Christmas with the Nortons!

Heads-up: This ended up being a bit longer than I thought it'd be; you're in for a novel...

A Christmas post? On January 29th? Really, Kristen?

Yes, I am a very bad blogger. I have a bunch of stuff to update on, but first things first! Since Susie & her fam flew in for the holidays, we got to have all the Nortons home for Christmas this year! At this point in the game, I think it'll be best to just get on with the pictures & let them do (most of) the talking:


iPhone Fever: I guess it runs in the family! (Thanks for the uber-artsy snapshot, Sooz!)

Most importantly - Emma's BIG Christmas present! Mommy won this on eBay, thanks to her saavy bidding skills, and Emma was in true Care Bear Heaven! (These are all vintage toys from the 80's since the only new Care Bears toys nowadays are a few random stuffed bears, which we now have all of - more on those later. I have to say, these toys are beyond adorable; a little cloud car with eyes that move as it rolls along, a submarine with an up/down periscope & a starfish on front that twirls as it goes, the musical ferris wheel & oh the CASTLE! And best of all - hardly any of these toys require batteries to power annoying sound effects & character voices instructing the child exactly how they should be playing with the toy... All you need is an imaginitive mind & two little hands to push everything around, and turn the whole spread into Care-A-Lot! Why can't toys nowadays be so simple?)

This was my gift-giving highlight: the cross-stitch! I started this while I was pregnant with Emma, madly working on it in the hopes to finish it very quickly after she was born, because (and I quote) "I don't want to have Emma turn 2 & me still working on this." LOL Yeah, the irony. Guess what Emma got for the Christmas FOLLOWING her 2nd birthday? hehe But I'm still very proud of myself for finishing it! I got the pattern from a friend back in Boston whose twins I used to babysit occasionally; and even though it was a lot of work I still really want to continue this as a tradition for other kids. So, that's the current plan! **I know, you can't see what it looks liks - I'm gonna take a better picture of it & post it very soon. Yes, very soon; perhaps even by April! ;)
(Apparently I lied about the whole "letting the pictures do the talking" thing. You all knew that wouldn't hold for 2 seconds, so don't act surprised or betrayed. As my dear friend Jack Handy once said, "Broken promises don't upset me. I just think, Why did they believe me?" Wise words.)

Here's the wild animals after their cleaning (minus "baby" Kara, whose not at all a baby anymore but Emma will likely call her that until she's 7)

Emma got the Chip & Dale cartoon collection for Christmas (which we now watch EVERY MORNING, unless I want to incur the wrath of the monkey-child!), and she and Tommy snuggled up under her new Princess blanket (from Grandma Joni, and which she now has to sleep with every night) to enjoy the witty & wiley adventures of those two scoundrels.

Readers, I would like to introduce you to - Emma's Care Bears! Sadly... this is actually only half of them. I'm not joking. Curse D.I. for somehow managing to have a new one (or two, or three) every bloomin' time we go there! And for selling them for only $1 - how can I not buy them for a $1??
The best part, though, are the 3 newest bears that Emma got from Santa Claus (I mentioned these in the other Christmas post). This, folks, is what had us laughing everytime one of the kids set 'em all going: (As you watch, please take note of my child & riddle me this: Why can't she just sit still for, say, 3 seconds?! Good grief.)



Emma & Daddy enjoying the peaceful gifts that Grandma Jane gave to all the grandkids...

We went down to Temple Square to see the lights, along with Grandma & Grandpa and Ellie & Tommy; Emma loved the Christus & I honestly couldn't even get her to look away to take a picture:
(stupid super-bright flash... sometimes I just hate you.)

Then we tried tubing with the whole fam! (No, not just us 3 - I just didn't get a picture of everyone)
Emma went down a couple times with us & also on her own, and she really seemed to like it! That is, if hearty laughing & requests of "Do again!!!" are good evidence...
Then, at the bottom of a run, her multiple personalities suddenly switched control & crazy psycho Emma declared (via angry crying & violent force) that tubing was the most horrible activity ever invented & she wanted to go home immediately. *sigh* Alrightie then, sorry 'bout that, Emmers. Didn't mean to scar you for life.

(In case I didn't make it clear, I'm fairly convinced my daughter has honest-to-goodness multiple personalities. Her opinions and/or moods can change ON A DIME, and I'm talking violent 180's. I've seriously never seen anything like it. Oh I know, she's my first child, that's just how they are - no, I've been around other children and toddlers. She's flat-out wacko. Now that Colby's home & is seeing this for himself, he wholeheartedly agrees.)

But I digress: next family activity, swimming! And I know, this just looks like the three of us went for a dip, but everyone was there with all the grandkids & it was so great! We love love the Murray pool for the single reason that they are the ONLY indoor fun-pool in the valley where a parent can take a small child (who otherwise wouldn't be able to on their own) down the big twisting waterslide. Thank you, Murray!
(I just realized, I don't have any pictures of the big water slide, after that whole tirade of mine about its awesomeness... Oh well.)

There were so many other fun things we did with everyone - not to be left out was the wild New Year's sleepover at Nerdomdom, with 5 grandkids, 8 adults, 1000 puzzle pieces put together in one night, a couple bottles of Martinelli's, and 2 viewings of the big ball-drop (one at 10 o'clock, NYC time, for the benefit of the kiddos; and one real-time for the adults that, actually, kinda went unnoticed. LOL I suppose it loses its hype when you realize it's already happened many times around the globe, one of which you've already watched.) And the whole clan went up to Zoo Lights, which I apparently didn't get any grand pictures of - but nevertheless, it was GRAND!

The whole holiday season was GRAND & wonderful & helped to remind me why my life is so amazing, in spite of me being very un-amazing: my family! It was just so smart of me to decide to be a part of this awesome family, I really have to pat myself on the back... ;)