Pre-Christmas Happenings

We were so thrilled that my parents decided to brave the roads and trek down to Texas from Utah. All of us, that is, except this one:Ha! No, actually she went to Grandpa and Grandma all week without a problem except this one time when everyone was around so I grabbed the camera and said, "Ok, all the kids sit with Grandma and Grandpa so we can get a picture!" Brooke was less than thrilled. Not sure what was wrong. Maybe she was really tired. The week was a bit of a whirlwind and I can't believe it's already over.We had one other child who was not happy about the picture taking moment. Actually, she was just fine until we asked her to move to a different spot so everyone would be seen. The result was a sulking Kate who then tried to sabotage the picture I did take with the rest of the kids. Her hand makes a nice touch, no?Here they are together minus Kate and her hand. Yes, Brooke was very tired.We finally got Kate into the picture and here is the end product. Carli, Brandon, and Grandpa are perfect specimens for a photographer. :) Megan is squinting, Brooke is crying, and my mom is trying to help Kate feel better by squeezing in close to her. Too bad they are not taller. Ha. We always say that Kate got the "grandma genes" which is nothing bad in any way, shape or form--her grandma and nana are 2 of the most special people in this world--they are just a little on the short side. ;)We passed some of the time on this day-before-Christmas-Eve by doing puzzles. Kate and Carli jumped right in with Grandma.

Dinner was pizza-making. Our kids love this and have some mad pizza making skills by now. We make a mean deep dish pizza for the adults with all the good stuff in it. It is killer and we have been making it a lot lately. :)

Up next is Christmas Eve!

Christmas Playgroup

The week before Christmas I had our playgroup over to decorate cookies. It was a huge hit and I think the kids and moms all had a good time.

Here is the group working hard on their cookies.Everett enjoying his green creation.

Jack wasn't so sure about me with the camera. :)

Most of the kids enjoyed licking the frosting off the knives. :) Here's Carli!

Kalen worked diligently frosting her cookie.

You can tell Finley had green on her cookie. :) Charlotte didn't even decorate. She just ate!

Polar Express and Class Parties

This was our 3rd year creating a train car for the Polar Express parade for the 2nd grade at our school. The kids love to do it and the parents...don't. Megan's wasn't too bad, though. It was very simple and cute. Here's Megan sporting her train car (notice the forgotten train wheels). She was so happy with the way it turned out. I thought it turned out well, too.The next day were the winter parties in the classroom. I was in charge of Megan's class party this year. It was very simple and fun (I guess simple is my motto as of late). :) We had some activity and coloring pages for the kids to do while we set up the food and then they ate.

Here are Carli, Brooke, and Megan at the party.

After eating all the yummy snacks their teacher read a fun story while they passed their book gifts "left" or "right." They loved it.It's hit or miss with the book exchange, but Megan was thrilled with her book this year. She loves the new Tinkerbell books and movies!Then it was on to Kate's party. The 4th grade always makes graham cracker gingerbread houses. Kate's was really cute, but ended up falling apart by the time we got home even though it was super glued to the plate. Oh well.

Kate and her buds during the party.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get over the Brandon's school to hang out during his party time, but he said he had a great time. I'll have to try to get extra pictures of him this week!

We are having a good time with Grandpa and Grandma here. My mom and I took the girls to see "The Princess and the Frog" this afternoon. Everyone enjoyed it! We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. :) We are excited for Christmas! Brooke especially likes to crawl over to the tree and play with the brightly packaged gifts. I can't wait until Friday when we can let her rip them open!

Holiday Singing

With December comes parties and concerts and all kinds of fun events at school. Kate is a member of the vocal team at school and they had their holiday concert last week. I always love to hear the kids sing (especially mine--they love it and have very beautiful voices)!

Kate singingBrooke and Megan during the performance. Interesting the difference in the color of their eyes. We'll just have to wait and see if Brooke's change at all.The usual sucking of the thumb.Right after the performance. So cute!

Scouting

Last week we had pack meeting with Brandon's scout troop. He has really enjoyed scouting and has done very well. He has an amazing Webelos leader right now and all 3 boys in her den earned their Webelos badge! She helped the families know everything we needed to do to finish before Thanksgiving. Since they did it she invited them all over to her house to have a party and what a blast that was for them!

Here's Brandon trying to put the pin on Ben's shirt. Usually it's a mother's pin, but I was taking the pictures. :)

We are very proud of you, Brandon! You are doing awesome!

Gingerbread house!

This year our attempt at building and decorating a gingerbread house was much more successful than last year when it just fell apart and the kids ate it that day. This time it actually stayed together and nothing slid off! LOL! The kids all had a blast and did a great job decorating! I love this picture below because you can see Brooke watching from over Ben's shoulder. She was quite fascinated by the whole process.
Kate had fun designing with the icing.

Carli eating a candy and Brandon trying to jump into the picture, as usual.

Brooke found a little chocolate candy and you can tell by her chin that she thoroughly enjoyed it. ;) That's definitely my daughter!

Brandon eventually had enough of the decorating.

Tried to get a picture with everyone in it. Brooke was not happy so Kate was bouncing her up and down. Didn't work for the picture. :) Cute anyway!

Megan was very proud of their creation!

Halloween!

Here's a sneak peek of all the kiddos dressed up and ready to get some candy!