December

December was a fast and crazy month.  We got back from Idaho the last day of November so we started the month by settling back in and trying to get in the Christmas spirit.  It was pretty easy to do with Van and Brielle around:)  

We had a play date with Robin and Vienna and Van was very sweet to the two younger girls.  I love watching my kids bond with my best friend's kids.

We tried to balance out all the santa/present fun with plenty of Christ centered activities.  Our first activity was going to the Alpine living Nativity.  It wasn't all that cold but the kids were super excited to get all bundled up for it.

To get to the nativity you have to take a hay ride which the kids were ecstatic about of course.

They had so many different animals and quite an elaborate set up.  It was perfect to help teach the kids about the story of Christ's birth.

They both got to pet a camel!

After you walk the road to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus there is hot chocolate.  Brielle drank hers like a lady with her pinky out:)

One big milestone this month was Brielle graduating to a big girl bed! I put her down for a nap one day and about 2 hours later I heard some little feet on the stairs. The boys were at school and I thought she was safely tucked away in her crib so I was very startled to hear someone else walking around the house.  I had her show me how she climbed out and it looked like a broken arm or leg waiting to happen so we got the tools out and converted her crib to a toddler bed. She was so excited! The switch was surprisingly smooth and she has done great.  It makes her seem to big!

The first Saturday we drove to the mountains to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree.  I think Van and Brielle are the cutest little bundles of snow gear I have ever seen. I love them!

After hiking up the canyon and finding our tree we stayed there and played in the snow for a long time.  Brielle found the baby tree and fell in love.  She spent the entire time sitting next to it and taking care of it.  She would say it was crying and needed it's mommy or that it was tired and needed a nap.  She was quite the little tree mommy:)  She even made me cut it down and brought it home.

This boy spent the entire time just like this.  He LOVES sledding  and was in heaven.

When we finally dragged our kids and our freshly cut tree back to the car we warmed up with hot cocoa.  He was one very happy boy this day.

That night we blasted some Christmas music and decorated for Christmas.  These two decided they were in charge of the lights.  They were so cute working together and actually did a really good job.

B found these little penguin ornaments and was instantly in love.  She asked Santa for "animals" (she specified that she wanted the stuffed variety) and momentarily thought Christmas came early:)  I probably just should have told her that's exactly what happened and not gotten her any more presents.  She would have been happy!

They were so happy to find the little people nativity.

I love the magic the tree brings to the Christmas season and how excited the kids are to run down and see it every morning.

We continued the tradition of the Van doing jobs around the house to earn money to buy the family presents.  He is such a hard worker!  Brielle joined in this year and sort of did a few things to earn some money:)

Folding laundry

Our little accountant keeping the books.  Notice how she holds the pencil correctly.  She just picked up a pencil at 9 months old and naturally held it correctly and has ever since.

We took trax (the train) up to Temple Square to see the lights.  The car we rode in had two stories and the Van thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The lights were beautiful as usual but Brian and I both thought it was a bummer that there was no snow this year.  It just adds a layer of magic and Christmas spirit to it. It was nice that it wasn't freezing but the snow is worth the colder temperatures.

While we were at the big nativity scene we were trying to talk to the kids (again) about the story of Christ's birth and Brielle just could not get over the fact that there was a chicken in the display.  It was fake of course and pretty small so it took me a minute to see what she was going on about but sure enough, there was a chicken.  She was too distracted by how cute it was to listen to anything we were saying.  Better luck next year:)

So beautiful.  This floating nativity might be my favorite display on Temple Square.

I also love to walk around and look at all the unique nativity scenes North of the temple.  This was was from Japan so we had to get a picture of our little 1/8 Japanese girl with it:)

As we were waiting for the train to come to go home we decided we needed to document why no one likes to share a water bottle with this girl.  Pretty sure if you look closely you can see the backwash flowing freely back into the bottle.  Ew!

We were busy little elves this month and the kids really loved making/buying/wrapping presents.

If you've got it, flaunt it;)  Man do we love this little firecracker!

I scored tickets to ride the polar express to see meet Santa.  It's a tiny little train that is privately owned.  Each year they create an elaborate wonderland with movies, trains, santa's elves.  Van was the most excited I have seen him in a long time.

Brielle's hair was randomly very rooster tail like and we had to take a picture.

In the transition to the big girl bed I found her sleeping on the vent in the corner twice.  Other than that she has been in her bed and it's been over a month now.  Success!!

I don't know why I feel the need to take pictures of Van when he's sick but I always do.  Probably because he's been really sick only like 3 times and I think it is so sad and so cute at the same time.  He had a fever of 102 and spent two days just like this.