December 24 - 31: Christmas Eve & Day, New Year's Eve

December 24 - 31: Moments

December 24:

The weather was so nice, 60 degrees!  Our pickleball group was playing, so we dressed up and played some pickleball together.  Isak was on fire and it was so fun to play with him!  We all had some great games. 

While we were gone, Sofie and Noah surprised me by cleaning the whole house!!! Best Surprise!  I was so happy!!

I finished wrapping presents while the kids did a nativity gingerbread house.

I helped the kids wrap their gifts too.  

We made an easy Christmas Eve dinner.  Nels was in charge of the ham.

I did green beans in the air fryer.  So good.  We also had sweet potatoes from Costco.  Stuffing, rolls and fruit.  

For dessert, we had chocolate dipped Oreo cookies.  

Then we read the Christmas story from Luke 2.  Nels read our traditional, "Night Before Christmas," book.  

And I read "Humphrey," my new traditional story book.  :)

Christmas jammy pictures.  

Then they each opened one gift.  

Kira made everyone a gift.  Nels and I opened ours up.  So she could have lots of attention.  :)

Thank you, Kira!

Isak worked on his messy dinosaur egg excavation.  

Kira's pretty room.  She did some cute decorations.

I bought her and Sofie a mini Christmas tree.  :)

After the kids went to bed, we set out the presents.  

This year I did activity books for everyone.  I felt like they had enough stuffed animals!  So I did this instead.  I think they liked them overall.

All ready for Christmas Day...

December 25 - Merry Christmas!!

Kira got all dressed and ready for the morning.  We unwrapped gifts around 7:30 a.m.

The stockings had pez, squishmallow ornament, Nee-doh balls, candy canes filled with candy.  

Kira made Noah this cutest Bear origami book mark!!

Nels got his Reese's candy cane.  :)

Isak got his Million Dollar candy bar.  :)

Kids with their 2025 ornaments.  

Here's a few pictures with the kids with their gifts. 

Kira and Sofie got dolls:

Iaak got a paddle for pickleball.  Yay!

And a cube 

Noah got this cool space book from G&G Nyborg.

Erector set.  Noah loved putting it together!

Noah loved this gift...a box full of different cubes!

Sofie and Kira got blankets.

And spa stuff.

Sofie got a dance skirt from G&G Nyborg.

Kira got a gift card to Hobby Lobby from G&G Nyborg.

Isak was a little disappointed that he got a box of crayons from G&G Nyborg.  Until he opened the box and pulled out a crayon.  Each crayon had a $1 wrapped around it!!  So fun!  

G&G Swensen gave us some yummy raspberry and orange chocolate sticks, salt water taffy and Hershey kisses.  Also, cute dish towels.  And some cash and Amazon Gift Cards.  So spoiled.  :)

Thanks to both grandparents for the great Christmas gifts!  💚

After the gifts were opened, the kids did their treasure hunt gifts.  Nels did a great job doing the clues for the hunt.  Isak's clues were very difficult though...so he got a big hug afterwards!

The treasure hunt is a fun tradition and I think the kids enjoy it too.  

Nels got me some chocolates.  Mmmmm.

After gifts, we made breakfast and our neighbor Mary joined us.  We had cinnamon rolls from Costco, eggs, ham and hash browns.  Yum.  

The rest of the day, the kids enjoyed their gifts.  Noah put his Minecraft puzzle together.  

And played with his new RC car.  

We built the bunk bed and the girls had fun playing with their dolls.

I recorded Kira playing her Christmas song.  

Noah and Nels built his robot together.  

Sofie and Noah worked digging/excavating their eggs. 

It was a great Christmas.  And we enjoyed our family time.

Another day:

I painted all of us girls nails.  

Sofie looked so cute all in purple with her new purple leopard bag too.  

She even made purple slime.  :)

I made this sausage and spinach stuffed shells.   It was a lot of work, but most of the family enjoyed the meal.  It has good flavor and I actually like it too.  I'm not the hugest pasta fan, but this meal is delicious.

This year I made a Christmas kindness jar.  It was to encourage our family to do kind things and even acknowledge the kindnesses done to us.  We wrote them down and then after Christmas we read the papers.  I really liked this and I kept the jar in the Christmas things so we can do it again next year.  

I finished the nativity diamond art and framed it!  Yay!  I know we will enjoy it next year. 

Noah's stack of cubes.  

The kids enjoyed the salt water taffy from G&G Swensen while we played 5 Crowns.  

We've been playing it often, and we've all enjoyed it.  Even though it takes a long time. :)

Noah and our neighbor friend came and played together.  

The neighborhood girls came and played too.  

Sofie and Nels went to Kroger for about six cartons of ice cream.  :)

I took Isak to play pickleball indoors at Sportscom at 7:30 a.m.  We met up with two other kids and their parents.  It was fun to play with and against Isak.  Glad we could meet some kids for Isak to play with too.  

Just playing Race to the Treasure with cozy blankets.  

December 31:  Happy New Year's Eve!

We had our traditional party.  We started around 4 or so.  We made snacks and treats.  The kids all helped make the Donder bites because they love them so much.  

And we put together a bunch of snacks.  Healthy and sweet.  

Then we played 5 Crowns.

Haha!  I love this picture.

Noah ended up winning.  At the end, he jumped off his chair, put his hands in the air and shouted, "Victory is mine!"  Haha!  It was a perfect ending.  

We got Domino's pizza.  The kids played Just Dance on Nintendo.  We took our traditional donut picture. 

 I stayed up until 11 pm.  The kids stayed up until midnight!  We had a great time.  

So how was 2025:

2025 had some ups and downs.  Some things I'm grateful for in 2025:

Nels got a job in June.  Yay!  But it is a really stressful job.  

Isak and Kira are doing piano lessons again.  I enjoy hearing them play and the progress they are making.  I've continued to teach Sofie and Noah.  I enjoy doing that.  Isak picked up tennis and pickleball.  Sofie started dance.  So fun to see the kids develop talents.  

We've consistently read 1-2 pages of the Book of Mormon.  We are pretty good at getting 5-6 days a week.  We are on page 450, so we'll finish the beginning of next year.  

Favorite treat I learned to make was Brookies.  Mmmm.

I loved all of the times I got to play pickleball.  And I enjoy getting my family into it too. 

Trips:  We went two times to Dollywood and our trip out west to Idaho and Utah.  We also explored some local hiking and waterfalls.  

I've enjoyed our sister book club and reading books this year too.  I ended up reading/listening to 21 books.  Not as many as other years.  I did feel like I was in a reading slump a few times throughout the year.  I loved whenever I read picture books to the kids or we listened to audiobooks together.  

Hopes for 2026:

Learn 1-2 songs on the guitar

crochet granny squares blanket

level up in pickleball

watercolor with S&K

Teach S&K how to sew...boys too, if they want to learn.

Make more family videos

Hike and explore more...maybe the tallest peak in a state, caves, more waterfalls

5k with kids

Help kids memorize 1-2 scriptures

Consistent FHE

Continue supporting kids in their activities and developing their talents

Learn to make a new cookie

Just ideas...sometimes I stress out about goals...so I'm going to try to move forward calmly and with grace.  I'll pick the ideas that I'm excited about and have energy to do.  :)

And that's all.  Good bye 2025!!