Christmas Eve

Hi, It's Christmas morning. But this is what happened last night... The kids all slept by the tree in the front room. It's a kid tradition that they started 10 or so years ago. They all look forward to their sibling sleepover ~ staying up late and chatting with excitement for what the morning will bring.

So last night Corey and I didn't bother making the kids go to bed. They were still up and wired with energy, but I was putting Daniel to bed, so I got Owen and put him to bed too, and that meant I was done and could retire. It was just 10:30. Corey soon came in, we decided to set our alarm for 2 am to put stuff out. When the 2 am alarm sounded I got out of bed. The house was quiet. That's good, that means hopefully kids are snoozing, and they should be at 2 am. Corey said he'd be out in a few. He had bought presents and wrapped them and wrapped the ones I had bought too, so I wasn't totally sure what gifts were what or what the plan was for the morning. We don't really have time to talk or coordinate things lately. I snooped around in his office and found the candy he bought for stocking stuffers and slowly took care of those. I ate the mangoes and drank the eggnog the kids left out for Santa, and munched the carrots for his reindeer, wishing Corey was awake to drink the eggnog so I wouldn't have to.

It's against weight loss rules to consume calories in the wee hours of the morning, right? But I had to get rid of them, but I don't like to waste... I thought snooping in the kitchen to try to find their plastic packaging would be too noisy. So I munched those out of duty, drank a little egg nog and brought the rest upstairs and put in a cup in our bathroom for Corey, then returned the glass empty downstairs to show that Santa drank it. Then I continued to wander around trying to figure out what to do. Eventually I just put out everything. Stockings and presents under the tree all ready.

I went to bed at 3:45 and Corey told me he got up at 4 for a few minutes to make sure the gifts were out, and then he went to bed. I snuggled back in with my baby.

I guess we're as ready as we're gonna be. This Christmas wasn't as well planned as others have been. We're still trying to figure out how to juggle this many kids and all their schedules. Plus with Corey being gone for 2 weeks that made it a little harder. Thus we plan to pre-empt the unwrapping in the morning with statement to decrease expectations, disclosing again that their parents have been stretched thin lately!

Secret Service

We're trying to start a new tradition this year. I guess it's just another version of a tradition we've tried to do in the past, whether it was in the version of a piece of straw for Jesus' manger for each act of service performed, or through notes of service in the gold stocking for the Savior. I'm still itching to get the spirit of Christlike service into our home and family. So, once again, we're just trying to get it going. For FHE last night, I proposed that instead of the kids drawing names to have a sibling that they give a gift to on Christmas Day, that instead we try to have it be a month long service thing for a sibling. They draw names each week at Family Home Evening, and serve that person during the week, and then write them a letter to put in their stocking. The goal is that they will serve and also will each have some letters from a few of their siblings to read on Christmas Day. We'll see how it goes. It will work if they buy into the game. So we drew names last night. This morning, one of the kids got up early and made crepes for their secret sibling, Abi. They put the crepes in the bathroom where they would be seen, with instructions to eat them in the kitchen.

I hope all the kids play along! It will make it fun. I hope it works.

Owen, Daniel, and Peter aren't participating in the doing part of this, but they are able to receive service, so this week I drew the sibling names for them so it just means I kinda have 4 people. I have time for that though, so I'll probably just me making the beds a lot. A few cute pics of the little boys - Peter asleep on Sunday morning. He's been turning at night and usually is sleeping on his tummy by morning, which I think is super adorable.

Yesterday Daniel was playing with the hot glue gun. Lily had left it out after helping Sophi decorate her paper Christmas tree for school. She is a good girl to remember unplugging it. Daniel found it and started playign with it. And since we've been to the pediatrician recently, he used it as his stethoscope to check Peter's ears.

Peter held very still, it was cute. I guess they're just always cute to me though, aren't they?

One last cute picture - of Peter's chubby ankles last week (Nov 30th) as I nursed him.

I was thinking that for adults, even when we're overweight, the ankles stay pretty bony. So I thought it was so cut to see rolls on an ankle

Our Home for the Holidays

We are ready to start and make this little apartment feel like home. Above is the view of the big city from our pool and grass area. Turn around and you can't see our place, but you can see part of the railing of our balcony.

The one on the bottom of the photo with the glass and shade covered balcony is floor 10, so go up 4 and you're at floor 14 and here on the west end of the building is our little corner of the world.

I almost finished unpacking today - just going through the last few piles of random clutter and papers. Our address is Los Militares 5300, apartamento #144, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile. Here's where we are on Google Maps.

We've started to get in the Christmas Spirit. Sunday we assigned the kids to make a lego tree, which they did, but then we decided it would be too small for our presents. Then it got broken. Then they were assigned to make a Nativity Scene.


They don't have all the legos they were used to working with from Utah, but with the ones on hand and a little toilet paper creativity, they were able to make a very nice manger, Joseph, Mary, and one shepherd.


At least that's all that survived until today when I finally got the camera out. They had made several wise men and camels, sheep, a donkey, and the star. But then Abi and Lily got to them or they decided they needed the pieces for their spaceships. We'll try to get the rest of the scene figures together in time for St. Nick to enjoy on Friday night.

