It's Christmas, it's Christmas...

We make the kids 

(and Zoe...what an obedient puppy)

wait at the top of the stairs 

so they can all go down 

and witness the magic that is Christmas

 together.

It's a bit torturous of us 

I know...

Our pictures are very lacking this year. 

See that deathly ill thing lying on the couch in the background?

That would be me.

I got through all the Christmas Eve festivities...

Caroling and the nativity

without a hitch. 

The children were nestled all snug in their beds

and I was finishing up some last minute wrapping.

When out of no where

 I was so rudely ambushed by the Grinch!

Headache, fever, nausea 

set in and I literally thought I was going to die!

I barely made it downstairs to see

the kids open presents Christmas morning.

Then my poor sweet husband 

had to get our kids dressed in their holiday best

 do the girls hair (a feat in itself)

prepare the dish we had to bring

finish wrapping the presents for the cousins

AND

drive up the snowy canyon

 to spend Christmas day with the family...

while I lay huddled on the bathroom floor

What a gem he is!

I think it is safe for me to say,

this was 

THE WORST CHRISTMAS EVER

(for my sickly self)

My kids still thought it was pretty great...

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimney With Care...

(OK...so they're not by the chimney...)

We have a family tradition that Daddy reads 

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

to the children  

just before we tuck them into bed.

Then they all sleep together in the same room

(with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads)

Although I'm curious
 as to how much of the sleeping thing
 is really going on...

Merry Christmas to all...
and to all a good night!

Me and My Big Ideas...

To make a long story longer...


This is Smith. 

He is the last of five, our little caboose. 

Although Smith is 5, has started Kindie, and is a self-proclaimed big boy, 

he will irrevocably be our baby.

 Now with that title comes some pretty awesome perks! 

The biggest one being getting major aid in the “clean up your toys” effort.
(He is well aware of this perk)

As every mother of littles knows, the amount of accumulated toys verges on the side of ridiculous! 

Lego’s and trucks and blocks...oh my! 

About a week ago I was sitting in the epicenter of one of Smith’s tsunami’s

frantically making,  

“keep,” 

“thrift” 

and

 “to chuck” piles. 

Smith asked me WHY everything was in piles and instantaneously burst into tears as I explained their destinations. 

Unbeknownst to me...

those piles were apparently full of precious sentimental heirlooms

 that Smith was simply not willing to part with. 

Separation anxiety was in full effect! 

I’m pretty sure more than half of those toys

 had sadly taken residency under his bed

 or wedged behind his dresser

 for who even knows how long.

 Unfortunately for Smith,

 I’d been having one of those

 “I’m just an unpaid servant in this house” days. 

Out of no where that mean mom alien voice spewed from my mouth.

 I screeched about him having way too many toys, 

we WERE giving some of them away, 

and half of them were crapolla happy meal toys anyway

 (think I just admitted, out loud, to the obscene habit of feeding my children Mc’ D’s).

 That sordid threat clearly amplified the tears

 into full blown meltdown mode. 

While thinking of what my next move to console 
“the baby who barely has to do any jobs” 
would be,

 a crafty idea popped into my head. 

I could hot glue all that plastic garb onto a frame 

that we could hang on Smiths wall. 

He gets to kinda keep his toys,

 and momma gets to kinda consolidate the crap.

 Artsy, Homemade, and Green all rolled into one.

Martha would say it was a good thing!

 After a bit of coaxing and an even bigger bit of bribery,

 he tearfully agreed. 

Needless to say, the frame quickly became a really cool idea.

To make the frame all about Smith, 

I'm adding a few of his favorites to the mix...

a couple “playmo guys,” 

a ton of lego’s, 

and a dash of vintage, retro finds 

that I’ve been collecting for that special
 “someday I could do something with this” 
project.

It's taking forever 
to puzzle piece everything just so
but turning out pretty stinkin' awesome...

Kinda famous...

So a few weeks ago I was reading

The Nie Nie Dialogues

and she was talking about how she loves homemade Christmas gifts.

She's dedicating a whole week of blog posts to 

the goodness that is homemade.
You could send in your wares in hopes to get picked...

Well...

I sent her a little something 

and...

SHE FEATURED IT TODAY!!!!!

The "Frame of Misfit Toys"
Every single thing on this frame is about The Nielsons. I read past posts on her blog and found out things they love, places they've been and things they do (sounds stalkerish...really I'm not...really) I just wanted it to be super unique and all about them.

Even the domino means something...
4 kids...2 parents

Can I tell you how excited I am????

I have been checking her blog everyday

hoping to get a glimpse of my homemade gift...

Each day that went by

with no "Frame of Misfit Toys"

I started second guessing myself.

Maybe it's not as great as I thought it was...

Maybe she thought "what the heck is all this junk"...

Maybe it got totally busted up in the mail...

I don't have a website so maybe she won't pick it...

the doubter in me went on and on!

But today it was there and she loved it

 and 

It made my day...

(I'll tell you the LOOOONG story of how

 I thought of doing these frames on the next "I Made It Monday")

Turning 12...

Christian is now 12...

12 is a big boy 

an almost teenager big boy...

Having a birthday party with friends is great...
sharing your birthday with Christmas decorations
...probably isn't so great

This "tweener" age is pretty funny.

Christian got an awesome chetah sunggie

from one friend.

Another friend gave him this rainbow glittery card

and was VERY proud of it!

Man I love boys...

Happy Birthday little (uh... big) He He!

