2012 Christmas Card

Christmas Activities

We had a wonderful December full of lots of Christmas activities and fun! I had most all of our presents bought before December started, so it was nice to focus on having fun instead of stressing (Amazon Prime was totally worth it for us this year!). We didn't get pictures of everything, as I haven't been as good at taking my camera along and actually using it too, but we got enough to overwhelm a blog post, so I guess that's good enough! 

My parents hosted the annual Ellis Family Ornament Party this year. Their new social room is beautiful and perfect for parties. The kids liked decorating stockings and it was fun to see everyone and catch up. A whole bunch of my mom's family lives in the Salt Lake area, but somehow it ends up that I only see most of them twice a year. It's a lot of fun when we can get together! 

 Of course there was lots of yummy food, and a fun visit from Santa. Violet was a little apprehensive, and Luke was just very curious... couldn't stop looking at Santa! Cora is the perfect age to visit Santa and was so excited to see him and talk to him about Christmas. 

 We were lucky to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert this year. Pata was out of town, but Shad, Jen, Kissie, Kevin, and I got to go. It was a really nice show, I always love the decorations and the messages shared.

 On Christmas Eve Eve, we took a family trip to see the elves at Gardner Village. We've seen the witches for a few years now, but this was the first time to see the Christmas decorations. They were so cute! We'll definitely do this one again. 

 See a few extra carolers in there??

 We took an evening trip to Thanksgiving Point to see the drive through light display. It was a lot of fun, I think the kids really liked it. We did it in our pajamas though, so we didn't stop to see the reindeer then too. But we went back another day to visit them. I believe this is Dasher and Dancer. Cora and Violet really wanted to tough one, but I think only Cora was brave enough to actually do it. 

 Of course, it didn't hurt that we stopped inside for 30 cents icecream cones afterward. The kids might have thought that was almost as fun. 

A few years ago, one of my wonderful neighbors made us a set of laminated nativity figures with magnets on them. Each one has a scripture on the back to read the story of Christ's birth. I've been wanting to make them myself ever since, and this year was the year. 24 sets! Good thing I started 2 months early! It was a fun neighbor gift to deliver. We also delivered some chocolates and fancy cupcake liners to neighbors, teachers, and friends. The kids loved jumping in and out of the car to do the drop-offs, and they especially loved answering the door to see what yummy treats our friends brought by. We are so grateful to live by great friends!  

 I really wanted to take the kids to a live nativity, but I couldn't find any information on the great one we've gone to the last couple of years. My mom gave us a coupon to go to This is the Place Candle light Christmas, so it was fun to try that out. It was SO COLD that night. Brrrr.... The live nativity was very much on a small scale. But the other things were fun too, I think my kids might like it better when they are a bit older though. It was all about seeing how the pioneers celebrated Christmas, maybe a harder concept for a 3 and 5 year old to appreciate. Riding the train was probably the biggest hit, and they all loved the puppet show too. Here's Luke concentrating hard on it! 

 I was planning on skipping visiting Father Christmas, but when we there on the way out there was no line and he was such a great looking Santa! We stopped for a quick picture. 

 The kids wrote letters to Santa. I loved this form letter, but sadly I can't find the link to it anymore. I may have to copy the idea and make my own for next year. 

Here's Cora's...

 

Violet's....

and Luke's.... Do you think Santa can read toddler scribblese?

We visited Temple Square several times in December. We didn't actually get out to see the lights at night until Christmas Day, but we did see them on at dusk...

 ... and went to a handful of Christmas concerts at the JSMB. I just love the free concerts there in the winter!  I love letting my kids see people perform beautiful music for free in a kid-friendly environment. Wonderful! My favorite was a bell choir concert, we saw a children's string concert and an elementary school concert too. For all of the concerts we attended, we met either my mom or dad or both there, so that was even more fun for the kids. They always love seeing Kissie and Pata, Luke even can say Kissie and Pata now too.. when he wants to. 

