Christmastime is here!

This year, decking the halls was so exciting, as it is each year but it's even greater now that the kids are so into it!  I love seeing our little ones light up about decorating the tree, finding the perfect place to put their favorite holiday things, and help out with getting ready for Christmas.  My favorite decorations are our nativities.  We have gotten one for each year we've been married.  We have some beautiful and expensive ones, some made by friends, or given as gifts from family from different places, and some kid friendly ones.  Emma, Cal and Lucy have been playing with the Little People and Playmobil ones nonstop! It's funny when they add in other little action figures and toys and role play, and sweet when they have the shepards or wisemen help take care of Jesus.  I love this tradition of getting a new nativity each year, and think it's a great way for our family to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!  

Lucy's favorite decoration has been this Santa.  With his beard in his face, you can't see it very well, but it's pretty cute.  Lucy has been carrying this doll everywhere with her!  So Emma started teasing her, telling Lucy is was her "boyfriend".  Lucy went along with it and has been calling this Santa "mine boyfriend" ever since.  Dave joked that Lucy just wants extra presents!  :)  She plays with Santa, talks to Santa, and even wants Santa to sleep on her bed with her.

Another fun tradition we have here is making gingerbread houses.  This year, we let everyone do their own mini house.  Emma helped make the dough and cut it out.  She's becoming quite the little baker.  Mmm...how I love the smell of freshly baked gingerbread filling our home!  We also made some wassail, which I love the smell of that.  No one else likes the taste, except me, so I had probably a few too many cups.  

The kids went to work, Dave and I just helped them a little bit, they did most of it themselves and it was fun to see what they came up with.

Coverton just had fun watching us all from his chair.  What a cutie!  Maybe next year, bud!

This is Emma's gingerbread house, she did a school house with her in front.

This is Cal's Garage, complete with matchbox cars in the garage.

Lucy's is in front, hers is a castle with a Princess and a prince.

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Another tradition we've started this year is our gifts to Jesus box.  I put this little box together and cut up a bunch of strips of paper.  We based it off a quote by President Monson that follows.  Each time we give of gift of love to someone, it's a gift to Jesus.  We have been writing down the gifts we give to him, and then put it under the tree, then we will read them all after Christmas.  Some of our gifts have been not fighting, forgiving someone, writing a note or letter to someone, doing an act of service, playing nice with siblings, etc.  It's been great seeing the kids really take off with this and trying harder to be a little better so they can give gifts to Jesus.

We had our ward Christmas dinner and program.  The dinner was delicious, I was impressed.  This year, Emma and I got to be a part of the program.  We did a live nativity, and Emma got to play Mary and I played the piano.  The children sang "This is the Season" which describes each person, animal or thing involved in the nativity.  They did a beautiful job and the Spirit was so strong.  This is what Christmas is about!  How sweet it is that the Savior came into the world so humbly and quietly, without the praise of the world.  This is how he went about his life, humble and quietly serving and teaching others.  I love Him and know he was born to live and die for us all!

After the program, we had a visitor...Santa!  Santa asked what they wanted.  Emma asked for a violin or monster truck or kitty and Cal asked for a bat cave and hot wheels.  Lucy wasn't so sure about going to sit on his lap, but Emma said she'd help her.  As Lucy got closer, she got a worried look on her face, let go of Emma's hand, and turned around screaming and reaching her arms out to me.  But she did (along with the rest of the kids) enjoy a goody bag Santa's elf was nice enough to come bring her.  Coverton was happy to sit on Santa's lap, but I think he likes my lap even more.  ;)

We attended Emma's Christmas Holiday Concert (yes, they do call it the Christmas concert , not the winter or holiday here).  The children sang so well and Emma was so confident in it, and looked so beautiful.  When did she grow up?  When she sees us, she tries not to smile, he he!  I remember doing the same thing when I was her age.  It was fun to see her say hello to her friends and teachers before and after as well.  We joked that Cal & I were on a date and Lucy and Daddy.  It was a good night.  

While our hearts are being warmed by all of this Christmas gladness, our bodies are being chilled by this freezing Wyoming weather.  Can you say yikes!?  It hit -20 around here at night a few times, and with wind chill taken into account was more like -40!  I am more grateful than ever for a warm home to live in and sleep in at nights.  And the kids and I haven't gone really anywhere lately because of it.  But that's okay.

