Nelson Nitwits: Family Christmas Gifts

Kid Quotes

1/15 - Amy dressed up like a princess and came to ask both Mom and Dad some questions. When we answered her she regally said, "when you speak to me, you must bow."

12/14 - Amy handed me her glass of water, looked at me and said, "You're kind of like a pocket".

9/14 - Hyrum announced he wants to be a baptist when he grows up. After asking more questions we found out he wants to baptize people!

6/14 - We were scrolling through the blog looking at years past and I pointed out that Hyrum was a baby when Amy was in my tummy (he was 2). Then we came to a picture taken shortly after she was born. She said, "you spit me out, huh."

3/14 - Amy calls the gas station the "pass gas station"!

11/13 - Amy was singing the Daniel Tiger (Mr. Roger's) song that goes "I'll be back when the day is new and I'll have more ideas for you" with "I'll be back when Scouts are done..."

10/13 - Amy looked at my Brigham Young University sweatshirt and said, "hey, it says Amy!"

10/13 - Hyrum was walking around funny in the morning and remarked, "You're pretty floppy when you first wake up."

9/9/13 - Hyrum said, "I feel yucky". I said "like what?" He said "like a garbage can". I meant what felt yucky!

7/31/13 - Jared told Amy to stop hitting and we don't hit people. Her response was, "But I'm good at it"!

6/13 - Amy sings "If you're happy and you know it, make a mess" after I just asked everyone to clean up!

5/13 - Amy was sad that she doesn't go to school. I asked her what she would do if she went to school and she said, "color pictures, eat snack, and play the violin".

5/13 - I ran in the middle school to check Leah out for a dentist appointment. I parked in front and left Hyrum and Amy in the locked car, telling Hyrum that if anyone bothered him to start honking the horn. I soon heard a lot of horn honking and figured he must be honking at any person he saw. I went outside to tell him to stop, and later found out that he thought I told him to honk if he got bored!

1/13 - I got a Kindle for Christmas that Amy loved to play. It didn't work, so I sent it back. She asked to play my Kindle and I explained it broke so I didn't have it anymore. That night she asked to play Daddy's I-pod. He said he was using it to read scriptures. She said, "I need to play it quick before it breaks!"

12/12 - Hyrum saw Christmas wreaths in my room waiting to be hung and asked why we had all these "Jolly Rogers". I asked him what he meant, and he said, "You know...deck the halls with Jolly Rogers, fa la la la la la la la la." No idea where he got that!

7/12 - After a difficult trip to the store, complete with Amy screaming, I talked with each child about what they had done that was a problem. Amy was listening and told me she was sorry. Then, as she listened more, she said, "Sorry store!"

1/12 - I was very tired one morning and needed to sleep in. Hyrum had come in my room and I told him he could wake me up when the clock said nine zero zero. I heard him staring at the clock and intensely whispering, "Please change, please change!"

12/11 - Hyrum was looking at things that have fallen on the side of the refrigerator and said, "Mom, Amy's sucksifier fell behind the fridge". (pacifier)

7/11 - We were playing "Disney's Scene It" and Kaitlyn was complaining that it was no fair because she hadn't seen a lot of the movies. She said, "I guess that's why they call it 'Seen It'".

4/11 - Hyrum brought me a bottle of pest spray and said, "this is for the evil bugs".

10/10 - I was driving to school and had this conversation with Hyrum:

Hyrum - "Go to sleep."

Me - "I can't go to sleep or the car would crash."

Hyrum - "Yeah and roll over. Go to sleep."

Me - "I can't or we would crash."

Hyrum - "I want to crash."

9/10 - I love childlike innocence which can lead to a better world. Today Leah asked, "What kind of human am I? Am I black, white, or oriental?" Goodbye racism!

8/10 - Hyrum says it's "Sunday" when it's time for bed. He is trying to say he doesn't want to go to bed because the sun is still out!

8/10 - Leah was very concerned that I wouldn't like the birthday gift she selected for me. I tried to reassure her that I would love whatever it was. She then said "I'm just not sure that 'genuine' and '$5' go together"!

7/10 - Hyrum vacuumed a bit and was pleased with himself. I asked him if he would like chores too (like Leah and Kaitlyn). He said, "No, chores are for girls!"

4/10 - We were reading in the scriptures about how when Christ was born, the sign in America was that when the sun went down it was still as light as day. Kaitlyn said, "That's just like at our house!" She said this because our kids go to bed at 7:30pm before the sun sets.

