1st Week of December

The first day of December we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. I thought I hadn't taken any pictures, but I guess I did a few, so I'll share those.

The girls picking out ornaments for the tree.

I only put a few ornaments on, and the girls did the rest while I put other decorations up.

We told the kids they needed to get their wish lists made over Thanksgiving weekend. The girls wrote theirs down on paper, so I took pictures of them.

This is Alice's. At first the main things she asked for were the Barbie dream house and a claw machine, but later Charlotte talked her into asking for a trampoline.

Charlotte's list

We have already done the bird thing, so no way was I giving in to that again.

The first Saturday in December was our ward Christmas party and it was a breakfast this year. I signed up to make a French toast bake and wanted to test it out beforehand. I also signed up to make a bunch of 3D snowflakes, and I ended up making 22 of them with the girls' help. We delivered them to the church the Wednesday before so they could decorate the church.

My test bake of the French toast bake. It was good!

Our haul of snowflakes that we delivered to the church. We did not want them to get squished, so we spread them out as much as we could in the back of the van.

That week was busy as the girls and I decided to rearrange their room and get the beds stacked into a bunkbed, like it was meant to be, so they would have more space in their room. Curtis also had his birthday and even though we didn't do a full celebration, we at least had his birthday dinner. He asked for steak and he ended up cooking everything. The very same day, Alice earned a couple of awards at her school assembly. One for Perfect Attendance and one for academic excellence.

We moved beds and the desk and drawers but there's still lots of organizing to do and we needed new stuffed animal nets hung.

The perfect attendance award came with a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream at Baskin Robbins. We used it right away. It was a good way to get her out of the house also because one of her gifts was being delivered. The other kids were able to bring it inside while we were gone.

The steak acted as his cake. No, he did not eat it all himself. We helped!

The girls made him a big yellow dog made out of cardstock paper, and a card. He hung it at work.

Sage likes the high bed. It took her a little time to figure out the best way to get up there, but now she gets up there all of the time.

That Friday morning (the 6th) our neighbor Susie brought over a bag of treats that she baked. She had to get them delivered early since she was getting knee surgery on the 13th. She loves to bake. She is the neighbor that gave us lots of apples, so obviously there were apple goodies in her bag.

Apple butter, macaroons, apple bread, dehydrated apples, and a pastry I'm not sure what type.

Many times we see people park their RVs at the Walmart parking lot. Well, it was a shock to see that this one had caught fire and was a complete loss. I don't know what happened or if anyone was injured, but I hope not. So sad.

When driving by the other side looks like an empty shell.

Like I said, our ward Christmas party was that Saturday, and it was a breakfast themed with the Polar Express. All who wanted could wear their pajamas. I wore pajama bottoms and slippers but had a regular long-sleeved top. Curtis was the only one in our family who did not wear any pajamas. The boys were excited to wear their robes with their pajamas. The French toast bake I made that morning got a little over cooked and a little dark on top. I think it was because I was baking two pans at the same time. We came home with almost a whole pan. It was a fun activity though. Our Elder's Quorum President dressed up like the conductor and the table that had the food on it was decorated like a train. While eating, they read the Polar Express book. The bishop was able to tie everything into the celebration of Christ as well.

They had a separate table set up for hot chocolate and different treats you could add to your chocolate. There was an activity for the kids to make a mini snow globe and a chef's hat. Santa had come but he was there at 8:30 for picture taking and we didn't get there until almost 9:00, which is when the breakfast started. There was other picture opportunities set up in the Relief Society room also, with a train and the nativity.  And the primary room had coloring sheets and a scavenger hunt for the kids. The nice thing is that the three wards that share this building all went with the same theme so we could just leave up the decorations afterwards. Our ward put up the lights and snowflakes, but we didn't have to take them down.

Charlotte and her friend Jane.

Alice and her friend Laila.

Finally got all of us in a picture.

They also had a thing where, depending on the first letter of your name and the month you were born, would determine your elf name. Mine was Star McJingles.

On Sunday the girls decided they wanted to bake some cookies. They chose to make oatmeal (without raisins) and then we delivered some to a couple in our ward, the Bullocks. Sister Bullock is taking care of her husband who has a lot of health issues and is suffering from dementia. She was so happy to have us bring her cookies because she hadn't had one in a while, since her husband is also diabetic. She is a very bubbly person and fun to talk with. Our boys (Curtis and Garrett mostly) regularly take her the sacrament on Sundays as well, so now she has met our whole family (except Nikki). It felt good to be able to serve her.

Some cookie doughs you just have to lick the beater!

Whew! Like I said, it was a busy week!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to feed the missionaries serving in our ward. We would be each other's families this year since we had no family coming to visit. I did try to also invite our next-door neighbors, but they opted to have a quiet dinner at home with just the two of them this year. The two missionaries are so fun and have a good chemistry with each other, Elder Funk and Elder Webster. Curtis bought the biggest turkey he could find and the biggest we ever bought before, weighing 23 lbs! He soaked it in a brine as usual but then smoked it this year. It turned out really good! The missionaries came over to eat and we played a couple of games with them, Catch Phrase and Pictionary Air. It was a nice Thanksgiving Day.

