Santa & Snow Days

I love snow days.  I don't like snow very much, but I am more than happy to let a measly half inch of snow force my husband and kids to stay home and give me an excuse to not step foot outside and stay in my pajamas all day.

But I'm not so much a fan of Craig doing his projects inside during these snow days.  And that seems to be his favorite thing to do on a snowy January day.  Right now he's busy power-sanding something or other for Bentley's upcoming pinewood derby.  It's loud and messy and I can barely think.  And there's not really anywhere I can go to escape the noise.  (I could try to hide in my bedroom, but I know the little 'uns will just come in and leave the door gaping open, making more frustrated than I was in the first place.  If I lock the door, they'll just pound on it until I open up.  There is no escape...)  I've been trying to drown out the noise with music, but I think all I'm really accomplishing is giving myself a headache.

So as much as I love having everyone home, I kind of wish they'd all go away right now.

This isn't nearly as bad as the time Craig decided to stain our mantel in the kitchen, making the entire house reek.  I was worried the fumes would damage Ryder's brain (he was a few weeks old at the time).  So at least this doesn't smell bad and hurt my brain.  But I can't imagine that letting Colton crawl through the sawdust is helping anyone's health either.

One of these days we really need to get a garage for Craig...

On a happier note, here are some pictures from Christmas.  Since our ward Christmas party didn't include Santa (grr) and I didn't get any good shots of the kids with Santa at the Cub Scout Christmas party (grrr again), I invited Santa to come to our house.  He brought candy canes and read to the kids and was so perfectly jolly and nice!  It was a lovely evening, especially since I suspect our time with Bentley believing in Santa is extremely limited.  So I had to treasure it up while I still could!

We invited a few other kids over under the pretense of decorating cookies.  So when they heard the sound of sleigh bells jingling from the fireplace, it took them a moment to realize what was happening-- then they began bouncing around in excitement!

Kendra loves Santa!

My favorite

Look up, Colton!  Look up!  But I love Bentley's smile here...

I didn't want to bother going all out matchy matchy on the kids (especially since we'd be doing those portraits a week later!), so I just made them all wear stripes.  It made me smile to myself...

Story time with Santa

Snow and Christmas.  Makes all the noise worth it, I guess!