Pre-Christmas

December is the most hectic month of the year.  Most of it is fun, of course, but still crazy.

Connor continued with his basketball class.  One day, he decided to teach Evan to play (Evan already knew how to dribble and shoot, but not the other rules.)  He was surprisingly sweet with his little brother, and let him win every game.
  

Blocking

Somehow, he scored anyway :-)

 
Ryan and Connor's Cub Scout pack got to march in the Christmas Parade.  They took Elise and Wiley, too.
    

The Daisies had an awards ceremony, during which Elise received her watering can patch (taking care of plants), and her orange petal.
    

Flag Ceremony

 
We had Joy School at our house!  The older kids helped out on Tuesday (they were pretty good, actually,) and on Thursday we made ice-cream-cone Christmas trees.  We also did our Christmas Pageant for the moms.  It wasn't exactly polished, but that just made it cuter.
     

Connor Reading "Where the Wild Things Are"

   

Evan the Shepherd, Waiting for his Cue

Singing

"Jingle Bells"

   
Our ward Christmas party was the day after my birthday.  We were NOT late for once, and the kids got to see Santa!  There was an amazing nativity program after the dinner, put on by the Primary kids and a handful of very talented grown-ups.
    

Shepherd and Angel (Yes, I reused the Joy School costumes!)

Connor and Elise had their Christmas piano recital.  They both worked really hard to prepare for it, and I was super proud of them!  They both do really well under pressure.  Connor played "Joy to the World" (duet) and "Silent Night" (alone).  Elise did "Dance of the Reed Flutes" - from The Nutcracker (alone), and "Away in a Manger" (duet).

We drove all the way to Santa Clarita to find a Christmas tree lot where you cut your own tree.  It was dark when we got there, so the kids took turns holding the lights and using the saw.
 

Connor and Elise's school did their annual Christmas program.  It made me cry.  It was that good.  We actually got a babysitter so Ryan and I could attend without the little ones.  The lighting wasn't great, though, so I didn't get much in the way of pictures.  
   

We got a picture of a few of the kids before the show.  (We were EARLY!)

"Deck the Halls" Played on Boomwhackers

We put up lights this year, although Evan kept knocking them off the fence with his baseball bat.  We read Christmas stories by candlelight most nights (everybody fought over whose turn it was to blow out the candles), and watched as many Christmas movies as we could squeeze in.  We got Godiva chocolates for all the neighbors, and meant to deliver treats to friends, but I didn't make them in time, so we ended up eating them ourselves.  It was a pretty good Christmas season!
  

Thanksgiving

We started our trip up to Utah on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  We stayed in Mesquite overnight, then made it up to Orem on Sunday in time for our nephew Lincoln's birthday party.  Happy 1st, Linky!
  

  

On Monday, we got to relax, play in the snow, and hang out at my mom's house.  We also went and bought some much-needed snow gear for the kids!

   

Notice the size 4T coat, one adult glove, and wet jeans . .

  

Ryan had a meeting in Salt Lake on Tuesday morning, so we all had to be packed and ready pretty early.  Unfortunately, we got caught in this.  Somebody had flipped their car and crossed the freeway median.  It shut down I-15 for quite awhile.  We talked to the kids about the importance of wearing your seatbelt, etc., but it turns out the lady involved miraculously survived.

  

While Ryan was busy, I did the ZCMI candy windows and Temple Square with the kids. 

 

  
That afternoon, on our way to a kitchen store (see previous post,) we saw a tank parked on State Street.  Evan had been obsessed with tanks ever since talking to a retired Army soldier on Veteran's day.  So, of course, we stopped and climbed all over it.
  

"A tank is a big truck with a gun on it!"

The National Guard guy said it was technically a Howitzer.

  

I think this was our third Thanksgiving at Brighton Lodge.  It works pretty well for us, because one of us can ski or snowboard while the other watches the kids.  This was Connor's third time in ski lessons, and Elise's first!  I was prepared for her to be scared and hesitant, but she jumped right in!  She was going down with no tip clips on her second run, and when I picked her up from class, she said, "Mom.  Skiing . . .is . . .AWESOME!"  She went out a second time with Daddy while the rest of us hung out in the lodge, doing school and watching movies.  I forgot to get pictures of her or anybody else skiing.  Bad mama!

    

Wiley stayed at Grandma's house while we skied.  He gets spoiled.

   

Thanksgiving Day was, of course, wonderful.  It's never quite the same when we do it somewhere else.  After we all feasted we went outside, and Grandpa took the kids on a crazy rhino ride!  He was only going like five miles an hour, but they were screaming as if they were going to die.  Happy screams, of course.

   
On Black Friday, we took the rhino out again, in shifts, but left the yard this time.  My mom, Elise, Evan, and I did a tour of the town, then went up into the canyon on the fire road.  It was so beautiful.  I miss seasons, even though we were freezing out there!  Ryan and Connor did their own father/son trip after we got back.
 

 
Our visit seemed a bit short, but it was tons of fun.  (I think I gained five pounds in six days.)  We came back home on Saturday, getting in around 1am.  (When we discovered a raccoon in our tree, but that's another story. . .)
 

Eating Whipped Cream

November

November was busy with all sorts of little things.  Our oven broke, and we started researching whether we'd rather remodel our kitchen or repair an oven the size of a microwave.  (We still haven't decided.)
  

Research at IKEA

Elise's Daisy troop did a bake sale to support Operation Christmas Child.  We made fudge and chocolate chex squares (neither required an oven,) and Elise got to help serve customers.
  

Elise's Nervous Face

Corinne was alternately bad and cute (or sometimes both at the same time.)
  

 
Nana and Grandpa Al came to visit!  We had a great time hanging out with them, and they decorated the kids' rooms with curtains and new bedding.  We also finally put up the bunk beds they got for Elise and Corinne.  (Though Corinne won't be using hers for awhile yet.)
   

   
We went to the park most Fridays, and the kids figured out how to go sledding, California style.
   

Yeah, it's a boogie board.

  
We got together with Aunt Helena one Saturday at the California Science Center.  It was sooo much less crowded than the last time we'd gone!  We got to look at the Endeavor shuttle, see things rotting, ride a "space coaster", and play with all the kid exhibits. 
   

Sand Dunes

 

Hurricane Simulator

  
We collaborated with some friends to take each others' family pictures this year.  Ours turned out pretty good, despite my boys' determination to ruin it with goofy faces (yes, that includes Ryan.)  Out of 95 shots, this was the best one, and I still had to send it to a guy in Florida to Photoshop Evan's underwear!
  

  
Connor continued with basketball class, and I finally got some pictures of him playing.  I'm continually surprised by how much he likes this class.
  

 

  
Our park day group arranged a series of ice skating lessons this winter at the Pasadena ice rink. The first was towards the end of November, and it was a bit of a disaster.  We parked in the wrong place and missed most of the lesson.  The older kids did okay, but Evan wouldn't go on the ice by himself, and I had Corinne to tend, so I couldn't help him much.  (Friends offered to hold her, but that just made her freak out.)  I got these pictures at least, before my phone ran out of batteries!
  

 

  

    
Right before our Utah Thanksgiving trip, the Palmers came to visit for a night!  We went to Blaze pizza, and let's just say I'm glad we sat outside.  Eight little kids trying to one-up each other is kinda loud.  When we got back, we had to sedate them with video games to get them ready for bed.