December (the longest post EVER! You’ve been warned!)

Christmas Party/YW Fundraiser

We started December off with our Bishop’s company Christmas Party.  He “hired” the young women (their fundraiser for Girl’s Camp) to be in charge of decorating and entertaining the kids that would be there.  Us leaders did all the planning, and then spent the morning setting up and getting ready with all the YW.  Then our families came to enjoy the night too!

Steve liked Santa much better this year!  Especially after he got a present from him!
Dan, not so much!  Even with the present!
But he warmed up for a family picture!  Ho Ho Ho!

Gingerbread Houses with Cousins

A lady in our ward makes the most amazing gingerbread houses and did a demonstration back in the fall at the RS Super Saturday.  So, randomly, one day Liz and Becky and I decided we could totally do it and made 3!  We decided to split the shindig into 2 days, baking one day and assembling the next.  Well, pretty much everything went wrong with the baking!  I’m pretty sure we never got the dough completely right, we burnt a few pieces, cracked a few more, and barely had enough dough to cut everything out.  It took the 3 of us ALL DAY to cut out and bake each piece!  But, it was totally worth it the next day when our kids had a BLAST decorating them!

The kids patiently waiting for their houses!  I’m pretty sure Steve wasn’t patient enough and has a mouth full of candy!
Dan is a candy lover too!  It was the only thing that would keep him distracted from trying to destroy the gingerbread house!
Steve seriously LOVED everything about the gingerbread house!  He decorated almost every inch, with only a little help from me!  He also ate WAY too much candy!  And wanted to eat all the candy off the house as soon as we were done!  I’m not ashamed to admit that we didn’t even bother trying to feed the kids lunch!
Dan was on a candy high the whole time!  He loved it!  Can you see the candy cane piece stuck to his shirt and the M&M residue all over his face?!  He was in heaven!
Beau and Dan made sure the floor stayed candy free!  Such helpers!
The finished products…the fronts
and the backs.  Ours is the one in the middle.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was full of new and old traditions this year!  We had everyone over for my traditional Christmas Eve dinner and then we all went to the church for the Christmas Eve Musical Fireside that Liz was in charge of.  Jesse sang and played his guitar, I sang with a small group and the YW, Liz played an AMAZING violin piece, and we listened to several other talents.  It was nice, but we all wished it would have been on a different night…especially Liz!  After the fireside, we came back to our house for some Christmas goodies and a visit from Santa’s Secret Elf!  The kids loved this new tradition and were totally confused at how a sack of gifts ended up on my front porch!

The mysterious bag with a note from the elf.
Charlie passed out the gifts that were inside…
I wonder what it could be…
Steve concentrating very hard!
PJs!!  Everyone got new pajamas from Santa’s Secret Elf!  Steve loved his!
So did everyone else!  So cute!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning came way to fast and early, even with the late night the night before!  Steve didn’t even bother coming to our room first, he headed straight for his stocking!  I heard him and jumped out of bed and he’d already dumped half of it out!  It was a relaxing morning with just us opening presents and being together.  Dan with some of his stocking loot!
Steve seriously took so long opening each present!  What 3 year old boy doesn’t just rip into the paper?!  
Dan was being so cute!  Love this kid!
Love this one too…not so much the monkey my mom sent!  I was warned, but had no idea!  It’s a slingshot monkey that makes this awful screeching sound when it’s flying through the air!  Kinda cool, but totally annoying!  Especially when both my kids make the sound with it!  But a fun toy nonetheless!
A brother gift…
legos!!
One of my favorite Black Friday finds were these adorable sleeping bag stuffed animals!  Dan got a dog…
and Steve got an alligator.  He LOVED it!  He was so excited to finally have a sleeping bag for cousin sleepovers!
Dan likes his too…he just didn’t want to lay down for long!
Steve got a few new Bakugon, so he could be cool like his older cousins!  He’s totally obsessed and carries them around everywhere!
Grandpa Steven and Grandma Kathy gave the cutest stuffed animals and great books…
Steve loves stories!
I forgot to mention that we had a white Christmas!  We got a ton of snow the day before Christmas Eve and were finally able to enjoy it Christmas night!  It was COLD!  Here’s Steve, Quin, Libby and Drex.
Dan joined the Dads and kids outside for a bit!  
Then we ate a yummy dinner…we were so lucky to have Miriam and Marcus and their kids join us!
The kid table with a bunch of happy kiddos!

I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful family and that we get to spend so much time with each other!  I love that my kids have cousins to play with and grow up with.  I love that I feel like Jesse’s siblings are my own.  And I love spending Christmas with them all!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is having a very happy new year!