December

Maces birthday is a wonderful start to the Christmas season. I used Pancakes with Santa (5th ) as a secondary party for him. Each kid got $3 dollars for the cake walk. The much anticipated Grandparents shopping trip was on the 7th. Their was a community dinner that evening with an appearance from Santa. Back in August we got exciting news that Ralayna was engaged. Talk about colors and coordinating dresses occupied our threads. The first of the month we got a cryptic post on Facebook out of the blue “Rhett is a great guy I wish him the best but the wedding is off.” That was it. Radio silence for a week. OK. We decided to keep the reservations and get together anyway. We left for Utah on Thursday 12th going through Nevada. I was “volunteered” to get the airbnb. I was nervous if it would work for our group. There was nice upstairs rooms with TVs in each, a garage, and hot tub in back. The weather was beautiful as most of us were coming from much colder areas. There was a a community pool down the road. It was slightly heated. But we are in December. Mostly we hung out in the hot tub and took cold plunge challenges into the swimming pool. The kids did play in it a lot though. I hope we were a support for the Amys and especially Ralayna. We were all just so proud she stood up for herself before the wedding rather than living with regrets and consequences of after. Their is still healing that needs to be. And two sides to every story. For now we are all just trying to be uplifting and understanding. Denim flew in from Hawaii for a few days. It was a nice weekend with lots of treats, and games and laughter. Our ward party was the 18th with another Santa. Mace was getting skeptical. “they can't all be real”. This year school went until the 19th. I liked it better than last year. The kids stayed busy until just before Christmas. I could clean, bake, wrap and be ready without them in my hair.

Christmas was amazing. In Utah Zara had a loose tooth that was annoying her. Finally Saturday night she asked me to pull it. A quick flip of the thumb and it popped right out. Malena showed me that trick. #3 Her thpeech is thoo cute. Azalyn had a super loose tooth too. I asked if I could see it and when I touched it it fell out. It surprised us both. I wasn't sure what to do....put it back? So I just handed it to her. Then shouted for everyone to cheer. She burst into tears. Scared? Mad? Zaleah looked at me and ran away holding her hands over her mouth. She had had a pretty traumatic tooth pull moment earlier in the month with her mother. I felt bad. Zara wasn't asking for teeth for Christmas but dolls. Since September she's only asked for one thing. A big Mickey and a little Minnie stuffy to complete her collection. Christmas miracle and answer to prayer they were found. Grandma Dixie got us a mini waffle maker with changeable hot plate designs. Preston insisted on a new Ninja blender set as mine was “well loved” . I also got 3 Piano by Pictures books w/a month subscription, kid necklace, Napping house book, and Mother child willow tree knockoff statues . Preston got some funny shirts, pj's and fidget toys. Katana got facepaint, yarn, makeup, modeling clay, mood necklace, mothers love ring, Russian doll set, sewing book, pandemic and funny shirts. Axel received a ball toy, balloon tie kit, toiletries, ukulele, puppet, weighted blanket, funny shirts and a magnifier. Mace's favorites were “man smelling” toiletry items, Nerf gun, maze book, ball, Scout game, Temu shirts, and water beads (like melt-a-beads only with moisture.). Zara besides her stuffies got a bear hat, Dino number and letter match toys, cartoon hair scrunchies, maze book, magnet toy, Russian doll set, shirts and dresses. As a family we also got sand art kit and 3D pen kit. The Kellys came over mid morning for a few hours. Grandma Pam got us a forever candle. A Perfectly lazy day.

Kids are off until the 6th which is so much better than last year when they went back on the 2nd. We can clean up. Do projects. Play. Reset. Greg went in the 20th for pain and complications from his back surgery. It was suppose to be a quick fix surgery. It turned into 2 weeks as he fought off a Staph infection. He was released Monday 30th. The Proctor kids waited to celebrate Christmas with him. He'll be home bound for a few weeks with several months of home care with a PICC line. Preston is working on his building. We helped him put the I-beam in his shop. We cut out some posts out. It opens it up a lot. He rewarded himself for making it threw 2024 with a night in alone. I took the kids to Skate-lands new years eave party. It was as packed as I've ever seen it. Zara got a Skate-mate but by the end of the night was skating without it. I fell during one of the games. It hurt so bad. I have a huge bruise on my knee. They had a balloon drop at midnight. Some of the balloons had candy or prizes. We got a free toy, drinks, shirt, skate rental and DQ coupons. It was a blast. And a perfect way to usher in 2025.