And holidays wouldn't be holidays without fun, festive food around here!  We made many fun snacks and meals around the Christmas theme.  Emma was embarrassed by the mini wreath and the Christmas jokes I put in her lunchbox everyday leading up to Christmas break.  And so it begins...last year she would've thought it was cool (someday she'll appreciate it, right?).  We had fun though.  We also did an Elf day where we ate Poptarts for breakfast (I threatened to crush them up over spaghetti and top it off with candy and syrup, Cal was keen on the idea, but we decided to have spaghetti minus the extra toppings for lunch), made Elf hats, watched the movie, snuggled, and sang Christmas songs.

Every year in the Friend, a children's magazine produced by the Church, they include an advent calendar of sorts which includes an activity or scripture to do each day until Christmas.  The theme this year was "The Light of Christ at Christmas".  It was so warming to do something each night to remind us all that the Savior is the light in our lives.  It was such a peaceful Christmas time, I think because we tried so hard to keep things simple and focus on the Savior.

Our own advent calendars we made this year were bubble wraps ones.  This one was Emma's.  They enjoyed popping a bubble (or two or three) each day until Christmas!

 "We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just 'one' between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior."       -M. Russell Ballard

Handing out these treats to our neighbors was how we responded to the call by M. Russell Ballard to reach out and help others feel the love of our Savior.   We always make treats for the neighbors.  Emma helped out in the kitchen, and Lucy and Cal helped eat M&M's.  :)  We made an assortment of treats with M&M's and attached this cute thought on how the M&M's help remind us of the birth of the Savior and his unfailing and beautiful love for us all.  .

We also gave these little family puppets and a quote by Elder Nelson that said "Christmastime is cherished family time.  Family time is sacred time." to some neighbor kids.  Our kids had a great time knocking on doors and delivering goodies to others.   

We always try to do some homemade gifts for Christmas.  This year for our kids and nieces and nephews, we made quiet books for Sundays or church.  We had lacing cards in them, iSpy packets, activities and coloring pages (including ones of the kids and our family) with dry erase crayons, activity pages to use Bendaroos with, paper and pencils to write letters to family or missionaries, and finger puppets.  So hopefully they are enjoying them, I know our kids are having fun with it!  I also made a Playdough play book for our kids, and did a bunch of file folder games, which I've been working on for a couple of years and finally got it done.

We also made some little state ornaments for our family members to go along with some other gifts.  These are the ones I made for my parents, and they have hearts where they and all of the kids live.  I think the Michigan one is my favorite, mainly because it was a little more challenging and turned out cute.

Emma has been getting into the spirit of giving lately as well.  We've been trying to stress the importance of how giving doesn't need to cost a lot, but it needs to come from the heart.  She made these cute bean bags for Cal & Lucy, the Minion one for Cal and the Hello Kitty one for Lucy.  She made me a giant poster that said "I Love Mom" on it and gave a car set for her and Dave to do together.  And she made a Chewbacca  iPad sleeve for her teacher.  It was fun to see her sew, draw, create, and wrap the gifts, trying to do it all in secret.  It was really heartwarming for me to see.

The gifts from the people who work in Dave's departments have been piling up here, too.  They all love him, and well, can I blame them?  Gift certificates, goodies, things for the family, mugs and more have come.  Definitely the most interesting present has been this lamp.  The woman who gave it to us owns a shop where they make custom furniture and trinkets out of deer antlers and things.  One of Dave's co-workers joked "is your wife going to kill you when you bring that home?"  Luckily, we have a western room where it will fit in nicely.  I joked we should put it in the front window (insert favorite Christmas story joke here).  :)  It's really so sweet of them all!

And of course, the Sunday before Christmas, we all got new (matching...Dave loves it, ha ha!) dress clothes for church and have to take the traditional self-timer Ryerse family selfie by the Christmas tree.  The camera did take one shot before the battery ran out!  Merry Christmas!

Emma's Second Grade Pictures

 Just wanted to share Emma's second grade pictures.  She is loving being a big second grader so far.  Emma's favorite subject at school is Science, she loves going outside and playing cheerleading at Recess (when it's warm enough to go outside), is making some good friends, and enjoys Mr. Craigie's jokes and impersinations.

Christmas cheer 2013

Here's our Christmas card, 2013 edition...

