Christmas Day

For Christmas we traveled to spend time with Mimi and Papa (Kirsten's parents). When we arrived Papa had us go out in the yard and cut down a Christmas tree.

 The tree was 16 1/2 feet tall and was a bit of a challenge to get in through the door.

 The tree in its stand. Now it just needed some decorations. We joked that the tree was shouting 

TA DAH here I am. 

 The next day we woke up early and headed over to the coast to do some crabbing. 

 It was chilly so the kids would share the plastic stroller covering and sit under it to stay warm.

 We got to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful clear day.

 The following picture has quite the story. Baby Huck apparently wanted to get my attention. He picked up the camel in the nativity set and chucked it at my face. I didn't even see it coming, and suddenly felt this horrible pain. It immediately swelled up and despite putting ice on it the next morning I woke up to this. Baby Huck was so shocked at my reaction after he hit me he cried the entire time he was in time out and then gave me a big hug. 

 On Christmas Eve night we got ready for our nativity play that Midge wrote last year. We were missing my sister's family so everyone was called in to fill the parts. 

 Everyone was getting ready, learning lines, getting their costumes, 

and learning their places for the play.

 Leo found a great place to store his staff.

 The play had frightened shepherds...

 Several angels...

 a reluctant innkeeper...

 Joseph, Mary and a donkey...

 wise men/man who saw a star...

 and of course the baby Jesus.

 During the play some people had to be helped to remember to bring their props on stage.

 As I said everyone had to be cast. Notice the furry sheep.

 The whole cast.

 After the play we had a music performance from our little violin player.

 Midge also sang a solo for us. She sang the song The Gift by Aselin Debison. 

She has an amazing voice and did a great job. 

 We decided to go to church and then have the kids open their presents. I didn't want to rush through opening their presents and we wanted to focus on Christ rather than the gifts they got. It ended up working really well the kids opened their stockings and secret santa gifts (each kid chose a name of one of their siblings and got them a gift). Midge got Huck a toy train, Leo got Midge an itunes card and ceramic animals to paint, Little Miss got Leo a webkinz, and Huck got Little Miss a music box. Then we had homemade cinnamon, orange and peacan rolls. Yumm! When we got back from church we couldn't hold the kids back any more. They were so excited and ready.

 This gift has a special story. This train was made for me by my father 34 years ago when I was 1. A few years ago my dad did some needed repairs and painted it. This year it was Huck's turn to receive the train as a gift. He loves it. My father even made hand painted little people to go with the train.

 For months Little Miss has begged Midge to let her play with her Little Pet Shop Toys. All she has been asking for on her wish list was pet shops. She was so excited when she opened them up. 

  Leo was our little cleaner everytime someone opened a gift he was there to pick up the wrappings. Every one of his gifts immediately went into a big box to keep it organized and keep his younger siblings from playing with his toys.

 For the gifts I made name tags and paper flowers to decorate the gifts.

 Midge really wanted clothes this year and she got some amazing pieces. Whenever we were out shopping and she said she loved something I would purchase it behind her back and store it away.

 She chose this gorgeous purple dress (if only it was a larger size I would be stealing it). I decided I wanted to make her hair flowers to match the dress. They were so much fun. All you do is cut circles of satin and burn them and then sew them together. I thought this picture my brother took was amazing and made her look so vintage. 

 We then decided to take a family photo of the entire gang. This is a lot of work. 

 But we got the shot.

Christmas Letter 2011

The Family Photo That Made The Cut

This year has presented a lot of changes and challenges in the Woodward household. Despite unexpected obstacles, we have grown and our family has gotten stronger. Our greatest joy is our children. Therefore we will begin our letter by focusing on their accomplishments.