Violet's preschool did lots of fun Christmas things in December. I got to go help them make gingerbread houses one day, and they had their Christmas performance on the last class of December. Here's Violet saying her part for one of the little poems "C is for candy cane a yummy Christmas treat!".

 At the end they did a little nativity scene, here's Violet being Mary. 

I also got to help at Cora's kindergarten Christmas party-- they had so much fun! But I forgot my camera. They also got to build gingerbread houses, listen to the Polar Express, drink hot chocolate, and do some Christmas crafts. 

We also made Christmas cookies, did Christmas crafts, and made Christmas cards. The girls and I went to see Arthur Christmas and we loved it! We drove around to see neighborhood lights, and drank lots of hot chocolate. We went to a fun sing-a-long party at a neighbor's house and received emailed personalized videos from Santa to both Cora and Violet.  Each Monday we learned a new Christmas song and reviewed the nativity story for Family Home Evening with our magnet figures, nativity dress-ups, flannel board figures, or Little People nativity set. December was full and fun! 

A good reminder

A thought for the day

"A fascinating thing about joy and love, with which you are surely familiar, is that when we enlarge our capacity to love, other people become real individuals, not merely functions. Gospel duties cease to be mere routine and become, instead, doors to delight. Every doctrine of the gospel is a door to delight that, when opened, exposes us to a vista of things we have not yet fully comprehended."

-Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Jan 1996.

Cora's Christmas Concert

Cora had her first school concert! She was so excited to be singing Christmas songs and performing. She was also so excited to have Kissie and Pata come to watch. It sounds like her music teacher really talked up how they could invite anyone they wanted to come. All the students must have really taken that to heart, it was extremely crowded with all sorts of relatives! Lucky for us, we were warned ahead of time, so Kevin went early to get us seats and we were comfortable. Moreso than all of the parents sitting on the floor or standing for the concert! (They did change things around and I heard it was much better for the 3-5 grade concert the next night). We were also there early enough to only park halfway between our house and the school (it was about 15 degrees that night or we would have walked!).

Anyway, the kindergartners sang Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer and The Teddy Bear Twist. Super cute! 

Here's Cora before the concert. The kids were supposed to wear a red or green shirt. Lesson learned, have your kid wear green, most kids were in a red uniform shirt and it was way easier to spot Cora in a crowd.

This is the kindergarten section of the bleachers. Cora is in a green shirt in the middle of the back row. 

The kids were all so thrilled to be in a new place (it was held at the junior high) and up on the bleachers, there is a ton of background noise. But you can get the idea of how everything sounded. 

Cora was so excited to have such a special night! 

Grandparent letters

Every month or so I send my grandparents and Kevin's grandparents letters on what we are up to. I used to handwrite them all, but decided to start typing them to be faster and have a record for myself. I figured they would be good to include in the blog too. It really only takes less than a half hour each month, and I know they really appreciate it. Most of them aren't able to look at the blog, and I've been way behind anyway. I'm a firm believer that what goes around comes around, and I want to be close to my grandchildren and know what they are doing even when they are grown-up too! 

Dear Grandma,

   How are you doing? I hope you are having a lovely fall! We have had 2 snowfalls here now, it definitely feels as though we are hovering on winter!

   We had a great Halloween, with a ward party, preschool and kindergarten parties, and trick-or-treating. The kids got good use of their costumes! Cora was a fairy, Violet a ladybug, and Luke a giraffe.  Even Luke caught on to the candy concept quite quickly and loved going door-to-door.

   Cora finished her fall season of soccer. She had a lot of fun and always wanted to play, even if she wasn’t always paying attention J! She is reading short stories now and enjoying school. Violet went to her first friend birthday party and had a great time. She loves to play games and do puzzles. Luke is speaking more words every day! He is our little daredevil always finding a new spot to jump off from! He drags the potty stool around the house to better reach lightswitches—he thinks it is so funny to turn the lights off in the closets and bathrooms!

