Big week for Grayce!

Grayce girl started Primary and Preschool this week!

 We signed her up for an in-home Preschool that's twice a week for a couple hours.

The best part is she has the same teacher for Sunbeams as she does for Preschool. :)

And of course, Edward got her a unicorn backpack.

Happy New Year!

I realized that New Year's Day would be the last day I'd have off from work the same time the kids had no school (besides Sunday's) until Spring Break hits, so I wanted to do something fun together.  It's been a while since we've gone hiking -so I decided we should check out the Boyce Thompson Aboretum State Park.

 

 The kids favorite part of the park was this maze in the children's area.  

They played "Pac-Man" with Grayce as the ghost. 

 Once they had worn themselves out in the maze, we had a picnic 

and then set off on our hike to explore the rest of the park:

 

 

 

I told Hayden it looked like this statue lady was waiting for a kiss, so he obliged ;)

I'm so grateful for this beautiful world Heavenly Father has created for us, 

and for the health and strength to be out and about enjoying it!

Christmas

 I LOVE Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior!

This Christmas I felt like I had to keep reminding the kids that we only get presents because it's Jesus's Birthday and trying oh so hard to teach them that it is better to give than to get.  We delivered baked goods around the neighborhood. We do this every year and the boys wear Santa hats and light up necklaces.  When I told the boys the plates were ready to go they said, "We'll just stay here and keep the house warm Mom.  You have fun." Um nope.  Once they were knocking on people's doors though I could hear them yelling "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!" and laughing and they had that sparkle in their eyes.  When I tried to point out afterwards how good they felt giving they seemed kind of luke warm in their agreement which left me discouraged.  Our neighbors were out of town visiting their Grandparent's for Christmas, so I texted their Mom and asked if we could decorate the younger kids room with snowflakes (we had their garage code).  The boys made the snowflakes and helped me wrap some laser guns (they got laser guns for Christmas and wanted their friends next door to have them too so they could have some epic wars).  They got SO into this! One boy would stand guard at the window to make sure they weren't "coming home yet" while the other boy would tape snowflakes all over the room as fast as he could, and then they would trade off.  We even hung snowflakes from the ceiling. My kids left so excited.  This time when I asked, "See, doesn't it feel good to give?" they whole heartedly agreed.   

This was taken at our ward party.  Grayce was not happy that I propped her up next to this hairy man ;)

 Reese had an elf-on-the-shelf in his Kindergarten class last year, and so he begged and begged to get one in our home until I finally consented.  He's a cute little dude the boys named Snowball.  Reese carries him around everywhere and talks to him and shows him all his favorite stuff.  It's his little BFF. Anytime anyone raises their voice (usually me), Reese will run and grab Snowball and hold him up so he can witness the situation and report relevant information back to Santa. 

Here are a few of Snowball's shenanigans:

 

Roasting marshmallows with a fellow elf pal:

He made a snowman out of our unused Halloween pumpkins:

 My personal fave- he staged a snowball fight between good and evil forces:

 We had an "ugly sweater" day at work.  

This is actually Reese's sweater -that's why the sleeves are so short on me.  I sewed some "Yeti" paws on the shoulders and called it good. ;) Felicia is one of the other hygienist at our office. I just love her -she is such a good friend!

 Grayce got a giant Unicorn for Christmas:

 We enjoyed a lazy Christmas morning.  I feel like it's one of the few days in my life that being lazy is ok.

Notice Grayce's comfy back support:

 This blog is my version of scrapbooking, but in case anyone else reads this, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!