good morning beautiful

The Man didn't have work today.  Usually he's up before me and already downstairs doing whatever it is he does in the wee morning hours before I roll out of bed.

Mornings, to me, are not pretty.

It's not that I'm ornery or grumpy, because I'm not.  You can talk to me and I'm not going to bite your head off.  I'll even most likely give you a smile.  But I'm slow.  I don't get things.  My brain doesn't work.  And often times West will find me back in bed after my long shower when I should be putting clothes on and blow drying my hair.

But this morning it was me who was getting up before him.  Slowly.  Agonizingly.  It doesn't matter what time I go to bed, or how much sleep I get, it's the same ol' I can't get this brain to function routine for me.  I usually stand in a glazed over daze in the shower for a really long time.

Since West was still in bed, that meant that I couldn't get back in it because the lights were off, and that would mean that I would be out cold in a matter of seconds.  Usually when I crawl back in bed the lights are on.  That keeps me coherent enough to get back up again.

I stepped out of the shower, got dressed in the clothes I had put in the bathroom the night before, and blow dried my hair.  By then the circus was stirring. 

I stepped out of our bathroom into the dark bedroom and made my way around the bed to go downstairs and make the circus eggs.  We had 1/4 of a gallon of milk.  Cereal wasn't going to happen today.

As I groped through the dark I hear, "I hear my beautiful woman."

Does he know just what to say first thing in the morning or what.  Instead of finding the door, I found him.  Then he whispers to me, "what are your lunch plans today? Oh yeah, you have lunch plans with me."  Like he's the luckiest man in the world to eat lunch with me.

I'm the luckiest woman in the world to be having lunch plans with him.

West's cousin (but I'm claiming him too!) Got married to a cute girl yesterday.

{I totally stole this off of his facebook.  Aren't they reeking of fun personality?}

I love their family.  They are down right the nicest people on this earth.  I don't usually do wedding cakes.  I prefer to do character cakes and birthday cakes.  I usually pass the wedding cakes on to my friend Aislinn, who is Amazing with a capital "A", and actually in business where I am not.  I just have a hobby.  But when this family of ours asked me to help with the wedding cake I wasn't going to tell them no.

Like I said, I'm no professional.  And it shows.  But what it lacks in pristine perfectness it makes up for in taste and flavor. 

I think I'll stick to "fun cakes".

Happy wedding to our cousins.  Their wedding lunch is today and I get to meet my man there to celebrate the union of a cute couple and the fact that we are a part of a great family.

Penguins and Otter Pops

We heard a rumor from a neighbor that if you dressed up in black and white and headed to the aquarium, you'd get in free.  Even adults. 

I don't usually pass up free.  Especially when it's fun.  And especially with our numbers. So we did.  Even The Man. And since it was free, we took a couple extra kids with us.  Why not? What's a couple more...

The day was dubbed "Penguin Appreciation Day", and who appreciates penguins more than I do? But the newest attraction for the aquarium, even new since our little jaunt to it on New Year's Eve, were the otters. In celebration of the new otters the aquarium gave out free otter pops.  Score.

 I think Cali ended up with the best seat in the house on Dad's shoulders.

I let the kids split off and run around on their own, as long as the stayed in the groups that they left in.  And it didn't matter that they all left me at the otters, they all headed to the penguins when they wanted to find me.
I think they know me pretty well.

The Circus Takes Hollywood Connections

I'm going to preface the night with a few words, tell you to click on the song, and then you get to look at the long line of pictures (which isn't nearly as long as it usually is).

Daily deals (or was it City Deals? I can't remember now) had a deal we just couldn't pass up.  Our "brother-in-law" Sam sent me a text telling me about the $20 for 6 for unlimited access to everything.  Score? I should say so.  Since our family has eight he told me that he was only using four and our two extra could get in with him.  I can handle that. 

Let me just say that golf was not our finest hour.  And you'll see why (the video is of that is a must see).

But let this song play while you look on, because all six of the circus were singing it at one point and it was our perfect soundtrack for the night:

Jayme's 11

Although if you ask West he thinks she turned 10.

Jayme loves to draw and color things.  Her favorite animal is the penguin and her favorite color is yellow.  Right now she loves spaghetti.
We got to pick Jay and Sean up from their mom's and take them to Jay's choice of Applebee's (since we'd already done her birthday party on her half birthday)for a family dinner with Aunt Lindee, Uncle Sam, Papa Mike, and Granny Suzann.
Granny gave the circus her gifts for them, nesting dolls.  A huge hit.

Let us duly note that Jay's had a penguin in it.
And of course, the staff sang to Jayme, which she loved.

The guy in the blue jersey is the world's slowest waiter.  Ever.  But he was happy.
Happy birthday sweet Jayme!

Our three days of Christmas

With the swapping my ex Thanksgiving for Christmas it threw our schedule off.  Normally we have both exes on the same weekend and same holiday schedule, so we either have all our kids and can be together as a full family, or we get to be together as a couple.  We like it this way.  But with the switch it made us a little off.  So we had to have two Christmas Eve's and two Christmas mornings, one with Jayme and Sean, and the regular one with the other four girls.
Christmas eve eve:
Christmas eve eve started with lunch with Grandma KC and Aunt Jessica and her crew at Cafe Rio.  Grandma decided to come for a visit for the holidays and this would be the only day while she was visiting that we would have the full circus.  She'd been working for a year and a half on quilts for all her grandkids and they were finally done.  The kids got to tell Grandma what colors they wanted their quilts and they were super excited that they were finally done.  I didn't get a closer pics of Sean, his was done with Sponge Bob material:

That night we celebrated Christmas eve eve.  And of course, no Christams eve eve is complete without a family throw down while watching Christmas cartoon specials on TV:

And of course, the pajamas.  We just gave them comfy bottoms this year so that would be why they're all raising knees and legs.  They wanted to make sure their bottoms could be seen in the picture:

Christmas eve morning Jayme and Sean got to open all of their presents from us, and we let all 6 kids open the presents for the names that they had drawn with each other.

And Papa Mike showed up with his gift, sleds for the entire family:

Which will be awesome if we ever get any snow this year...
I made our traditional Swedish Pancakes for the kids and then Jayme and Sean went off the spend the rest of the holiday with their mom.  Sad for us.
The rest of us cleaned and cooked for the family Christmas eve dinner.
I love my family.  They make me laugh.  My mom was there, with my brother Bill and his family, and my sister McKell and her family.  As well as the world's most awesome father-in-law, Mike.  We laughed and giggled and ate a lot of food.  Thank you to pinterest for the cheesecake filled strawberry idea! Oh, and we had fun watching Sam-I-am and the dogs tease each other:

We also watched Santa's progress across the world with Norad Santa Tracker which was so exciting, even for me.  I think that's going to have to become a yearly thing.  Cali pleaded with me as she went to bed, "Mom, please don't stay up too late.  He's getting close!"
Christmas morning was as magical as it should have been.  Cas got her long awaited for camera and the other girls got their American Girl dolls, which of course, looked just like them. 

And being as Christmas fell on a Sunday this year Santa brought the girls Christmas dresses for church:

Santa also brought me the softest robe I've ever felt in my life *sigh* and Grisham's new book :).

And don't forget about the puppy boys who got a nice cushy new bed:

And although we certainly enjoyed the gift giving and receiving, we didn't forget about the true spirit of Christmas.  There was much love and gratitude expressed and their was a wonderful peace in our home.  As well as, for me, thoughts of my Savior Jesus Christ and not just his birth, but his life.  And his atonement for me.
I have been given much.