7/09 - In Primary a leader was asking the children what they could do to build strong families. Kaitlyn whispered to me, "That's easy...exercise."
4/09 - I was trying to teach Kaitlyn to sit reverently in Sacrament meeting today and out of the corner of my eye saw one of her friends behind us sitting quietly. I finally resorted to saying, "Kaitlyn, you are old enough to know how to sit still reverently. Look how nicely Sophie is sitting". She looked and then said, "She's got a parachute on her head". I looked and realized I had lost.
1/09 - While we had family visiting, Kaitlyn revealed a family "secret". We were eating hot dogs, and she started making hers hop around and the kids started calling it a "hop dog". Kaitlyn then remarked that if Jaycee started hopping we could call her "hop dog" instead of "stupid dog"!
10/08 - I was asking Leah to finish her chores and she was throwing a panic fit stating that it would take SOOO long (she really doesn't have that many chores). I told her to just start working on them and it wouldn't take long to which she replied, (in a very theatrical voice while flopping her body across an armchair), "I can't tell if I'll get them done...I can't tell the future!"
9/17/08 - Kaitlyn asked me today what cars are made of. I told her metal and plastic. She said, "So you could take them a part?" I told her I supposed so and she quickly exclaimed, "that's awesome!" I'm not sure I want to know what's cooking in her mind.
7/29/08 - Leah is frequently called "fireworks brain" at our house because she has a billion ideas constantly at work on any topic imaginable. Last night Leah was trying to change the way we were giving the Family Home Evening lesson with one of her ideas, and we were trying to get her to stop and let us finish the lesson. Whie working with her, Katilyn suddenly exclaimed, "Turn it off, Fireworks!" We all got a huge laugh out of that, including Leah.
5/21/08 - Kaitlyn told us with certainty at dinner tonight that "Heavenly Father made us, but Jesus made plastic. Mommy said". I have no idea what she's talking about but just thought people should know this fact.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Family Christmas Gifts

Late to be posting about Christmas, but this is for my sister Amanda. Our family decided a few years ago to make each other Christmas gifts each year. It definitely adds some more work to the Season, but it's also produced very memorable and cherished gifts. Amanda wanted to see what we had done this year, so here it is.

Amy made a recipe holder for Mommy, a handprint Santa ornament for Daddy, and "painted" figurines for Hyrum, Kaitlyn and Leah. While she was coloring the figurines with markers, she would say things like "this is just perfect for Leah". It was sweet to see her catching the idea of gift giving.

Hyrum made t-shirts for everybody with t-shirt transfer paper. He drew a picture of our family at church for Mommy, and colored pictures for everybody else. He put a lot of thought into what kind of picture each person would like. He even found out Jared's "dream" car so he could color it for him.

Kaitlyn made a saw blade hanger for Daddy, a two-track car racer for Hyrum, a cross-stitched pillow for Mommy, bear figurines in costumes for Amy, and bookmarks for Leah.

Leah made a Camp Half Blood (Percy Jackson books) t-shirt for Kaitlyn with accompanying beaded camp necklace, a batman shirt for Dad, puppet socks for Amy, a Spiderman pillowcase for Hyrum, and name blocks for Mom.

I crocheted animals for the kids, and started an eagle quilt for Jared that will eventually turn out like the one on this website.

Jared made stained-glass night lights for the kids and a wall hanging I had admired at his parents' house for me.

We enjoy this tradition in our family. We get to really think about each person while we make gifts and we get to learn some new skills at the same time.

4 comments:

Raime said...: Wow this is AWESOME!! I can't believe all the great talents and skills your entire family has. What a great way to learn new skills and put so much thought into a gift. Love it!; January 13, 2013 at 8:01 PM
Austin and Amanda said...: Thank you for this post! I loved seeing the heartfelt gifts that you all made for each other. That is an awesome family tradition. You are all so talented!; January 13, 2013 at 10:46 PM
Unknown said...: Wowie! You guys were BUSY! Everyone's gifts turned out so great! What a fun way to get in kids excited about GIVING instead of getting at Christmas time.; January 21, 2013 at 10:43 PM
Aaron and Lisa said...: I am glad that you posted these. It is fun to see what you make each other! Everything looks great!; January 22, 2013 at 6:08 PM

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Friday, January 11, 2013

Family Christmas Gifts

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