Good-bye 2012....

 January.

Saying good-bye to our house.

February.

Bought ourselves something new. 

 March.

Hanging tight with my new year resolution: family picture every month.

 

April.

Ava gets glasses and the blind can see.

 May.

Jack graduates from kindergarten.

 June.

Family trip at the lake.  (And we move again)

 July.

Two whole days with me and my favorite person.

 August.

Moved again.  Life in the camper means tubs in the sink.

 September.

We have a house!

 October.

My mom turns 60.

 November.

My baby is potty trained.

December.

Jemma's first and highly anticipated trip to the Nutcracker.

Whoa 2012...you were a handful but pretty darn good at the same time.

Tuckered out.

Looked all over the house for Jack this afternoon.  Finally found him here:

He's in there somewhere totally conked out.

Christmas vacation.

We had planned to take the kids on a surprise road trip after Christmas and even though we were all in various stages of sickness, we knew it was now or never.  So we told the kids we were taking them to Starbucks, loaded them in the car with the suitcases hiding in the back and hit the road.  

And then told them we thought we'd go to Starbucks in Spokane.  And maybe go out for lunch and maybe stay the night and play in the pool. 

 You would have thought we'd told them we were going to Disneyland.  

Jack even said he was trying not to cry and we were the best parents ever.  

Check into hotel and jump on beds.  Check.

After lunch and shopping and a quickie nap for Henry while the big kids played in the pool, we headed downtown for mini golf and dinner at Red Robin.

During dinner, Ed and I looked at our crew, half sick with croup, at least three pink eyes, and a whole bunch of runny noses and it occurred to us that this might not have been our best idea. But the kids were loving it so we trucked on.  Three hours later, tucked into our beds, with someone hacking every thirty seconds we reconsidered.  Then they fell asleep one by one and the coughing stopped and then just as we drifted off, Henry woke up and wondered where he was.  Loudly.

But we survived till morning, rallied hugely with an awesome breakfast and more pool time and then headed downtown for the IMAX.  Another good surprise.

And then finished the day with Jemma's one and only wish...a ride on the carousel.

Christmas Baking

I didn't bake a single thing before Christmas but the day after, after cleaning up all the Christmas decorations and returning the house to normal, we made our first batch of Christmas cookies.

Better late than never!

Christmas Day.

After Christmas at our house, we head to Ed's parents' for the final round of fun!

Passing out the presents:

The boys played the xbox kinect all day, which is awesome...that's my kind of video game.

And then we finish the day with a huge ham dinner and my very favorite gravy.  Seriously I'm happy eating just that gravy with a little ham to scoop it up.

Jemma put on her new coug jammies and pink high heeled boots for the ride home:

Travelin' in style.

We rolled ourselves home, tucked in the kids and hit the couch for one last Christmas movie.

It was a good day.

Christmas Morning

was beautiful!

I've mentioned the family tradition of starting Christmas together.  Now the kids come snuggle with me while Ed makes the hot chocolate and starts the fire.

 Oh, the anticipation!

Henry was pretty sick so we let him sleep in till the kids couldn't stand it and Ava got him out of bed halfway through the present opening.  I'll say he was a pretty big fan of Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 December Family Picture!  Ta da!

Take One: 

Yep.

So I'm realizing that I don't have that many pictures of Christmas this year...I'm not sure why.  I don't even have a newborn to blame it on.  But we were pretty sick this year so let's go with that.

However, and it's hard to tell due to the lack of pictures, but Christmas Eve is actually my favorite part of Christmas.  We have already started celebrating and then we have this little chunk of time just for ourselves.  We go to the Christmas Eve service, which I love.  And then we come home for a fancy dinner with our little family.  It's peaceful, it's happy, and we still have the actual Christmas Day to look forward too.  And once our babies are dreaming of sugarplums, we stuff their stockings and admire the presents and snuggle in with thank-full-ness.

December 24th

Or what the Sawyers like to call Christmas.

When we were kids, the three of us would huddle up in Stephen's room on Christmas morning and sit tight (practically holding our breath) till we heard the first strains of Christmas music from the living room and then we'd bust down the hallway and jump into Christmas morning, at the exact same time.  We are nothing if not traditional, so every year the three of us (and our longsuffering spouses and kids)   meet in the Rosauers parking lot and drive out together so we can start Christmas at the exact same time.

Why mess with a good thing?

So we all arrive at my parents' together and the kids bustle off to finish their play from the night before.

The girls headed straight for their crafts:

 (and Henry to his cookies)

Then the kids open the presents from each other.  And I think it's safe to say that the giver is as excited as the receiver!  

Then the guys dug into leftovers while we pass out the grown-up presents and the fun really begins.

And then we eat till we pop and head home for long cozy naps!

Christmas Eve Eve

The party begins.

And I forgot my camera!  The only disappointment of the night.  Oh, and I didn't win any money with my lottery ticket won at Bingo.  

I LOVE this night.  And I don't really need pictures to remember.  We go to my parents' cozy Christmas house, eat our favorite junk food, open the first round of presents, my dad reads the Christmas story, we put the kiddies to bed and party on with Bingo and drinks. 

And get excited about the morning.

The kids in their Christmas jammies.  Blessings on their little heads.

alive.

I woke up to these notes tucked under my door;

That's one good medicine.

we sick.

Everyone of us.  Except Jack.  I'm on day eight of this and when I woke up this morning and found everyone else perking up and looking alive once again while I still felt miserable, I went back to bed for a pity party and then I hauled myself to Quick Care.  Where I waited for over an hour and a half.  But I left with a variety pack of prescriptions in my hot little hand, came home and read an entire Grisham book (good stuff this one) and even got up to make my peoples some oatmeal and frozen taquitoes for dinner.  I still can't breathe out my nose or swallow without cringing, but it seems possible I will still be alive tomorrow.  And that's a nice thought.

It's been a long week.  But we rallied nicely for Christmas and a pretty funny family vacation later in the week.  And it looks like I have one more day to post those before 2012 is over and life moves on.  So here's to tomorrow.  I have awfully high hopes for you, last day o' the year.

The Gingerbread Man!

Jack's class play this year was the Gingerbread Man (a musical, of course).  

So.much.awesomeness.

When we headed up to the school, Jack got in the car and said, "I'm pumped.  I'm ready.  This is gonna be good."

 Jack's buddies.

When I came in with my camera, kids just said "here, take one of me!"

Jack and Sara were the naughty boy and girl.

 Makin' cookies and watchin' them bake.

 The whole crew.

Jack and Sara.  Nuff said.

Christmas program!

 waiting patiently for it to start.

 Jack's class just sang a couple songs and then sat with us and within minutes, he conked out.

Long week.