Decorating for Christmas

I love decorating for Christmas every year. If it were just up to me I'd decorate on our first big snow storm because it reminds me that Christmas is coming. However, I usually wait until after Thanksgiving. This year it was Ashlyn's turn to put the star on the tree. I never realized how challenging that tradition would be. It's hard to lift the girls high enough to reach the top branch, especially as they older and bigger. And it's even harder to lean far enough that they can reach the middle branch, but the girls love it.

Thanksgiving

We are so blessed. We now get to have three amazing Thanksgiving dinners every year. Two on thanksgiving day and one on the following Saturday. My family always has one at the traditional time. This year Sara hosted the group and we had everyone but Cindy, Kevin and Todd and their families. It was a tight squeeze but we somehow managed and had a ton of fun. I was in charge of potatoes.

Our second meal is with Josh's family in the evening. Kayleen has been kind enough to move it to that time so that we can all be there and Jeff and Kari and their family and Grandpa and Grandma Parry are always there too. Then we have one with Grandma and Grandpa Brown at their church. It always turns out lovely too. We're surrounded by family at such a special time of year and couldn't be more blessed.

Ice Skating

 

We decided to do something fun as a family and headed to the Oval to give ice skating a try. Everyone got to take part in the fun, even Emma. Kali practically skated like a pro and was off on her own from the very beginning. Sadie was super nervous at first and wouldn't let go of us until we made her. Then she realized it wasn't as tough as she thought and had a lot of fun. Ashlyn needed us to push her along at first, even with her walker. But when she finally caught the hang of it she didn't want us anywhere near her. She even wanted to go in the right lane where the big kids skate fast, unfortunatley for her, we wouldn't let her. I don't even dare go in that lane. Everyone fell at least a couple of times, but it was by far our funnest experience ice skating. Next time we just need to bring helmets.

Turkey Hat

Ashlyn made a turkey hat in preschool today. Each feather has a picture of something she's thankful for. She informed me that the blue feather was a picture of me and that I'm yelling at someone because my mouth is open. I'm glad to know she's thankful to have a mom who yells at people.

Tape

Ashlyn is obsessed with tape. She is constantly taping things. She makes dresses for Barbies out of tape, her cards include tape, I find tape envelopes, she tapes pictures to the wall, etc. I've started buying the cheapest tape possible because I was going broke just trying to keep up with the tape supply to meet her demands.

Speedskating Olympic Trials

Kali and I got to go with her class see some of the Olympic trials for speedskating at the Oval. It was a ton a fun. We had to be completely silent when the skaters stepped up to the line but when the gun went off we could cheer as loudly as we wanted. We only got to watch the mens 5000m but the American, Jonathan Kuck won 2nd place.

The Grizzlies

 
We used our Pass of All Passes and took the girls to a Utah Grizzlies Hockey game today, their first one. It wasn't at all what they were expecting. Sadie thought it would be boring but as soon as the music started playing all the girls were out of their seats and dancing with huge smiles on their faces. I kept having to remind them to sit down when the game started again. They were a little confused by all the fights that broke out and kept asking questions about them. Thankfully there was cotton candy. There girls were stuffing their faces with it and Emma's couldn't get enough. It was her first experience with it and she loved it.

The Pink Stool

Emmalyn loves this stool. She uses it to look out the window, to reach items the are purposely placed out of her reach, to sit in, to sit on, to build on, and many more things. I'm constantly finding it under my feet and in random places and she's usually near by.

Primary Program Sunday

I look forward to the Primary Program every year and this year was no exception. There is so much to be learned from the mouth of babes. The only difference this year is that I'm the CTR 4 teacher so I was up front singing with the children and redirecting their attention. It was a lot of fun. Kali and Sadie both had very short speaking parts in the program and did a wonderful job saying them. Kali and another boy in her class also had the privilege of playing prelude for the meeting. She chose to play "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet". She was nervous but did great. I was so proud of her. She was also asked to sing a duet with another boy in her class. They sang the fourth verse of "I Am a Child of God" and it sounded beautiful. 

Gymnastic Meet

Kali had her first gymnastics meet today and did an amazing job! She was so nervous going into it. She never really got to practice the vault routine in class and only practiced the uneven bar routine twice. We went over the floor routine and beam routine a ton at home and her hard work payed off. Her coach said Kali was the only girl to remember every detail of the floor routine without any help. I only wish she would have chosen to do her beam routine on the lower beam. Her coach let the girls pick for themselves and Kali wanted to challenge herself so she picked the higher more narrow one - always an overachiever!

Beam

Floor

Uneven Bars

Vault