One of the perks of bedrest is that I got lots of snuggle time with my kids, when I'm usually probably too distracted to do such things as much as I'd like...
Yay for warm, cozy selfies!
Maggie's preschool program--she acted shy but was SO proud!
Clark had a similar program later that same afternoon, and although his teacher said that he's usually one of her most enthusiastic singers, once my mom and I got there, he decided he didn't like singing anymore...until Ms. Amy brought out the microphone. At that point, Clark decided that singing was pretty cool, after all.
With the new Star Wars movie coming out, I decided that it was time for me to properly indoctrinate my children and show them the original Star Wars movies, thinking that they'd probably be bored but I'd enjoy watching them again, at least...to my surprise, Jack and Clark loved them!
Luckily, we had lots of wrapping paper tubes lying around for them to use as lightsabers during the weeks that followed--while Jack enjoyed being Luke Skywalker, Clark, surprisingly enough always chose to be Darth Vader,,,should I be worried, do you think?
Steve got to work nights in the ER, and he truly loved it! I loved the fact that his schedule happened to work out so that he got five days off in a row for both the week of Christmas and New Years....I'm never counting on that happening again, but we sure enjoyed it this year!
Most of my siblings were in town for Christmas (all except for Shiloh and Danica and their family, and Molly, who of course is tearing it up in Oregon as a missionary), and my kids absolutely loved getting to play with their cousins! Maggie was especially enthralled with Aidan and mothered him to the point of distraction--I think she kept thinking of the baby brother she would be getting soon and thinking Aidan would be good to practice on. Luckily Aidan was pretty patient with her!
Speaking of patient, my brothers Noah and Levi were awesome with my kiddos--especially because the first week of them being here visiting from college was a week of me still being on bedrest, so they got several opportunities to wrestle, chase after, play with, and generally entertain my boys. The boys' favorite activity--acting as ankle weights--was one that Noah and Levi gamely participated in several times a day. Pretty sure my boys are the main reason my brothers actually lost weight over their Christmas vacation.
Molly sent me a picture where she was doing her best "Maggie" impression....it cracked me up so I felt that it should be shared with the world. Love that girl!
My parents have been both working on losing weight, and one of their many healthy activities was to do planking challenges every day. I had a pretty legitimate reason to sit out on said activity (pretty sure it would have been more of a teeter-totter effect if I'd tried to lay down on my belly), so I got to enjoy from a very comfortable vantage point as they all challenged each other and got my kids involved.
One of our Flake traditions is our yearly Nativity scene--this year, Clark was a Wise Man, as was Jack:
(like our super fancy costumes?)
Noah and Maggie were angels, and since Maggie found an old temple dress, she insisted on wearing it, even though there were several safety pins that had to be involved for her to be able to wear it without totally tripping over it.
Our three Wise Men with their gifts (I love how serious Jack and Clark were trying to be).
Angels Noah and Maggie
Our Narrators/the Grandparents
Our shepherds and their one brave sheep--aka McKay, Levi, and Jayze (with Clark the Wiseman looking on)
Maggie insisted that, because I was "great with child," I absolutely had to be Mary. Since I was Mary, Steve got to be my modern-day Joseph (Steve, despite his dramatic background, is not the biggest fan of wearing costumes, so he went with a modern take on Joseph).
Aidan shared Steve's view of costumes--although Noah made him a styrofoam halo so he could be part of the angel crew, he preferred to chew on it rather than to wear it.
Sarah and Jayze were mostly observers this time around, although Jayze did hold the star when it was time to come out.
The shepherds being "sore afraid" of our angels--aren't my family such talented actors?
Maggie was enthralled with the china doll my mom used for our baby Jesus. It was fun to watch her constantly kissing him and patting his head.
A few nights after Christmas, NaElle and Cody's parents, the Stinnetts, invited us over to their racquetball court to play "Wallyball--" basically volleyball with way fewer rules. Everyone had a blast playing, and although I once again had to sit it out (probly not a great idea when I'd just gotten off bed rest), I had a blast watching my semi-athletic family members play!
Jack felt so grown-up when they'd let him tag along and play. Although I never saw him actually hit the ball, he felt like quite the success and told me afterwards that "I was SUPER good at playing Wallyball, Mom!"
What is Christmas without at least one time of tying up the nephews?
Yay for fun handcuffs!
Clark had fun pulling cousins and siblings around in my parents' little red wagon--Maggie and Ty were content to get pulled around, but Crue liked standing up a little more...
The cousins!! (Aidan didn't want to smile for the camera this time around)
Noah stole my phone at one point and took a couple of selfies....
But at least they didn't end up as my wallpaper (thanks to my phone's password, which Noah apparently didn't know).
At this point, my phone decided that it had too many pictures on it to take any more, so (right on time), I missed out on getting pictures of Steve's parents' visit (along with the DOZENS of gifts they brought), David visiting us, Christmas morning, and the majority of our actual break, BUT Christmas this year was magical. I feel truly grateful for how the holidays turned out this year!
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