Making homemade cards for Christmas is something I love doing.  These actually didn't take that long to do...I made 40 of them!  :)  We always also add a collage of pictures from what we've been doing that year.  And then the update from the year and a little message or thought to finish it off.    

  

Ryerse Rant 2013

David – Served as a 12-13 year old Boy Scout leader.  Worked on his graduate project and applied for jobs 24/7 the first half of the year.  Attended the American College of Healthcare Executives Conference in Chicago in March.  Graduated from Washington State University in May with his Masters of Health Policy & Administration degree, hooray!  Enjoying his first post-graduate job in administration at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, where he wears many hats.

Melanie – Is a mom of 4 now, that’s weird!  It’s the best, though some days can be exhausting.  Served as Primary pianist and playgroup leader.  Enjoyed being in Emma’s class at school to help out once a week.  Taught piano lessons. Liking small town living.  Got a new washer and dryer to keep up with the demands of a family of 6.    

Emma (7) – Took swimming lessons and loved it.  Was student of the month and finished 1^st grade at Shiloh Hills Elementary, now she’s a 2^nd grader at Rawlins Elementary.  Lost 6 teeth this year.  A great helper!  Loves reading books, making craft & playing.

Callahan (5) – Also took swimming lessons.  Enjoyed joy preschool in the spring, now does preschool with Lucy and Mom.  Loves being outside when it’s warm, video games and anything that goes.

Lucy (2) – Turned two in Feb. and is our little troublemaker.  She is stubborn but always making us smile!  Her favorite toys are baby dolls and animals, which she plays with for hours on end.  Gets a kick out of Nursery and is always telling others “Nursery fun!” 

Coverton (4 mo.) – Joined our family on August 12.  Name pronounced (kuv’er-tuhn), it’s a family name.  Famous for his sweet temperament and stinky toots.  Such a happy boy, we all love him and he gets a lot of attention!

As a family – Packed and unpacked twice as we moved from Spokane, WA to Utah for a few months during the summer and then moved to Rawlins, Wyoming in September.  Miss our friends and family so much but are enjoying the journey here in WY!  Experienced what -24 degrees and -45 wind-chill feels like.

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”  Sending our Christmas cheer to you… “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!  Love, the Ryerses

We also love getting cards from our friends and family from all around!  It's so fun to see the cute pictures and get caught up on where everyone is and what everyone is doing.  Wherever we've lived, we have been blessed with such great family and friends and getting these cards in the mail are sweet reminders of that.  Nothing like snail mail, really!

Cal-abunga! Look who's 5, dudes!

Cowabunga!  Or should I say, Cal-abunga!?  Callahan turned 5, yes, I did just type that...5 this year!  When did he get so old?  I was joking with him a few weeks ago if he stopped drinking water and if we didn't let him go outside to get any sunshine he wouldn't grow anymore, so I told him we should start doing that.  He giggled and thought that was pretty silly!

For several months, Cal has been asking for a Ninja Turtles birthday party.  So we've been putting a few ideas together for it.  Cal loves the game Cranium and said he wanted to play a "Ninja Turtles Cranium".  So we set out to make one.  He helped glue the things on the game boards, and come up with ideas of things to sculpt and draw, the trivia questions and spelling cards ideas I found online.  Now I know more than I ever wanted to know about TMNT.  But it was fun (and time consuming) to do.  He also helped make some of the decorations.

We had Cal's party with both sides of the family the day after his birthday, on Black Friday, since we were all a little occupied on Thanksgiving and wanted to give him his own special day.  Which is the day he was born in 2008.

As everyone was coming, we had a table set up with TMNT pictures and dot to dots to color.  Then we made masks in red, orange, red and purple like the turtles.  They looked so fun!

We first ate pizza (of course!?  What else do the Turtles eat?) and made it a little healthier with fruit salads, and a veggie tray, and had sewer ooze (green kool aid, 7 Up, and white grape juice with ice) to drink.

Right after filling our tummies, Cal wanted to open presents ("it's my birthday, so we can do what I want!" he said).  He got some sweet stuff - a jet that turns into a dinosaur, Elephun, a remote controlled four wheeler, some Ninja Turtles stuff and clothes from us, nunchucks and TMNT toys, and some money.  He was so excited about it all!  Thanks, family!

Then we tried playing the Turtle Cranium, but all of the kids just wanted to run around and play with the toys Cal got.  Which is understandable.  I'd have a hard time not playing with my presents too if I were him.

