Merry Christmas!

We had an interesting Christmas this year. We left on the 23rd to go to St. Louis so we could spend Christmas Eve with the Pettits and the Pfeiffers. On the way there Cole threw up. I thought he was car sick. When we got to the Pettits he threw up again. That night I woke up with stomach pains. A little later Ellie woke up and puked. A little after that Dax woke up and puked. Cole was feeling better by morning and Ben was ok, so they hung out with everyone while Ellie, Dax and I were quarantined upstairs. We slept most of the day and puked the rest of it. When the puking stopped we packed up and headed home. Ben gave me a blessing when we got home and I know that's the only way I was able to enjoy Christmas!

Christmas morning was exciting for half of us :) Cole was super excited and woke us all up. Ellie was pretty lethargic and not excited about anything, poor girl.

Cole and Dax had a lot of fun playing. Cole especially loved his Airport lego set from Grandma and Grandpa Coombs! Once Ellie got a nap she was feeling a little better and enjoyed her presents. I slept most of the day, which is why there are hardly any pictures. 

It's a good thing we celebrated multiple days this year! Our kids got spoiled with so many presents this year because of the tornado! It seems like every day someone was trying to give them presents :) It was a fun year...even if we were sick on the actual day!

Pre-Christmas

Elder Grandpa and Sister GG stopped by our house on their way to Toronto Canada for their second mission! They got here just in time for Ben and I to go to a Christmas party with the radiology residents. We had a fun night out, and the kids had a super fun night with GG and Grandpa Green! They made a gingerbread train, played games, and watched a movie...and Dax fell asleep cuddling with Grandpa :)

The next day we decided to have a little Christmas with GG and Grandpa before they had to leave. Cole played Santa and Ellie was his helpful elf as they put presents from GG and Grandpa under the tree. When Ben got home from work we had a Christmas dinner and then it was time for presents! 

  

 

We had a fun pre-Christmas with GG & Grandpa!

Preschool Concert

Ellie had her preschool concert today! Her little class sang three super cute songs. Ellie has been practicing them for weeks now and teacher said she is one of the few in the class that actually sings when they practice. It sure didn't seem like it today though. El got stage fright and barely sang as she twisted back and forth, refusing to do any of the choreography. It was still pretty cute though :)

I took a movie of the performance while wrestling Dax so I didn't get any still pics. I did finally manage to get some pics on Santa's lap though! We have seen Santa at least 4 times and I keep forgetting to get a pic. This is a cute one, and the one with Dax is perfect because that is what he did with every Santa we saw-cried and tried to get off his lap :)

Bass Pro Shop Wonderland

Last year we discovered the fun that Bass Pro Shop has to offer at Christmas time. So for FHE we ventured over to the one here in East Peoria. Unfortunately, the line for Santa was two hours long so we didn't get to see Santa. We still enjoyed all the other fun things they had to offer though. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the toy train, shooting the bow and arrow at the ducks, playing on all the boats and four wheelers, and doing the craft. The favorite activity though was the carousel:

I love the Christmas season!!

Snow fun!!

We had our first big snow storm of the year! It's not the first time it snowed, but it's the first time it's snowed enough to play in :) The kids were so excited...even though it was freezing!!! I wasn't really excited about going out in the cold so I made Cole and Ellie wait for Dax to take a nap to go out and I watched from inside the house...at first.

Ellie had to put on every warm pink thing she could find, and Cole had to have a face mask so he wore his storm trooper mask :) 

 The kids had a lot of fun making and throwing snow balls, and then making snow angels!

 They decided they wanted to make a snow bear instead of a snowman. They came running in frustrated and begging for help after a few minutes. I decided to be a good mom and go out to help them. Then I realized why they were so frustrated-the snow was more icy than powdery. It was really hard to get it to stick together in the shape of a ball. We did our best and managed a baby snowbear :) The kids were pretty proud so I guess it was a success!

