Andelin Adventures

I woke up quite early this morning. I think I woke up around five and decided that I shouldn’t get up that early because the kids wouldn’t be waking up for a while still, and then I woke in the 6 o’ clock hour and heard someone in the living room. So I got up to go see. Ethan was in the living room and had been taking things out of stockings to see what was in them, the little stinker. I had Kyle take him back to bed, since Ethan wouldn’t cooperate with me and he is too big for me to physically pick him up and take him to bed, and Kyle ended up sleeping on his bed with him. I, then, decided to lay down in the hallway so that when anyone else woke up I could have them sit with me and wait for the rest to wake up. After a very little bit the only people still asleep were Kyle and Wendy so we woke them up, I got the camera and the day began. The kids were so excited to see what was in their stockings and Ethan apparantly had been sticking candy canes from the tree in the stockings too. I put some turnovers in the oven to bake while we were going through stockings. Then we broke for breakfast, and when breakfast was over we started opening presents.

The kids loved their gifts. Ethan got Star Wars toys from Grandpa & Grandma and a Transformer hoodie from Great Grandpa Tom & Great Grandma Kathy (among other things) and he just loves those gifts. Tyra got a Care Bear from Grandpa & Grandma and a really cute sparkley shirt with butterflies from Great Grandpa Tom & Great Grandma Kathy (among other things) and she just loves those. Jeremy got Star Wars toys from Grandpa & Grandma and a yellow shirt with some pants from Great Grandpa Tom & Great Grandma Kathy and a set of scriptures in a yellow case (among other things) and he just loves them. He pulled the yellow shirt out of the box and yelled “Me want wear dis!!!” He’s so cute. He was also carrying his scriptures around the house all day. 🙂 Dinah got a couple of Star Wars potato heads from Grandpa & Grandma and was carrying them around all over the place. She also got a really cute blue snow type suit from Great Grandpa Tom & Great Grandma Kathy and it’s just the right color blue to make her eyes really stand out. Dinah also got a cute toy where you push the buttons and the animals pop out and she just LOVES it. She gets so excited when they would pop out.

The day was quite relaxing as we had postponed the get together with the extended family until Saturday, due to a bad snow storm that had been predicted. I don’t know how bad the storm got in Orem and on that side of the mountain, but on our side it really wasn’t that bad. But that’s ok it was nice to just relax and enjoy the day. Debby didn’t get the e-mail about postponing dinner and came out with Jeff anyway, which is fine. We had lunch meats and rolls and cheeses to make sandwiches and had a nice simple dinner. It was awesome and just so relaxing. It has been a really long, but really good day. 🙂

The kids are so excited that it is Christmas eve. Actually yesterday morning they woke up so excited that it was almost Christmas eve and they were just so wired and it wasn’t even 7 AM! It has been a good day. Kyle came home from work early and we went around to pass out jam to some of our neighbors and friends. The kids had fun deciding who they wanted to give jam to. We came home and had chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner at Ethan’s request. After dinner everyone got to open one present. The kids each got some new pajamas to wear to bed. Then we picked our stockings and set them on the table (we don’t have a fireplace 🙁 ) and we went to bed. 🙂

I had ordered Kyle’s Christmas present online and to save money on shipping and to make sure it got here before Christmas I arranged to pick it up at the store. So I got the kids ready to go out, and it was snowing before we finished getting ready. I decided to just go out and get it anyway (who knows what the roads will be like tomorrow….) and I got the kids loaded up and Wendy hopped in the car to come with us. I had no problems picking up Kyle’s present and then I took the kids so they could pick a present for Daddy. We had a good time in town and even met up with Kyle for lunch at the mall, since he needed to finish shopping for my sister, Patsy (the name that was picked out of the bowl for Kyle to shop for). Then Wendy the kids and I came back home. The roads were really bad when we left this morning, and weren’t quite so bad when I came back. But when we got to the house, the driveway had disappeared!!!! I tried pulling into the driveway and it did NOT work. The front tires got in the driveway, but I couldn’t get the back tires up the curb (I hate our curb by the way, it doesn’t dip down at the driveway at all so it is literally like driving up the curb). So I tried to back up a bit to straighten out and try pulling in again. I couldn’t back up either 🙁 I got out and somehow managed to get to the porch without getting snow in my shoes and I got the snow shovel to try to shovel the driveway clear, so I could pull in. There was almost 8 inches or so that had fallen since I had left! I freed the tires in the front and back and cleared a path so the kids could get to the house without being up to their knees in snow, and I got back in the car to pull forward again. NO luck. A neighbor from across the street came over with her snow shovel offering to help me get in the driveway. But even with her nice snow shovel and our flimsy plastic one, the van still would not pull into the driveway. So she ran home and grabbed some cardboard and towels to help the tires get some traction, and THAT didn’t work either. So she ran home again and grabbed one of those skinny shovels and started chiseling away at the ice and finally the van had enough traction to get in the driveway. What an adventure!