Thanksgiving Break

We had a great break from regular life the week of Thanksgiving. We accomplished A LOT but also did a lot of relaxing.

First, some pictures taken before Thanksgiving. Brevan was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood last month, and now has the opportunity to pass the sacrament each week. I took this photo of him right before we went to church on his first Sunday after being ordained.
I also took a couple pictures of all the kids together. This first one cracks me up. Logan insists on taking cars or airplanes to church each Sunday. We never allowed any of our other children to bring toys into sacrament meeting, but this boy might be just a little babied.

We got to have these three cute boys stay with us for 4 days in November while their parents were in Chicago. In this picture they are waiting for the bus in the morning.

During Thanksgiving break, we did a lot of relaxing and playing. Brevan and Logan are creating quite a bond lately, which has been very sweet to watch. They even started sharing a bed at night (yes, that means Logan is not sleeping with me and Ryan anymore!).

All those years that Brevan wished for a brother, and he finally got one. But all that little brother wants to do is tackle him.

Finally, Brevan gets the upper hand. Or foot.

This is how we know Logan is a true Ellefsen: he has mastered the scowl.

We finally got rid of lice! It was quite an ordeal, and these poor girls spent many days with stinky goop in their hair until we killed all the critters. They even had to sleep at night with their hair all crusty in medicine, and I took these pictures of them in the morning.

My cuddly boys.

We got all the Christmas decorations put up during the break. It was so fun to decorate a new house for the season! We put our large Christ picture over the mantle for now, so we can remember the reason for the season.

I love our simple tree. It is completely decorated with kid ornaments, either ones I've bought for them or ones they have made. On top is a Santa I bought for a few dollars right after Ryan and I were married.

Other things that happened over the Thanksgiving holiday:

• I made 4 photo books (one for each kid) and 2 blog books (one as a special gift for someone, and one for us). I print my blog every 6 months and am getting quite a collection of memories. I always print 2 of the same book; one for the kids to look at, and one that gets put away so it stays in good condition.
• Brevan pulled out another molar that wasn't the slightest bit loose. That was the sixth tooth he's pulled out in the past couple months. It is so fascinating to us that he doesn't feel pain the way the rest of us do. If a tooth is bothering him for some reason, he gets his fingernail under the root and just yanks it out. So far he has not pulled out any adult teeth, thank heaven.
• We "adopted" a family for Christmas and did all the shopping, wrapping and delivering.
• Brevan walked up to Ryan and asked, "Dad, would you consider me more of a Cheeseball or Cheesepuff?" I started giggling, but Ryan didn't miss a beat when he answered, "a Cheesepuff because you're so full of hot air."
• The retaining wall got fixed (see previous post)!
• We had 2 families come over for Thanksgiving dinner, the Simmons and the Finlinson's. We ate delicious food and enjoyed the fun company.
• I got all my Christmas cards printed, addressed and sent.
• I finished my Christmas shopping. Everything! Even teacher gifts are done!
• All six of us went to the movie theater to see "Tangled." It was a darling movie, but Brevan complained mightily about having to sit through a silly princess movie. Ryan kept his reign as the Cool Dad by buying buckets of popcorn and soda. It just about killed me to spend money on items that could have been brought from home (I'm a cheapskate about things like that).
• The day after Thanksgiving, we still had a lot of leftover pie in the fridge. When no one was around, Logan would sneak to the fridge, dip a large spatula in the pie, and shove it in his mouth. When he heard someone coming, he would quickly hide the evidence and yell "Nothing!" when we walked in the room. I should have taken a picture of all the whipped cream and chocolate he had from ear to ear.