When it rains it pours.

We are so looking foward to starting the new year at this house. After having our share of not so great moments this December, we are ready to move on. A lost battle with our insurance company for all of Henry's bills, a collision with a deer, weeks of sick kids, a broken shower (Christmas Eve), a broken oven (New Year's Eve).....all the sorts of things that make you realize how good things usually are!

And frankly we would have paid anything and everything for this sweet baby:

But I gotta say there have been at least four distinct times this month when I looked around and thought, "where are the grown-ups and when will they get here?!"

January came early.

In order to make room for the new toys, we started a little rearranging which quickly turned into a whole lotta rearranging. By Sunday afternoon we were up to our eyeballs in a giant mess but by that night we had moved Jemma into Jack's room and Ava back into her own room, which involved Ed taking apart and reassembling three beds and a crib, hauling out to the garage a dresser and bookshelf and hauling in a desk and different bookshelf, while I reorganized 3 dressers and two closets worth of clothes and shoes and at least 5 toy boxes and two bookshelves. Which left us with two clean and tidy rooms and six full garbage bags sitting by the front door. whew.

Jack helped a ton! He held furniture, threw away toys, and washed the floorboards and any dirty surface he could find.

Just a smidgen of the mess before I got too busy to notice how bad it got!

I LOVE January cleaning! It does my little heart good to throw, wash, and organize! I followed this up on Monday and Tuesday by doing every room I could...all I have left are the two hall closets and the garage--saving the best for last!

Christmas Joy!

Happy Christmas!

It was a good one!

Christmas at the Driskills!

Huge tree!

I don't have very many good pictures from Ed's parents' house because I was trying out my new camera and apparently didn't know what I was doing. But there were lots of presents, lots of food, and one cute little baby:

Ava loves to set the table here for Christmas dinner.

And when we got home Jack jumped back into Darth and tried out his new Star Wars game first thing!

Christmas morning!

Ed gets up early to make us a fire and hot chocolate and I snuggle with Jack and Ava (and this year Jemma!) till we hear "Joy to the World"...the kids are so giggly I can hardly stand it!

Running out...poor Jemma doesn't know what to do!

She made this face every time she opened a present...I love a two-year old at Christmas!

Waiting patiently for his turn.

a new robe!

And Darth showed up. Plan to see lots of him in future posts!

We had a great morning of presents and food and poor Henry slept through it all! Then we loaded up and headed to Ed's parents'.

Christmas Eve!

After the best Christmas Eve service we've been to yet, we headed home for Ed's favorite meal of the year:

King crab!

egg nog.

Jack ate a pound and a half of clams! I was a little worried about his tummy but he followed it up with a rest on the couch and was fine!

Little Cindy Lou...not wanting to go to bed and miss the party.

Once the kids were all nestled snug in their beds, we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and stuffed the stockings....I love Christmas Eve! So quiet and still full of anticipation and excitement!

Sawyer Family Christmas!

In order to squeeze in all our celebrating, we start Christmas at my parents' on the evening of the 23rd. And we party nonstop till we take down our tree late on the 26th.

And then we sleep!

Christmas baby.

Christmas jammies from grandma!

This year they came with hats!

Two sweet boys...how many more years will I catch them holding hands??

eleven!

Caught them again!

Henry spent a good chunk of time hanging out on the floor but I do worry that he'll get smashed in the chaos so I hover pretty close!

Ben and Jem joined in.

We eventually pack up the kiddies and take them home but we head back out in the morning for presents, presents, presents!

When we were kids we all waited in one bedroom for our parents to get Christmas morning ready....we couldn't come out till we heard the Christmas music and then we ran out together. Since we're a pretty traditional bunch, we all meet in a parking lot and then drive out together so we can arrive for Christmas morning at the very same time. I know! And we're supposed to be the grown-ups!
Anyway, since Ed and Susan are never late, our families were hanging at the parking lot for a few minutes waiting on the Casebolts. I caught the Sawyers having a pre-Christmas doughnut:

Still in jammies!

The kids worked on art projects while the grown-ups opened first!

Sometimes we forget that we actually celebrate a day early until we see that the rest of the world is still going about their business....the UPS man showed up with one of Stephen's presents just in time!

After a couple hours of presents Jemma started losing interest...

...and the cinnamon rolls had too long too rise!

After breakfast, the big kids do a show...this year was the Nutcracker with Ava as the narrator, Madison as Clara, Jack as the naughty boy (!), and the other kids filling in where needed.

Then we load up and head home for the next round!

ready and waiting...

sneak peek....

Christmas jammies!

cousin love.

crazy fun.

Happy Christmas!

My people watching Home Alone.

We're loving Christmas...hope you are too!

3 months old!

and

so
darn

sweet!

Henry is a sweet sweet baby!

Sweet smile, sweet coo, sweet personality.

He's growing up a bit...he loves to sit up straight and watch the other little people here run around and he is beyond giddy when someone stops to talk to him. He usually sleeps from 8:30 to 7:30 or 8:00, eats and then sleeps another hour or so. His naps are either super great or not at all and the only time he is grumpy is when he wants to go to bed! He loves to lay in his crib and watch his mobile...seriously the best $20 I have ever spent...he coos and smiles like crazy and he likes to drift to sleep when it's on.

He is getting some serious red hair...people comment on it whenever I take him out. But Ava was red for awhile at this age too so we'll see if it sticks around.

About a month ago, he started making a funny sound when he breathes (imagine a little piggy!), it's loud and scary but we're use to it now and I only notice it when we are somewhere quiet and other people start to stare! He's seen six different doctors and they all just stare at him...he sounds terrible but he's growing, sleeping, crying great and he always gives them a big drooly smile and then they conclude he's just fine. There's a couple things it could be and everyone's pretty sure he'll grow out of it. In the meantime, he is cuter than can be and the perfect addition to our little family!

Christmas Vacation!

Yesterday we woke up to a fresh pile of snow and some gorgeous sunshine!

Jack headed out to shovel:

and then the kids sat with Jemma while she ate breakfast...she was super pleased because she always eats alone while they're at school!
Yay for sleeping in and hanging out for two whole weeks!
I've been looking forward to this--the last couple weeks have been so crazy I have been missing my big kids who have basically been taking care of themselves, like Jack, who in the middle of the flu epidemic, hollers from the bathroom where he is throwing up, "don't worry...I know what to do!"

The Nutcracker!

We love this tradition--such a nice way to start the Christmas week! I had been looking forward to a day with Ava for a long time--I miss her!

Ava was so intent on reading her program!

This was the first year she sat in her own seat the whole time. Usually she starts nodding off by the third act and she snuggles me instead but this year she made it through. She is just getting so grown-up!

(I can't believe this is the only picture I got of the girls!)
Champagne and cookies at intermission!

We went to the matinee this year and we were starving when it got over!

Sara dove into the breadsticks first thing.

We met up with some of my family for dinner--I think there were 23 of us!

On the way home I was missing my little buddy and I was worried he might be missing me too but I got home and he was just chilling by the fire:

but he did give me an awfully big smile when he heard my voice and then he snuggled me for a whole hour:

I love it when my babies love their daddy but a little mommy love is nice too!