The Miskin Family

My friend Mauri had an epic gingerbread house making night with her family, and we benefited from it! In an attempt to rid her home of candy, we were able to pick up all her leftovers. And it was a lot.

We invited our neighbors over and had a blast decorating 2-D houses made with real gingerbread. I don’t know if the kids had more fun making the houses, or eating the candy.

In the end we had some awesomely decorated houses, and some super hyper kids!

I love having special church clothes or other outfits to celebrate holidays. I think I get it from my mom. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few cute pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes!

On our way back from Park City after Thanksgiving we stopped at the Riverwoods Mall in Provo. I immediately fell in love with all the changes they had made, and this included the little Santa village and magical toy store called Blickenstaff’s. Walking into Blickenstaff’s is like walking into Elf or Miracle on 34th Street. It was seriously a magical experience, and I loved it. After that I knew we had to come see the Santa at the Riverwoods (and make another trip into the magical Blickenstaff’s). I also had heard that this Santa was legit.

So, one night when Trent was busy with work the kids and I took a trip to Provo to see Santa!

The wait wasn’t too long and the kids were super excited.

The wait was well worth it because this was the real Santa! The kids were in awe! Tanner and Natalya did great and told him just what they wanted for Christmas. Nadia wanted Tanner and then Natalya to go before her, and when it was her turn, she stood about 2 feet way and called it good. So, she had to yell “I want candy!” at Santa. Alexandra did great, but didn’t quite understand what was going on (which I think is a constant feeling for her).

Afterwards the kids mailed their letters they had written to Santa (only Tanner questioned the purpose of this activity).

On a side note… earlier that week Tanner had lost his Jr. sized basketball at school, and was quite upset about it. It was his basketball that carried him through all of last winter, all summer, and the school year so far this year. It had great sentimental value for him. He thought for sure Santa could find it for him and return it to him on Christmas morning. So, the only thing he asked for from Santa that night was to return his basketball. Santa was great and said he would have his elves search for it, but if he can’t find it, he would get him a new one. Santa is awesome!

Nadia’s ballet studio does a cute little in class dance performance for Christmas. I usually stay and watch her, but it was fun to be on the dance floor and really seeing what they do. I don’t know if Nadia was in a bad mood that day, or I just didn’t realize it on other days, but she was naughty! She has a hard time listening and being told what to do, which isn’t a shock because she is like that at home! Even with that she did great, and their little costumes were super cute!

First they did some stretch and warm-ups

Then they practiced their moves

Then they dressed into their costumes and performed for us!

Nadia loves ballet, and I think if she listen better she would be even better then she is! I am so proud of my little ballerina!

This year for Christmas both Trent and I got a decorating bug and attempted to go all out (mostly outside). It was a lot of fun, but also a bit stressful!

During the week we were able to get out all the Christmas decor to put up around the house, but we waited for the major things (like the tree and outdoor lights) for the weekend. We bought our tree from the same Christmas tree farm in Alpine, and we were able to get it up and decorated, as well as getting up everything outside! The kids had fun helping, and luckily we didn’t have to many ornament redecorating during the season. All in all, I think it all looked great!

Unfortunately, when we were visiting Trent’s parents after Christmas Lehi had an epic wind storm and it ruin some of our outdoors lights and we lost some of our decorations!

On December 1st, our crazy little Nadia turned three!

My parents had to leave on her birthday, so we celebrated the day before, This was divine intervention because Nadia ended up being very sick with a bad stomach virus on her birthday, and was in no mood to celebrate.

We spent the day having fun with grandma and grandpa and getting ready for the party. Grandma and grandpa Miskin came in the afternoon, and the girls had a lot of fun playing with the fun things grandma Miskin brought, including dress-ups!

For her party we invited family and served all of Nadia’s favorite foods. Nadia loves to dip things, so everything we served had a dip to go with it. This year I decorated for Christmas before her birthday, so it was interesting trying to incorporate birthday and Christmas decor. Other then grandparents, Trent’s sisters Elise and Kristana came, as well as Trent’s brother Ben, his wife Michelle and their twins Eve and Savannah.

After food we had presents and cake! Some of Nadia’s gifts were: baby all gone, window markers, baby Cinderella, a play tent and my favorite, hello kitty legos! Oh, and Nadia was a pro at blowing out her candles this year.

We had a great time celebrating, and we had a lot of fun with all the family that was able to come!

The idea that she was still two the past few months was crazy! Nadia can talk really well, and does a lot of things other three year olds can’t do yet. She is a smarty pants, but definitely has her opinion and is very strong willed. Nadia can go from being the sweetest  little girl wanting to snuggle and give hugs and kisses, to a crazy child that will not wear pants and will not do ANYTHING you ask her. Out of all the kids she is our pickiest eater. She really really likes bread, dad’s bbq and apples. Nadia also has a hard time sleeping at night. She usually will wake up 2 or 3 times in the night, and sometimes stay awake for an hour! Nadia is also a huge helper, especially with Alexandra. While the older kids are at school she is always helping me take care of the baby, or helping me with my housework. Nadia very much likes to be included in the big kid things, and will cry for hours if she is left out. Nadia is also very attached to me, but is usually ok with babysitters or with dad when I leave (thank goodness!). Nadia loves to do pretend mom things like play with the kitchen set, play vacuum or play with babies. She also loves playing barbies and dress up with Natalya, and loves playing video games or watch Tanner play video games. Oh, and Nadia is a huge BYU fan, of course:) Nadia is the best shopped and errand runner, which we do a lot of while the kids are in school.

