The Moss Family: Christmas update

So once again...I am terrible at keeping this thing up to date! It is on my LONG list of new year's resolutions.

Let me start with Christmas festivities. On the Sunday before Christmas we had the McDonald family party. It was fun to see all the cousins, although we missed Jack and Kate. Even Gabe was here and that was the first time the kids had seen him since last time he was here. They had a great time with Jeremy aka "Germ", probably my children's favorite cousin. We had a small gift exchange for the kids and they had a great time opening presents. Thanks to everyone (especially grandma and grandpa) who made it happen. Usually when we get together we each bring something pot luck. This time was no different but I decided to be brave and make red velvet cupcakes from scratch. So I had sent Trent and the older kids out to deliver neighborhood gifts as I made the cupcakes. (Terrible mother....I know.) Well unknowing to me after dumping in an entire bottle of red food coloring, the bottle did not make it into the garbage but landed on the floor instead. Annabelle crawled over to the bottle and started chewing on it. I looked over, saw the lid on it, knew it was empty and decided it wouldn't hurt her to play with it. A few minutes later, I looked over to see Annabelle's face and hands COVERED in red food coloring. Apparently she was somehow able to remove the lid. Here is her after I tried to clean her up.

I know it doesn't look bad here but it was EVERYWHERE!!
My parents are serving an inner city mission and were given charge of a family to watch over and check on frequently. As part of this, they were in charge of this family's sub for santa. Jayden, Kayli, and I were able to help them deliver the presents a few days before Christmas. Man it made the girls grateful for what they have!!! This family had seven people living in a one bedroom ghetto apartment. We think our family has outgrown our tiny house but man I got home and felt like our house was huge! It was good to have a reminder of how much our Heavenly Father has given us. That evening we, along with a few cousins, went to a family home evening group in my parents mission ward. We shared our musical talents (even though we forgot to bring the song that Jayden really wanted to sing.) and it was once again humbling at how much our Heavenly Father has truely blessed us.
On the Tuesday before Christmas we were able to go to Trent's extended family's annual Christmas party. What a treat it was to have Aunt Sherry there as well as cousins and family we only see a few times a year. We had a great time hearing Jenna sing "Latte Boy". Chloe is still singing it today!!
Christmas eve we spent at the Moss house. (aka Trent's parents). The highlight of the evening for the kids was singing karaoke with grandpa's cool eqiupment.

Fortunately for our children, Santa found our house....even after all the whining and arguing. Next year he might not be so nice if they are so naughty! He left some good presents and they were all happy after opening them. After a somewhat relaxing morning we headed back over to Trent's parents house for an evening of Christmas bingo. We also made a quick stop to Trent's grandmothers house. Although she lives only a few blocks from us, it has been WAY too long since we have seen her. I have no real excuse except for that our lives are busy... I figured because she is getting older I better take each of the kids pictures with her...just in case we didn't have another opportunity! (I am not sure why Jayden didn't have one.)

By Christmas night we were all a little familied out. This year the holiday break was extra long. We had a full two weeks of no school. Our original plan was to spend Christmas in San Diego so Trent had scheduled his vacation time for this time as well. With Jake's wedding and everything else we chose to push the San Diego trip to the spring. We were glad to have a few more days of vacation before the next festivities began. New Years eve we didn't want to do a whole lot of anything. We stayed at home playing a few new games. Coleman and Chloe had a great time. Jayden was a little upset that she didn't get to hang out with friends. At about 10 o'clock Kayli called and she came over to almost ring in the new year with us. (She fell asleep at 11:45 and was out cold!)

Next up for us was Jayden turning 13! Can you stand it! We have an offical teenager in our household. (Although she has been throwing teenage attitude for quite awhile now.) This year for her birthday party she decided that she wanted to rent out a hotel room with a bunch of her friends. They had a great time, even with the pesky mom hanging out too! I had a pretty fun time too, even with the lack of sleep and several calls from the front desk telling us to keep it down or get out! After all this, came the let down of going back to school. I was relieved in one way, but really missed the lazy days of winter break.

During the break we took the kids sledding, had lots of cousin sleep overs, went shopping, and slept in every day!! We went down to Temple Square to see the lights, something we haven't done for a few years.

We are so grateful for this time of year. Although it is busy and stressful, we enjoy spending so much time with our family and reflecting on all the many blessings we are given. Here are just a few random Christmas time pictures.

So here is Annabelle eating a candy cane. Apparently after she was finished she thought she might save some for later!!