Happy New Year!

2011 already. These years go by fast! Anyways, this New years we went to my Uncle's house for a mix of Christmas and new years. at 4:15 we went there and... Well, I'll split up the evening in about 4 different parts. The first part was the dinner part of the evening. We had tried a bunch of delicious foods that my uncle prepared.

The second part of the evening we had our Maldonado Christmas. I got a giant Rice Krispes Treats bar and a gift card. Gabriella got a 5 pound Gummy Bear so we told each other we'd save them and get many more worlds biggest foods. Third part is the movie part. We watched The Curse of the Were-rabbit and Kung Fu Panda. After that it was just mingling and then we left at 10:00. But that's not all... After we went home we turned on the TV for 2 minutes to watch the Ball Drop and we went to bed.

So yeah that's how we spent our New Year's. I can't wait for my Birthday! I'll be 15!

Christmas Day

This morning, Michael and I woke up first, followed pretty soon by Katie. When everyone was finally awake at about 8:45, we took some pictures, then opened stockings. I like to fill the stockings with individually-packed breakfast items. This year, I stuffed the stockings with: orange juice, chocolate milk (I tossed those two in right before we opened them), homemade granola, two boxes of cereal, a candy bar, two clementines, an apple, the five oldest got watches, and Katie got a small toy. My mom stayed the night so that she could see the kids on Christmas morning, but she had to leave by 9:00 so that she could finish packing for her and dad's trip to Houston to visit my brother and sister and their families. That's her side in the second picture...

After stockings, we opened gifts. The kids earned money and went to the dollar store to get gifts for each other. I think they were more excited about Christmas because it wasn't just about what they were getting.

This is how Katie started unwrapping her gifts...

We tried to keep the gifts to a minimum, since Michael and I both felt that the kids have enough "stuff." About three weeks ago, we had more than one child at a time that had to use the computer for school work or projects. We knew the time had come that one computer wasn't enough anymore. So, we decided to get a MacBook and put it under the Christmas tree. When we opened gifts, I noticed that it had my name on it. Michael got me my usual Godiva truffles that he gets me every year (I would be really sad if he didn't!) and the MacBook Pro that we had picked out together. I was pretty excited, but I'm trying not to be selfish and call it "my laptop" or "myMacBook". It's a little more difficult than I thought, though!

We spent the rest of the day watching "A Night at the Museum" (it was a marathon-repeat all day today) and having fun with our gifts.

The kids' favorite gifts:

Jonathon: globe puzzle

Christian: mini RC car

Nathaniel: volcano lamp

Eliza: Science in the Kitchen baking kit

Timmy: RC dump truck

Katie: Violet stuffed animal that sings and talks

Christmas Eve

Having family in the area is such a blessing and holidays are usually extended over a couple days or more. This year, we celebrated with my side of the family on Christmas Eve, then had Christmas Day for our family, and then celebrated the day after Christmas with Michael's side of the family.

On Christmas Eve, everyone showed up at our house somewhere between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. We had dinner and let the kids play for a little while, then opened presents. It was fairly noisy with nine adults and ten children, but with my brothers, Scott, handing out gifts and Chris's help, it went pretty smoothly. The kids and adults alike got some great gifts, some of them homemade. My mom made pajamas for all of the grandkids, except Katie and Garrett, since she ran out of material and time... They were so excited about the pajamas that they ran to put them on right away.

Eliza likes to draw, so I know she'll have a lot of fun with this!

Timmy loved the Thomas the Tank Engine hat with the matching pair of mittens that my mom got for him. Unfortunately, Timmy's head is a little too big for the hat...

Nathaniel got something he loves: play money!

I think this was one of Katie's favorite gifts. She loved these crocs with the fuzzy lining!

Michael's mom and my mom conspired against us by his mom telling my mom what to get for us and my mom buying it, then his mom reimbursing her. Each of the kids got a little gift bag with a magnet in it and a gift card to WalMart.

