I love this picture. For one reason in particular. Eli has kind of a crooked smile. A little backround: In the mouth there is something called the midline. It is an imaginary line between the two front teeth on top, and between the two front teeth on the bottom . It is supposed to line up, but you can see in the picture that when Eli smiles his jaw moves to the side so the bottom teeth are to the left of the top tooth, not directly below. Maybe it’s because I look at teeth all the time that I notice, or maybe I would notice anyway. But it’s adorable to me. (You can see it best if you click on the picture and make it larger.)

I may have to buy a few extra mattresses or make a couple trips to the ER over my lifetime but I just can’t break up a good bed-jumping.
Cameron and his buddy Zeb were jumping on the bed and they were having so much fun I just let them be.
It’s hard to get good action shots though. They wouldn’t slow down for me.
Luckily no one was hurt, and who knows what it did to the bed.

I don’t remember having days like this last year, but maybe I just didn’t take advantage of them. But it just seemed to snow all day today. While Eli was taking a nap Cameron and I ventured outside to build a snowman.
Cameron named this snowman “Vick” but he names everything “Vick”. (Don’t ask me where he got that one.) This was his first snowman. He has “wickerish” (licorice) for a mouth and it was really hard to keep Cameron from taking it off his face and eating it.
This is Cameron’s attempt at a snow angel. He had a hard time opening his eyes because snowflakes were falling in them. He’s got lots to learn about snow angels. Our neighbors gave us a hand-me-down snowsuit. He looks like a little marshmallow but it kept him warm and dry.
After we built the first snowman Cameron wanted to build another one. I wasn’t really up for it so I made up a lame excuse that we couldn’t build another snowman because we didn’t have another hat. Cameron said we could build a “snowman wif hair!” It amused me enough to put forth the effort to build another snowman. Nice hair huh?
Well he stayed warm except for his face I guess. He and I both had some rosy faces by the time we came inside. We had hot chocolate and my only regret about our afternoon was that I couldn’t have a picture of us together. Oh well, some other time!

I’m a little slow getting pictures up but here are a few. Unfortunately I seemed to forget my camera everywhere I went over the holidays so this is the best I got. This is my brother Bryan with Cameron and his cousin Charlie.
I wish Cameron really liked books this much. He just likes this one because it has Lightning McQueen.
Eli was pretty easy to please. He was mostly interested in bows and wrapping paper.
Richard and I got to enjoy a lot of great food cooked by our mothers.

For those of you thinking that Cameron is too young for scouts, you’re right. For an activity the elder’s quorum did a pinewood derby. Richard made his car at the last minute, with limited materials and I did a hurried job of painting it. It was pretty ugly to say the least. He took Cameron with him to the activity and the car didn’t weigh much so Richard had to improvise.
As he was leaving I jokingly said, “Hey, maybe it will win!” And surprisingly it did. This is the trophy. Richard said the best part was just watching Cameron. He loved the big race track and watching the cars crash as they shot off the end.

The reason I made that the title is because a lot of things had to work out for the wonderful event last night to take place. The event? I went to bed shortly after 11pm and fell asleep immediately and didn’t wake up again until 7:01am. Eight hours of completely uninterrupted sleep. That hasn’t happened in about a year. I didn’t wake up to go to the bathroom, Eli didn’t wake me up to eat, Cameron didn’t wake me up because of a bad dream or to “put his blanket round” him. It was so great. I woke up undisturbed and feeling completely rested. What a joy. But for all the future parents out there, don’t be too discouraged (especially the men) because Richard gets many uninterrupted nights, and I have become used to them. This was just a special treat. Merry Christmas to me!

Before we got to this Santa Cameron had the chance to sit on Santa’s lap somewhere else. (Which went well except that Cameron thought he was going to actually get the things he wanted from Santa then and there.) But when he saw Santa again at the tree lot he had it down. “I want a truck and a trailer and Lightning McQueen and lots of trains.”
It was pretty cold but Cameron thought the whole picking-a-tree adventure was great.
(We aren’t actually driving in this picture, we aren’t that bad of parents. This was still in the parking lot.)

I’VE BEEN TAGGED CHRISTMAS POST
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or artificial?
Has to be real, I love the smell!
3. When do you put up the tree?
First Saturday in December
4. When do you take the tree down?
When it’s so dead it becomes a fire hazard
5. Do you like eggnog?
Only if it is diluted with a little milk
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
A dollhouse that my sister Lori and I played with for hours and hours over years and years
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes but it hardly does justice to the Christmas story, it’s very small.
8. Hardest person to buy for?
I have a pretty easy time buying gifts (Too easy if you ask Richard)
9. Easiest person to buy for?
Cameron, he is very vocal about what he wants
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Don’t want to hurt any feelings. . . 🙂
11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail of course, Christmas cards are one thing that should never sell-out to technology
12. Favorite Christmas movie?
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Day after Thanksgiving (I get too many last minute ideas to start any sooner)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
I don’t think so…
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My Mom’s bourbon balls (Not real bourbon okay?)
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored, and as Lori pointed out, the flashing ones help you see different ornaments at different times.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
Has to be Silent Night
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
Travel all the way from Kuna to Boise
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
If I sing the song…
20. Angel on the treetop or a star?
A hand-me-down star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One on Christmas Eve and the rest in the morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The commercialism (But I’m a sucker for it too)
23. What I love most about Christmas?
Hard to say, just the whole feeling of it.