Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!

The Kaiserman brood all waited for Santa to arrive at Carolyn's annual Christmas Eve party.

 Below you will find the best Christmas moment ever!  Annie jumped out of her seat and gave Santa the biggest hug when he called her name.  It was followed by a Christmas fail.  Annie received a football from Santa.  She was barely able to hold in the tears.  You see, Santa had noticed that for weeks at school she had been playing football at recess.  Annie was always searching for a football around the house, so Santa thought this would be just the thing for her.  Well, Santa didn't know about Max.  Max had recently told Annie that she couldn't play football anymore and she had to be a cheerleader.  Max.  That kid ruined Christmas.

 We opened presents on Christmas morning with the Nicoll crew at Grandma Kaiserman's house.  There were 14 of us.... and way too many presents to not feel ashamed.

 This was as good as it was going to get.  Either Paige was looking away, or Dallas was.  Tsk, tsk.  There are plenty of other pictures of Paige, but not as many of that handsome husband of mine.

 Teagan, as you can see, was unimpressed with Christmas morning.

 Seth and his Christmas socks.

 Dallas gave Will his first pocketknife for Christmas!  He's a scout now, so he needed the proper tools.  Will was excited!  And promptly cut his finger open less than an hour after this picture was taken.

 My favorite part of my Christmas presents- this tag.

 Abby gave Annie this book and wrote the sweetest note saying she hoped that every time she read it that she would think of Abby.  I couldn't even read it because I immediately started to cry.  Annie has a soft heart just like her mama.

 I fulfilled all of my childhood wishes and surprised Annie with an American Girl Doll.  Oh, how I loved to see her face when she opened it!

 

Will and Annie got matching electric scooters from Santa!  Amazing that we have had the warmest weather for all of December, but Christmas day we are buried in snow.  They will love them in the spring though!

 It has been a long time since we have been able to look forward to a missionary phone call.  This was my favorite part of Christmas day as well all gathered around the speaker phone and talked to Abby for 30 minutes.  She has been mistaken for a Brazilian because of her olive skin and soccer skills, and the language is coming well!

 We topped the day off with a visit to Grammy and Grandpa's!  Sam was sick, but everyone else was able to be there.  It's wild with all of those grandkids running around these days!  I sure love that crazy bunch of Wilson's.

She's a Christmas dream, that one.

Week 17- Our own home!

Working on our own house feels so different. It's not that we do any better quality of work on our own home- we always do our best no matter whose house we are working on- but the love is different. We know this one is ours, and it makes us happy to work so hard on something that will be so good for our family. 

Finished our floor joists this week, as well as stairs!

Under the top stair I buried a little love note to my sweetheart!

Merry Christmas

If under the tree you could find eternal life, forgiveness for your sins and missteps, an example to follow, and someone who loves you with a perfect love, would you take it? Because it is there for you. HE is there for you. Merry Christmas.

Juanito Bandito

Our elf Ledger brought us a surprise- tickets to see Juanito Bandito's Christmas Carol! He even brought the kids a mustache to put them in the right mood.

 Juanito Bandito is the most guapo villain you have ever seen! One cannot underestimate his awesomeness. We laughed our heads off and loved every minute together. 

See you later, Abby!

It finally came!  The day the Nicoll family gets to have a missionary!  Abby left to Santiago, Chile today, and we all got together at Robinitino's before she took off.  It was so fun to be together and be able to visit with Abby as one last final goodbye before her mission.

We all drove in a caravan to the airport where we hung out, cried, laughed, and cried some more.  I felt like we were all doing pretty well until Annie lost it, and then we all did.  It was such a bittersweet moment to send her off.  We are so proud of her!  There is nothing better that she could be doing with her time than spreading the message of Jesus Christ, but we will miss her.  So much.

Sister Abby Lisette Nicoll, may you have the time of your life!

Week 16

This week was a good week. We addressed some issues, and are digging in with greater resolve. It seemed like after Jeremiah got injured that we kind of started floundering a bit. We were still working hard, but we weren't very efficient. Hopefully moving forward we will have better progress. 

I finished my first roof, and Dallas finished building walls for the vaulted ceilings in two of the houses, and they are now ready for their four-way inspection. Yikes! Hope that goes well. 

We saw an awesome sunset, and the stairs got started at our house. Next stop, floor joists and a sub floor!

Look at those slaves! Brianna Robinson, Molly Seawright, and Jenna Baker hard at work building braces and stairs. 

