On Christmas Eve, we went to my mother-in-law’s house for the lighting of the luminarias.  Every year, her whole neighborhood lights them and it is a beautiful tradition.  I wanted to drive through Mesilla to see their display and look at Christmas lights, but all the kids were under the weather so we went home.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year.  We were scrambling at the last minute to make it happen, but it all came together.   Somehow things always work out for the best.  We sent the kids to the dollar store with money to buy things for each other.  That way, they would each have a lot of little gifts to open.  I was very impressed by what they chose, especially Bleu.  He gave very thoughtful presents.  Each one included two items that he thought they would really enjoy and a few pieces of candy to make it fancy.  It is nice to see him [and all of the kids] putting some effort into making other people happy.

Here is a rundown on the best presents: Mia/clothes, Mica/skateboard, Mikal/globe, Bleu/chemistry set, Butterfly/spinners, Jon/skateboard, Echo/tricycle, Mom/Diana+ and Dad/safe.

We went to the skate park so that I could try out my new camera and the kids could try their new skateboards.  My sister came over for a few minutes with a new camera!  It was so nice.   She took this picture of Jon, which I love.  He wasn’t feeling well and spent the last two days in bed with a fever.  I don’t think he was 100% better, but he was determined to be well for Christmas.

There were a few minor glitches.  Mica and Mikal went to their mom’s for a few hours and Mica came home with a new phone.  It was very nice [and expensive looking], but she said her sister ‘found’ it in a parking lot and took the sim card out.  This is just another example of the difficulty we have when the two families have different value systems.  When they found the phone, it was ‘Yay!  Free phone!’.  My thought was that they should have called someone on the contact list and tried to find the owner.  If that didn’t work, they should have turned it in to the lost and found at the store where they found it.  If I lost my phone I would want someone to do the same.  We told her she had to give it back to her sister, but I have a feeling the phone won’t make it back to the original owner.

Later, we went back to Mike’s mom’s house for menudo, posole, green chile stew and homeade tamales.  I love this time of year!  The food is fantastic.  I have a ham waiting in the fridge that I need to make tonight.  We had so much food left over yesterday that I didn’t even cook Christmas dinner!

I am beyond thankful for the past year.  I have a husband who loves me and lots of kids who are healthy and happy.  We are incredibly lucky.  I am also grateful for you, my readers and friends.  I love sharing  my life with all of you.  Thank you for being a part of it!

Our entire house is in progress. That means that there are little things and big things waiting to be done in every room of the house. Since I’m home all day, these things bother me to no end. Most of what is left are things I am unable to do myself. Mike works a lot so it is hard to find time for the big projects. I don’t know how many times I’ve complained that I just want one room completely DONE already. Poor Mike. Nothing like a nagging wife to make you feel needed, right?

Out of the blue, Mike decided to finish the living room as a Christmas present to me. Wow! I was am so thrilled. It is the first room you walk into so I’m always embarrassed when people come over and see this:

It is hard for me knowing that Mike spends his days making houses beautiful for other people. I get so jealous! It is like living with a world class chef and eating ramen every night. The kids and I helped out as much as we could and the project ended up lasting two days. He put new trim on the windows and doors and painted the walls and trim. I hung up pictures. Mia helped so much. She cleaned out all the drawers, painted the back pantry and organized everything. She even put up Christmas lights outside! Mica and Mikal helped a lot too… they kept an eye on Echo which is a HUGE job.

The living room turned out great. We picked out a color that I thought was orange. It turned out to be very yellow. That’s what I get for thinking! It’s funny, because my sister has a yellow room too. I like it because it is bright and happy.

new paint from kristyk on Vimeo.

How to eat a donut. from kristyk on Vimeo.

This video is of Echo eating a donut. He was showing me the ‘right way’ to do it. It took him forever to finish, so I sped it up. Double time! Anyway, I wanted to give you an idea of his personality. This kid has more than his share. He is always ON!

Last night, we got a special delivery: flowers and chocolates from my dad and his wife. That brought a huge smile to my face because fresh flowers are the bomb. If I had the money, I would fill my house with flowers every day. When I woke up this morning, the living room smelled like roses and I LOVE roses! What a fantastic Christmas present!

Speaking of Christmas presents, if Butterfly could be one she would want to be an elephant. Awww…. Maybe she could be something like this. This morning, Mike asked why I don’t have a big tattoo of an elephant already, since I love them so much. Then he remembered… I DO! By the way, that picture is my all time most viewed photo on flickr.

This picture was taken in 2002, before I had Echo and back when I thought five was the magic number. Just a few short weeks after this photo, Mikal Jade came to live with us full time and the next year would bring the addition of our last child.  As crazy as it sounds, things were simpler for me when the kids were smaller.  They were easy to entertain and followed me around like little ducks.  Now that they are older, they are starting to have their own ideas.  They tend to scatter  and that is hard for me to deal with.  I know it is a part of growing up, but I still have that feeling that I need to protect and watch over them.  This makes it difficult for me to let go.  I’m going to miss counting little heads.

When I was a little girl, I loved making wish lists.  My sister and I would pore over the pages of Sunday ads and circle all the things we couldn’t live without.  My grandma gave us scissors and glue and cardboard boxes and we built play houses complete with wallpaper and kitchen sinks pulled from the Sears catalog. We chose dishes and curtains and filled the rooms with toys and games for our imaginary children.  So, as you can imagine, making a list for Santa was important business. I’ve tried to pass a little bit of that dreaming down to my own kids.  We’ve been looking at magazines and watching ads on tv, trying to decide on the best things to put on their lists.  Last night, I had Mikal Jade interview her brothers and sisters to find out the one things they wanted more than any other.  They could also include up to three alternate things that they might want to find under the tree.

Click on the extended entry to read their Christmas List.

Click on the picture to see it larger or click here to see more pictures of kids that are scared of santa. 

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This was taken last week at the fall festival, but I love it. The kids were waiting for me to get the lens cover off and turn on the camera. Mikal Jade can hold a smile all day! Mia was patient, but annoyed. Beebo just wanted to go play and Echo didn’t care because he had a candy.

We always spend Halloween at my mother in law’s house. Her birthday was Friday, so it is a double celebration. She lives in a residential area without any major streets so the kids can walk several blocks in all directions without too much trouble. It was fun this year because Echo was so cute about the whole thing. Mike and I took him and Cindy took the bigger kids. He wanted us to stay on the sidewalk and he would walk to each door and say ‘Happy Halloween!’. After he got the candy, he would run back to me, giggling “Or is it Happy Halloweener?” As funny as he thought it was, he never got up the nerve to say it at the door.

Butterfly joined us halfway through and totally ruined his ‘alone time’. He refused to go with her and sat his little butt down on whatever was handy to wait for ‘his turn’. Silly boy. It got a little ridiculous because he would wait for all the trick-or-treaters to leave and the person in the house to go back in and shut the door before he would go up and ring the doorbell.

There were some good costumes this year, but my favorite was Emma. She is only a month old [give or take a few weeks] and was dressed up as Princess Leia, complete with buns!