December 2019

FAMILY FUN

Brooklyn's sock had an owie (hole) so she put a band aid on it.

Brooklyn thought is was fun when Nathan made her a DUPLO shoe.

Nathan's nice Ewok drawing.

Audrey reading to her friend Lucy at the library.


GINGERBREAD HOUSE

The kids had fun making a gingerbread house together.

KON MARI

This month I read The Japanese Art of Tidying Up.  Maddy read it too, and we decided to start the Kon Mari method on our house. The first step is to put all your clothes in a pile in order to be confronted with how much you have. Maddy won for the largest pile. This is how much she had (minus the contents of the pants drawer that she forgot to put in).

Nathan's pile was much smaller.

Brooklyn had fun making piles too.  

SANTA

When Santa came to our ward breakfast, Audrey raced to the front of the line.

Brooklyn was nervous and scared, but her crying calmed down as soon as he gave her a candy cane.

MORE CHRISTMAS FUN

Audrey's primary teacher made her a beautiful origami poinsettia wreath.

Nathan reading Christmas books to Brooklyn by the tree.

Maddy made this cute little LEGO shelf for our Elf to sit on.

Our neighbors invited us to their yearly Polar Express party. The kids had fun taking "train" rides around the block while the adults drank hot chocolate and visited with each other.

CHRISTMAS NATIVITIES, CONCERTS, AND RECITALS

Because the Mesa Visitor Center is under construction, the chapel near our temple hosted over 100 nativities and had Christmas concerts. Maddy and Abby helped set up all the Nativities as part of their service hours for their Honor Bee. They were so fun to look at. Jared performed as part of a men's quartet and did an amazing job.


Nathan had his first band concert.

Audrey did a great job performing hula at a retirement center.

Abby and Maddy did a wonderful job at their yearly Christmas concert.

Having a musical family definitely keeps you busy at Christmas time. In December Abby also had a band concert and performed on her flute in sacrament meeting. Abby, Maddy, and Jared performed as part of the ward choir. Jared's quartet sang in sacrament meeting, and Maddy did a beautiful harp solo for our Christmas sacrament meeting.  

A VISIT FROM BOISE

Afton and Bryan made a last minute trip down to Phoenix. It was so fun to see them! My kids were excited to meet their new cousin Dantzel.

It was nice for the cousins to have a little time together.

Brooklyn was fascinated by Dantzel and was so excited to help hold her.

CHRISTMAS EVE

These two little girls were thrilled when we surprised them with tickets to see Frozen II on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas Eve dinner

Brooklyn wanted to be Mary, an angel, a shepherd, and a wiseman for our Nativity.  She insisted that her baby doll went in the manger next to baby Jesus.

Audrey was the perfect angel

Our family nativity

Jared reading The Night Before Christmas to the kids.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Audrey was beyond excited that Santa brought her a beautiful new doll for Christmas. 

She named her Nicole.

Brooklyn was excited about her new Frozen DUPLO set from Santa.

Let it go!

Brooklyn and Audrey loved their new outdoor play table from Grandma.

Nathan loved the R2-D2 pencil holder that Maddy made for him.

Audrey loves having matching fuzzy PJs with her doll.

Santa brought Jared some of his favorite treats.

Things got crazy and I missed out on Christmas morning pictures of Abby and Maddy. They loved their new Harry Potter LEGO set and gifts from Santa, grandparents, and cousins. They both were excited to try out their new piano music.