Greta and Her Brothers

Greta is a SUNBEAM!!!!  Last Sunday she went to Primary for the first time and she loved it!

Bless those wonderful Sunbeam teachers!  This is going to be a fun group.

It was brave of Clark to take Faith on in an arm wrestle!  We're all pretty much afraid of her:), but Clark held his own.  When they were little, Faith was the only one of the girls who would bravely and openly thwart Clark's will.  Not much has changed. 

I recently came home from running an errand the other day and found this.  Ha ha ha!  How do they think of this stuff?

I was exceedingly amused.

The boys made "Toyville" for Greta.  She really loves her brothers.  She will tell people, "I have four brodders.  One is named George, one is named Peter, one is named Clark.  One is named Cannon."

Party Like It's 2020!

On the evening of New Years Eve, the five of us went to a fun party in which we "dressed like it was 1920, danced like it was 1820 and partied like it was 2020!"

We adore the Endemano boys.

Many thanks to Andrea for hosting such a fabulous party to celebrate a new year and a new decade!

New Years Eve 2019

A couple weeks back Greta wore this dress that had once been worn by Elinor and then by Faith.  I haven't saved a lot of the girls' clothes for hand-me-downs, but a have soft spot for church dresses.
Greta was walking through the house having a pretend phone conversation with her closest-aged cousin, Grace.  I immediately remembered a picture we had of Faith about the same age, wearing the same dress, having an actual phone conversation with her cousin, Eliza.

Here it is.  Oh, my heart-- Faith was so cute!  I mean, she's still cute... but she's thirteen now.  So it's not quite the same.

A little side-by-side.

The day after Christmas my sister and I and our girls were treated to a lovely afternoon high tea by Lari-- my mother's best friend in high school.  She has been so good to us.  She is a connection to our mom who passed away almost 19 years ago.  She entertains us with stories of their teenage antics and she told our girls how much she loved our mom.  I am so grateful for her kindness.

New Years Eve 2019 was simple and fun.  As is our tradition we had a game night with our dear friends, the Johansens.  This gang was with us for part of the time, and then most of them head off to their various other activities a little later in the evening.  Kara (right next to Clark) got home about ten days earlier from her mission to Argentina.

Ben (the tall one) is a good sport to entertain all of his little admirers.

We just played games all evening and it was so enjoyable.

I think we figured this was our twelfth year in a row of ringing in the new year together.  Granted, they don't look thrilled in this picture, but it really was fun.

Some friends gave us a game called "Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza"-- it rather violent and rather FUN!  No bone were broken and blood was minimal!

In other exciting news-- Clark got all moved into his apartment down in Provo.  He is living in the Glenwood.  It's kind of fun because that is where Abe and I lived when we met.  He is thrilled to be back to regular life.  He likes his apartment and roommate.

Clark and Kara at Kara's homecoming-- the recently returned missionaries.

Kara and Bethany were such close friends growing up.  Bethany was so happy to see her again.

These six are all recently returned Spanish speaking missionaries from our ward.  So wonderful.

Christmas Morning 2019

It was a late, late night for Santa this year.  How did Santa forget to pack an instruction booklet for assembling a drum set?!  Thank goodness for YouTube videos!
As you can see, it was a very musical (and very loud) Christmas this year. 

The line-up picture

 The race down the stairs

I love how Elinor grabbed little Greta so she didn't get trampled.

A drum set was the only thing George asked for.

Cannon got an electric guitar.  We got a digital piano/keyboard.  Faith wanted a trumpet.  The basement band is born!

Faith got a swim parka/deck coat for all of her swimming and water polo.  She'll especially appreciate it come snowy 5:00 am water polo mornings.  Brrr
We didn't get a picture of Elinor and her new swim bag and suit and snorkel.  Basically, swimmers get swim equipment for birthdays and holidays:)

The easy and not-so-easy Hamilton music for Elinor and Cannon.

Bethany is such a thoughtful gift giver.  It's not something I think I am very good at, but my mom was an exceptional gift giver, and I really appreciate that about them both.  She gave me this Willow Tree figurine and a wonderful letter.  It was a very tender moment on Christmas morning.

Peter was excited to get some Legos.

Peter wanted a watch with hands--not a digital watch. 

Abe wanted a new griddle and new crocs.  Such a DAD!

A fancy new hair flat iron/curl thing for Bethany.  It's sort of nice when they are old enough to just text the link of what they want.

I adore this picture of Faith wrapped in her deck coat and blanket (a family gift from my brother's family) holding her Bob Ross Chia Pet.  I think this is the image of 13 year old Faith I will keep in my mind.

And this picture of three Foxy Ladies. PAUSE!

Make that FOUR Foxy Ladies.

And for the saddest/funniest moment of the morning-- when Greta was heartbroken to discover that the "unicorn" cereal (the Lucky Charms) were not for her.  She was left with Baby Shark cereal.  I think she wanted both. 

Cannon gave George a deck of Magic cards.

Coolest gift was these personalized mugs from Philip and Katie's family (Abe's brother and sister-in-law).  Katie is so creative and talented!  They are the perfect size mugs.  It's pretty much the only dish Clark took with him to his apartment in Provo.  He says he can use it for everything.

Poor Clark-- Christmas was probably somewhat of a let-down for him.  When he got home a couple weeks earlier he got new clothes and a phone and car to drive (thanks to my other brother).  So he was sitting rather pretty.  On Christmas morning he got a laundry basket, towels, and bed sheets.  Tim to adult:)

A second piano is a luxury... but one I think our family has earned!  It's already been put to good use.

Christmas morning mayhem is the best kind of mayhem there is.

She has three older brothers, so she wanted Bakugans.  She's the youngest, so she gets whatever she wants.

Moments just like this were what I missed for the last two years.

Abe made his traditional British friend breakfast. 

We love to have Grandpa join us. 

He's so proud of himself!

Honestly, living with Abe in December-- or really any month--is like living with the Ghost of Christmas present.  He loves Christmas and tradition. 
And I love it and am grateful for him and his enthusiasm for life. 

This picture IS Christmas 2019 at the Fox's Den. 
It was good.  Really good.