   We took a family trip to see The Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn theater in St. George. It was spectacular! We’re hoping to go to the production of Aladdin next year too. So much fun!

   The kids also enjoy their playdates with friends. Even Luke gets to go sometimes when we trade babysitting so I can volunteer at Cora’s school or when Kevin and I go to the temple. It’s great to have lots of neighbors with kids the same ages as ours!

   Kevin spent 4 days in Chicago on a work conference. He said it was interesting, but there wasn’t a lot of time for sightseeing. The kids and I were grateful to have him back home again!

   Things are going well with the pregnancy. We’ll have our ultrasound the day before Thanksgiving. Hopefully we’ll find out if we’re having a girl or a boy! The due date is April 24^th.

   We had our family pictures done recently and included some of the results. I also included one of Cora’s school pictures. Good thing we got some individual shots at family picture time too!

   We love you lots and miss you! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The kids begged to put the Christmas tree up starting a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. We didn't get around to it quite that early, but we did finish it up a few days before. They were so delighted! The rest of the Christmas decorating will stretch out a bit, but it's fun to have the main tree up at least! 

We all were looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Kissie and Pata and eating at a fancy restaurant! The girls had been primed about using their best princess manners, and to my relief, they did a superb job. Dinner at Grand America was a real treat-- tons of yummy food, lots of new food to try, kid-friendly food, and a beautiful setting, with no dishes afterward. Many thanks to my mom and dad for treating us! 

Kevin and I don't eat out very often at all with the kids, it is usually more stress than it is worth. But with an improved adult to kid ratio, it becomes very doable :). Kissie and Pata were very helpful to help keep kids busy and take trips to the buffet line. Which made it possible for Kevin and I to taste and enjoy our food, rather than scarf it down while trying to prevent possible kid-related disasters. Luke especially liked the chocolate fountain... well who doesn't? Kissie was kind enough to let him dip his own, which was probably the biggest treat of all! 

Too bad it is a bit fuzzy! But here's a picture of family members who were there-- we missed you Keyton, Liz, and kiddos!

Some fun out in the courtyard after lunch

We had a pretty early lunch to accommodate my brother's schedule, but luckily Kevin still had enough time to play football with the ward and get ready before we needed to go. One benefit of an early lunch was that we had the rest of the afternoon to play! For the first time in a long time, Kevin and I got to play games with my mom and dad while the kids all had quiet time. We also played a special game of Thanksgiving bingo and decorated gingerbread houses all together.  

Many things are better left unsaid, and I try to only blog about happy memories, because honestly, that's all I want to remember. I do have to say though, that this Thanksgiving afternoon was the messiest ever, and that kids shouldn't go swimming after a huge meal and should have more responsible parents who don't let them eat too much candy! 

Evelyn

Meet little Evelyn Anderson, due April 24, 2011! She was dancing during the whole appointment, so we didn't end up any super clear pictures. She must have been glad I was finally laying still after cleaning all morning! Evelyn was however kind enough to enlighten us on her gender, which I am so grateful for. And so are the kids, they've been dying to know if the new sibling will be a boy or a girl. Of course, that's Cora and Violet. They both ask nearly every day how baby Evelyn is doing. Luke still doesn't have a clue what is happening, but since he makes excited squawks whenever he sees a baby or an infant car seat, I'm guessing he's excited too. 

The pregnancy is going well, I've just been out of sorts with one thing or another for the last 3 weeks (a week of severe headaches, a 24 hour stomach bug, and a 2 week cough). Which leads to some mild regrets that I can't take anything very helpful. Hopefully the lingering cough will linger off soon. In the meantime, it's fun to feel Evelyn kick around while I read at night, and I'm grateful no heartburn or hip pain has made its way into my life... yet. 

Now we just need a middle name! 18 weeks down, 22 (or more likely 21) weeks left to figure (duke) it out.

