2023 Shepherds Dinner and Gingerbread Houses

One of our favorite traditions at our house are making “gingerbread houses” out of graham crackers (some day I’ll live up to my mom’s legacy and make the gingerbread from scratch! Or perhaps not, ha!) 

This year we had candy left over from Johnny’s birthday party and I learned how to make the best cement frosting. Also the highlight was these awesome aprons from my mom:

She sewed the boys’ aprons and my Grandma Ogden sewed the girls’ aprons. Cate’s belonged to my grandma and Emma’s belonged to my Aunt Emilie. These aprons were a huge hit, I am so grateful for my mom sending packages full of Christmas magic. 

Our Shepherd’s dinner is another family favorite. We make a simple dinner with dried fruit and nuts and eat on the floor around our makeshift fire. We talk about the shepherds and the significant role they played in the Savior’s life. We sing “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” with the kids singing verse 1 and 2 as the shepherds and the parents singing verse 2 as the town’s people. This year I had Cate sneak out and appear in all white reciting the scripture of the angel’s message then she sang a compilation of hymns imitating the heavenly message. It was quite moving. I’m always so surprised and grateful my kids engage so fully in this little tradition. They dress up and bring stuffed animals to play the sheep. I keep expecting them to outgrow the potential cheesiness of it, but each year I am touched by the sweet spirit we feel as sit on the floor together and testify of Jesus and the reality of His birth. We then watch “The Shepherd” produced by the Chosen.

Also, some pictures from the ward party on the 20th:

Cate, Roan, and Claire

William, Luke, Grady, Latigo

Emma

Emma

Johnny and Emma

Johnny’s 13th Birthday Party

 With Johnny’s best friend, Max, moving after Christmas; we knew Johnny’s birthday needed to happen earlier so Max could be there! Hosting birthday parties with friends invited us not at all my strong point, so this was a huge stretch for me. That said, I was very excited to serve Johnny in this way. He is such a sweet boy and sensitive friend. He has been in the throws of middle school this year, and I have been so proud of him as he has navigated this new season. He was very hesitant to leave elementary school, but has jumped right into middle school life with football, band, and basketball. He is kind, responsible, witty and a joy to watch grow up.

He invited 10 friends for gingerbread house making, roasting hot dogs and hot tubbing. It filled a specific place in my momma’s heart to hear those boys laughing and being SO loud celebrating together. A few times throughout the night Johnny would give me a big hug and thank me, and it made all the prep worth it, honestly!

The Last Few Days

 We’ve been in a flurry of busyness this week as the kids wrap up school for 2023.

Monday: A play date with some of Matthew’s school friends, Johnny’s team pictures and band concert. (Johnny plays the trumpet and has been practice the Christmas carols almost daily since mid-November!)

Tuesday: Cate’s first home basketball game then her choir concert. They sang the Alleluia chorus as combined choirs, and it was simply breathtaking.

Wednesday: Johnny’s last basketball game, youth church activity and primary activity for the boys.

Thursday: William’s choir field trip, brunch with friends, class parties, and a Relief Society activity.

Friday: Elementary school assembly and sing-along, Johnny’s 13th birthday party with friends, (also: Cate’s basketball practice that she had every night this week from 6-8:30 pm.)

Simply put: it was exhausting.  It was wonderful, and fulfilling, but…whew, exhausting! The busyness was festive and each child felt excitement in all their involved activities and I felt grateful that I was able to attend all of them, I’m sure deep down Emma was also grateful to attend everything as well! Ha! She is a trooper. John has been working crazy hours this month (despite technically being on paternity leave!) He was incredibly sick this week as well, it was truly a blessing we were able to support all the kids by getting me to the events. It makes me emotional having opportunities to watch them from my place on the bleachers. I truly am grateful to be their tired, proud, happy-we-made-it-through-this-week-in-one-piece mother. I’m grateful my kids can be involved in such beautiful music programs. I’m so happy Johnny and Cate both made basketball teams and they were able to develop their athletic talents further and learn more about working in a team and improving their game. I’m grateful for my kids’ friends. I’m also grateful for the amazing community we have found here in Medford.

My pictures are blurry, but I do want to post them for memory’s sake:

Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree

 Last weekend we headed to Rudolph’s to pick out a Christmas Tree. The boys ran around playing tag and gave Emma a piggyback ride through the hilly rows of trees. 