After we warmed up with some hot chocolate the kids were ready to head back out. I decided to keep up the good mom facade and take Dax out to play as well. I'm glad I did because he loved it! He had a blast which made it fun for me too. It's amazing how these kids can help me enjoy things that I normally wouldn't. They sure bring a lot of joy into my life!!

Lamb Chop

Lamb Chop came to visit us this weekend. He belongs Ellie's preschool and visits each of the children. This weekend was our turn. So we made sure we had a super fun weekend :) We went shopping, to the new Disney move "Frozen", to our ward Christmas party to see Santa, to church, and enjoyed playing and reading with us at home. It was a fun visit for the kids!

Thanksgiving

We truly have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving! We are blessed to have fared the tornado so well. We are blessed with a great church, family, friends and community to support us. We are blessed to be together as a family this holiday. And we are especially blessed to have Maryn, Kreg, Kamryn, Kenzi, Emersyn, Edyn, Casey, Lindsey, Carly and Holland here to celebrate with us!!

Our rental house has a tiny oven, so I didn't think I could make a turkey big enough for all of us, let alone all of the other traditional foods. So we decided to go to Golden Corral and let them cook for us :) It was actually a pretty good meal and there was no work in the kitchen cooking and cleaning! Being with family and not having to work...this was the perfect Thanksgiving!!

Everyone really wanted to help out at our house. So after our black friday shopping, which included the guys and kids buying and setting up a Christmas tree, we headed to our broken house. Luckily the basement has very little damage, just one broken window. So the guys vacuumed and barricaded the area that had glass, turned on a space heater, and voila we had a play room for all of the kids. The adults spent the evening cleaning and packing the upstairs so that I could start inventory of all the damaged belongings.

I'm very grateful for our amazing family who has done so much for us! It was awesome to have Maryn and Casey and their families here to celebrate with us and help us forget about our worries for a bit. The rest of our family has been very supportive and generous from afar as well. We are truly blessed with amazing families!!

Chicago

Maryn and family were planning on coming for Thanksgiving and spending a few days in Chicago. They weren't afraid of a tornado I guess because they decided to still come! Kreg rented a car and drove 3 hours to pick up Cole, Ellie and Dax and take them back to Chicago. The kids spent the weekend in Chicago with the Edgmons while Ben and I worked on our broken house. 

Maryn and Kreg received a lot of funny looks and comments walking around a big city with 7 kids :)

 They played at the Children's Museum,

 Looked over the city on the Chicago Sky Deck,

 Visited the aquarium,

 And saw the dinosaur at the Field Museum!

 The kids had a blast with their cousins!!

 The city shut down access to our neighborhood for a few days, so Monday night Ben and I drove to Chicago to meet them and take a little break from our tornado mess.

Tuesday we rode the metro to the Museum of Science and Industry:

 Cole's favorite part of the museum was the transportation part with the airplanes and trains so we spent the majority of our time there:

  

 The kids also really liked watching the baby chicks hatch:

Dax was uncharacteristically ornery, so he was banished to the stroller while we there. He eventually fell asleep, which cured his orneriness :)

Ellie was also pretty tired and managed to get someone to hold her for most of the time :)

 

 

We also visited the farm part of the museum. The kids loved the tractors, as usual:

Last stop was to see the submarine:

It was a great day where we were able to forget about our worries and just have fun!

Unfortunately, we had to get back home to our worries. Maryn and crew stayed an extra day though, and lucky Cole got to stay with them. They went to the American Girl Doll Store and the Lego store. Maryn said Cole had fun at the AG store :) He found Saige, his favorite American Girl, and helped pick out a doll for Ellie: Caroline. Maryn was super sweet and got a doll for Ellie since she couldn't stay...and Kam had her for cousin Christmas gift :)

This was such a great trip for us! We really needed it after all of the tornado stress we have been under. The tornado has been more fun than bad for the kids, getting to play with friends every day and then go on a trip with cousins. I have such an amazing sister! Maryn and Kreg were so great to take on 3 extra kids during their vacation, and Kam and Kenz were awesome to take care of our kids for us when were there. The Edgmon girls are the best!! :) Thanks for letting us join you in Chicago!