Madeline (age 10) has entered 5th grade. She is still a natural leader and involved with many activities. She had a great opportunity to join an orchestra that begins before school. She is learning the violin. She is continuing to develop her artistic and singing skills. She is a tremendous reader and devours books. She has also started a blog and records many of her observations about life. She aptly named the blog My Words My Life. She loves comments and would love for you to visit her website. The address is: http://myfavoritehamster.blogspot.com/

Liam (age 7) is in 2nd grade. This past fall he was allowed to be on a flag football team of 4th and 5th graders. He was the only 2nd grader. He was a little intimidated, but he did well and learned a lot. In the end he said that he liked soccer better because in football he felt like there was too much standing around waiting for the offense(he played mainly on defense) to finish their plays. Starting next month he is going to begin YMCA basketball. We are just excited that it is indoors! Liam has also become a reader this year. He is a good example to others of being patient and compassionate, and his teacher and fellow classmates love him.

Genevieve (age 4 ) is in a co-op preschool taught by her mom and 4 other moms. She is our happy girl and is always smiling and laughing. Evie doesn’t walk she dances and skips. She adores her older sister and wants to be like her in every way. Evie reminds us a lot of Maddy at the same age. She has also started singing and making up her own songs. She loves her friends and likes play dates. She loves horses and was able to ride a miniature horse for the first time.

Finn (age 21 months) is our wild child. He has a ton of energy. He is loud and feisty and able to hold his own with his siblings. He has decided that he no longer needs a nap, which means that he is in to everything all day long. Finn has also learned how to climb out of his crib (we have video of him doing it), unlock any door, and climb into or onto almost anything he wants. He definitely knows what he wants and how to get our attention. He is also extremely funny and has established himself in the family as being a bit of a clown. He has got some killer dance moves, likes to sing, and loves to show people his attempt at doing the splits.

Kirsten (age younger than Ken) is continuing to balance being a mom (cooking, cleaning, attending field trips, monitoring school projects, teaching children life lessons, loving our sweet kiddos), being a wife (going on a date once every 6 months with my awesome husband), doing her church calling (relief society meeting leader – just completed the 15th activity but who’s counting), and work (her school closed last year and she is now teaching 7th grade history and language arts for the first time). She is happy and looking forward to the new year and exciting adventures that are coming up.

Ken (age the big 40) is continuing to balance being a dad (cooking, cleaning, being the homework task master, keeping Finn from dragging everything we own out from the cupboards and closets, being a running coach to Maddy) being a fantastic husband, doing his church calling (high councilman for 2 years), and work (another crazy year in the stock markets). Ken thinks his family is hilarious and has learned what the most important things in life are really about this past year.

We hope this season finds you happy and healthy and we look forward to reading updates about your family.

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

We met my parents at a restaurant in Veneta called Our Daily Bread. It was in an old church 

and had really good food. Baby Huck didn't seem to feeling well. He had gotten car sick, 

but once he slept it off in the parking lot he was back to his regular silly self. 

After lunch we headed over to the Christmas Tree Farm. 

The kids were so excited when we told them they would be able to ride in a wagon pulled by draft horses. When we were driving in Midge saw them through the mist and started screaming.

The horses were so beautiful. The smaller one was the mom and her son is on the right. 

Huck was interested, but was also a little cautious.

When we got back Little Miss begged and begged to ride on the miniature horses. She has always wanted to ride a horse and this seemed like the perfect horse for her. Not to mention the horse's name was Dazzle which suited her perfectly.

She was so excited. I think she would have tried to take him home if she could have. The owner told us miniature horses live for 50 years. Not exactly a family pet you want to rush in to. 

They even allowed us to put Huck up on the horse. 

It didn't seem to make quite the same impression on him.

Then it was off to find our tree. We have a tradition of always chopping down our own tree. 

Each year we also always choose a different type of tree. This year we selected a blue cork bark. 

In the daylight it has a blueish color to it. 

Here is the one the family selected. 

The kids were so cold, but they had a great fire waiting for us, plus hot chocolate, candy canes, and mistletoe. They even shook out the needles and bound the tree for us. 

When we got home we started decorating the tree and the house. Little Miss came along after I had set up the nativity set. She told me I had set it up wrong. She said that everyone needed to be in a circle with the baby Jesus in the very center. Isn't that how the focus of Christmas should be. 

Here we are enjoying our new tree.