Yesterday we pulled out our box of decorations and sorted through all the memories as we hung them on the tree with Christmas music playing in the background. I was filled with Christmas spirit as I watched our beautiful tree adorn a lifetime of experiences I’ve shared with John and our sweet kids. My favorites are our newlywed and then children birth ornaments. Emma’s is a stork bringing in a little baby girl, and I just think it is so fitting. 

Emma kept climbing up the little step stool pretending to put ornaments on the tree and then climbing down and smiling at everyone so proud of herself. We all agreed she was simply gifted to have figured out how to imitate her siblings in this way! Goodness she is cute. 

A lot of life happens in 16 years, and our tree really displays the joy we’ve experienced amidst it all.

After the tree was done we did our scripture advent and sang some Christmas hymns together and read the story of Silent Night while the boys assembled their Lego animals from the advent calendars.

We had chicken noodle soup and sourdough bread for dinner. I set the table with a Christmas cloth and napkins and lit candles. We then moved to our bedroom to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional while nibbling Chex mix candy (a recipe my mom used to make.) Throughout the devotional, Emma kept taking ornaments off her Birthday Tree and then placing them back on and clapping. Whenever the choir sang she froze and was mesmerized by the music. They sang Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and Cate is learning it in choir so she really enjoyed singing along to that number.

We closed the night tidying up the house then having a Come Follow Me Lesson. I think my highlight to the day was when William was too sick to attend church (much to my chagrin), he cuddled on his bed and I read the Little House Christmas Collection to him. We watched church from home and saw Cate, Matthew, and Johnny bear their testimonies. Matthew said he believed in Jesus, Johnny said he loved Christmas lights and that they reminded him Jesus is light and he feels the spirit every day at Christmas time. Cate talked about how in Come Follow Me she was learning about how God is light and love, and what that meant to her. All the while Emma crawled around the floor in her first ever pigtails.  It was honestly just a beautiful Sabbath full of that special Christmas feeling that comes as we celebrate the Savior. 

Fall Sports 2023

 Oh, Fall! What a busy, beautiful season. One highlight was watching the kids play their sports. Emma and I hustled all over the valley with her stroller in tow to support the older four in all their activities. John also was able to join us as his work schedule allowed. I loved Oregon’s beautiful weather and I loved cheering those sweet kids on from the sidelines!

Johnny

This year, Johnny played football with his middle school team. I was so proud him and how hard he worked! Every day he’d walk to the car after practice completely exhausted, but with the best attitude. I think participating really helped him make some good friends in middle school right out the gate. He also got to play with his best friend, Max. I always loved hearing his funny stories from the sidelines between plays. I can’t believe how much Johnny grew up over the football season, he is growing up to become quite the young man! 

Johnny on the school instagram account with friends.

Johnny and Max Cummings 

At the 8th grade football game against their rivals. Johnny said some girl drew on his face. The boy/girl interactions of middle school crack me up.

William and Matthew

This year Matthew and William played soccer in the Timbers league. They were on teams with their school friends and it made games and practices a lot more fun! They are both very talented soccer players and it is really entertaining  watching them play so competitively. Also this season, William got to play through the solar eclipse. They paused the game for a couple minutes so all the kids could watch it. (On a side note, Johnny went on a camp out to get better visualization of it…only to have the sky overcast where they were camping! So William felt pretty lucky!)

William (finally) got to play on the same team as his best friend, Luke Cummings!

The boys also participated in their school jog-a-thon. Johnny opted to be late to school so he could come watch his brothers and his friends that are still at the elementary school. It is such a fun event and I love watching the kids run their little hearts out. I feel such a sense of community when we participate in this even every year. Both boys ran the most laps for their prospective grades!

Talon, Deklan,William, Boone, Logan, Sam

Cate

Cate entered the world of high school sports this year as she participated in cross country. She is a phenomenal runner and incredible grit! We joked that I would be traveling sometimes a couple hours to watch two minutes of a twenty minute race, but I loved watching her run! Her fastest time for a 5k this year was 21:18. She was voted Rookie of the Year by her teammates and was the only freshman on varsity, clocking in as the second fastest runner for the girls!

Cate also participated in her school’s powder puff league which was so much fun for her to participate and for me to watch!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Cate running! It was pouring rain and you see her strength and determination so well here.

Roan and Cate after powder puff!

Cate and Aurora on the bus after a Portland Meet

We had quite a laugh comparing the amount of fabric in Johnny’s jersey compared to Cate’s.

This has nothing to do with sports, but Cate was elected as freshman class secretary! 

Emma and John soaking the rain watching Cate compete. Emma couldn’t have been happier.