Merry Christmas 2011

you.

Christmas Season Full Speed Ahead

We have been very busy the past week or so with lots of Christmas activities. There have been quite a few late nights but so far we are surviving and having a great time. Last Friday morning, we had a Christmas craft playgroup, which doubled as a farewell party for our friends Sarah, Eleanor and Penelope who moved to NC.
We have such a fun playgroup. I am so grateful for them all and glad that I have an opportunity to serve everyone by organizing it. I would be lost without all my playgroup and moms club friends.

Friday night, we got together with Jen, Brent and Ava for dinner and to see the holiday lights at the Medina County Fairgrounds. We went last year and had a blast so we decided to make it an annual tradition.

Ava and Pepper getting ready to head out.

My favorite was this Peter Pan inspired display. Different groups set up their own displays and everyone who drives through has to vote for their favorite. My picture doesn't really do it justice but someone spent a lot of time on that pirate ship and I applaud them.

Another fun one.

Saturday evening, we went to a Christmas potluck dinner for our local moms club. I had worn my hair in braids the day before and Pepper decided she liked the look. This was my first attempt and french braiding all of her hair and she was very cooperative. I think she was happy with the results as well:)

She is wearing the new charm bracelet I bought for myself with my birthday money. I got three charms, one for each child. Pepper helped out the process by breaking a very nice snow globe in the store while I was buying it. Luckily, they didn't make me buy that too or this would have been a REALLY expensive charm bracelet!

Not perfect but pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

At the dinner. Pepper dragged this chair over from the room I was sitting in to the middle of the hallway. I guess she wanted to make sure she didn't miss any of the action.

Those shoes really make the outfit!

Just a shot of the beautiful home where the party was. I am really glad I joined the local moms club group. It has been a lot of fun getting to know more moms outside of church.

The girls and I after the party. Hazel was a big hit, when she was awake. She is now almost 11 lbs and still the best baby in the world!

Please, oh please, someone tell me how to get Pepper to stop scratching her nose. This girl is going to be permanently scarred if she doesn't stop soon. I can't get the cuts to heal because she just keeps digging them. I have tried keeping her nails short and neosporin but she still wakes up with dried blood all over her nose. Ugh!

The festive boys.

This is my super fantastic CTR 8 primary class. I am heartbroken that I do not get to teach these kids anymore. These kids were so fun to teach and are at such a great age. We would actually have discussions and they were still excited to answer the questions and participate. Next year they are moving me to the Valiant 10 and 11 year olds. Let's hope they still care as well:)

Monday night, we went over to Becky and Jerry's house for dinner and to decorate cookies. I had spent the day making all the sugar cookies and we were letting the kids decorate them to take to some neighbors. Well, the kids kept eating and licking their cookies so the adults had to decorate as well.

Pepper was very proud of her sprinkle cookies and Ben was having a good time as well.

The girls getting ready to go carol.

Ben joined them.

And we finally got Morgan to join the picture.

Ben is six months younger than Pepper, but I think he is going to be taller than her any day now.

Our little group did not have the best of luck for the second year in a row. We finally had to all cram into our van and ride around the corner to the home of one of Cody's home teachees. In the end we finally managed to give away all our goodies and sing to some people. The kids were very excited to sing "Jingle Bells" to anyone who would listen. Becky made some delicious truffles for our plates, so too bad to the people who we saw through the shades but didn't answer their doors!

I'm not sure why I have deemed challah to be my official holiday bread but I made some for Becky on Monday and thought it looked rather nice.

And to finish off this post here is a cute picture of Hazel sleeping.

First Snow...kind of

Last week we had our first taste of snow for the season. It pretty much all melted by the time we picked Morgan up from school at 11:30 but the kids still insisted on getting all suited up to play outside. Luckily, our neighbors back porch still had some snow.
These were happy children.

Morgan's attempt at a snow angel in a few centimeters of melting snow.

Pepper's snow angel.

Hazel is getting more bright eyed everyday. She will sort of smile every once in awhile and has started making really cute cooing sounds.

She is still the best baby ever and we are super excited to spend everyday with her.

Last Saturday, Cody decided to use his "man-of-the-house" skills and clean the gutters. We have some pretty high gutters so I was worried and wanted to pay someone else to do it. Cody insisted and spent most of the day doing it. However, he was so proud of himself, and still is, that I couldn't help but take a picture to commerate the event. Great job, honey!

Getting in a festive mood

Saturday morning, we took the kids to Chik-Fil-A for a pajama party and free breakfast meal with the Santa Cow. Pepper, of course, wanted nothing to do with the cow and kept a close eye on him the whole time we were there. Hazel slept through it and Morgan had a great time. I love that restaurant!
After that fun, we headed over to Home Depot for the kids workshop. The kids made snowmen napkin holders. My mom will be happy to know we have napkin holders now since she was trying to get us to buy one the whole time she was here. :)

Very proud and slightly blurry carpenters.

Their favorite part was painting. My favorite part is that is was washable paint. We managed to get it EVERYWHERE! (I have such a hard time letting my kids do crafts because I hate the mess and chaos of it all. I really need to work on that!)

I was thinking I hadn't taken a lot of pictures of Hazel, third child syndrome, so I thought I'd try and take some cute ones last night. The camera was acting weird, thank you, Pepper, so this is all I got. Even though it's blurry I still think it captures how proud she looks of herself for flinging her arm in the air.

At six weeks, Hazel is just starting to smile and focus a little more.

Oh, at her month appt she weighed 9 lbs 12 ozs. That is one pound less than Pepper at a month and two pounds less than Morgan at a month old. She really is my smallest baby; I wasn't just imagining it.

And this is just a funny picture of her face. She really doesn't look like this but it made me laugh so I thought I'd include it. We haven't been up to much around here just shopping, wrapping and hanging out. We hope everyone is having a fun December and slowly getting ready for all the craziness. The kids and I are really enjoying the Barenaked for the Holidays album that has been playing non-stop in the car. Jingle Bells rules!