270 page book. We still managed to get dinner made, the house cleaned, take a nap, and take care of the kids. Kate got books and clothes for Christmas and she was quite happy about it.
5. Johnny spent all day Christmas building lego sets with his brothers.
6. Adam got a big lego set but he also got candles because he loves them and a wallet. He has kept the wallet in his pocket since he put his money and temple recommend in it. It's been pretty cute.
7. Rachel only wanted legos and dresses for Christmas, so she that is what she got. I spent a couple of days looking for a pretty white dress for Rachel and Anya and only found one that was modest, so I got them the same dress. They both loved it and wore it all day Christmas.
8. Anya got a lot of art stuff and a smaller lego set. She put her legos together by herself and she loved them. It's always nice when you get just the right thing for your kids.
9. Joseph had 3 big lego sets because we bought him one, Kate bought him one, and Johnny and Adam bought him one. I think he was pretty happy about it. 
10. When Christmas presents were all unwrapped Joshua sat there unhappy because he did not get everything on his list. But then he happily went and built legos and played with them all day.
11. Arwen took charge of both her and Susan's Christmas gifts. Normally, I would be unhappy about that, but Susan and Arwen played so well together that we didn't need to say a thing.
12. This was the first Christmas that Susan cared about. Her present from Santa was a little porcelain tea set in a wicker picnic basket. She was absolutely delighted with it. She immediately set up the dishes and started opening her stocking candy to put on the plates. She played tea party all day. 
13. Sam got candy for Christmas and I ate it all to make sure he would get the benefit of it ;). He is 6 weeks now. Pretty soon I will forget how many weeks he is and start counting months.

Tender Mercies

1. Ruth felt like she needed to get her driving test done as soon as possible when she got home for break. That turned out well because we misunderstood what the dmv guy said a 3 point turn was. Since she took the test early, she has enough time to retake it before heading back to college.
2. I am so glad we got all the presents bought early and could give the kids a Christmas full of kids. The kids went without a lot of things this year and I was so glad to be able to end the year with some nice things that they really wanted to have.

Pictures

Merry Christmas 2016

Family Pictures 2016

I do not think they came out all that well. Ruth particularly was making faces. But I am glad to have them.

This Week at Our House # 51

1. John's laptop that he uses for work died the same day that the brakes in the van squealed every time we used them. The laptop was a surprise. But we knew that we would need new brakes since October. We were just hoping that they would make it until January. John went in to work twice last week. He has something that he is getting ready to submit to his boss along with another proposal. On Sunday, John drove to Raleigh and picked Ruth up from the airport. So he had a pretty busy week finding and purchasing a new laptop, taking the van in to be repaired, working, and then driving back and forth to Raleigh.
2. I made a lot of cookies with the kids, read to them a lot to them, and did some Christmas crafts. On Monday, the kids did a little Nativity Play for family home evening. I think we had a nice week with lots of little things to celebrate Christmas.
3. Ruth finished all of her classes and projects. On Friday, she drove down late to Utah. She went to the airport the following afternoon, and sat there for two hours until they cancelled her flight to Chicago. She met another BYUI student who was trying to get home for Christmas too, so she was not too lonely for the next 7 hours when she was finally able to get a red eye flight to Philadelphia. She got into Raleigh at 11 am. By then she was sick and very tired. But we were so glad to get her home safely and to see her again. She dyed her hair black. She says it is brown. She says she gained weight too, but it does not look like it to me. Anyway, we are so happy to have her home for Christmas!
4. Kate spent the whole week excited to get Ruth home, only to be disappointed that her flight was cancelled. But she did spend the whole week baking cookies, doing crafts, and reading with me. I have been thinking how next summer Ruth will leave for a mission and Kate will leave for college. It's such a sad thought. They are my best friends. I will be lonely without them until Rachel and Anya get a little older and fill that gap in my heart.
5. John has been making Johnny do a lot more calculus. He has also been giving him a lot of very hard problems. Johnny doesn't like it. But he can figure them out, even if it takes a lot of complaining to accomplish it.
6. Adam had a party that his primary teacher held on Friday. He came happy, energized, and more patient with his younger siblings, so I am enrolling him into a homeschool coop school that meets for 4 hours one day a week in January. When Adam got in the car after church, Rachel announced that one of the girls in Adam's class said she has a crush on him. Adam said he knows because Rachel was the second person to tell him. Apparently, there is one other girl that has a crush on Adam too. The rest of us were a little surprised.
7. I am going to enroll Rachel with Adam, into the homeschool group. She is missing friends too. Rachel did enjoy  making crafts, and cooking and eating the cookies.
8. Anya spent time working on a new story. She also kept coming to me with new things for her Christmas list. But I am finished Christmas shopping, so she was too late. 
9. Joseph loves to ride his bike. He fell hard and got a large scrape and gouge on his knee, but that did not deter him. Joseph loves to bake. He makes something almost everyday and he often helps me with dinner preparation too.
10. Joshua loves video games too much.
11. I braided Arwen's hair on Sunday and she loved it. When it got messy, she asked me if I could do the same thing.
12. When Joseph scraped his knee, Susan just cried and cried because she felt so bad for him. It's just the cutest thing. She gave him a very gentle kiss and hug to make him feel better. Joseph jokingly said, "that has no medical value." 
13. Sam is sleeping more at night on the whole, but he takes a very long time to fall asleep most nights. Sometimes he won't get to sleep until 2 or 3am.

Tender Mercies

1. Even though no one wants to have to pay for a car repair or a new work computer during Christmas time, we are just so grateful that John has a job and we can pay for these things.
2. Ruth made it home safely and after some rest and good food she felt much better.

This Week's Pictures