The learning curve is steep for my kiddies...



but they got it eventually!

Just a few of my favorite things...

My favorite Christmas moments:

1. Chad intensely engrossed in a snowball fight, forgetting that he had no coat or gloves on (we found snow on the way to the beach).

2. When we came to the part in the nativity scene where Aubrey was asked to wrap the babe in swaddling clothes, she refused, claiming she could never swallow a baby.

3. Hearing the sound of a chair sliding across the kitchen floor, and finding Sam using it to get to the gingerbread house on the counter.

Overrated Christmas Traditions

1. Building a snowman. Not that we could if we wanted to, but I am not a big fan of all those wardrobe changes. We went outside and raced popsicle sticks in the gutter instead.

2. Making candy. Homemade taffy sounds fun right? Wrong. Very sticky. I picked up Sam and could hear the sound of stickiness. This is what I found:


I really don't know how it got there.

3. Paying a visit to the mall Santa. We had good intentions until we saw the line. We quickly moved to plan B: get as close as we can to Santa and politely tell him our most desired gifts. We went up and down the escalators twice, just to make sure he got the message.

4. Holiday shopping. Need I say more?

Despite all of this, I love it. Love it all.

Advent Calendar

I know it's a little late in the game, but I found a LDS advent calendar with scriptures and activities for each day. It has quick little activities like writing a secret note for a family member and leaving it somewhere they can find it. Here's the link: http://lds.about.com/od/crafts/a/advent_calendar.htm Enjoy!

Weekend Wrapup

And what a weekend it was. Chad finished up the soccer season, with his last game on Saturday. All that running and kicking paid off handsomely with treats and a shiny trophy.

Later on, we ventured to the local strip mall for some trick or treating, and stood in line at each store for about 10 pieces of hard candy - total (not to mention the opportunity to see all of the revealing halloween outfits that look worse in the daylight, for some reason). I think we can safely cross that off our list for next year.

The kiddies made up for it that evening - lots of candy and all around cuteness.

Aubrey as Strawberry Shortcake

Sam the Zebra

Chad as Superman with superhuman strength

Not to mention superhuman speed

And early this morning (too early, thanks to daylight savings), I found Chad with a pair of kid scissors and candy wrappers everywhere. Lack of sleep and too much sugar made for some interesting church moments. Now I don't feel so guilty raiding his Holloween bucket. It's really for the best. A few trying moments, but we had lots of fun.

Work Before Play

There is nothing better to teach this principle than raking and jumping in leaves. It was all fun and games until the giant slug hanging precariously on the wall next to our pile, suddenly came up missing. Kinda took the joy out of it.

Lakeview Farms 2009

We actually considered other farms this year (we'll make it to the Little People Farm some day Dad), but why mess with tradition?