The gift of music...

Dre's guitar teacher

might very well be

the coolest guitar teacher around.

He has the kids perform...

on a stage...

at a "for real" venue...

with a rockin' band behind them.

It is an 

AMAZING

experience for these kids!

Teaching Dre to play and love music
has been an incredible gift. Thanks Jeff!!!!

I Made it Mondays...

Every time I walked past the chandelier

I felt like it was missing something.

That little

je ne sais quoi...

It was the shades...

So I just wrapped them in some scrapbook paper

...what a cinch!

Just make the paper shade 

a tiny bit bigger than the shade itself.

 It will slide right over

and

stay in place!

You could go all out

adding ric-rac, bits and bobs, whatever...

So grab some scrapbook paper and get decorating your lampshades...

everyone deserves to look fancy for the holidays...

A little late...

We waited for Blythe's

 Grammie and Grampie to arrive in Utah

before she got baptized.

It was worth the wait...

Decking a little more...

Did I already mention how much I love

to decorate for Christmas???

Oh...

I did...

my bad...

I DO have a tendency to repeat myself,

just ask my kids...

 and my husband...

So as I apparently told you before,

I love to decorate for Christmas!

My sister Polly took these pictures...she is awesome!

Not a surface gets left uncovered...

Not a nook or cranny bare...

Even the children's bedrooms

have an ornament or two to spare...

(put a little holiday cheer in your kids' rooms...it helps them be happier little elfs!)

Decking Our Halls...

I 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

this time of year...

it is truly magical

in every way...

and in the words of Charlie and Lola 

"it is my favorite and my best"
to decorate for...

Slow Down...
Enjoy this holiday season.....

Happy Thanksgiving....

My Favorite and My Best...

Happy Anniversary

to us...

5 crazy kids 

and he still

makes my heart skip a beat...

Preference...

Dre got asked to Preference

by a really cute girl named Grace.

Her mom and I were friends in college

eons ago...

It's pretty ironic that all these years later

Grace's family moved back to Utah...

 Dre and Grace happened to go to the same high school...

and she asked him to the dance...

AHHHHH.....

A picture isn't always worth a thousand words...

I was determined to get a Christmas card out this year...

so I decided to start early.

November being VERY early for this gal!

Last year, December got 

sooo CRAZY busy...

 that a Christmas Greeting

from the Snowden fam

 simply didn't happen.

I was...

too worried about everyone coordinating...

too worried about finding an awesome card...

too worried about getting a shot

 where ALL of my kids looked cute...

(you know there is always at least one child who's the "ugly one" by default.)

This year ...

I had grand ideas of how 

they would turn out...

Those ideas of grandeur didn't pan out so much.

If you have children 

and have ever tried to take posed shots of them...

you know my pain.

We were running out of light...

They were sick of smiling...

I was sick of saying 1...2...3...cheese...

through my clenched teeth...

I was fit to be tied...

They were fit to be tied...

Don't let the smiles fool you.

The second the flash went off...

instantaneous mayhem ensued. 

Elbows were being thrown...

she touched me...he touched me...

I'm hungry...I have to go potty...

They all should have been swatted and sent to bed...

(if that was the sort of mother I was...cough cough)

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves 

for everything to "look" so perfect?

SIGH...

when will we learn???

Now I just need to find a great card....

(I have yet to learn the lesson)

Seriously???

Here is the caricature from 

our trip to NYC...

 

The resemblance is uncanny...

No??????

(Jen and I are switched from the above picture)

We appropriately titled it...

"Sexy in the City"

Why he put us all in cocktail dresses and go-go boots

with martini's and puppies in tow

is beyond me.

Oh...

 and apparently we're also in a band

Or...

thirty something year old mom's with lotsa kids!

Priceless Piece of Fine Art....

Start spreadin the news...

I just got home from a fabulous trip to

The Big Apple

 with some fabulous girls.

Autumn in the city...

SPECTACULAR. 

We laughed

We ate

We saw shows

We shopped

We got our caricatures done

We laughed harder than before

We skated

We got followed by a scary dude while we were getting off the subway at midnight
after Emily so generously offered up the location of where we were staying...

(or were we just thinking he was following us???)

Whichever the case may be...

4 girls

with no less than 6 huge shopping bags in hand

sprinting full speed 

down the dim streets of Washington Heights

at midnight...

A sight for sore eyes!!!!

The first of 3 different Daffy's locations...
Uh...excuse me ma'am... Do we LOOK like tourists????

@ Dylans Candy Bar

This was one of the funniest experiences ever. The guy probably hated us... we were laughing until we were crying!

Walking over to Brooklyn to eat pizza at Grimaldi's

Right after I bit it sooo hard on the ice...
The smile is forced...
I'm thinking
"my elbow is broken."
A 7 year old hockey player snow plow stopped right in front of me...
stared down at the OLD woman lying on the ice
shrugged and then abruptly took off skating backwards...
all the while keeping hie eyes intently focused on me
I'm thinking he was taunting me
GOOD TIMES

FAO Swartz

Emily being our brave tour guide
 sitting in the front (alone) with the freaky cab driver...

...Us other babies just along for the ride

Late night bakery stop...

Making new and lifelong friends on the subway

Being Broadway groupies with
"Nardo"
from West Side Story
(I swear I wasn't trying to chest bump him!)

One must always go to Central park
 when one visits the city
regardless of the rain...

Such a fun trip

Soooo sad to leave
4 girls + NYC = good times