Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!
  

   
Gift highlights included video games for Connor, a 3DS for Elise, laser tag for Evan, and a dollhouse with animals for Corinne.  Ryan got Mario Maker, among other things, and he got me an electric-bike conversion kit, so I can ride up our hill without dying!  We had Christmas waffles for breakfast, but couldn't find any Dungeness for dinner (there was some sort of shortage this year,) so we had shrimp, scallops, clams and king crab legs. 
  

  

The very next day, we packed our tired selves up and drove to Utah for a visit!  

On one of the days we were there, we drove up to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake.  It was really, really cold.  I'm not just saying that because I've become soft living in California.  We had a hard time making it from the Joseph Smith building to the Church History Museum without (icy) tears.
  

The kids got their wish, and had lots of snow.  They were even pretty good at helping shovel it!
  

Against my preferences, Ryan took the kids out on Utah Lake to walk on the ice.  I figured someone had better stay on shore to call 911, but everything went fine, so I just took pictures.
  

    
We drove back home on New Year's Eve, and made it in time to drive the Rose Parade route, and then celebrate at home.  Okay, we actually made it home by like 10, but we put a kid countdown on TV and called it done.
   

 

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.
    

    

December

First of all, here are two random pictures of Corinne.  One of her being a goof, the other of her preschool friends all trying to sit on the teacher's lap at story time.
    

   
Ryan and I celebrated our 38th birthdays!  We made a very wise decision to get an Oreo ice cream cake.  It didn't last very long, unfortunately.
   

   
We did the proper thing this year, and went out and bought a real Christmas tree.  After a short debate about whether we should drive an hour to a tree farm or go five minutes away to the hardware store, we chose the hardware store.  It was still a good tree, though!  Afterwards we went out for frozen yogurt.
    

  
We finally got back the photos from Picture Day at taekwondo.  We're very well protected around here!
  

  

Our Primary was asked to do the Nativity play again this year for the ward Christmas Party.  It took several rehearsals and tons of work, especially by my theater-expert friend Danni, but it turned out so great.  Connor got to be a wise man, Elise an angel, and Evan a sheep.
  

Rehearsal

Waiting for the Big Kids to Finish

Thanks to Nana and Al for the Christmas Party Dress!

   

I was surprised nobody died cleaning up.

  
The kids put together their own short Nativity program in the garage one afternoon.  I think it was when they were supposed to be working on schoolwork, but whatever.  It was very cute.
  

Cast Photo