Thanksgiving at Preschool

Violet's cute little preschool class had a great Thanksgiving celebration. They sang songs for the parents and then made turkey soup for snack and did some other activities. Unfortunately, I was sick and couldn't go, but Kevin got too, so that was great. 

Our cute pilgrim Violet

I think it's adorable to see these 3 and 4 year olds doing all the actions and singing the songs! 

Light up the night

We went to Light up the Night Christmas tree lighting at the Gateway mall. We actually invited ourselves along to my parents outing, lucky us! It was fun!  John Schmidt did a mini 30 minute concert and then they flipped the switch to turn on the Christmas lights on the BIGGEST Christmas tree in the Northwest.

Cora loved it all and did some great dancing during the concert. Violet did well until it hit about her bedtime, and then gave us lots of frowny faces for pictures (see above). Fortunately she perked up when Kissie and Pata offered to treat us to dessert at JB's on the way home. Luke isn't up for sitting for concerts yet, he required frequent walks during the concert. The train table inside Barnes and Noble was a big hit, and for some reason he really wanted to wander through the nearby clothes store. The kids did do remarkably well for it being cold and late! 

IS this a perfect picture or what?

Kevin and Luke on the “train”(trax) ride back to my parents' condo. I don't know if Luke likes riding the train or walking next to the trax route and seeing lots of  trains better... wait I take that back, it's definitively riding the train! You can barely hear the the train from my parents' condo, but Luke's train sensitive ears perk up whenever he thinks he hears one and he runs to the balcony window to see if he can spot it. 

Such a fun night!

Playdates

Life is full of playdates nowadays, which the kids have loved! Besides regular friend spur of the moment playtime, Violet and Luke get to play with Annabelle and Gavin at least a few times a month while I or their mom volunteers at the school. Luke has done really well with these playdates, which is so nice to not have to worry about him. Violet has a standing playdate with a friend-- Monday mornings they trade off going to each other's house to play. Cora has a standing playdate with another friend (in fact we've been doing it for almost 2 years now!) one afternoon a week. We switch off with a family in our ward to watch each other's kids while we take turns going to the temple. I love having neighbors whose kids are easy to watch-- often the hardest thing about the playdate is just arranging timing (the big benefit of standing playdates). It's nice for the kids to have variety for their days and it gives me some time to do tasks which are better done when they are occupied. And nice to have nice people to help out and be helped out with doctor's appointments and such. We are lucky to live in an area with lots of kiddos and willing moms! 

These six kids had a blast playing together one afternoon this week. They spent over a hour posing each other and taking pictures with Cora's kiddie camera and saying cheese... I had to get a picture myself! 

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

 Kevin's parents came to visit for 5 days. The kids were so excited to see them and play. And lots of playing they did! They saw Puss in Boots, went swimming, played at a bounce house, played in the snow, and played lots of games at home. AND while they were doing all this I got to blog, start and finish Christmas presents, and run kidless errands. It was great! 

 The kids love to swim, and they always ask to swim at the rec center, but it's a little pricey for a visit, and it's a little tricky for me to keep an eye on all of them by myself. So they were thrilled with the chance to go with Grandma and Grandpa. 

I wasn't sure if Cora could really do this big slide-- it is pretty big, and if you ride you can't use a flotation device or a parent, and you have to swim to the edge by yourself. But Cora did it! After that she didn't want to do anything else! 

We got a fun little snowstorm and Kevin, Dawn, and the kids were able to make a snowman before it melted. Luke hated his snowsuit and didn't even make it out the door for more than a minute. Violet had a lot of fun, but came in fairly early too. Cora had the most fun of all! 

I thought their snowman was so cute! We used limes for eyes, fennel tops for hair (from our bountiful baskets pick-up that morning-- I didn't know what else I'd be doing with that fennel!), licorice for a mouth, and a sucker for a nose. Well, we had a sucker for a nose until the neighbor boy swiped it and ate it. Oh well. 

If only this worked!