December

December was a busy month.  We decorated our tree at the beginning of December.  The kids were so excited to help. 



I had to go back and rearrange some of the decorations...too many balls together



and too many hanging off the bottom of the tree.



Tyler was V.I.P. in his class one week in December.



Megan and Emily celebrated their half birthdays at preschool.

Megan



Emily



The girls decided to combine all of the nativities on the piano and bring them all over to the stable.





We had a special Stake Conference.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke.  It was SO AWESOME!  We got there about 45 minutes before the conference started so the kids played with these magnetic Book of Mormon figures.  We were SO squished in the gym so lots of people could get in, but it was worth it.

Emily



Last January I decided to start a school choir at Tyler's school.  We had 75 kids participate this fall.  They performed at a local mall and at a cultural center, besides doing a concert for the parents and one for the school.  Here they are performing at the mall and here is a link to the concert.



My parents came down to watch the Rocketeers (school choir) concert.  We went out to Menchie's afterwards for frozen yogurt.



We attended a Stake Christmas activity at the church.  Emily didn't want to dress up and participate in the nativity, but Megan (Mary) and Tyler (a wise man) joined our neighbors for a picture.



The girls inherited these cute stocking caps from their cousins.



Emily decided to sleep in hers one night.



I went with the youth from church to see the lights on Temple Square.



December was a pretty warm and mild month, but we did get a little bit of snow.



Tyler, Megan, and Emily



I made lots of cookies in December and the girls liked helping me.



There was a "photo booth" at our ward Christmas party and the kids loved playing with the props.

Tyler and Megan



Emily, Megan, and Tyler

 

 Tyler and Megan pretending to be "bakers" at a store.

 

After I took a picture of the "bakers," Emily wanted me to take a picture of her too with her "cat."

 

We saw two of  Santa's reindeer outside the mall. (Not the best "phone photo" of Tyler, Emily and Megan)



We went as a family to see the lights on Temple Square.

 

Megan, Tyler and Emily

 

Megan, Emily and Tyler

 

 

 Megan, Emily and Tyler by a huge nativity.

 

 

Tyler singing with the other first graders at the school holiday sing-a-long.

 

Christmas outfits on Christmas Sunday. (Emily, Tyler and Megan--don't ask me why the girls thought the headbands were the perfect accessory, but they did.)

 

We did our annual sugar cookie decorating.  The kids wanted to do everything by themselves this year, and it was a little stressful for me--there was frosting everywhere, sprinkles everywhere, and licked knives and licked fingers.  I just had to bite my tongue.  Darrell was awesome and took on broom duty (1/3 of a bottle nonpareils (those tiny, little ball-type sprinkles) got spilled all over the floor) and the kids had a grand time.  It can only get better from here, right?

 

 

 Megan



Emily



Tyler

 

 

 The final results



We had our annual sleepover by the tree on December 23.  The kids loved it.



We started on a puzzle.  It has 530 pieces that come in 3 different sizes.  The kids loved the 30 huge pieces, but found the other ones quite challenging.  That's OK.  I love doing puzzles so I didn't mind having an excuse to work on one.