Cake and ice-cream time!  I made the cake earlier that day, which was totally simple and turned out way cute I thought!  He loved it and was so excited to see it!  It was a butter pecan cake inside.  On the outside, butter cream frosting, with candy clay (candy melts and corn syrup) Ninja turtles.  We used Air Heads for the headbands and mini marshmallows for the eyes.  We There were a lot us there to sing to him.  It's always fun to hear my family, who are musically inclined, mixed with the Ryerse style of the Happy Birthday song, which is everyone sings whatever they want in whatever key they want at whatever tempo they want.  Cracks me up still every time!

All in all, it was a totally tubular birthday for this boy.  He had a great day!

And now, a little about Cal at 5 -

Cal loves motorcycles, four wheelers, cars and trucks.  He loves looking at them, reading about them, playing with toy ones, and pretending he's driving on them.

He is a sweet brother (most of the time.  All brothers have to be a pain some of the time, right!?).  He calls Lucy "Sweetie" and helps her out a lot.  They are quite the team and like to gang up on Mommy sometimes.  He also loves to play with Emma when she's home, and they do really well together most of the time and giggle a lot.  It's a sweet sound.  And then of course, there's Coverton, who he adores.  Cal is always asking to hold him and always going to check on him and is the first greeting him "Oh, hi Covey!" when he wakes up!

Callahan loves the water.  He loves playing in the bath (likes to slide down the edge of the bathtub and do other tricks much to my dismay!), and took swimming this year, which he loved and did pretty well at.  We also had a gym membership and we went swimming all of the time.  He can do a lot on his own.

Doesn't like the cold, so doesn't go outside much when it's winter, but would stay outside all day during warmer months.  He loves digging, riding bikes, and using his imagination outside.

Cal loves cousins Kaison and Steven, and his friends in Spokane and some in the ward in Utah.  He is currently praying to find some friends here.

This kid is a gamer.  He loves video games...always looking over other people's shoulders while they're using their phones or peeking over people's I pads.  He picks up on them really quickly too.

Very tender hearted little guy.  When I tell him sad things sometimes or we read about sad things, he tears up and starts crying.

Still working on helping him to stop sucking his thumb.  Any hints?  He's getting better, but still does it and it kills us!  It feels like we've tried everything without any luck.

Cal's been doing so well with piano.  He begged me from the time he was three to start playing like Emma, and I started teaching him right after he turned four. So it's been a year now.  I've been moving slow with him to make sure he gets everything, and he is catching on to everything so quickly and does so well counting and saying note names, finger number, and song lyrics out loud.  Many times, he wants to practice longer!  I'm impressed he can sit still that long, and didn't think that was possible a year ago.

I love how he says certain words.  It sounds so cute I hope he never stops talking the way he does.  But it probably won't be as cute at 16.  Some of these include: "ooze" for "use" and "lellow" for "yellow".

Favorite shows on TV - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninjago, Scooby Doo, Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and Tom & Jerry.

Favorite food - pizza

Favorite color - blue

Favorite sport - football

Favorite game - Clue and Cranium

Favorite book - He has so many and really loves reading.  He likes the "I Spy" books, Scooby Doo books, Thomas books and more. Now we have him help us read when he sees a sight word he knows, we point to it and he loves to read them!

At his 5 year appointment, Cal was 45 lbs. and 40-something inches tall.  We lost his sticker that had his stats on it.  He is now in the 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight for his age, which is crazy for this boy who wouldn't grow for a long time!

So much to be grateful for!

Though I didn't jump on the Facebook or Instagram gratitude post band wagon this year, I have been feeling so grateful for the many blessings I enjoy on a daily basis!  I am so blessed and there is so much to be thankful for!

One night during dinner, we came up with a list of 100 things we were grateful for.  The kids thought at first that sounded like a lot and we'd never come up with that many things, but as we got going, it got easier and came up with many different things.  Emma was our scribe.  Here's our list (spelling has been changed a little for ease of reading):

Family, Lucy, Mom, Dad, Cal, Emma, Coverton, food, pizza, tacos, bread, peanut butter, water, home, car, money, muffins, cups, bodies, books, scriptures, TV, phones, Skype, internet, air, Spring, seasons, holidays, teachers, Hello Kitty backpack, Holy Ghost, wood, raisins, Airplanes, dad's work, stickers, animals, firemen and women, soldiers, fruits and vegetables,heaters, lights, air conditioner, blender, chocolate, oven, sun, moon, stars, planets, horses, church, temple, prophet, ancestors, closets, school, teeth, pictures, curtains, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, chairs, bed, tables, gas, flowers, trees, nature, animals, games, bacon, FHE, toys, computers, microwave, shoes, church, magazines, America, the Creation, sports, time, roads.

