CHRISTMAS

Christmas Morning: Whose is that?

Oh, just look what Santa brought!

Lots of new fun for two boys
And Eme's favorite part: empty boxes

GOAL!!!

We have just wrapped up Aidan's first soccer season. He has come a long way too. At the first game my son ran around with his hands like a gun, or galloping (including hitting his own bottom to go faster). But by the last game on Saturday, he was getting into the pack of kids chasing the ball, and doing a decent job of kicking the ball away from the other team. This isn't a "real" league, it is through the school district and they don't keep score, but the parents do (our team won or tied every game). Aidan was so proud to recieve his soccer medal, he has made sure that everyone knows that it is his very first medal ever. He is looking forward to playing more sports, and that's all we could ask for.

Temple Lights

For 27 years the Mesa Arizona Temple has celebrated the birth of Christ in light and music. We took the kids on Friday to see the lights at the temple, and to hear one of the concerts. It was a chilly evening for us, especially out by the front lawn (a good 10 degrees colder than on the other side of the grounds), so we had all of the kids bundled up nicely. The front lawn is cool because they have three life-sized camels and Kings in lights. They are headed towards the star in the East, which you can just see over the top of the visitor's center. We enjoyed walking the grounds with the kids, and we were able to listen to about 3 songs from the concert before they all wanted to go again. When it was time to go, the boys wanted to go back to see the star, for underneith was the stable and baby Jesus. It was nice to be able to talk to the boys about their hearts being pricked by the spirit, and remind them that that was the real feeling of Christmas.

Thank you Gramma

My Gramma Seguine loves me, she made me this poncho so I will be warm during the bitter cold Arizona winter. (It's a good thing too, as I only have one long-sleeved top.) I like it, I can put it on and take it off, all by myself. It is so soft, sometimes I like to drag it around the house and snuggle with it. Thank you Gramma, I love it, and you too.

Gingerbread Houses

This past Saturday we built gingerbread houses at my in-law's with all of our extended family there. There is a reason we rarely build gingerbread houses in our family; Eric and I do not work well together. I like my house to look nice, uniform, pretty; whereas Eric likes to glop frosting all over and then dump marshmallows in a heap and then glop more frosting all over the mound. He did add one nice touch to our house, he built a Santa out of gumdrops and put him behind the chimney. I gave up after a while and banished him (and Davin) to the two gingerbread people. If you look at the finished products you can see his handiwork. And yes, that is Roudolph's head on the back of our house.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Davin! You are 3 years old today (well, Saturday)! We had a great time celebrating Davin's birthday Saturday. We spent the day at Eric's parent's house to celebrate both Davin's and my mother-in-law's birthdays (her's was Friday). We made gingerbread houses (pics will be coming), played with cousins, ate pizza, and then we all went to ZooLights: Eric's parents, Grandpa J, Ryan & Britney with Jaidyn & Aston, Matt & Rachel, Heather, and Ashlee, along with our troupe.

This year we went for a rocketship cake. It turned out so cute, and it was really easy to make. It wasn't a space theme birthday though; Davin got all Imaginext Adventures people from us. Nana and Poppa gave him his first bike and Treasure Island (along with some clothes and more toys). And with his BN card he picked out another Mo Willems book: Edwina, the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct. He had a great time, we all did. Thank you everybody!