The rest of December 2011!!!

A few other things we did to finish off 2011:

A visit to Temple Square

 




A sisters overnight getaway!



this is how we fashionably keep track of the room key while in the hot tub!



We went to lunch with mom at Gardiner Village and then the plan was to take Sister Pictures. This was kinda the only great one we got because it was literally FREEZING!!! The wind was blowing awful and just added to the cold. There were a few others but they are some of the ones I can't seem to get off the DVD.



Playing at the Wall to Wall Trampoline and foam pit 'Get Air' facility at the Sportsplex!



Lots of fun park time!

 



Being silly and having fun with cousins

 

Our Wonderful Christmas Eve and DAY!
(I have a ton more pictures I would love to share but all these pictures I took with my mom's camera and I was having a hard time getting them off the DVD's I burned. Maybe another time!)

 

 

 

And then Bringing in the NEW YEAR!!!

A Super Busy Day! {homeschool}

The 1st was a busy day for us.

As much as possible the first day in December the kids and I make an advent calendar.
I saw this idea on some craft blog. We made it our own and added things to do each day that we take a number down. Some things were services and some were just fun Christmasy things to do. The first day it was to fold a batch of laundry. How convenient I had some towels on the couch waiting to be folded!









 





After finishing our craft (and some cards for our preschool activity) we went to a nearby Assisted Living Home for our Preschool Fieldtrip.

They really got a kick outta the baby!~



Our preschool mom in charge of this activity made these cute little handouts for the residents. It was a really enjoyable trip! Thanks Heidi for arranging it!



Just a few pics from the day



The kids had swim lessons start up again and they were stoked! Maliyah had a hard first time cause her endurance wasn't up but that didn't take long to fix. Kyson FINALLY after 2 years of swim lessons has got it! The kids have to be able to swim before they can do any other sports or extra activities and he was super excited to have finally defeated his fear and swam!!

Ward Activity and Santa

Our Ward Christmas Activity was on Friday. It was a really nice dinner with Super fun decorations and an even MORE super visitor. But the best part of the night was the little program that they put together. There was a beautiful message about Christmas and Christ. Maliyah got to be in it, the primary kids all sang the songs and the kids and I had to sing another song with Maliyah singing a solo! She did amazing despite ME messing up the words!

Christmas Lights

Last night after Duck put up the lights outside the house, the kids helped us decorate the tree and put up a few other decorations around the house.

I was practicing with my camera, trying to get a decent picture of th eChristmas tree. This first one wasn't bad, but I wanted more warmth and glow! After chatting a bit with some photography buddies online I tried a few more and got the below pictures. I like them much more!





Now I'll have to see if I can pull that off with some kids in the picture! They are so excited for christmas and got to write their Santa letters last night as well, making sure to tell Santa they will be At Grandma's house for Christmas. Hope he doesn't forget!

Kids Pictures

May and November are the months when I get all the kids pictures done together. Always in November I wish that I had their Christmas Clothes all ready to go so we can do a Christmassy Christmas Card...but I'm never ready that early. This year....I was close. Really close. So pushed myself to do it! They looked adorable!

My new friend Melissa that just moved into the ward is a photographer and I asked if she would want to team up to do this shoot. She seemed pretty excited at the chance and said yes! I'm so glad too. I don't know what I would have done without her! She is much better than I and got some amazing pictures of the kids. Could I secretly rope her into helping me every time? ;) Just kidding...but I'm oh so grateful! Since these pics are for our Christmas card I'm NOT posting all the pictures, but I'll show ya a few of the kids individuals. I'll of course post them ALL soon..once I get my Christmas cards put together and out....even though half of them will just be sent via email. (I know I'm kinda a cheapskate like that)


These first few are by Melissa. I'm so glad she got a good smile of Ky, cause honestly he was being really goofy and showing off the whole time!

 

I LOVE this one because this little girl Sooooo looks up to her big sister.







The rest are mine and I laugh looking at the terrible difference. Of course I only posted my best ones but you should see what I DIDN'T post!





On SAvannah's birthday this year she wanted nothing to do with opening presents. This day that's ALL she wanted to do was open these presents. (if only she knew they were only wooden blocks!)



I love this one because you can see me in her ornament!

Jayden was being pretty goofy too. (and I didn't notice until just now this picture isn't completely in focus...whoops!)


THE goofiest of all!

Random Sunday Afternoon

The boys love to play wrestle and tackle with Daddy and Savannah has picked up on it pretty quickly!

 




christmas corner!



Savannah was probably the best at not touching the tree...surprisingly. But...that does NOT mean she didn't get tempted by it once in awhile!



still more than a week away and already the tree was full!