Jack helped Curtis a little bit with prepping the turkey, sprinkling on some seasoning.

Finish off that bottle Alice.

Homemade pumpkin pie this time.

Playing Pictionary Air. You draw with an electronic pen in the air without seeing what you're drawing, but it shows on the TV screen for the people guessing.

On Black Friday, I did not do any shopping. Instead, the whole family went to see a movie, Moana 2. All of the kids were excited to see it. It was good but I think we were a little disappointed it was not as good as the first one. And the theater was packed. We were first to buy tickets for this movie at the time slot we chose, but had to wait by the ticket stan

Garrett did not want to pose for a picture, so I got him when he wasn't looking.

On Saturday Curtis, Jack, Milo and I decided to go hike up Badger Mountain. When we got about halfway up you could see icicles forming on the sage brush and long grasses. It was beautiful! And when we first started the hike, we had to climb some steps and that was hard for me! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do this hike. Eventually Curtis gave me Milo's leash and Milo helped pull me up the mountain. We need to get him a harness next time, so it doesn't choke him. This was his first time hiking this hill and he loved it, although he would get a little nervous when others passed us on the trail.

This was about halfway up.

We reached the top!

These were on the top of the hill. So pretty!

It was a fun hike and it got easier for me after I got warmed up (along with Milo's help too). I need to start exercising more so it's not so hard next time. We finished off the weekend by getting Christmas decorations up around the inside of our house on Sunday. I didn't get any pictures, but it was nice to get them up early this year. However, I never did get around to getting our city set up. Maybe next year!

The Middle of November

On the 21st of November, the Reptile Man came to my girls' school to have some fun and learn a little bit. He came during the day at school for all of the kids and then in the evening, families were invited to come see him for a small fee of $2 per person. Curtis and I went with the girls. It was very entertaining and fun to watch.

A few students were asked to come help with the snake and Charlotte was one of them (the one with the yellow sweatshirt).

Lucy, the Alligator, posing as a hat.

She is a very nice alligator and has never bit anyone. He's owned her for a long time. They grow slowly.

A turtle that I don't remember the name.

Now Alice gets a turn with Oscar the snake, along with Charlotte. I don't remember what kind it is.

At Jack's jazz band festival (the same day Nikki came to town), he received a personal award that we didn't know about until the following week. He was the only one from his school to get a personal award. It was for his high level of outstanding musicianship. We're so proud of his accomplishments!

I discovered that we have another theater in town (AMC theater) that is a lot less expensive for tickets than the one we live closer to (Fairchild Cinemas). The girls and I decided to go see a movie there on the 22nd, when they didn't have school due to parent teacher conferences. We saw "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and went early in the day. There were only 4 other people in the theater. We thought it was a pretty good movie, and the girls can't wait to watch it again. We're just waiting for it to be available to buy on DVD. I had bought some Kit Kat bars to sneak into the theater to eat during the movie, but the girls were worried about getting caught and thrown out of the theater, so we decided to eat a few before and then the rest after the movie in our van. I'm glad that they wanted to be honest. Theater food is just so expensive, so we didn't eat anything during the movie, but enjoyed it all the same.

We sat on the very top row by the stairs.

Our family also decided to participate in a service project where we buy some gifts to fill a shoe box and send it to kids somewhere in the world that need it. We chose to do two of them, a boy and girl. In January we will be able to see where in the world these packages were delivered. It was fun to do something new to help the less fortunate.

We did a boy age 2-4 and girl age 5-9.

This year was the first time in 3 years that we have put up Christmas lights and the first time on this house. We got them put up the weekend before Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe how many lights strands we have that have either all lights out or half of them. We decided to recycle all of those ones and just use what we have that's good. Hopefully next year we'll be able to buy some new light decorations.

Believe it or not, I was up on the roof with Curtis also. I just got a picture right before he climbed down after we finished. Some ward members had seen me up there and were surprised that I would get up on the roof. That's just who I am. I got used to it I guess when Curtis worked overseas, but I also started doing lights as a teenager decorating our house and my grandma's. I usually don't get on the roof unless I have to.

It's not a lot of lights but it's still nice enough.

Last year we did not get any pumpkins for Halloween or Thanksgiving, but this year we did! We got them for free at our ward party, but did not end up carving any. I wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving to cut them open and get the seeds out for toasting, but one of them started to rot so I decided to do it the week before, on the same day we did Christmas lights. It was nice because we didn't have to dig out all of the pulp and we could cut the pumpkins into quarters. All I wanted were the seeds!

Unfortunately, one pan got a little over toasted, but they still tasted good.

Charlotte had a dentist appointment on Monday the 25th of November, which was the same day as the girls' parent teacher conferences. Both of the girls are doing very well in school and the teachers had lots of good things to say about both of them. That makes me so happy! And Charlotte did not have any cavities at her appointment!

She gets to relax and watch "Bluey" with headphones on while she gets her teeth cleaned.

The day before Thanksgiving the kids had an early release from school and Charlotte got to make a cute turkey at school with a Kindergartener. She loves getting to do things sometimes with the younger kids at school. The turkey turned out super cute!