December in Review

Wow!!  I did not realize that I was so far behind in blogging my pictures till I just downloaded them off of my card and realized that I had taken pictures I had forgotten about.  So...here it goes.

Here's a couple of pictures of Wyatt...Let me tell you a funny story.  I was going through a box of clothes that Mindy had given me.  Wyatt came across these Spiderman pants and totally fell in love with them.  He wore them for 3 days straight.  (For 24 hours at a time.  Lucky for us we had no where to go in those 3 days)  Now this is coming from a kid that was in a stage that hated to wear pants.  You would always find Wyatt pantless.  He wore these pants to bed over his pajamas, would get up in the morning, I would bathe him and he would put them back on.  By the end of the third day I had to hide them from him just so I could wash them.  What a kid!!

Last Spring McKenzie started taking piano lessons.  She loves them and is doing so well and learning so fast.  Her piano teacher tells me she is a natural. These are photos of her Christmas Recital.  She had to do a duet with another boy.  They both did very well.  Too bad I don't know how to download video from my camera I would post that as well.  

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Christmas this year was so much fun, and the best thing about it was being together as a family and enjoying each others company.  We spent our annual Christmas Eve at with Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey and all the aunts, uncles and cousins.  A delicious meal was enjoyed by all.  Our tradition was changed a little this year.  We usually put on a play of the birth of Jesus.  But...this year after our Thanksgiving dinner grandma challenged the kids with a new tradition. Grandma read a story about giving service to others.  Each family was given a bucket of warm fuzzies and a challenge.  We were challenged to do kind acts of "secret" service and each time we did a service a warm fuzzy was then deposited into our bucket.  I think we filled the bucked 2 1/2 times.  It was great.  It made the kids more aware of things that needed to be done and they just got done. This is something that my kids really enjoyed doing, and a tradition that I will carry on from now on.  On Christmas eve grandma then gave the kids a "reward" for doing kind acts of service.  We were given a monthly thought in a Family Home Evening binder that she created so that each month we could focus on different acts of kindness.  What a way to carry on the Christmas spirit.

Christmas morning was filled with lots of presents and fun.  I was sad to realize that I did not take one single picture of the gifts that Santa brought.  McKenzie got a karaoke machine, Kaylie and Rylie got bikes and Wyatt got a Buzz doll from the movie Toy Story.  They got lots of clothes, new Sunday dresses, games and all kinds of fun things.  We spent a good portion of the morning putting together toys and inserting batteries in toys.  Played a few games on the Wii and cleaned up wrapping paper, bows and boxes.  We then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Godfreys.  The kids opened more presents...the girls got smelly perfumes, lotions and body sprays and a few games.  Wyatt got his Woody to go along with Buzz.  Then we headed over to Grandpa Connellys for lunch and yet more presents.  The girls got snow suits and tubes and Wyatt got a big nerf gun which he loves.  We spent more time visiting with family and was home by around 3.  Plenty of time to play with toys and wind down from the excitement of the day.  All in all is was a pretty great day!  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

We are so blessed to have an awesome sledding hill not more than a block and half from our house.  Rich just throws tubes and kids in the back of the truck and off they go.  They were determined that they were going sledding the other day even though we were experiencing frigid below freezing temperatures.  I was determined that I wasn't going out in the freezing cold but just could not pass up an opportunity to take pictures of my cute family.  Luckily they didn't want to stay out too long.  Of course they had to make a stop at the playground.  What cute kids I have.

Ok.  I promise this is it.  Sunday afternoon after church the kids and Rich was in the backyard for quite a long time.  When I finally looked out the window to see what they were doing this is what I found...an igloo.  Rich had a couple of candles inside lit for Wyatt to stay warm, didn't work though he kept blowing them out.  It was a great activity for the kids and Rich to spend time together though, and I have a feeling that as cold as it has been lately they'll be able to enjoy this for a while.