Joseph and baby Jesus

The Mother Mary and her Child.
Love the single lego pieces on their heads holding on the tp.

The Shepherd, from the shadow he's apparently seeing the choir of angels singing Hallelujah! And that is what we did today for our Christmas week - we got some Christmas Music! Thank you Corey! He introduced me to PayPlay and they had Mannheim Steamroller!!
I've teared up a few times as I listen to the music - I'm transported back in time to 1984, I think of growing up and sitting in our living room seeing all the trees, listening to this same music, Neil and I pretending we were amazing musicians playing the songs for Ridgecrest Elementary, everyone in awe at how awesome we are! Music is the secret ingredient to making memories. When I put in music from my mission, all the feelings come back and I can remember a singular moment in time driving along Apache Boulevard with my hand out the window, or my last p-day in Chandler before coming home and listening to The Forgotten Tales, I was not His Father. Music is key! I'm excited to play this music 24/7 this week and give my kids a key to their time machine, they'll be able to transport here to Santiago when they are older just by pushing play on their Manheim CD. Love you Mom and Dad, this music reminds me of you!

Decoration Distractions

The kids have continued to get out Christmas decorations. Abi recently put a big sconce thing on the dining table that has a lot of plastic ornaments in it. Daniel and Owen love to get the ornaments off the tree and throw them around like bouncy balls, so the big sconce is just a big temptation. Owen was getting on the table this morning to get ornaments and throw them. "No, Owen..." and he'd look at me and smile and reach for another one. So, I took it off the table up high where he couldn't get it, and he started to fuss for it. I then thought a good distraction for him and his little friend. One that I wouldn't mind as much as ornatments all over the floor: easter eggs! So now instead of a sconce with ornaments, we have trick or treat pails full of easter eggs for Owen and Daniel to play with.

Natalie is liking it too. We're having a big holiday mix-up around here!

A neighbor recently gave these to us. She was getting rid of them and remembered how much Natalie was admiring her daughters pink pumpkin bucket this past Halloween. Very thoughtful of her. So that's what the kids have been playing with today. Eggs all over in every room.

The house is a mess, but that's okay. December is a beast all it's own and I'm not fretting about being on top of the housework until the tree and all it's clutter is put back away. I'll probably put it away on December 26 or 27th. Does that make me a scrooge? I need to try a little harder to get into the Christmas spirit.

What else? One more thing - last night Corey shared this 60 minutes video with me and the kids, about a man from South Africa named Brett Archibald who fell overboard during the night when he was sea sick and he was lost at sea for 28 hours before being rescued. Corey's story for the kids was about how he faced the things that were obstacles to him. First a reef shark showed up and was checking him out. His first reaction was one of fear, but then he thought - "A reef shark! It's going to swim back toward a reef! I'm gonna grab him and ride him back to the reef where I will be able to stand up and wave for help!" As it was though, he was just a small head bobbing in the ocean that no one could see. As he was floating on his back later, some seagulls came upon him and started going after his eyes. At first he was just trying to fend them off, then he decided to go on the attack - I'm gonna catch one and I can drink it's blood for food. So, Corey's story for the kids was - when problems come at attack us, don't hide from them, but try to be like Brett and think of how you can use those problems to survive. (Though not sure how to face jelly fish?) Great interview here - Part 1 and Part 2 - "We all worry about the wrong things. Friends, family and faith - that's all that matters." Incredible story.

It goes along nicely with some things I learned during the courage challenge about fear. Holly had a little acronym that I liked - Fear can mean two things: Forget Everything And Run! ...or... Face Everything And Rise. And one more talk about fear was this BYU devotional talk given by BYU President Worthen in September titled "Fear Not". It was excellent! I especially liked the story about Sheri Dew and trying out for the basketball team - under point #3.

Of course, might not be the best analogy for us (business wise) cause neither of those plans worked out for Brett anyway, doh! And he was like an hour from death (from salt water and swollen tongue). It really was a miracle he survived. It will be a miracle when we get out from under the weight of this business burden. Though it was very appropriate that last night we were talking about seagulls and it was just one year, again on December 6, after we discovered the BLR Yoda Seagulls video. Now when I think of Seagulls poking at yoda's head, I'll think of this guy.  Darn seagulls, stop it!

Cookie Exchange

Our little cookie exchange tonight went pretty well I think! 

The kids did an ok job helping me today. They mostly kicked it in gear at 4:00, which was when I had done enough and was done trying to get help, so I left to go climb while they finished. I was back by 5 for some finishing touches. Lily stayed home and was super helpful. 

Mel was here for a little bit until she had to leave to take Abi to her GMS concert. It wasn't too crazy here, and at one point I had a total lull in activity. I had a nice visit with Kim and Jason and their girls, Caroline and Peter, Tom and his girls, Julie, and Stacey. Lovely Katharine

I did a little photo shoot by the Christmas tree. 

She's so cute.