For FHE one night, we also did a Gratitude list from A to Z.  We wrote one (or two or three) things we were grateful for under each letter.  It was fun hearing what the kids came up with.  Here's another one Emma made at school.

In my prayers lately, I've been thinking a lot and expressing thanks for the so very many blessings I have.  I really am SO blessed beyond measure to have what I do and I've been praying to help me to see the blessings I normally wouldn't recognize and express my gratitude for.  This has been an eye opening experience.  We made it a goal as a family to ask for help in seeing our blessings.  Cal has really been sticking with this also and has prayed for some of the sweetest things.  My favorite was "We're grateful we have plates to put food on and faces to put smiles on!".  His prayers are so sincere and sweet and he's always thankful for something different!

We headed down to Utah the day before Thanksgiving to spend it with family and friends.  It was so nice to be with everyone!

Thanksgiving was a special day!  Not only was it Thanksgiving, it was Callahan's 5th birthday, that little turkey!  We love the sweet, daring, tender hearted, energetic little boy he is!  He loved being in the spotlight, and kept saying about everything "It's my birthday...", meaning he got to be in charge or something?!  Well, one thing he wasn't in charge of was what we ate for lunch and dinner.  Turkey it was!  We had his birthday party the day after, so see the post to follow after this one.

Thanksgiving morning, we had a lazy morning and woke up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, took baths and got ready for the day.  Then we headed to Aunt Lois and Uncle Keith's home for Thanksgiving lunch.  Almost everyone was there (we missed Adam & Meghan's fam, Aunt Suz, and Kaisha) and it was so good to see everyone.  Love that crazy Stoddard side of the fam!  The kids had fun eating, playing outside and inside with Amber and Morgan and Kyle, playing Guesstures with Grandma.  It was a beautiful, sunny day! Coverton was a with everyone on is first Thanksgiving and I think he made his rounds, if you know what I mean!  He wore his hat and booties that Grandma Di crocheted for him.  To make Callahan's birthday a little more exciting, when we had pie and ice-cream, we put a candle in Cal's and had everyone sing to him.  He also enjoyed all of the birthday wishes and attention.

Happy birthday, sweet Cal!

Aunt Lois, our hostess with the mostest and her twin, Emma!

Covey's first Thanksgiving!  So grateful this little guy is in our lives!  Hat and booties courtesy of Grandma Di.

After that, it was off to the Ryerses for Thanksgiving dinner.  We helped get ready a little bit.  We all got there and then sat down at the table, that's the one day of the year that no one is sitting eating on the couch.  It was nice!  We enjoyed each others company, I love the Ryerses and am so glad I chose to become one.   Sue was saying that on average, Americans consume 3,000 calories for a Thanksgiving meal.  If that's true, did I consume 6,000?  He he!  I'm sure it wasn't that much.  I went light at each place and tried a little bit of everything at both places.  We did just start the Ryerse Biggest Looser competition with Dave's family...the first week, Dave and I lost, but Thanksgiving week, we both gained thanks to not exercising and eating more than we should.  After that, the kids all played and ran around.  It's so fun seeing them together!  We watched some TV and visited.  We watched the Piano Guys special, and the girls danced the whole time.  They sure are BFFs if there ever were any!  It was so cute.  I didn't take many pictures because we left my camera at Lois and Keith's house.  :(  We had a good time though.  And I didn't get any pictures of the boys...they are like blurs when they're together!  :)

The day after Thanksgiving, we met up with the Millers for lunch at Chic-fil-A, yum!  It was so good to see them, we miss them!  All of our kids are growing up too fast!  The yougins had a blast playing together, and the adults all enjoyed catching up.

Also that weekend, Jerry & Stacy invited us to go to a Peter Brienholdt and Mindy Gledhill concert.  It was the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit!  The music was beautiful and uplifting and it was so fun to be together!  :)