Sunday, December 29, 2013

One More

I almost forgot to include this photo of the Howard ladies going to the Nutcracker.  It is probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

A Couple More Photos

 Kristin made everyone pajamas.  I took 10 pictures and this was the best one.  You should see the rest of them.  I'm saving them for my awful photo post.  You can look forward to that in the next couple weeks.

We didn't get too many tube runs down the hill behind what used to be South Jr. but it was enough to know that the hill is just as fast as it was when I was a kid.


I think everyone had fun but for Rocky and Daisy the highlight was riding home in the back of Opa's truck.

This was such a great Christmas and the only complaint I have is that it passed too quickly.

Christmas Morn

 I know that I see these sleepy little faces every morning but I still can't get over how cute they are.  They were so thrilled with every little thing they found in their stockings.



 They didn't even really notice all the presents under the tree.  Finally after they had eaten breakfast, taken a bath, and played a bunch with the toys in their stockings we were able to convince them to open the rest. 
 I used to think my mom was weird because she would take a picture with us and all the toys but now those pictures are my favorite.  They bring back so many memories of the toys we used to love.  So, here goes.





 Daisy put together this outfit to wear for the rest of the day.  She is definitely into accessories.  Don't worry, her puppy purse is filled with makeup.

DIY Christmas, 2013 Edition


The Howard tradition is that we make Christmas gifts for each other.  Probably nobody else cares, but when I work this hard making stuff I like to remember it.  I didn't get photos of all of them but I love my little cross-stitch people. 


 Kristin hand dyed these cloths using Kool-Aid. 
Kool
 Jill put our faces on these glasses. 
 Matt and Kristin used a wood burner to make these amazing bookmarks and decorative spoons.

Brandon also made a pixel-painting for Matt and we melted some records and made them into bowls for Jared.  I am upset that I didn't get photos of them.  Maybe I can post one later. 
Jill also made my favorite possession, volume 4 of the blog book.  She spent hours editing the pages and I love it so much.

Not Miley's Best Day

 Jill always makes a pinata of the most memorable icon of the year for the Isaacson Christmas party.  This year clearly went to Miley Cyrus.  Even though my girls haven't see the notorious performance at the VMAs they have been practicing their Miley faces.

 Rosy sat with the big girls as they waited to be called up by Santa.  She only sat still for a couple of minutes and then walked around hitting her cousins in their faces with pom-poms.  Hopefully Santa wasn't watching.
 Rocky surprised us all by asking for a cotton candy maker that she could use at home.  Apparently there is such a thing but, spoiler alert, she didn't get it.  Up until this point she had consistently said that she wanted a remote control car.  My mother's heart did feel a little bad because I had already said no to the Monster High create a doll lab, and by the way that a few minutes after she was done with Santa she turned and whispered to Jill, "It makes real cotton candy."
My guess is that she knew it was a lost cause so like little Ralphie she tried one last ditch effort in asking the man in red.
 I predicted that Rosy would want to have nothing to do with Santa but she responded to him just like she did the rest of the family.  When he picked her up she sat still and just pretended that she couldn't see him.  Crying isn't really her thing, nor is being friendly.
 Daisy asked for makeup which wasn't a surprise because she has basically been asking for it since she started to speak.  She also wanted a kitty.
 And to repeat the cliche of the night, when it got down to pinata time those kids came in like a wrecking ball.
 I personally think it was the bets pinata so far.  It made it through all of the great-grandchildren, even the teenagers, and it actually broke apart in the end. 


 And then, lest you think that my people are only about the secular trappings of the holiday and focused too much on Santa and/or the beating of innocent pop stars, we move on to the more sacred part of the evening.  The nativity is the part that Isaacson children across generations have participated in by fighting over who got the good parts.  We all know that some of the costumes are better than others, and that the wise men get to carry really cool gifts.  Of course the girls always want to be Mary because she gets to carry the baby Jesus, and the boys want to be Joseph because he gets to wear the Raiders robe.
Lucky for Rosy she was the perfect size to be the baby shepherd.
 Daisy put her own costume together.  Since there were so many angels she declared herself the star.
 As I was looking more closely at this picture I realized that Ethan somehow snaked the Raiders robe without being Joseph.  Well played.  Also, there seems to be a fourth wise man, but Jacee must have won the toss because she's got the lotion dispenser.  Rocky was a close second with the powder puff bowl.
 The more I look at it the more I realize that Rocky looks a lot more like a pirate than a wise man.  I'm thinking there is something a little fishy going on here.  No wonder there were four, one of them was an imposter.  I hope those jewels were still there when that bowl was presented to the baby Jesus.
Hmm...What do we have here?

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Camera Craze

I will admit that I have gone photo crazy during this trip.  I am glad to have the photos though because we have had an especially fun time.
 Weber State, Weber State, Great, Great, Great!!  Daisy insisted that she wear her jammers even though they aren't purple.
The game was super fun and it brought back a bunch of memories of the year that Brandon and I were first married when we went to every game and watched Dave Patton lead the team to be the Big Sky champs.

Then it was the Ogden Christmas Village which just gets better every year.


Rosy wasn't really down with the cold weather so she and Brandon spent most of the time hanging out in the car.  She felt better afterward when it was time for Opa's hot chocolate.


Daisy has adopted Rosy's hat and it has become her new favorite accessory, even when she is sleeping.

We got to go sledding and although Daisy was a little nervous, Rocky went for it whole heartedly.
Look at that stud of a husband of mine.  What a good lookin' man.


Mike carried Daisy the whole way home.  Don't look too closely or you will see more of Daisy than you might wish.
Bedtime stories with Abia and the cousins.

It didn't take Rosy long to discover the infamous Rigby snack closet.  Now the trick is keeping her out.
This candy cane craft that Kathy did provided the one moment during the whole weekend when all the girls were sitting still.



We had some playtime in the snow with Jilly and Link.