Christmas!!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was truly wonderful! We went to my parents for Christmas Eve. Our tradition is always to dress up and act out the Nativity while my Dad reads it from Luke. Katelyn and Brayden wanted to be Mary and Joseph this year. They were so cute and so excited to do it.




Mary was riding on the "Donkey" while Joseph led the way...



Then Mary brought forth Jesus and wrapped him in swaddling clothes...



I guess Joseph was pretty tired of walking because he decided to take a ride on the donkey... haha



Here come the Angel and the shepherds...



The three kings (Abby wasn't quite there yet)



So cute! They were all making us crack up!



We opened gifts from family and from Grandma and Grandpa and then we headed home to put cookies out for Santa. Mommy made the pajamas this year! They were so excited!



It actually snowed Christmas morning so that was fun to have! The kids took turns opening presents which was really neat to watch how excited they were for each other. Here are some pictures of their fun morning...

Christmas Dance

Katelyn's dance turned out to be pretty casual and fun! She did really well for her first time. She loves looking into the mirrors when she dances, but everyone was sitting in front of them. She still did a great job and you could tell she was having fun. That's what counts! She always giggles and smiles. That's what I love about Katelyn.

Here is a picture of her with her Teacher, "Miss Ann."



Mommy had fun making her dance skirt and fixing her hair all pretty, but you can't really see it in this picture...




And one of her dance friends... They both have candy in their cheeks! (Don't mind the dog's butt in the back round... haha...)



Here's the video:

Christmas Nativity

Our Stake does something they call "The Nativity" every year during the first two weeks of December. Each ward donates Nativity sets to put on display. They usually get close to a thousand of them and they display them on tables in the cultural hall for the community to come and see. They also have church videos playing on projectors. They open the chapel for musical performances. Many of the families from Branson come and perform each evening on the weekends. They have had the SIX Brothers, Brett family, Duttons, and Hughs and more perform. They also have had other local choirs including a tri-stake nativity choir that I joined and have been practicing with for several weeks. It was fun to be a part of a choir again! Usually I am playing the piano. Anyway, the main objective is to use this as a missionary tool. They also have a live nativity outside with live animals and people. It's a pretty neat thing. Since I was in the choir, we have been to it several times. The kids don't get tired of the experience though. Katelyn loves Nativity sets and Brayden loves looking at the animals. Daddy got some great pictures of them while our choir was warming up to perform.





This one cracks me up!



Looks like they are practicing for "Baby Nathan" to come!



I love this one. Katelyn loves the baby Jesus. She has broken so many of my nativity sets that I got tired of super gluing them back together. I finally got her a set that she could play with as much as she wants to. Everywhere she goes though, she just has to hold the baby Jesus! It is so sweet!



The Choir...



Some of the Nativity sets...

"Cookie Exchange"

I got invited to a "mother's night out." I had a lot of fun meeting with some of the sisters in my new ward my age. We had some great laughs visiting, playing games, and exchanging cookies and cookie recipes. We ended up with loads of cookies to put on plates and take them to our neighbors and friends. Needless to say, I one the vote on "best costume." The kids wanted to feel apart of it before going to the babysitter so I thought I would capture this moment with them! Looks like Brayden is taking the "reindeer attitude" pretty seriously!

Gingerbread Train

Merry Christmas everyone! We are loving this time of year! All of the fun things to do... Baking, decorating, shopping, Nativity, Christmas music, Santa at the mall, giving, Christmas parties... I could go on and on. What a fun time of year! The kids have been having a lot of fun with all the festivities. Last night we made a Gingerbread train for our FHE activity. I just thought I would share some of our experience.

The kids took it pretty seriously and did a great job!



Mom looks mad I know, but I was tired and concentrating! :) I can't believe we are getting so close to having this baby. The Christmas season has helped the time go by fast!



Brayden was so cute! He has been playing "Santa Clause" lately. He gets bags and puts his toys in the bags for everyone in the family to open. Then he puts white socks on his hands like gloves and talks in a deep voice to us all... "Here is your present dear..."



Almost done!



Here is the finished product with our initials and all!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! It was strange for me not to be able to really eat much because my stomach has no room. The kids and I made Grandma Nancy's overnight salad and Grandpa Glenn's sweet potato casserole. Brayden also helped me make a Sweet Potatoe Pie that was amazing! My parents didn't have as many people as they normally do, but here we are eating dinner... Mandy's sister was visiting and she looks so much like Mandy! She is in on the left.



Sean played football with the stake that morning and then we watched the parade...
After dinner, my brother left to visit his in-laws and so Katelyn and Brayden were the only kids. That was ok though. They made some Indian Hats and colored some Thanksgiving pages. We talked about the 1st Thanksgiving and then Brayden broke out the Play Dough. He played for almost an hour and a half making all kinds of "goodies" for everyone.




Katelyn decided she wanted to hang out with the "old" people so she hopped on Grandma's lap to play dominoes.



I on the other hand spent the afternoon making flannel pajamas for my nephews that we drew names for Christmas. Then we helped my mom get their Christmas decorations out. Katelyn was so excited she couldn't contain it. Her favorite thing is to set up the Nativity Sets. She loves to cuddle the Baby Jesus. There has been so much talk about it lately that Brayden says the puppy he sleeps with is named Jesus. haha... I love kids! They are just so much fun!