Pre-Christmas

After attending "A Christmas Carol" at the Glendale Center Theater, Elise decided to produce a play of her own.  She called it "Passengers Walking with Each Other," starring Evan and Corinne.  She even made playbills for the audience.
   

 

To fulfill a Cub Scout requirement, Connor had to go see a construction site and talk to the workers, so our home teacher made arrangements for all the kids to come visit one of his projects.  The nail gun was a big highlight.

   
We invited two of the kids' co-op friends over to make graham-cracker gingerbread houses.  It turns out it's not very easy to do, but they had fun making a mess anyway.
   

    
Connor, Elise, and Evan all tested for their next belt levels in taekwondo, and did a great job!  Connor and Elise got their yellow stripes, and Evan earned his green preschool stripe.  There were a lot of broken boards.
  

After two hours, Corinne was done.

    
Two cute things.  First, a silly picture of Connor and Elise.  Second, a giant heart-shaped card Elise made me.  She is a card-making fanatic, and I love her for it.
    

   
Connor and Elise had their Christmas piano recital on December 19th.  Connor played "The Christmas Waltz" by Jule Styne, and "Christmas Time is Here" by Vince Guaraldi.  Elise played "Ukranian Bell Carol", by Mykola Leontovych, and "O Come, All Ye Faithful", by John Francis Wade.  I was super proud of how hard they worked, and how composed they were while performing.
    

  
I don't know how this picture occurred, but it was on Ryan's phone.  Hooray for Christmas Deer!
  

    
We attended our Ward's annual Temple Lights activity this year, mostly because I was now in charge of it.  It was actually pretty fun, and I learned how to make, take, and serve hot cocoa to eighty-plus people!
     

    

    
Little Miss Corinne started her pre-Sunbeam visits to Primary during church.  She was pretty into it.
   

  
Ryan's sister Helena came over one evening with Christmas presents!  We had a great visit, but I forgot to take pictures.  Luckily, my three-year-old got some, so even though they're pretty bad, I have to include them to mark the evening.  Helena even brought us an African tribal drum she picked up in Senegal.  It's loud, so the kids love it.