Christmas Eve FIESTA...

We volunteered to host Christmas Eve in our home this year.  Stacia helped me plan it and then sadly became horridly ill and was not able to come.  But being the awesome person she is, she still sent over all the food we needed.  Thank you Stacia!  Thank you Taylor for going to the store and bringing it to us.  We decided to do a taco bar this year.  It was a little different but turned out great.  I did all the meat in the crock pot.  I LOVE the crock pot...greatest invention EVER!  I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was a little off my game as I had my ear infections and I was holding a baby for most of the party.  That is why most of these pictures are blurry. :)  I need more practice.

After dinner we played some games with the kids.  My wonderful friend Michelle Jones gave me these great ideas.  The first was the balloon game where we tried to pop each others balloon that was tied to our ankles. 

At first it looked like everyone was dancing.

 Then Nick became competitive and helped Ben pop Kristen's balloon.

  

 Kayla and Kristen helped sweet little Katelyn pop Kayla's balloon.  Katelyn was smiling from ear to ear.  Such a sweetheart!

 Nash was running for his life, but Elli was on his trail!  She finally caught up to him, stood and jumped on his balloon and nothing happened...can you tell he was a bit worried.  

 The next game, one person put on oven mittens and a santa hat and used spatulas to open a gift.  While another person rolled dice to get doubles.  It was fun even though Nash was pretty upset about not winning a candy bar.   We need to work on that a bit.

 

 

Then we calmed down and prepared for the nativity pageant.  When we first planned the party there was going to be 7 little boys, and 6 little girls.  Plenty to do the nativity.  Well we lost 5 little boys and 1 little girl before the production.  We begged Adam Ockerman who is 12 to be our Joseph.  The poor kid really had no choice and filled in nicely.  I wouldn't say we got a smile out of him but he did it nicely. :)  Amy O. was our beautiful Mary.  Asa was to be the baby Jesus but he couldn't hold out so the only doll we had was curious George.  Bella Long, Aubrey and Katelyn Brinton were beautiful angels.  Alana Dowling and Easton Long played the roles of the sheep hilariously.  Nash was the three wise men and shepherds combined.  He was so excited about his role he wore his costume to greet everyone to the party.  Riley read the story while the kids paraded in.  It was cute as always.

 We decided afterwards to actually watch the Christmas story on the projector so the kids would understand better what they just performed.  They watched the movie pretty intently and when it was over Bella (5 years old) stands up and says "Well I really enjoyed that!" haha That made the whole night worth it.

 

We then enjoyed YUMMY dessert made by Kristen.  It was a tres leche cake and it was to die for.  I begged for the left overs and yes I ate them all myself!

  We are so happy we could spend Christmas Eve with our "family" here in Pennsylvania.  This is our 4th Christmas with the Ockerman's.  My heart ached a bit when I took the above picture.  I said "just think this is the last time you will ever have to endure a Willardson Christmas." everyone laughed but I wanted to cry.  I love all these families and I feel very blessed that we got to have them in our lives.  Thank you Ockerman, Dowling, Brinton and Long families! Smith family we missed you!

When it was time to send everyone home it was a sweet surprise to have snow on the ground.  I love a white Christmas!

Sickos...

This Christmas season was a little rough.  We had A LOT of sickness running through our house.  I had a double ear infection, sinus pain and NO energy.  Nash had a cough, runny nose, fever and NO energy.  Darin had a cough, runny nose and NO energy.  Asa well Asa was HAPPY! haha

 Nash hasn't been a good eater lately especially since he has been sick.  I went to put Asa to bed around 6:30pm.  I told Nash to try to finish his dinner while I laid Asa down.  When I came back he was dead asleep under the table.  Poor buddy. :(

 Nash had a cute Christmas program at school.  I video taped the whole thing and took no pictures.  After the program we had refreshments and there were cupcakes with marshmallow snowmen.  Nash touched another cupcake before he saw the snowmen and I made him take that one of course.  So I promised him we would make snowmen at home.  Nash was not impressed with my version of these snowmen.  But they were happy to give me a happy smile.  AND yes this picture was taken at 3pm and we are still in our jammies.  That is what happens when no one feels good.  I think that was the only activity we did that whole day, but boy was it fun!

These boys make my life so fun!

Louie the Elf....

Louie our Elf on the shelf came to visit us again this year.

Hi Nash and new little bro Asa!

I am so happy to be back to your house.  I heard you LOVE to find clues.  I asked your mom if we could play a clue game until Christmas.  She said yes.  She gave me all your Christmas books.  I took them to Santa.  I will be watching you everyday.  If you are a big helper and are nice to your family I will be hiding somewhere in your house with a book just for you.  If you are naughty I will not go see Santa and will not bring you a book back.

