Christmas Decorations

I love celebrating Thanksgiving but as soon as it is over I am oh so happy to put up our Christmas decorations! Each of us has our favorites that we like to unpack and display and we love to do it all while listening to our favorite Christmas songs.   The girls were so excited to see the tree all decorated and sat underneath it cuddling for a long time.   Lacie was home from college this weekend so we begged her to come over and join us.  Thanks to Pinterest she even helped the girls make beautiful snowflakes to decorate their bedroom doors with.  It was a fun night and I am looking forward to another magical Christmas season.

Emily with the Minions

Emily having Fridays off is so nice.  A whole day the two of us get to spend together.  Today we went to Idaho Falls for some early Christmas shopping and lunch.  On the way home I remembered that I had heard about a farmer who painted his hay stack to look like the minions off of the movie Despicable Me.  Emily and I decided to check it out and take some pictures.  It was pretty cool!  We only got slightly lost while heading back home but it was a fun adventure!

 

Wendy's Thanksgiving Program

The 1st grade at Wendy's school put on a Thanksgiving program today.  It was so adorable.  They put on a skit and sang several Thanksgiving songs.  Wendy worked hard to memorize her part and she did great.  Emily was able to come with me again and Wendy loved that.  While onstage she smiled at us and made a heart shape with her hands

 

Choir Concert

Emily was so excited for her first ever choir concert.  They sang beautifully and we had a great time attending.

 

Veteran's Day

For Veteran's Day Wendy's school held a special assembly.  Any kid who had a family member that was a veteran could bring them.  They sang, songs, showed  a slideshow, and had a special parade where the students walked around the gym with their special guest.  Wendy had the biggest smile the whole time as she walked with her dad.  She was so proud to show him off.  After the assembly LeeRoy and I helped in Wendy's class for an hour during centers.  Their teacher had prepared some fun army reading games.  Truly a great day!

 

Wendy at School

Now that both girls are in school I have more free time during the day and have been able to volunteer once a week in Wendy's class at school during their centers.  It has been so fun and she loves it almost as much as I do.  It has been great to meet all her classmates and sneak some fun pictures of her at school.

 

Christmas Craft Time

On Pinterest I found a great item called the 25 days of Christ.  It is a fun set of ornaments you hang on your tree each of the days in December.  You also get a booklet that has a story and scripture to go with each ornament.  I thought this would be a great way to teach the girls more about the life of Christ and focus on the important things this season.  The only drawback was that you had to paint and decorate all the ornaments yourself.  I talked mom into also buying a set and with LeeRoy, Emily, Wendy, Lacie, and mom's help we all set to work painting and crafting.  It took several hours but thanks to LeeRoy letting me break a previous agreement, we listened to Christmas music while we worked.  I love how they turned out and can't wait to use them.  I am now officially looking forward to Christmas this year!

Bingham Magazine

I saw a post on Facebook several weeks ago from the Morning News asking people to e-mail them their sledding pictures for a story they were working on.  I sent them a couple just for fun and completely forgot about it.  Then I got a phone call from my dad telling me that he received the Bingham Magazine in the paper today and was happily surprised to see our family pictures in it.  I was pretty excited and the girls said we were famous!

 

Good Citizen Assembly

Wendy's class presented the new student of the month value during their assemble today.  Since Emily now has Friday's off at her new school she was able to come and watch with me. Wendy practiced and practiced her part.  I thought she would get nervous but she didn't.  She nailed it.