Here are all of the grandkids wearing their pajamas!

Everyone had left by about 11 p.m., except my mom, since I had invited her to spend the night so that she could enjoy Christmas morning and opening stockings with our family. It was about 11:30 by the time the kids went to bed!

This year, I wrapped all of the gifts as they were delivered via USPS, UPS, and FedEx, so I didn't actually have to stay up part of the night wrapping. I also put all the stocking items in one box, so all I had to do was to fill them! It was so easy!

When I was ready to go to bed, I looked for Michael in Katie's room since I hadn't seen him since he went to put her to bed. I found Michael, Katie, and Eliza asleep on Eliza's bed. Katie was in the middle, so I put her to bed, then woke up Michael so that Eliza would have her bed to herself. He looked like he was about to fall off anyway. We went to sleep at about 12:30 and had a pretty good night sleep because for once, on Christmas morning, the kids slept in, too!

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, we opened stockings first, then presents.

This year for Christmas, our family tried to focus on Christ in a different and fun way. We exchanged names with each other and made gifts for the chosen person. It was nice to think of someone else in our family and come up with something we could do for them that uses our time or talents. The homemade gifts were:

• Jonathon made Michael a small calendar to put on his desk at his work that has pictures of all of us on it
  
• Nathaniel gave me coupons for helping around the house
  
• Timmy, Katie and I gave Jonathon, Eliza, and Christian bed sheets in their favorite color to be made into curtains and an IOU for fixed up bedrooms
  
• Michael gave Nathaniel a song written about him
  
• Eliza gave Timmy a framed picture of him
  
• Christian gave Katie a poem written about her

After we opened gifts, Michael had everyone put on their coats and shoes and took us outside to the garage. When everyone was ready, he opened the door and there was a huge box. The kids looked at the picture on the side and one of them (I can't remember who) yelled, "It's a trampoline!" They have been wanting one for quite a while. They were the MOST excited about that gift!

Luckily for Michael, Aaron came over with some of his kids and my brother, Scott, came to spend some time with us on Christmas day. So Michael had some people to help him put it together. Now that it is up, the kids have spent a LOT of time jumping on it!

Christmas Eve

Michael's parents arrived on Christmas Eve around 8 p.m. We had dinner, then celebrated Christmas with Michael's side of the family.


The kids got some really nice gifts and so were happy that they weren't just getting homemade gifts. Louise made two really cute lions, one for Katie and one for Spencer. Mom crocheted hats for Katie and Eliza. I sewed a checkerboard and she crocheted checkers for the older kids. They loved it!

Each of the four oldest got a new Webkinz. Jonathon got a gray stallion, Christian got a brown dog, Nathaniel got a light yellow dog, and Eliza got a pink poodle. They were so excited!

Timmy opened a Lightning McQueen toy first and then it was hard to get him to open any more gifts!

It was a very fun evening and so much better because Mom and Dad were there. Just like old times, but better because now there are more grandchildren and Linda is with us, too!

Christmas Around the World

This year Kathy was in charge of the ward Christmas party. There were quite a few booths set up that had members of the ward to teach us about how Christmas is celebrated in different countries. Some of the countries were: Israel, England, Mexico, the United States, Germany, and Japan. It was great to learn about the different countries.
The kids also got a turn to sit on Santa's lap.
After that we had a delicious turkey dinner and pies. Awesome job, Kathy!

The Tree

I think the Christmas holiday truly starts when the tree and other decorations go up. That's when it really starts feeling like Christmas. Every time I walk into the living room and see the lights on the tree and smell the wonderful pine tree, it feels a lot like Christmas.

Usually, we go as a family to pick out a special tree from a tree market in the area. It is really adds to the excitement and fun that we have as a family to do that together. This year, however, Timmy and Katie were both sick and using the nebulizer the night that we promised the kids that we would go get a tree. So, we did the diplomatic thing and asked the kids to vote on getting it as planned on Monday and Michael would pick it out and bring it home or wait until that Saturday. It was unanimous that Michael would get it on the way home from work.

