Ice Skating

We went ice skating with the cub pack a couple weeks ago. It's funny, we've been here for five years and we've not take the kids skating at all. Every little town has a little skating rink they make in their parks. It is so fun to watch the skaters, but we've never gotten skates and gone. After this pack event we decided that needed to change (just in time for the warmer weather and no ice or snow, but that's another story).

Andi managed to enjoy it once she glued herself to my hand. David never got the gliding concept, but he managed to keep his balance most of the time and would get started, but he never let himself glide and would end up just racing down the rink for thirty feet before wiping out in royal fashion. Peter wanted to be carried the whole time, but he managed to get around pretty well while Jonathan held his hands.

After skating for a couple of hours we headed home. We got hot chocolates on the way home to warm ourselves up. It was tasty, and the kids were happy to have a small reward for all of their hard work at the rink.

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone... (12/31/15)

And another one gone ... (1/22/16)

Another one bites the dust.

Daddy Daughter Dance

In December the school sent around a flyer about the upcoming Daddy Daighter Dance. I asked Andrea if she'd like to go. The idea of going to special dance, just her and Daddy?? Yes!!! When Jonathan got back I showed him the flyer and told him about Andrea's interest. He was game, so the tickets were purchased and Andi started counting down. Well, today was the day, and she was giddy all day long.

Like when she got her nails done...

When it was time to do her hair...

And when Daddy gave her a corsage...

I can't wait to hear all about the night when they get back. 😊

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was quiet and nice. We had a super yummy dinner and enjoyed some time together. We were still all just so content to spend all of our time with Jonathan, we'd missed him so much! It took us a few weeks to adjust and let him out of sight for a while.

Cornish hens, salad, cornbread muffins, twice baked sweet potatoes, bacon green beans, jello salad. Yum.

Every year for Christmas Eve I make Figgy Pudding. I try a different recipe every year, but I think we've found a winner. This one was simple and super yummy, and the toffee sauce was just perfection. (I have since inherited a real pudding mold tin!! I'm so excited to make more pudding!!)

Figgy pudding and wassail. It was the perfect end to a wonderful night. :)

Gingerbread houses

A couple days after Jonathan got home we had our first social engagement: a gingerbread house party at a friend's home. Jenny and I are visiting teaching companions, her oldest and David play well together, her second and Andrea are in primary together, and Peter and Lucy just started Sunbeams. Jonathan and Steve get along well. They are a fun family that has someone for everyone, and when talking about there family we always name someone different (i.e., David calls them Steven's family, Peter says Lucy's family, it isn't confusing or hilarious at all.)

There were a couple of other families there, and we all had a ball building our graham cracker houses and spending time with each other. I appreciated the grown up conversation, something I'd been entirely deprived of the previous two months.

The kids and I usually make a gingerbread house every year. I'd not gotten one and was trying to decide how to tell the kids that I didn't want to do one this year when we got the invite. Score! Jenny saved our Christmas! Ha!

Santa

This marks the first year since Peter was an infant that all three kids got in the picture with Santa. SQUEEEEEE!

We had to wait in line for over an hour. It wasn't terribly cold, but the fine drizzle made for dampened moods because they couldn't tumble about on the play structures. 

Despite my stern warnings I still had to scrape mud off of Peter's sweater and twist the knees of Andi's stockings so the mud stains didn't show.

It was worth it... 😊

And a month later

So it has been an entire month since Jonathan got home. We're so glad to have him back! It was a long 10 weeks, and we were so happy to see them done. We've spent the last month catching up and getting back into a routine with Dad around.

The kids made a fun sign for when Jonathan got back. I didn't get a picture of him with it, oops. But hey, I got the sign made.

The kids did not want to let go of Jonathan once they saw him. And they had to tell every story about everything that had happened over the last two months all at once and all at the same time. It was hilarious.

We went out a week later to the RSP that he reported to before being driven to the airport and leaving for BCT. He had to turn in some paperwork and report there for official purposes. When we got there Peter got really worried and asked "Daddy, are you leaving now?" I was surprised that he remembered that building, but I guess that was kind of a huge deal and of course he'd associate the RSP with Jonathan leaving. Peter was quite relieved that his dad was not leaving again.

So I'm finally getting around to documenting all of this last month. I downloaded the blogger app onto my phone, so I'm going to plug away at a few blogs and get all of these pictures off of my phone. And maybe I'll have some fun stories to tell along the way.