Sweet, sweet Annie

Annie stayed home sick from school today on account of she woke us up at 1:30AM to tell us how she "barfed."

Isn't that the worst? As a parent, the worst bodily fluid you have to deal with is by far vomit. 

Moving on. 

Annie was so quiet today. She was humming and singing Silent Night softly as she played with salt dough and I cleaned. I checked on her to see that she had made her own little salt dough nativity! She was so proud, but I'm willing to bet that I was even more proud than she was. 

PS- Isn't that nightgown that was handmade by Annie's great grandma the cutest ever?! The answer is yes. Yes it is. 

Grandma Nicoll's Nativity

It just wouldn't be Christmas without my favorite nativity.

My perfect angel daughters.

And these wise guys. 

Gingerbread Houses

The Robinson's came to town! We love these cousins more than anything on the planet. Being together is super sweet, but we sweetened things up even more by making gingerbread houses.

Will, James, Miles and John were more concerned with getting as much candy as possible on their houses than they were about looks. Boys. Will's house was FULL of candy on the inside. 

Annie and Alli took their time and theirs turned out so great! They are little women already. 

Jenn and I even made a two story house that turned out pretty cute. We had to redeem ourselves from the gingerbread disaster of 2004-- which we will never speak of again. 

And then there is Paige, and we could just eat her up!

The babes

It was time for Finer Things Cub and I had Kalie and Erin bring the girls. It's safe to say that some of us enjoyed ourselves more than others. 

Eva, Paige, and Leah. They WILL be best friends, dang it!

Week 15

It was so good to have Dallas back on the work site this week! We rarely (if ever) work together, but just knowing he is there makes me happy.

I was officially put on the roofing crew this week. I was ready for a big task to tackle and this is a BIG TASK. It's a cool skill to learn and I'm pretty excited about it. Plus the views from the rooftop can't be beat. 

Dallas is still a framer and spends most of his time inside mostly built houses semi protected from the elements. He is so lucky. 

The most exciting thing from this week: basement walls in our house!

After this photo was taken they even installed the rim board. It is so exciting to see progress on OUR place!

I would have been a shepherd.

Over the last few years I have been thinking a lot about that first Christmas day.  What would I have been if I had been there?  How would I have played my part?

In truth, I have always hoped I was an angel.  To rejoice with the rest of the heavenly throng over the birth of the Messiah is what my soul would have wanted!   As much as I would have liked to be an angel, I don't think that would have been my part.  I can feel that music deep in my soul, but it never comes out quite like I imagine it.

While I have many wonderful and beautiful things, I wouldn't have been a wise man that could have come bearing valuable earthly gifts for my King.

As I sat in church today I heard many testimonies; of the living Christ, of the reality of God's love for each of his children, of the principal of forgiveness.  As tears streamed down my face, I knew what I would have been.

I would have been a shepherd.

If an angel came to me and told me of the babe in a manger, I know I would have gone.  I would have seen Him in the most humble of circumstances.  I would have worshiped that perfect babe, and then I would have left- telling everyone I knew, friends and strangers alike, that I had seen the Savior of the World.

I wasn't there that first Christmas day, but I can tell all I know, just as sure as I live, our savior Jesus Christ lives.  He lived a perfect life to show us how to better our own.  He showed us the ultimate act of love, saving each and every one of us as He prepared our way to return to our Father in Heaven.

No, I was not a shepherd on that first Noel, but I can be one today as I share what I know.  Merry Christmas!

The Festival of Trees

Every year I go to The Festival of Trees with my mom. I have always loved it, but now I love it even more because we get to go visit Quincy's tree. I took only Paige this year, and Kaydee came with the twins, Isaac and Samantha. We laughed, cried, and then ate at Sweet Tomatoes like we always do. Why do we love doing the same things year after year?

Quincy's Tree

"A Dynamite Christmas" after Napoleon Dynamite. 

I love my kids.

After a cold night at the house, seeing these sure warmed me up! We have the best kids in the world. 

Week 14- I can do that.

Lots of help from friends and family this week. We are so grateful! Dallas stayed home and watched kids, and with the help of others we were still able to hit our full hours. 

This week I felt like one of the guys. I put in 30 hours on the house, and I was on ladders, building soffit, sheeting a roof, learning to overbuild, and shingling! It was a lot of fun and the views can't be beat. 

Next week we are looking forward to Dallas being back on site (taking it as easy as possible!), and hopefully seeing some progress on our own home. Do I say that every week?