Unfortunately, Michael had to work late and didn't get to the tree place until just after 9:00 p.m. Yep, they closed at 9. So did every other place he went. So we had to wait until Tuesday. Michael worked late again, but made it in time to get the tree. He went to Sears since it was on the way home and if he'd tried to make it to the market around the corner from our house, he probably wouldn't have made it again. The kids were so excited when he brought it in. But, it seemed like every time we got near it, the needles fell off like crazy. Michael said that they were shipped from Canada and were somewhat frozen. I guess that's the down side to not getting a tree grown locally. The best tree we ever got was grown right there at the farm.

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful tree. And one of the benefits of having the needles fall off is that now our vacuum smells like pine every time we vacuum!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

In my family (my parents, brothers, & sisters), we usually exchange couples names and kids' names since my parents have 7 children and 13 grandchildren. So, it seems like every year around Christmas time, I get an e-mail asking what Michael and I and the kids want for Christmas. I usually give sizes of clothes, shoes, and what each child likes and might want. I've noticed that some things stay the same and other things change as they get older (sizes mostly). I thought that I would just post it on our blog this year so that my family can all see it and then my kids can look back and see the things they were interested in this year. I kind of see it as a mini-spotlight for everyone.

Michael
Favorite color: navy
Likes: his guitar, music, playing games with his family

Mandy
Favorite color: green
Likes: playing games with my family, chick flicks, clean romance novels, cooking, baking, the computer, making my family happy, making cards

Jonathon
Favorite color: green
Clothing size: 12 to 14
Shoe size: 6 1/2
Likes: jogging, roller blading, playing on the computer, watching TV, building things, animals, my Nintendo DS

Christian
Favorite color: red
Clothing size: 12 to 14
Shoe size: 6
Likes: roadrunners, dragons, chicken pot pie, resting, watching TV, playing on the computer, my Nintendo DS

Nathaniel
Favorite color: blue, red, yellow, orange, green (mostly blue, I think)
Clothing size: 10
Shoe size: 3 1/2
Likes: music, drawing, coloring, singing, writing, reading, Webkinz, riding my bike

Eliza
Favorite color: all (she seems to really like purple, even though she said "all")
Clothing size: 7
Shoe size: 13
Likes: coloring, drawing, singing, dancing, music, stuffed animals, Webkinz, unicorns, dogs, animals

Timmy
Favorite color: ??
Clothing size: 4T
Shoe size: 7
Likes: cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, GeoTrax, Lightning McQueen, Mater

Katie
Favorite color: ??
Clothing size: 12 months
Shoe size: 1 or 2? (she doesn't usually wear shoes)
Likes: playing, smiling, laughing, eating, rattles, Dad, Mom, Jonathon, Christian, Nathaniel, Eliza, Timmy

Excited about Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to my mother-in-law on the phone. Michael and I really wanted to go to Puerto Rico for Christmas this year, but as we looked at finances, we decided it would be too expensive to buy seven airplane tickets when they are the most expensive (everyone wants to get away from the cold and I can't say I blame them!)

So I told Mom that, unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to come. Then I had an epiphany. THEY could come up HERE! I know how much they love to FREEZE. Actually, I was almost hesitant to ask, because Mom suffers a lot from the cold and Dad hates it. However, Mom was excited and Dad was resigned to come. The kids are really excited and so am I. We normally don't have guests for Christmas. It will be great because not only do the kids have the week between Christmas and New Year's off, but Michael's company shuts down during that time, too! We are going to have a fabulous time, even if we can't get away from the cold and go on vacation. We are all looking forward to having you here, Mom and Dad!

The picture is of Michael's mom August 2007 when they came up for Nathaniel's baptism. She doesn't care to have her picture taken, so out of respect for that, I posted this online, but at least I kept it small! Love you, Mom!