BC (Before Christmas)

The fourth graders at Jansen's school had a living museum. The students chose someone from history they wanted to learn more about and prepared short presentations to share with people who came to "visit" the museum. They were also supposed to dress and pretend like they were the historical figure they chose. Jansen decided to do Ronald Reagan. It was difficult to dress him in character since he doesn't have a suit or any blazers. This is what we settled on. He had some khaki pants he was supposed to wear that day, but boy does he hate his "church" clothes and he decided not to wear them. 

After seeing Jansen at the "museum," Leah and I joined Natalie for lunch. I haven't spent much time at their school, and being there that day reminded me how much I love elementary schools. I don't think I ever want to teach again, but I definitely want to spend more time volunteering there when Leah is a little older.

Emmy is so sweet. She is a very obedient child right now and likes to please and do what's right. She can border on being a tattle tale, but she just likes people to be doing what they are supposed to be doing. She is most difficult at night right before bed, but I think it's because she is so tired. She is asleep almost the moment she closes her eyes. 

A week ago we decorated gingerbread houses. We invited the Kartchner's over who are in our ward and live in our neighborhood. We tried out a copycat recipe that night of Cafe Rio's tortilla soup and it turned out really good. They were wonderful company, and it was a fun, sugar-filled evening.

It's not the greatest picture, but I wanted to capture the moment dad is "attacked" when he pulls in the driveway from work. I actually think all three children are in that pile.   

                                                        

We discovered a way to keep content for awhile - give her a fruit roll-up still in it's wrapper and let her go to town on it. I'm pretty sure I had to throw that shirt away.                          

I am the Wolf den leader in our church's Cub Scout pack. We took the boys to do a service project at a food bank one Saturday morning. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Leah. She has acquired another nickname, this one from Emmy: Dubs. I have no idea why.

Emmy and her friends at preschool sang the cutest songs at a little Christmas program. Emmy had been singing this particular song every day all day but during the program I don't know if she sang a single word. I think all the kids were a little distracted by the parents and siblings, but they still did such a great job.

Party in the pack and play!

I took this picture the Sunday before Christmas. I do have other children, but Jansen and Natalie detest church clothes and who knows where Emmy is so I just snapped some shots of these two. They were the best dressed of our crew anyway. 

We loved having our friends the Thomsons come stay a night with us at the beginning of Christmas break. The unfinished playset quickly became a hideout, shelter, and fortress.

It wasn't as warm this day as Natalie's shorts and short sleeve shirt would lead you to believe, but we still got a little soccer in.

We tried out a burger place in town and all really enjoyed it. Well, eating out with Leah isn't really "enjoyable," but we made it work. I think Emmy had fries and lemonade for lunch.

The front room of our house is pretty empty, so I just kind of decided it would be the "Christmas room" this month. It was often a mess, but it was a happy, Christmas-y mess. Nate's mom made our beautiful stockings you can see in the background. Leah doesn't have one just yet so the girls made her one out of paper. It's that pink thing you can see to the right of the others. It just cracks me up.

This picture gets me every time. Those cheeks. That nose. Her chubby little hands. I love that innocent little face. She is starting to babble a lot more and is getting up on all fours. It won't be long till she is crawling all over the place! Her favorite thing in the world to eat and play with is paper.