We've Had a Holly, Jolly Christmas!!! (It's the best time of the year.)

I've been a little neglectful with updating our blog with everything we've been doing. It has been such a wonderful holiday season full of fun for our family. I've tried to add some of the highlights of the fun we've been enjoying.

Putting Up the Tree






We (I mean Thomas) Put Up Christmas Lights

We've had these lights for 2 or three years now and this is the first year that we actually got them up. It took FOREVER for Thomas to get them up, but it was worth it 'cause it sure does look nice. Yesterday I bought some more stuff for our yard to put out next year (had to wait to buy them when they were 50% off).

A Visit from Uncle Mark



Thomas' Uncle Mark came in town for a visit over Thanksgiving (the same week we put up the tree and the lights). The Saturday before he left we went out to lunch then to our house. He played the Wii and some board games with the kids. Ben, Johnny and Natalie all instantly loved him and had a great time with him. Thank you Uncle Mark for spending all that time and attention on my kids - they LOVED it and you!!

Ben's Eight is GREAT!

I can't believe Ben is going to be 8 in 6 months. Makes me sad how fast all my kids are growing up. On December 6th Ben had his "Eight is Great" fireside at church. Ben and I went by ourselves, he said that we were going on a date. He had to put some of Thomas' cologne on and we had to get our picture taken. It was really nice to get to spend some time with just him.

Silly Little Guy



My silly little Johnny made this reindeer hat at preschool. He came running to the car with it on - you just can't help but smile at that. When he got in the car he told me he had a present for me. As soon as we got home he got the present to show me. He had made the cutest little ornament. It was his hand print in white paint. His teachers then used a black marker to turn his fingers into snowmen. They had a cute little poem to go along with it. I LOVE IT! It went straight on the tree, Johnny's pretty proud of it.

Here is Johnny the next morning. The first thing he did was go and get his reindeer hat - he is too funny.

Ben's Winter Program





Ben had a "Diversity Celebration" at his school. The second graders sang holiday songs from different regions and religions. After their musical performance, we went to their classrooms to see their projects on different countries. Ben's country was Italy. All the children also brought food from their country to share with everyone. Ben, Johnny and Natalie all enjoyed that part.

SANTA


Here are our pictures from our visit to see Santa this year.

Nativity and Celebrating










Jennifer and Scott were nice enough to host a Christmas F.H.E. this year. There were stories, songs and the children acted out the nativity as grandpa read the story from the scriptures. It was also a special evening because it was on my mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary, so we were also able to celebrate that with them. It was really nice to get to listen to my dad tell stories of their wedding day and say sweet things about my mom. It was a wonderful evening and I hope that the tradition will continue - the children did such a wonderful job with the nativity. They were so reverent, it was very special. (The last photo posted is of Ethan jumping in front of the camera. Every time Thomas tried to take a picture of my parents Ethan would show up out of nowhere.)