It might have gotten crazy across the street. She had some people at her house that didn't come over here. I made sure my visitors knew to go to both houses, so I'm not sure if some of the people over there thought it was just at one or the other or what, but that's ok. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it an 8. The only thing that would have made it better here was if more people had come by. The cookies were tasty, especially Liz's sugar cookies! I need to her get recipe. I think hers were the best. Abi made some coco quickies, and I also got some cookies from Costco and sugar cookies from Schmidt's bakery (I cheated... Liz baked all of hers!)

Abi enjoyed her sleepover at BYU with Mel and now Melodie is home from college for a few days. Finals are next week, but she doesn't have one until Wednesday. She came up just in time for her birthday on Monday! AND we took advantage of her presence by having her help us out with getting kids to their activities. Abi had a flute recital from 4-6, so Mel took Abi down. It worked out great, because Abi's current teacher is Mel's former flute professor at BYU. On their way home, they decided to go get some fast food, and drove by a cemetery that had a lovely lit up tree. They couldn't help themselves and had to go check it out - 

Selfie time!

Laughing as they did a Christmas photo shoot - 

Being silly - 

Mel showing off her flexibility - 

I'm going to be able to do the splits someday.

I think that they are two very pretty ladies.

Calico Critters

Melodie got some Calico Critters for her birthday last month. I've looked at these before, and they were stinkin' cute, but I resisted for a while since they cost a pretty penny too much. But Mel and I had talked about what she wanted and these were on the list, so my mom and I coordinated to get her a few good sets she could use together. Mel loves it, just look at all the cute little tiny pieces! A little toaster with little slices of toast!! Little head of lettuce and little tomato ready to be sliced on a little cutting board with a little knife!! (So many little pieces that I will probably not see and accidentally vacuum up!!!)

Mother cooking while the Calico dog family's baby is currently the rabbit family's pet.
I also feel bad for horses, cause they almost always stay in that role of beast of burden, no horse family, but there is a cow family. And the cows can ride the horse. Poor horses, they're stuck.

The family sitting down for dinner

So now we've begun our Calico Critters collection of toys - fun fun!


Her friend Aria had some too, so they immediately started working on creating this new little world of imagination, including making homework papers for little boy bunny, who was in a bad mood and didn't want to do his homework, so he scribbled on it.

Little girls playing making the little boys the naughty ones. The girl bunny, of course, dutifully competed her assignments perfectly and does all her chores without complaining, she even gave the baby a bath, wow!
The girls also requested for me take pictures of each rabbit family member in front of their lego Christmas tree (which was a b-day present from her other Grandma - don't ya just love legos?) I'll just post one of those individual portraits, but the girls are hoping I can somehow print up those mini pictures so they can frame them and put them on the rabbit's house's walls, although they don't have walls right now since their house is a coffee table.


Great cross play with legos into all areas of childhood. Merry Christmas to the Rabbit family!
And a happy new year!

Slipping Away

I know that autumn has really only just started a month ago, but I feel like it's already over. I went on a quick ride today after Lily was home from school and able to watch Katharine for me. There were still colorful leaves to enjoy ~

And the trail wasn't too bad at first...

...but each of the three bridges on the trail were covered in snow, and after this last bridge, I knew my ride was almost over. 

Snow was melting off of the trees and getting my helmet wet. I had mud all up the back of my pants and shirt when I was back. We're in a drought, so I'll pray for more snow, but I'm still sad the fall is ending. I'm always left wishing for more. 

The kids are super excited for Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mostly Halloween, since it is one of the two days of the year where you get candy. Here is the other costume I got for Katharine. 

This one seems to big, so we'll save it for next year. Lily had changed her into the lady bug one while I was on my ride. 

She's super cute!!

When we sat down for dinner tonight, most of the kids were dressed in costumes. 

Just another night around the Wride household - Daniel as Mr. Incredible (I'd say he was Dash, but his costume is padded with big muscles, so I think he's supposed to be Mr. Incredible. And we've got a dinosaur and is that a ghost? Or a kid in a dunce hat? No, you can't tell from this pic, but Natalie is a candy corn.

Peter the dinosaur, of course!

The kids were wearing costumes that they borrowed from a neighbor. Lily got a Christmas tree costume that she's going to wear to school on Monday, and she picked up a big dinosaur onesie for Wesley, so Peter and Wes are going to be twinners when Wes takes him around the neighborhood, aww. They took off Katharine's ladybug costume and she was just in the black shirt, and we got this treasure of a photo of her - 

ISN'T SHE JUST THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness, she is sooo cute. She made a big mess of herself right after that photo, so then she went and took a bath. Another cute pic of our little angel, with a pink bow on her head~

All clean and ready for bed in new cupcake pajamies. 

Things are going pretty good even though I'm on my own this week. We even had a sit down dinner, so that is impressive of me, let me pat myself on the back. Good job, self. Abi was gone at her flute lesson. I'm glad that Corey taught Abi and Lily how to use the UTA bus system so that I don't have to take them to their lessons or chamber class or anything. Good job Corey, and Abi and Lily too. Way to take another step towards learning how to survive on your own.