December Videos

This video is a must watch! So cute!

Luke showing his creation. 

Frosting eating (aka gingerbread decorating) by Evelyn. 

Evelyn eating all by herself!

Cora's speech for a school project. 

After Christmas

I had to snap a picture of Luke on his last day of nursery! And Evelyn wanted to join in, of course. 

Pata graciously offered to watch Evelyn so Kissie and the rest of us could see Frozen. The kids have been dying to see it, but I was determined to save it for a Christmas break activity. It was cute, and they loved it. I'm sure the songs will soon be stuck in all our heads!

 Kissie took us all to Discovery Gateway one last time on her pass. The kids had a lot of fun, especially having their cousins there! Cora was sick, so she stayed home with Kevin, who worked from home. 

 

 

  

 We had a fun family celebration for New Year's Eve. Everyone got to pick a favorite food for dinner, and a favorite game to play together. Twister was pretty hilarious!  

 

 We also did sparklers, made resolutions and reviews our favorite things about 2013, toasted with sparkling cider, and had a parade in the basement with kazoos at 8:00. 

Happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas!

We've vowed to never transport presents and stay overnight anywhere on Christmas Eve again, but it seemed like so much fun, we have to do it anyway! It was nice to already be at Kissie and Pata's house and to not have to travel on Christmas morning. But our van was packed to the brim with all the gear! 

We started off with a visit to Santa on Christmas Eve. Only Evelyn was a little uncertain this time. 

We brought lots of our favorite foods for Christmas Eve dinner. Here are the kids all ready for the night! (Evelyn slept in the closet by us.)

 Ready for presents Christmas morning!!

We did stockings, had a yummy breakfast, and opened presents. It was fun and relaxing-- a wonderful Christmas morning. 

Violet was the most diligent at putting together this puzzle. The kids were excited to learn that the big family present was a trip to Disneyland in January! 

 We had a really nice Christmas lunch with Shad, Jen, Bailee, and Layla too. And my new favorite dessert-- German chocolate pie from Kneaders. Here's all the kids ready to open their presents from Kissie and Pata. 

Then it was game time! A treasure hunt, chocolate candy nose melt, charades, and a passing game. They were all a lot of fun, and the kids especially loved having fun activities for the afternoon. 

 

  

Evelyn thought she had the best seat for the movie! 

 

We also did the nativity play, a family tradition. 

 After dinner we went out to see the lights. It was super cold, but nice to get out and walk!

 It was a big day! We filled it with lots of fun, and it was so nice to spend it with family. It was great to relax a bit the next day and play at home. All the kids were pretty exhausted--Luke fell asleep on the stairs at 5:30 pm the day after Christmas! That must mean it was a great holiday!

A Few More Christmas Pics

 

  

  

More Christmas fun!

I love going to the concerts on Temple Square, and the bell choirs are my favorite! We didn't get to as many concerts this year as I would have liked, but at least I got to see the one I wanted most. The kids were pretty good too-- with a steady supply of smarties. We also walked around Temple Square a little bit to see the nativities. 

We had our ward party, which I missed because I was sick, but the kids and Kevin said it turned out well. I also went to the Stake Night of Music. It was wonderful! The stake choir sang some of my favorite Christ mas songs. Our ward choir also sang a really beautiful song. I actually was the one who found it. The piano part is unique and challenging, so it was great to be able to play it twice after all that work! I haven't played something that challenging in years. I didn't do very well at it, but thankfully, when the choir sang for Sacrament meeting the Sunday before Christmas, I played it (and the other two songs) nearly perfectly. That's a much better feeling than after flubbing! 

I love this decorative tree we have in our entryway. The kids love looking at the birds and the nests. A few years ago I got some little gold sequined balls to be the eggs in the nest. I guess Evelyn really liked them! Pretty soon, no birds had any eggs! (I think Luke helped.) We didn't find the hidden eggs until a few weeks after Christmas. Pretty funny kids! 

 We continued our family tradition of drawing the nativity for a family night in December. So cute! 

I took no pictures, but Jen snapped this cute one of Evelyn and Layla at the Ellis Christmas party. It was so fun! We had yummy food, visited, and did an ornament exchange. And we all missed Zeann. Monique did a wonderful job organizing it all.

 

We had a big day on the 23rd. It was the kids' first day of Christmas Break, and we had a lot of fun to fit in! Of course it helps to wake up to cute faces like this one! 

 The kids worked hard at decorating their gingerbread men.

 Even Evelyn got to join in on the fun, but not all her candy ended up on her gingerbread man! 

 The finished products!

 

 

We went to Gardner Village to see the Christmas Elves. It ended up being too much for one day, so we weren't able to stay and get a treat as I would have liked, but that's how it works out sometimes I guess. Hopefully it's a good lesson for the kids!  

 Because we are spending Christmas Eve with Kissie and Pata, the kids each got to open one present on Christmas Eve Eve. They were begging to, and it helped us not to have to take two of the huge toys with us. (Our van was packed the the brim as it was, with food for Christmas Eve dinner, nativity costumes, presents, and overnight stuff-- the car top carrier won't fit in the underground parking, so we were limited.)

 

 

 It was a very Merry Christmas Eve Eve!