For Thanksgiving this year, we did things a little different. We did not spend Thanksgiving at home, nor did we spend it at family’s house. We spent it at a condo in Heber Valley, Utah! My parents, my brother and his family and our family got together to split a giant condo to spend Thanksgiving.

We arrived in the evening on Wednesday, and planned on staying until Saturday morning. We were all really impressed with the condo. First of all it was huge, and it was also very nice. The first floor (or third floor), \ had the kitchen, family room, a bathroom, and a balcony. The second floor had a master suite, a queen bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a theater room. The bottom floor had another master suite, a bunk room, and a walk out porch with a hot tub! Our three family’s fit perfectly! The condo also had an elevator, but it was so little and sketchy that I refused to go in it! The men used it to transport luggage, and the kids played in it a few times. Our bedroom was the master suite on the bottom floor, and lets just say, I went up and down those stairs so many times that my legs ached and I actually lost weight during Thanksgiving!

After getting the kids in bed on Wednesday, we spent some time in the theater room, and also prepped for Thanksgiving dinner.

When we woke up in the morning, we got together and had a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and all that yumminess. Then the rest of the day was spent playing video games, watching football, prepping for Thanksgiving dinner, online shopping, doing crafts, prepping for black Friday, eating and  hot tubbing!

Then it was time for the main event! We all had a part in making the meal. I made rolls, provided drinks, and assisted in other food matters and Trent was in charge of the turkey! Thanks to my mom we had beautiful place settings (and my dad and her did a lot of the other food). It was ALL delicious! And it was an enjoyable meal, even with 7 kids!

After dinner we enjoyed opening poppers (a tradition my parents started several years ago), and a delicious apple pie made by my sister in law Erin! The kids also convinced Trent to take them into the hot tub again.

That night around 9:30pm my mom, Erin and I took off on a black Friday shopping exhibition. We had a lot of fun shopping walmart and the Park City Outlets, getting some awesome deals, and having fun hanging out! I think we got back around 2am. Trent and my brother also took off around 11pm and hit up Best Buy. They were out a lot later than we were however. Grandpa was the lucky one who got to stay home (while the kids slept).

That morning I was lucky enough to sleep in until after 9am! My dad had pancakes ready for everyone when they woke up too, he is awesome! We spent that day much like the day before: internet shopping, eating, watching football, playing video games, more hot tub, crafts, and even a few shopping excursions. Steven had to work so him and his family had to leave in the late afternoon. We then spent the rest of the evening watching movies and relaxing.Saturday morning we just had a quick breakfast, and spent the last few hours packing and getting everything ready to take back home! My parents planned on opening the following week with us, so we were just moving the party back to our house!

Every year around October/November we like to go in the field behind out house and take a family picture, along with some pictures of the kids. Because of our Hawaii trip we were a little thrown off this year, so we didn’t make it out until the middle of November. Luckily it was a mind day, but unluckily the sun was going down (it was the last evening before Thanksgiving that we could do it). My awesome neighbor/friend who takes amazing pictures agreed to come snap some picture for us. And just a note, she has a REALLY nice camera, but her batteries were dead so she had to use ours. Ours is nice too, just not as nice as hers!

Amazingly enough, were able to get some great pictures of the family. Trent stayed out longer to get some of the kids. In years past we have been able to get some great shots of the kids, but because of the sun going down, the cold, and overall grumpiness of some of the children (ahem, Nadia), we were only able to get a few decent ones.

Little did we know, we would have weeks and weeks where we could do pictures. We have not had a good snowfall as of yet… so here I go. I want an epic winter! Where is my snow? I want lots and lots of it, and it will happen, the Hawaiian Shaman promised me.

This summer I put Tanner in charge of the governors reading challenge for our family. He kept track of all the minutes we read, and then filled out the info and mailed it in. At the beginning of November we got a giant packet in the mail with all the certificates for completion, and a bunch of coupons for free meals and such. I guess I should have looked over the entry form before he mailed it in. This is two of the certificates. Just a hint, it is not Tanners or Alexandra’s.

Either Tanner doesn’t know how to spell Nadia and Natalya… or they couldn’t read his writing. Both are possibilities.

One day the kids were bored so they started playing with our big legos. All of a sudden Tanner came running into me, “mom, you have to come take a picture of this and put it on the blog”. So, here you go Tanner, your epic lego tower.

Okay, she is really 7 months now, but at the beginning of November Alexandra turned 6 months old. At 6 months Alexandra was sitting up like a pro, and she started crawling! It was a surprise but this little thing was just crawling around on the floor.Luckily she doesn’t get into too much trouble yet.

At this time Alexandra was starting to eat a lot of real food, and loves it all! She also has become more smiley, but still doesn’t laugh a lot. When we do get a chuckle it is the cutest thing ever! Her brother and sisters still love her to pieces and insist on holding her all the time, and even fight over it. Tanner will wake up in the morning and goes in to Alexandra’s room and watches tv while he plays with her and takes care of her until I wake up. Alexandra is still waking in the night to eat, but I really don’t mind those extra minutes I get to spend with her. She is also very tiny for her age, but I love it!

Here are her stats:

weight 14.4 18th percentile

length 24 in 4th percentile

head 16 in 17th percentile