I don't always feel like my life with four kids is crazy, but going through the pictures and events from the month of December definitely reminded me of the busy season I'm in! It was a super fun month full of celebrations and parties and singing and dancing. Less fun was everyone getting sick one at a time. Here's some of what we were up to!
Talia got to go on her first school field trip. Her preschool went on a little tour of Texas Roadhouse restaurant. They started off with getting to decorate the floor of the waiting area with chalk! I think that might have been her favorite part. Next up was a walk through tour of the kitchen. The highlight was going in the walk in refrigerator, but mostly Talia just thought the kitchen smelled bad (which it did). After seeing the kitchen the kids got to sit at tables and use cookie cutters to make shapes out of a few pieces of roll dough. While the kids ate their free lunch of mac and cheese and applesauce their rolls baked and they got to take them home with them at the end. Pretty fun field trip!
We got to drive through the lights at Thanksgiving Point for free with our membership. It was really fun! We read our nightly Christmas book in the car and had all the kids already in jammies. They loved the lights, especially Beckett who commented loudly on all the stuff he saw. :)
Lot of Christmas prep was happening. I did 85% of my shopping online. One day I got 6 packages. Glad they came while the kids were still at school! I also got the house all decorated and helped Ian put up lights on the house. We did Christmas cards through a Staples deal. I loved how they turned out. There was even a mini family letter on the back. We also spent a lot of time reading our Christmas books from the advent. Some nights we missed it so then the kids would all get to pick a book. They all love finding and reading their favorites. It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions that we do.
Weston earned his Bobcat at scouts. He was pretty excited about it!
One particularly nice December day after I took the kids with me to exercise we stopped at the farm to play for a bit. It was so much fun! Beckett wasn't a big fan of the pony ride, but he loved seeing all the other animals and going on the tractor ride. We have had the most amazing mild winter weather this year!
Then came the sickies. It started with Talia early in the week of her birthday. She threw up all night long and was pretty puny for a few days. Luckily she rallied for her birthday. Beckett came down with it next, but only threw up once. He was pretty sad and snuggly for a couple of days though. Davin was after Beckett and didn't have the pukes, but was just not feeling good and feverish. Weston rounded out the sickies with a mild case. Amazingly I avoided it until after Christmas.
Talia had a birthday! My baby girl is now 4 years old. She is slowly learning to be more independent and gets more beautiful every day. Her birthday gets it's own post.
Our ward Christmas party was a blast! The Relief Society was in charge of the food so I spent a good chunk of time working on that, but it came together really well. Ian helped with the entertainment. Talia had tons of fun doing a reindeer headband craft with her friend Thalia (yes she pronounces it differently). The program part of the party was super kid friendly. At the end Santa came for a visit. Beckett was completely uninterested, but Talia and Davin were excited to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted him to bring them.
We hosted the annual Bowles/Wilson/Bayles singalong Christmas party. We added a game to the party schedule to help keep the growing number of kids involved. We played a Christmas matching game with prizes. It was a fun night with our friends. And I got to snuggle Ireland's brand new baby, Jase. He's adorable. It was weird that one of my young women is married and has a baby!
Talia had an informal little Christmas dance recital. It was just at the studio. It was so fun to watch her practice some of the skills she has been learning and then perform. She did a good job and looked adorable!
The boys both performed in their school's Jingle Jam. Of course I sat on the opposite side of the gym from where they were both standing, but I still managed to get a couple pictures. I also took video of them singing but it came out without sound. Sad. The songs were very fun and festive! After the Jingle Jam I took Beckett to play at Cabela's. He loved seeing all of the animals and the fish! He could have stayed there all day. We will have to go back soon.
I took Talia and Beckett with me on a last minute Christmas shopping trip to the mall. We picked up a few items then I treated the kids to a ride on the mall train. They both loved it! Beckett was just in awe the whole time. It was a surprisingly fun little outing.
The first day school was out for the break the kids curled up on a blanket to watch Polar Express and I let them choose a treat to eat from our stash. We baked sugar cookies and that night Mel and Brad came over with pizza and we decorated the cookies. We got a surprise visit from Santa that night too! Such a treat!
The next couple of days leading up to Christmas were filled with wrapping and playing with friends and cleaning up the house. Christmas Eve and Christmas will get their own post too. Skipping ahead to New Year's Eve...Talia had been sick on and off all month. She was coughing non stop After Christmas. I finally took her to the doctor on New Years Eve and got a prescription for cough syrup with codeine in it so she could actually sleep. Beckett wasn't feeling too great either.
We got together for dinner at Chuck-A-Rama with the Matagi's. It was pretty chaotic, but fun to see them! I left after dinner and took Tal and Beck home for a bath and bed. Ian and the boys went with the Matagi's to the nicklecade. They had a lot of fun. When they got home we curled up together on the couch and watched Honey I Shrunk the Kids. By the time the movie was over it was midnight and we toasted with the big boys and then all headed to bed. Happy 2015!!!!
Finally a few random fun pics from the month while we kicked around the house and such.
This dinosaur decoration was in our neighbor's yard and Beckett would tell me it was there every single day.
First time wearing leggings!
Preschool take home craft.
Painting with friends!
Beckett discovered the sensation of humming with his finger up his nose.
We visited some friends who had a train around their tree. Beckett thought it was the coolest thing he'd every seen.
Christmas date night to Provo to see a play called "A Joyful Noise" about Handel's Messiah. It was fantastic. One of Ian's friends was in it. Love live theater!
Someone was not happy about having to share the ipad.
