December 2013

We had a very festive and fun December. We tried to do something or watch something Christmas related every day.

We had our ward Christmas Party December 6th to kick off the season.

Macy and Grant. Macy had actually seen this exact Santa the week before at another event so it was nice that he remembered her and what she wanted.

I put these two pictures of Facebook with the captions:

Macy loves her friends.

Anna's friends don't love her. J/k

I love this picture of Anna sitting perfectly for a picture and Callie trying to get away. Anna is so dang cute!

Anna wants to be just like her big sister.

Dorothy gave us these star ornaments this year and I thought they would make for some good photos. I'm going to print the photos out next year to have up for decorations.

Macy was totally into the Elf on the Shelf this year. She made sure never to touch him so his magic wouldn't go away. She also expected him to move locations each time she left the room. It was good Ja works from home so he could help with this! Anna did get a hold of him a couple times; luckily Macy didn't notice. Ja and I had fun coming up with funny things for him to do. My favorite was the zip lining through the living room. Another night Ja snuck into the girls room and had him zip lining in there. We also wrapped him in a towel and put him in the fridge one night. The best part was Anna. She would come out in the living room every morning and find the elf. She would then give a forced laugh and point at the elf until we acknowledged her. Sometimes she would start pointing and laughing before she even found him.

 Macy and I made gingerbread houses. She did a great job putting the frosting and candies on. I'm not sure whey she is topless :) Macy was having fun despite the look on her face.

Ja wanted to have us pretend to eat the houses. This almost got a smile out of Macy!

The kit came with two more houses to make but the next day Macy and her friend Claire sucked all the frosting out of the bag so that was that. 

We had some really nice weather. On a warm day we went out without jackets and played in the leaves that haven't been raked up yet. 

Macy was also really into the Nativity this year.  She set this up all by herself and we would play with it and use it to tell the story of Christ's birth multiple times. We definitely did not leave the real story of Christmas out this year!

Macy and Claire had a beach party!

Macy the princess gets a visit from little Anna. 

I was able to have Macy make this wreath for me. I wanted something that shows how cute her little hands are. She also helped me glue the letters on.

After the warm weather- it snowed! Macy was thrilled and couldn't wait to play in the snow!

 The girls watched in great anticipation. Anna didn't know what she was excited about. She only knew Macy was excited for  something so she would be too.

Anna's first time in the snow! It was pretty cold and she wouldn't keep her gloves on!

This picture shows how friendly and not shy Anna is. Katrina was sitting on the floor with Callie and Anna just sat down on her lap and listened to the story without being invited. Callie wasn't sure if she liked the company. 

Anna also loves Katie and will sit still on her lap.

 Macy took another ballet class from Miss Abbey. Abbey is a high school student in McLean 1st ward and teaches it out of her basement.

Anna loves babies- especially Katie's babies because there are two! She kept peeking under the covers and would point at them and say "baybee!"

The Friend magazine had a Nativity craft so of course we had to make it!

 We also went caroling with our friends the Goaslinds and Arringtons. Macy, Grant, and Claire loved it so much and were in the front row belting out Jingle Bells. After singing at the first house they ran right over to the next one yelling, "Let's do this one! Let's do this one!" Just like it was Halloween again (same neighborhood and friends) The kids also got cookies from a couple houses so they were thrilled.

Annie had some pipes that are cut at certain lengths to make musical notes. The adults held the pipes and the kids tapped them to play Jingle Bells.

The sister missionaries came by and did their Christmas-gram for our group. Sister Richards played the violin and Sister Call would sing some Christmas hymns with her all in between reading the Nativity from Luke 2. It was a very special program that only took 8 minutes. All the kids were very reverent during the program too. We sort of acted out the Nativity. This is Macy with the baby Jesus in the real manger.

Anna was an unhappy angel.

Both Claire and Macy wanted to be Mary. Now there is a real baby, Claire's sister Abbey.

We walked over to another neighbor's house and the kids all sat very still to listen to it again! The Spirit was very noticeable during the Sister's program and the kids could feel it it too. I think I heard the program 8 times total because I walked around with the Sisters so they could play it to some of our neighbors. I loved it too and am so glad they put it together! We had a few neighbors who were moved to tears the songs were so beautiful.