Christmas

We had Christmas Eve at our house this year. I always like to do Minute to Win It type games, but with Mikel being so sick with her pregnancy, I tried to keep them low key and not too physical as in years past.  I asked her to bring the dessert and she made these adorable santa hats.  They were yummy and went fast.  She brought another dessert too, but these were the hit!

We gave Talon and Mikel one of their Christmas presents early...an air fryer, so they could bring it for our dinner.  We had both fryer's going and it still took quite awhile to cook everything up.

After dinner, we started our festivities.  I had warned everyone about a month earlier that we were doing lip sync battles as couples for Christmas Eve.  Tanner and Cynjyn started us off and they did Katy Perry Firework..they had props and everything and it turned out so stinking adorable! 

Garry and I dressed in our best 80's garb and did Human League Don't you Want me Baby. 

Talon and Mikel finished off with Spice Girls Wannabe.  It was really fun and we may have to make it a tradition!

After that we continued as partners and did a relay to see who could pick up the most mini marshmallows with chopsticks and put them in a bowl in one minute. (T and M of course.)

Then we did the chocolate bar game with the dice and hats and gloves.  It got intense!

Then we went back to partners and everyone had 12 candy canes and they could put one in their mouth and had to hook up the 12 on the table and transfer them to the bowl only using the one in their mouths.  (T and C won)

Then we did our gift exchange.  This was the first year I only brought my gift!  Everyone was responsible for bringing their own.

Talon ended up with a blanket, Mikel a trifle bowl, Cynjyn with Car scents from Bath and Body Works, Tanner with a rechargable screwdriver, me with a daily calendar that comes with a color page and Garry with two super cute throw pillows. Everyone was happy!

This year, Christmas was on Sunday.  We have church at 11.  So we decided to open our gifts after church.  So no one was in a big hurry to get up that morning.  I was the first one up, about 8:00 and snapped of photo of the presents and tree this year.

It was also weird that Santa only had to fill 4 stockings!

I had contacted my cousin Jennifer Madsen in October about crocheting me a mermaid blanket for Cynjyn.  We had initially told C and Tanner that they weren't getting much presents because of our trip to Canada that we will be taking in April, so she wasn't expecting anything.  She was surprised and liked this gift. 

She also got some Eeyore pajamas.

She got a Slytherine sweatshirt and now Tanner and her can match in their appropriate house sweats.

Talon and Mikel came over at 12:30.  We opened presents (Tanner and Cynjyn already had them sorted and handed out) and then later had dinner.  

We ended up having tri tip and twice baked potatoes and turkey and mashed potatoes, and gravy and rolls and stuffing.  We had a small turkey breast roast left over from Thanksgiving, so every one voted to have that along with our tri tip.

Everyone except Mikel and Cynjyn got games for Christmas, so we spent the rest of the day playing.  Talon got Suspend and Cynjyn and Mikel actually like it!  They played it a alot and it got pretty intense.

We ended the day with a shot of us in our Korea shirts that Taz had sent back in October, but I held onto them for Christmas and so everyone had a gift under the tree from Taz!

Luckily, we had gotten to SKYPE with him Friday night.  He had requested that I invite all his friends.  So Lyric, Ryan, Andrew, Charlie, Marcus and Michael came and spent a few hours with us.  They got here a little early and we had a nacho bar waiting in case anyone was hungry.  We got to talk to Taz for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Then the gang all stayed after and visited for an hour or so and ate more nachos.  So all in all it was a fantastic, different, calm and quiet Christmas.  We ended up face timing mom later Christmas night and got to hear all about their quite day too.  I'm so thankful for this time of year and for all the modern conveniences that allow us to connect with loved ones far away.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Taz turns 17

Taz was able to have his birthday party on his birthday this year.  It is so hard to throw him a party because his birthday always falls on the week before school starts and his friends have sports practices and band camps and other school related activities.  But since his birthday was on a Saturday this year, we went for it.  Everyone he wanted except Ryan was there because Ryan had 2 jobs and worked both that day and couldn't attend.
We started out with dinner at 6:30. 

Friends table...

Family table...

Our first game was having them assemble their own marshmallow gun and then we took them outside where they shot for distance and accuracy.  It was starting to get dark, so we had to make this our first activity.

Taz and Lex making their guns.

The crew:  Marcus, Taz, Alexis, Rosemary, Andrew, Michael, and Charlie.

Talon got to watch the first game before he had to leave for work.

Taz's gun was decent,

Marcus's was a flop and his mm went about 2 feet in front of him, hence the peeling laughter from Taz.  Charlie won by the way which was a funny shock to him because he was certain the design of his gun was a joke (see group photo above).

Then we came indoors and spread toothpicks and mm out on the table and they had to build a 13 in tower that would remain standing on it's own for 5 seconds.  Taz had a great idea. (Rosemary had a great time eating the mm).

Andrew's was looking pretty strong. (Cynjyn was just messing around, but her's was getting good.  She however would build, leave for awhile and then come back and build, she might have actually won if she'd have stuck too it.  She claims she didn't want to steal one of Taz's friends glory.)

Marcus was sure he was going to win.  Michael and Charlie ehh, what can I say? Were they trying??

Working hard.

Concentration.

Fiddling.

Believing.

Trying.

Winning.

Accepting defeat.

Then we had two paper baskets, one filled with a Tangram, one with the three puzzles they would have to solve.

Sticks and rope to lash together to retrieve their baskets with a tapped line they were not allowed to cross.

The clear winner from the beginning. Guess those boy scout skills come in handy.

A close second.

He's definitely got the mind for Tangrams...they frustrate the heck out of me!

Then we had to have a food challenge.  They were leary of my  food challenge due to other times they'd been over for GMM (good mythical morning) challenges.  But in my opinon, this one was a good one...18 different candy bars that they had to taste and identify.

Then we had a tournament where they had to keep an orange on their spoon and try to knock the opponents orange off.  I took some picture with my regular camera and some with my Iphone.

Notice Garry standing in front of the TV protecting it!

 I can't remember who ended up winning this.

Then we did a few minute to win it games where they had a minute to do things.  The limber one where they had to pick up the varying size paper bags was good for a laugh.  Lex was good.

Marcus struggled.

Andrew was funny and did well.

Michael not so good.

But Charlie, he was a beast...he swooped down and snatched up those bags in 13 seconds!  We cheered and couldn't believe it so we made him do it again to get it on video and he did it again in 9 seconds!!!

Taz persevered. 

Rosemary completed all but the last one I believe.

And Cynjyn rocked.  She was almost as good as Charlie...I guess those dance lessons have paid off.

Then we did the dice stacker game...a minute to stack 6 die on a Popsicle stick.

Then they had to keep three balloons in the air for a minute.  No one could do that.

We had Apple Pie for his bday treat with the numbers 1 and 7 in candles and also some ice cream bars since those are two of his favorite desserts. 

Earlier in the day he opened his presents from us:  The first one was from Grandma and Grandpa.

 A ukulele that he was thrilled with.

 And then a Castiel trench coat from us.  He loves the TV show Supernatural and Castiel is his favorite character and always wears a trench coat.  So I found the exact coat which they no longer make. So I had to buy it on a Cosplay website, but it was worth it to see his reaction.

 The next day he got Rice Crispy treats that spelled out his name: TAZ hb  from Lawson.

 And earlier in the day Ryan and Andrew had brought his favorite meal that their dad makes: a philly cheese steak sandwich. 

And just like that...he turned 17 and is heading into his last year of high school!  Happy Birthday Taz!