December

Caroline had to make a star ornament for part of her Cubbies section.  Lauren wanted to make one too, so Brian helped them both.  I think I got out a star cookie cutter for them to trace.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my mom and dad here.  Brian set up the faux firs while they were still here, but we didn't decorate them till a week later.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the first Sunday of Advent, and we needed our Advent wreath.  The kids were super excited, and Brian brought in boxes and boxes and bags of Christmas decor.  I about going nuts!  It was all piling up, and the pumpkins and turkeys hadn't been taken down.  Too much stuff, not to mention I didn't have a clue where all the Christmas decor was going to go in our new house.  Brian saw I was losing it and promptly hauled the boxes right back out.  Except the Advent wreath.  ;)

Julia helped Caroline make a chain to count down the days till Christmas.  Caroline really got into taking a link off each night.  Though most of them got pushed under the bed (I later discovered, *ahem*), and not put in the trash!

Austin liked running the Christmas train from my Grandpa, again this year.  Lauren and Caroline were being tunnels here.

The finished chain. 

 Caroline had to bring snack to Cubbies one club night in December.  We made reindeer cookies together.  There was enough dough for Lauren to bring some to her school class for a snack.  Both girls were very serious about making the reindeer faces look cute, and "just right".  :)

Lauren's class learned about cities, neighborhoods, etc.  The teacher had each kid make a box building of a place in our town.  Lauren (and a few others) made Vons.  She drew the Salvation Army bell ringer in front.  :)  It was cute seeing all the buildings the kids made.

The kids decorated gingerbread houses.  I decided to make the houses using graham crackers this year, instead of buying a kit.  That way each kid could decorate their own!  No (well, much decreased!) fighting and bickering!  Austin and Julia built their own; I built Lauren's and Caroline's.  Julia's is a church, complete with a steeple and cross.  Austin was very detailed, adding a balcony, fence, snowman...  Lauren did her own, and I helped Caroline.  I'd put some frosting on the house, she'd stick on the candies.  I didn't buy much candy; I think just gumdrops.  We always have M&Ms in the house for when I want a little chocolate...potty prizes...photo bribes...  I had the kids choose candy from their Halloween stashes, then everyone shared.  It actually worked well!  I crushed cinnamon hard candies, crushed candy canes...  Caroline ended up eating the remaining cinnamon bits.  Yum???  I didn't even know she liked them!  No one else cared.  ;)

   

Lauren was thrilled, so, so happy when I came home w/ footie PJs for her!  She and Caroline were both glad to match each other!

Lauren made this chain at school.  Like Caroline, she faithfully removed a link every day.  Not sure what Caroline is doing in the 2nd picture.  She climbed and stood on chairs (throughout the house) for several weeks in Dec. and Jan., like it was her new fun thing to do. ????

I thought these little outfits were so cute!  Lauren was pleased--all very "girlish" in her opinion.  ;)  She likes wearing skirts and dresses best, b/c they twirl when she dances! 

 The weekend before Christmas we went down to Brian's mom's house to celebrate with her and Chris, Joy, and Kaitlyn.

Caroline got this Rapunzel dress from Grandma.  Already it's gotten a lot of use!  That night we drove to a neighborhood that goes all out with Christmas lights.  We walked around lots of streets.  It wasn't too chilly, though it did start raining just when we were finishing up.  The lights were really pretty.

The next Monday, back at home, the kids were busy playing with their new gifts.  Caroline was Rapunzel, and Austin and Lauren checked out how Lauren's Rapunzel Barbie could paint...

We decorated cutout cookies during Christmas break.

 A typical lazy morning during the three weeks off from school.  Julia was likely sleeping in...or reading on the couch, or in bed, with Pongo nearby.  :)

 

Julia made this Christmas arrangement for her 4-H group.  It turned out really pretty and lasted quite awhile.  Lauren painted her nails.

Our local Ace Hardware marked all their Christmas decor 75% off, Christmas Eve.  We went there, hoping to buy lights for the outside of our house, to use next year.  Of course the lights weren't included in the sale!  Grrr...  We ended up buying a little lit Christmas tree for cheap.  It was funny though, we set it up on the front porch, and the next thing I knew, Brian was out there putting Christmas lights on the house!  We have a few snowflakes and strings of lights (not nearly enough!) from our old house, and he decorated the porch.  They looked pretty for a couple weeks at least.  :) We went to church for the Christmas Eve service.  This family picture was taken then.  Lauren made the cute Santa calendar at school; again, counting the days till Christmas, this time marking them with stickers.

Ready to go to bed and have visions of sugarplums dance in their heads.  ;)  They each chose one of our decorated cookies for Santa. 

We had a yummy Christmas morning breakfast.  The kids opened their stockings, and we went to church again.  It was a really nice service, kind of neat to go on Christmas Day.  Then it was back home for lunch and presents!

The best, hands down, favorite gift this Christmas was the trampoline!  The kids were shocked to unwrap the giant boxes Santa left in the family room.  Santa wasn't kind enough to assemble it, though. Brian and Austin spent most of the next day putting it together.  Julia and I helped a little, also.  The kids are still enjoying it, along with all their friends, when they're here.  Fun! 

Julia got a few American Girl things for Christmas.  Felicity and Elizabeth are wearing the two new outfits Julia received.  All the dolls look different! --Compared to when they're in their old-fashioned clothes.  Julia also dressed them each in their holiday outfits for Christmas.  So cute.

I had to figure out a place for our Christmas cards in this house.  Since we have no dining room curtains, I decided to string the cards up in front of the window, like a garland.  I thought it looked really good from the inside!  But then I'd drive in our driveway, coming home from someplace, and think how cluttered the window looked from the outside!  LOL  If I do this again, I'm not sure I'll put it in front of the window; though the brackets did make it easy to tie the string...

This picture was taken New Year's Eve.  We left our Christmas decor up through the first week in January.  By then it was time to take it down. :)  Caroline liked playing with the Nativity scene.  She made a cute little angel out of a plastic cup, in Sunday School.  You can see what she did with it at home.  Hee hee...  Can you see it on the wooden angel?

We just hung around home to ring in the New Year.  Brian and I stayed up till midnight and watched the ball drop in NYC, on TV.  Nothing too exciting, but it was fun to relax at home.  During the day Austin' friend came to play and Brian and I worked in the yard.  I remember it was very nice weather.