December was filled with so many parties! (As usual!) It was overwhelming to look at all of the pictures individually! I helped out with Isaac's Christmas Preschool Party. The kids had a ball, making a snowflake ornament, coloring their own puzzle, decorating and eating sugar cookies, playing Don't Eat Christmas, and playing musical chairs (it was the game to help them pick their present from a friend.) Isaac got a dart gun. He was super excited because now he has two! He thought it would be so nice to not have to reload his darts when playing with his dad, instead he can shoot him 6 more times! He loved it. Miss Angela has done a great job this year and he loves doing to preschool.
We had our annual extended Ottley Christmas party. For the first time in years and years... my ENTIRE family was there! My mom included! YEAH!!!! It was so nice to have her there. We even got a family photo to prove it! I'm not sure when my family got so big, but there we are! All accounted for. My Aunt Joanne and Uncle Rich were here from California, so that was a fun suprise to see them. My Aunts take so much time in MAKING the kids Christmas presents, it was fun to thank her in person. This year they made us all magnet boards. Then depending on the age of your child, my aunts made something very special! Isaac's age group got fabric backpacks with art supplies. Always fun for him. Daxton got a stuffed, soft toolbox! It's so dang cute. It's made from fabric and it's all fluffy tools inside the fluffy toolbox. They look like real tools, including, a hammer, screwdriver, ruler and saw. My niece, Eliza's age group got something similar, a lunch basket. My aunts made all the food. Bread (complete with crusts), lunch meat, PB & J, cheese, lettuce, cookies, carrots, potato chip bag (with potato chips inside!) And they are all out of felt. So darling! I tell ya, my aunts are so clever! They start in the Summer time just to make something special for everyone.
We had my mom's Christmas party too. Every year she wants to buy costumes for her nativity, this year she did! It was very festive! The star costume, played by Eliza was hilarious. Its this giant star you stick over you and have your head shining through. Isaac was Joseph. He loved his tall cane. My sister Rachel tried to shorten it, making him burst into tears. No worries... we fixed up all nice and tall again! Maddy was Mary. The wiseman were, Zander, Josh, and Hannah. Acacia was the angel. And Cayden was the shepard and Dax was his sheep. When it came time to start (as your reading this just know my sister has it all on film) Joseph (Isaac) was suppose to go by his wife Mary. Not wanting to stand by his girl cousin nor did he want to play a husband... he stood off in the corner like a statue, shaking his head and refused to move. I tried and tried to tell him it would be just fine, but no. Luckily, Cayden and Isaac's costumes look very similar, so Cayden the shepard stepped in to be Joseph and Isaac was pleased tending Daxton the sheep! Guess being a main lead was just too much pressure this year!
We had a small performance and all the kids performed. Josh sung and danced The 12 days of Christmas. If you notice the bottom, right picture... that's Josh being a partridge in a pear tree! Isaac sung, Santa Claus is Coming to Town. (The Bruce Springsteen version!) Maddy performed a piece from her school play. All along I thought she was Plato, a greek character. But no, she was PLAY-DOH! Who knew? Guess it makes sense. She is in Elementary school! I learned Cayden could play the clarinet, Hannah and Eliza could sing beautifully, Zan sang a jingly little tune, and Acacia played a number on her violin. She just started playing. (After that performance, Brett told me our children won't play the violin!) No really, they all did a great job! I'm impressed they all preformed. I tried to get Dax to Baaahhh. That is his new sound since he played the roll of the sheep in every nativity this year, but he was too shy. Dax got a darling barn puzzle (Thanks Neen!) and Isaac got a new playdoh campfire kit... which he has loved. You can make bugs, marshmallow, food, and roast them over the campfire. (Thanks Zan!) I got slippers (Thanks Rach!) and Brett got a ring and a shirt. WHAT? My brother took $15.00 (Thats the limit of our gifts) and he folded one into a tiny shirt and one into a ring. Isn't he clever?
We got together with Brett's family when his brother came into town. The kids made gingerbread houses (some worked better then others) and snow-globes! (My sister-in-law, Shaylah is so creative!) We played some fun games. One was an "unwrapping" You had to do what that package told you to do, like sing a song or list the reindeer. My favorite was the one Brett got. He had to hop like a bunny across the floor. Grandma probably pictured one of her darling grandkids hopping like a bunny when she had this game in mind... but we got Brett! It was without a doubt, the funniest thing I saw all night! We also played a game where we had to dress a person up like a tree! We did the nativity, which the kids were darling. Isaac wanted to be a wiseman. (He represented the 3), Lilly was the shpeard and she carried a little stuffed donkey. she also watched over the other two animals, Sheep Dax and Donkey Tayven. Elizabeth was Mary and Dallin was Joseph. And Breah played a double roll in the production, she was the Angel and the Star! There is something so sweet about watching these kids put on the play.
We had our Christmas Eve Neilsen party. It was so nice having it close to our house this year. We had yet again, another nativity. Dax was a pro at Baaahhhing by this time! I never got sick of hearing him baah either. Isaac was a wiseman. We borrowed my mom's costume and everyone thought he looked so spiffy! We played the tree decorating game again and had a very scary clown pinata for the kids to hit. They thought Isaac was little enough to not be blindfolded. Don't underestimate a Dansie with a bat! He knocked that clowns head right off!
We also had the Extended Dansie Christmas party. Shaylah and I were in charge of games. I made this giant snowman for the wall (complete with real stick arms!) The kids played pin the nose on the snowman. I was helping direct my niece Breah to pin on her nose and while I wasn't paying attention, she bumped into the wall. I felt so bad! I didn't do my job and her mom was taking pictures of it. We felt terrible! But other then that, it was a fun game and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Daxy loved the snowman! He hung around it all night.
We also played a game where you took a straw and tried to be the first one to blow your snowball (cottonball) across the finished line. We had dinner and to switch it up, Grandma put out name cards and we had to sit by someone new. Brett and I weren't sitting by each other (none of the spouses were) but I did sit by his relatives and luckily his brother and sister! It made for an interesting night. He had Dax and I kept having to run over and check on them and then go to another table to check on Isaac. What a fun tradition! haha. Grandma Dansie made the boys crocheted beanie hats. She's sweet to always do something fun for them.
Dax thought it was so fun to take his hat on and off... what a great game!
Isaac thought he looked really cool and he loved that it fit snug!
Aleesha is always so wonderful to us! She picks a day to come over and plays Santa. This year she had green, blinking lightblub earrings! - Not your typical Santa! She always brings us some really fun books! Always a Christmas one. Daxy, got a Mickey Mouse one that makes sounds, Isaac 2 story books with CD's he can read along with (his favorite!) One of them was this snowman book. It's about this snowman who couldn't get warm and he kept melting. I loved it! Brett got a Who Knew book, with very random facts and me... well, lets say she loves me! She got me my favorite thing in the world. Food people can't eat! She gave me 3 doughnuts, sugar, powdered, and chocolate, with raspberries to sprinkle around them. Then a glass dome to go on top so nobody will touch them. They are sooo darling! They feel so real! They are squishy and the chocolate one feels so delicate and real, like you could lick the chocolate right off! She is the best. Every-time I look at them, they make me smile! I want to invest in more fake food. Thanks Santa Aleesha!
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