There will be a clue for you to follow each day to find me and your book.  Look in the Christmas tree on the piano EVERYDAY for a new clue.  It will tell you where I am hiding!

Today you get to read the book about me!

I can't wait to play with you!  

LOUIE the Elf

This letter to Nash and Asa changed our world! I am not even kidding.  We were having so many behavior issues with our little Nasharoo that I wanted to cry.  He took this elf on the shelf challenge SUPER serious, and so did I! It made be take time and think about what I wanted Nash to learn about Christmas. Louie each day brought a clue, an activity for the family to do, a scripture and a book.  It was so fun!  Nash was excited every morning to read his clue that was in a advent Christmas tree.  With the clue was a little note as well about something Nash did that was so great the day before.  He felt so proud to hear that positive reinforcement, it warmed my heart.

Clues & Positive Reinforcement:
-If you are in a hungry mood, go here first and find some food. (kitchen)
**You did a good job helping your mom put the lights on the tree.  Great job in eating your dinner too.

-Up and down, and up and down you climb these everyday.  You've likely seen the clue on these, but passed it anyway. (stairs)
**You were a fun friend to Alex yesterday.  Way to go on eating your dinner.

-If you want your teeth to shine, pick this up and spend some time. (Nash bathroom)
**You were a great Samuel the Lamanite. Good job in listening to the story. I am so proud of how good you rode your bike and ran with your mommy!

-I am hiding where mommy likes to work and daddy takes a nap. (master bedroom)
**You were such a great helper while your mommy is sick.  It is fun watching you make Asa laugh.

-When families are well-organized they park the car in here.  But otherwise it's full of junk and not one inch is clear. (garage)
**Santa's helper was so happy to see you at the Christmas party.

-Keep it clean and keep it dry, can you guess? Come on, just try! (laundry room)
**WOW your gingerbread house looked great!

-Now you're on your second clue, these go on before your shoes. (sock drawer)
**You played great with your friends at the sandbox.  Congratulations for earning your white sash at kung fu!

Big green and pokey you need to give me a drink everyday. (tree)
**You were AWESOME at everything yesterday! Your mom said you obeyed, did not whine, you listened carefully and was a BIG helper.

-If you want to learn and grow, turn the page, get in the know. (book shelf)
**You sat so good while Stacia cut your hair. It looks so great! I liked watching you play with Asa.  You are a good big brother!

-Mirror, mirror  on the wall who is the silliest one of all. (Picture of louie on mirror below.)
**WOW what a helper.  I liked watching you vacuum. You asked your mom if you could carry things for her. You even helped your brother giggle!

-You're almost at the very end, but this is where your guests come in. (front door)
**You were a good listener in Primary.  Sister Ockerman said you were a great helper during class.

- Rub-a-dub-dub there are dinosaurs in this tub. (master-bathroom)
**Nash you were the best little bird in your Christmas program.  You did so good making yummy cookies.  I had a little nibble. :)

- AWWWW WATCH-OUT this dragons BIG and it's going to burn me! (dragon in the basement stairwell)
**You were so good and helpful at the doctors office and grocery store!

-Sleep little baby don't say a word mama's going to buy you a mocking bird. (crib)
**Way to help your mom move furniture.

-Tick-tock, tick-tock the mouse ran up the clock.
**WOW you were so great at helping paint, I liked hearing all the nice things you said to mom and dad.

-Ho! Ho! Ho! I came in a package from Granny. My name is Santa.
**Nash you have been a very good listener.  Thank-you for eating all your food.

-Dear Nash,
You said thank you many times today. You are such a nice little boy. I decided to stay my last day in the sweet little house. It is my favorite spot in your house. (gingerbread house)

And then there were some notes left that were not so happy:
-I am still on the tree.  I was sad to see how you were not thankful for the food your daddy made you. Try harder today and I will bring you a book tomorrow. -Louie

There were a few others that must have been lost. The couple of notes that said no books, were pretty devastating to Nash, although we saw a HUGE improvement that day.  He is such a sweet little boy and he really made our Christmas magical.  One day he asked if he could take pictures with my phone.  I found a couple of pictures of Louie.  I would find Nash talking to Louie.  He would ask me if Louie could see him, when I would say yes he would straighten up immediately. He was so excited to tell everyone where Louie was that day and what he brought him.

I loved the activities that Louie brought.  I needed to focus on Nash and Asa after coming out of a crazy  fall picture season.  We spent time together as a family reading and teaching Nash about the Christmas story and focusing more on our Savior.  Yes it all was a lot of work but this was my favorite Christmas season, and I plan on keeping it a tradition. 

