Visiting Santa

 We had a special visitor show up to our ward Christmas party.  Luke was very excited and waited in line for his turn.

 He told the big guy all he wanted for Christmas was "legos". Every time we ask him, he gives us the same answer.  Sweet--that's easy for us.

 These two girls on the other hand will definitely not be getting what they asked for.  They both asked Santa for a puppy.  No way--draw the line there.  They thought they were pretty clever but the lady will not be giving in on that one.

They are all pretty excited for Christmas--now it's just keeping them occupied for 6 more days with out pulling out all my hair!!

Looking at the lights

 We made our annual trek to the South Hills to look at Christmas lights.  The kids were very excited and it gets more pleasant every year to take them--much less whining as they get older.

 The place was decked out as usual and had many things to look at.  The village is always amazing to see all the different things going on.

 And of course we have to feed the camel.  It wasn't busy at all when we went so the kids didn't have to wait for a turn and the camel was very happy to see them.

 Aftwer wards we sang Christmas songs all the way home (much to Seth's dismay--we made him sing with us instead of reading his book), even with lots of made up verses because we couldn't remember them,  and then came home to homemade hot chocolate (which is absolutely amazing--the recipe will be posted in the next couple of days).

Yeah for Christmas!!

Visiting with Santa

Our ward party was last weekend.  As part of it a special visitor showed up.  Luke was excited but a little wary and was happy to wait in line to see the big guy.

 Here he is telling Santa that he wants a "really cool Lego set" for Christmas.  That boy and his legos.  That's all he tells me he wants every time I ask him, which is awesome for me.  I know exactly what to get him!

 The girls on the other hand will definitely not be getting what they asked Santa for Christmas.  They both asked for a puppy.  I am NOT doing that and have told them that many times already.  I guess they think if they ask Santa then maybe I will give in.  Boy are they wrong...not giving in on that one!

Sarah's Basketball

 Sarah decided she wanted to play basketball again this year.  She was with the same coach as last year and even more exciting, with her best friend, Makayla.

 This year was definitely more of a struggle for her, mostly because she is so small and doesn't have the strength to really get the ball to the basket but she does have a mean dribble and is quite fast.

 This game she even stole the ball and brought down the court and shot it.  We were very excited.

One weekend two of my younger sisters and my parents came to watch her play, which she loved (especially when we were cheering for her from the sidelines :)

 Yesterday was the tournament and her team took 2nd place (out of 4 teams but we don't mention that!!).  She was very excited that she got two medals and she was very happy to be with her Makayla.

Some things we forgot....

 The last day of Thanksgiving break my parents took most of the grandkids and took them for a ride on the "Polar Express".

They were so excited and loved it.  Afterwards they got to sit on Santa's lap, get a treat from the convenience store, and have hot chocolate.  They were in heaven.

 I'm a mean mom and made the kids practice their music lessons all week at Grandma's house.  They were troopers about it and the younger cousins thought it was pretty cool to listen.

Jenny, Natalie, Emily and I grew our leg hairs out so we could get them sugared.  It was quite the painful experience, probably because we did it ourselves.  We sure had a great laugh about it though, well laughing, crying, yelling, and screaming :)