Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve the McClure Family all gets dressed up for a nice Holiday Dinner. Nana gave the girls beautiful matching dresses to wear. After dinner we spend time as a family, open our PJs, get dressed and take photos, pile into the truck and go Christmas Caroling. Our schedule was a little different because we were able to call Elder Chas McClure after dinner, but here are some of the highlights of the evening:

Jenna was being a stinker and kept pretending she was asleep. Here are my adorable munchkins all dressed up for dinner.

Here are the 4 little girls all dressed up. They look so sweet!

Addison kept hugging and kissing Hyrum. He was OK for awhile and then he had enough with all the smooching.

I was in charge of the yummy stuff! I brought Oreo Truffles, Costco Cream Puffs, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, White Fudge with Oreos, Cherry Chocolate Cake, and my Toffee. Mmmmmm... I tend to bake when I am trying not to worry about other things. Since I was worried that Jared wouldn't make it to dinner, I kept making more and more sweets.

Tytan looking all cute!

Dinner time! Jenna and Razzie were so excited to sit together at a special table.

John and Jadyn enjoying the ham, potatoes, and every good thing.

The Phone Call... We all got to chat with Chas for a bit. He is doing well and loving the snow in Canada! (well, maybe not loving it...)

Opening our Christmas PJs. The girls are old enough to really enjoy this tradition.

Hyrum and Tytan - the cutest little Cars ever!

I kept trying to get all of the girls for a photo. It was late and they were not too cooperative. Josh jumped in and we at least got all of our little Tinker Bells in one shot!

My theme for the last days before Christmas was, "Come what may and love it." It was hard - Jared worked so many hours and couldn't participate in any of our family traditions. I kept telling myself that I would still be happy - no matter what. It was not an easy thing to do - mostly because I missed my sweetheart so much, but I was able to stay happy. He did an amazing job finishing up all of the work.

I took these next few photos at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve when we stopped at Daddy's office to deliver some dinner and his Christmas PJ's.

When Jared arrived home just before 6 a.m. Christmas morning (after working almost 3 days without sleep - on top of months with less than 5 hours a night) this is what he saw... Santa had already been to our house. He had eaten the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that Jadyn left out (with her adorable note) and Christmas was all ready.

I missed my hubby on Christmas Eve. I know that he wanted to be with us more than anything. We still tried to make the most of the occasion.

Trains with Papa

Papa took Jadyn, Jenna, and Razzie on a trip to see some model trains. From what I can see from the photos, it is pretty incredible. The girls had a lot of fun and really liked the little trains and villages that were "the perfect size for my princess friends" according to Jadyn. Papa was great and snapped photos since I wasn't there. Here are a few favorites.

The girls after walking around looking at the trains.

After they looked at trains, Papa took the girls out for ice cream! Evidently Jenna tried to eat her entire cone in one bite and got a big brain freeze. Sounds like her....

Thanks, Papa, for taking the girls out to see something different. (and giving me some time to grab a few things without the girls...) The girls told me about the trains that were small. Jenna told me,

"I couldn't ride on it (the train) because it would break. I am toooo bigger for the train, Papa told me. But I could see them and they went too fast like a choo-choo."

Too bad you could ride, Sweetie. I know that you like trains, but what a fun place to go!

Little Girls!

This summer we were able to have some fun play dates.


Melanie came over a few times in July and brought her little girls Razzie and Addison. Razzie is right between Jadyn and Jenna in age, so she is a desirable playmate for both of my girls. While she was here I had to take some photos of these cute little girls - just being little girls. It really is entertaining just to watch them play.

The Princess dresses had to come out and then the girls got creative. Jenna and Razzie learned that if you used the words, "Boppity - Boo!" and hit the toilet paper with the magic wand, the toilet paper unraveled. Don't you love those precious guilty faces?

The girls decided to hold the Royal Primary on the stairs. They sang some songs and read their scriptures. Jadyn even gave a "talk" on being righteous princesses. It included a story about always treating each other with kindness and love - like Jesus and Cinderella. (Apparently I need to work on taking the fairy tales out of gospel study...) Still, it was perfect to listen to from the couch as I took care of Hyrum.

My girls are so lucky to have such a lovely cousin that lives nearby. I hope for many more fun play dates in the future with our cousins.

Kyla's Visit

My sister and her family have come and gone. It was a whirlwind of activities for the three weeks she was here, and probably the most fun I have had with my sister since my last night at College 8 years ago. (Don’t ask – just know that we had a REALLY good time painting the town red…) Since our kids are now old enough to play together it was so much fun to watch their interactions. They all had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa’s house but I have to wonder, what kid wouldn’t? We had activities, games, and parties almost every day. On top of that Grandma was always dishing out ice cream cones and Grandpa was making popcorn every time we turned around.

I think everyone misses Owen’s exclamation of, “Oh Man!” Jenna now says it all of the time. Jadyn thinks that she is a ‘Guitar Hero’ (although I am sure that Matthew was the one that was really playing) and she likes to tell me, “Mommy, I ROCK!” I have to thank Matthew for introducing Jadyn to the world of games: X-box and Leapster used to be foreign words in our house and now Jadyn thinks that she wants all of those games for her birthday. Hyrum loved lying on the floor and watching the 5 bigger kids run around and play. Life must seem a lot less interesting from his vantage point.

Mostly I have to thank my parents for giving the kids so many wonderful memories. We had a zoo trip, several swimming expeditions, birthday celebrations, a piñata, an Easter egg hunt and lots of candy, park visits, Chuck-E-Cheese, movie nights, rock throwing, water fights, sleepovers, all of the good food a kid could want, games, stories, and the list can go on and on. We rarely get to see our Ohio Cousins, so this was a special treat. Every single day was an adventure. I must have taken over 1000 pictures while they were visiting.