Good times!

I can't believe December is over and that Christmas has come and gone.  We had such a wonderful month and did a lot of fun things!  Here is the rest of our December fun.  We decided not to go home to Utah for Christmas so we tried do a lot of fun things just as our little family.  It was sad not to see everyone but it was a nice, relaxing Christmas and our last one in Omaha!

Kinnie's dance recital

Riding the train down at the gardens.

Kinnie got to be Mary in her preschool nativity program.  She was so excited about it!

They sang lots and lots of songs and recited Christmas poems:)

Just playing a game perched on the couch

Sidney felt pretty cool sitting in a high-chair at a restaurant.

Decorating gingerbread houses

The beginning of a blizzard.  We woke up the next morning to a foot of snow!

Happy sledding!

Andrew being Kevin from "Home Alone"

 Christmas jammies

Christmas morning

Ice skating.  Kinnie loved it and did not want to stop.

Andrew didn't want to try it so Landon and I switched off taking Kinnie.  Andrew was doing his own figure skating while we watched :)

December Fun

Sidney can be found by the tree a lot.  She thinks she is pretty funny when she gets an ornament off of the tree.  

Melissa, this picture reminds me of you.

Kinnie sat on Santa's lap at our church Christmas party.  I didn't even have to go up with her this year.  And Andrew watched from far far away.  We had even a better experience at the Children's museum with Santa a week later though that was so magical!  But they were charging $25 for a photo package and didn't allow cameras.  There was an elf named Holly who danced with the children, a Snow Queen who made it "snow" and Santa really came down a chimney.  His big black boots appeared first and then he fell to the ground and came out of the fireplace.  We talked with the Snow Queen and Santa called Kinnie and Andrew over by name.  Kinnie sat on his lap again and he talked to her for a few minutes.  Andrew just watched again (and has been pretending to be Santa at home ever since).  

We went to a neighborhood known for their amazing lights.  It was nothing like Temple Square but there were some pretty good ones.  This picture doesn't do these trees justice but you get the idea.  

Dance Pictures

Kinnie's dance class did a cute little Christmas recital.  When dance started back in October I thought it would be wise to take a break from dancing.  Kinnie had danced the last two years and I didn't want her to get sick of it at such a young age.  A few weeks went by and Kinnie overheard her friends talking about dance class and it made her wonder why she wasn't doing dance too.  I had told her about taking a break from dancing and she was fine with it, until she realized all of her friends were having so much fun in dance class.  It is such a low-key dance that I should have just put her in in the first place... and she loves to dance.  Maybe I will get around to posting a video eventually.

Christmas Tree

We had a lot of fun picking out our tree at Bennington Farms!  It was a new experience for us all.  We had no idea how much fun it would be (and hard) to pick out our own tree.  We were taken out to the tree farm by tractor and given our own pole to measure with, and saw to cut it down.  We searched and searched for the perfect tree and finally found one. 

 We decorated the tree for Family Home Evening.  Kinnie and Andrew did such a good job putting up ornaments on the poky tree.  It really did hurt a little!

Maybe that will keep this munchkin out of trouble though!

Thanks for the Visit!

My mom and dad came to visit for almost a whole week!  It was so great to have them here. I was especially grateful that it was over Thanksgiving.  We felt so lucky to get them for the feast since it was their off year with the rest of my family.  We had a lot of fun and some relaxing down time as well.  We took them to the slides downtown, the children's museum, the zoo, the gingerbread display, walked up to the train display, saw the poinsettia tree at the gardens, ventured to Walmart :), and they took us out to eat!  We watched a lot of football and enjoyed leftover pie (and dinner) for a few days.  They got to see a few Sidney milestones as well: her second tooth poked through, she started sitting up like a pro, she found her high-pitched squeal and started saying "dadadada".  Kinnie and Andrew enjoyed every waking moment with them.  Thanks for the visit mom and dad!