Dear Nash and Asa (oh and mom and dad),

Thank you so much for letting me stay with you this month.  I had so much fun!! I got to climb the Christmas tree, read your books, sleep in your room, play with your toys, and even nibble on the ginger bread house. :) Awesome! I really liked listening to your excitement every morning when you found me and a book from Santa.  But my favorite part everyday was watching you be good little boys.  Nash you did so great singing in church yesterday that was so brave!  Asa your giggle is so fun to hear.  Keep being best brothers and good helpers.

I have to go back to the North Pole now to help Santa.  He was a BIG night ahead of him since it's Christmas Eve.  He needs all ELVES helping out so all the gifts are delivered on time.  I'll be sure to let him know what good kids you are and that you should definitely be on the NICE list this year.  I'll see you next year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Your favorite Elf,

LOUIE

PS: Have fun at your party tonight with your friends!

Moving forward....

This past year Darin has been wrestling with the idea of doing a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.  I left it up to him but I really wanted him to do it.  He had his reservations for the fact you really do not get more pay, it is another 2 years and he was ready to be done with his training.  In the end it came down to what would make him the happiest and doing the fellowship would do just that.  He read somewhere that ER doctors rank highest for burn out but Pediatric ER docs rank the happiest.  Good choice Darin, good choice!  Because we all know a happy husband is a happy wife...haha.

Darin attended 8 interviews:

1. Augusta, Georgia

2. Orlando, Florida

3. Loma Linda, California

4. Kansas City, Missouri

5. Ann Arbor, Michigan

6. Jacksonville, Florida

7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

8. Albuquerque, New Mexico

He also received interview invites from New Jersey, Delaware, Texas and New York.  But to be honest we ran out of time and money.  

When we started the interview process we were super excited about the New Mexico interview as we thought that would be great being so close to family.  The program ended up not being so great and it was put to the bottom of our list.  At that point Kansas City was looking good and seemed to be the right choice.

During hurricane Sandy Darin received a phone call from Loma Linda (who we thought there was no chance with) saying they would be ranking him high on their list.  He also got word from Orlando as well.  We were torn between the two as we already lived in California, knew the area have many friends there and it is close to home.  Orlando is new and exciting with Disney World.  (ya that was Darin's insight).  He had yet to interview in Georgia.  Because of the hurricane his interview was rescheduled.  I had been pro Georgia from the time we sent in our paperwork.  I really didn't have a reason why I was pro Georgia I just felt good about it. The interview in Georgia went awesome.  Darin was so giddy when he called me after.  The program had everything he dreamed of and more.  He really wanted a program where he could do service, gain a lot of experience and they also offered a dual fellowship in Ultrasound.  This program was only accepting 1 applicant and well Darin was their ONLY applicant.  WHY?  Because they only would accept ER trained doctors, when most of the applicants for this type of fellowship are Pediatric trained doctors.  So Darin had an edge and chose wisely.  This particular program also does a lot of service projects in other countries.  The ultrasound doctors who will be training Darin are the guru's of the field.  We were excited to get their phone call not long before the match to say Darin was their top pick (haha).

So on November 28th we waited for that email to come to tell us where we were going to be spending the next 2.5 years.

Congratulations Darin we are proud of you!  We are looking forward to our new adventure in Augusta, Georgia this coming summer.  (it seems like we were just doing this!)

Beck's Christmas Tree Farm...

 My favorite Pennsylvania tradition is picking our Christmas Tree.  We usually go with friends but everyone was "busy" this year. :)  But to tell you the truth I am happy it worked out the way it did.  We had so much fun wandering around the tree farm as a family looking for that "perfect" tree.

 

 We finally settled on this beauty.  And yes it leans a bit...still does in our house as well.  I think it adds character!

 Darin worked hard to cut down the tree.  I had to laugh as 4 different trees were dropped around us before Darin got half way through the trunk on ours.

 Nash was in great spirits, enjoying the candy cane Santa gave him on the way in.

 He made sure Darin enjoyed it too.  

 How cute is that, he decorated a little tree.  I actually wanted to get him a small tree but no matter the size of the tree in this farm they all cost $35...I am too cheap to spend that much on a little tree.  So I took a picture instead.

 The tree was cut and Nash was determined to push it himself.

 Look at those cheeks!  He was so good, took a nap and then smiled at everyone we passed. LOVE this little man!

 It was at this tree farm that Nash first met Santa.  Click HERE to see how that went. He was much more brave this year.  Although, on the way home he was VERY upset because he forgot to tell Santa what he wanted.  Thankfully we have seen 2 more Santa's since then!  Santa is well informed that Nash wants Beyblades, a T-ball set and video games.

 Darin set up the tree and then had to go to work.  Nash and I finished decorating but some how I never took a picture of the tree, just my little helper being silly....