Singing/Dancing All the Way...

Our little dancer had her third dance recital on Saturday afternoon. She is still not convinced that she loves dance but she agreed to do it again after Christmas so we will start round #4. Still funny to me that out of three girls she is the only one we have ever had in dance. The other girls were always in gymnastics so there wasn't much time for dance, but I have loved watching Jada and really like the low-key atmosphere at the Y.

The winter recital is a little less fancy so no sequins for little JJ but she still looked pretty cute! She and her bestie Whitney were in class together so that made things extra fun...

They had a tap and ballet number and then a finale with all the dancers. Jada does such a good job following her teacher and is such a cute little dancer!

This was our third class with Miss Carolyn. After the recital we went out to Red Robin...

That night, Mya and I went on a little date. Mya turns 8 ten days after Christmas and gets baptized the day after her birthday. Kind of a crazy time to focus on getting baptized with Christmas and all but also so fun for her to get baptized the day after her birthday. Trying to get her dress that I ordered back in October has been a nightmare but that is a different story for a different day. Anyways, we had our traditional date to the temple and then saw a movie. So fun to hang out with my little My-My!

Elle has stayed busy at school this year with choir and drama club before school lots of mornings. I got to watch her Christmas performance at school. Funny how the focus is not on Christ at all these days in the schools. The songs are all about snow and winter or hot chocolate, basically neutral holiday ground. Very interesting.

She also had a performance at Old Town Spring the same time as Jada's dance recital. Luckily she was able to go with a friend so she didn't get to miss out.

Elfie is getting bonus points for creativity this year, answering notes and leaving goodies and getting a bit creative during his nighttime adventures...

Fulfilled my holiday baking duty by putting together and delivering 15 treat plates Sunday night. Let's play a game... one of these cookies is not like the other ones...

And after my late night shopping adventure last night my closet has now become off limits to all ages 10 and under!

Besides all the Christmas goodness, (which it really seems unreal that it is actually less than a week away- the weather today is definitely not wintry, and sometimes with all the busyness it is easy to lose sight on what we are actually being busy about) life goes on as normal. The baby is a walking machine these days who is learning quickly that he can have an opinion. We start them young these days...

He is starting to talk a little more, with his new word being "book". I love it and he uses it at just the right time, most often when he wants me to read to him before naptime. So, so cute. Not so cute? Him throwing a fit on the floor below. Yes, we are to that stage.

Elle was one of 10 4/5th graders who qualified to participate in the Geography Bee at her school. She did a great job that day and I actually had a good time studying with her and learning a lot about our world. My favorite question she was asked was about peanut production in one of the states in the USA. How on earth would you ever know to study that!

I continue to try and keep the peace amongst the little ones here and to keep the house somewhat in order (pretty unsuccessfully at times). Favorite messes as of lately? Cornstarch all over the kitchen and the explosion of nasty roast water from the pipes under our kitchen sink. Both really fun.

I love my kids. They drive me crazy but are so, so wonderful and so good. I love the funny things Cole says these days and watching Eli come alive and learning so much. I love Jada's creativity and spunkiness (as can be seen by their "bunkbed" below). I love Elle's dedication and hard work in all she does, and I love Mya's tender heart and both of their desires to be good. When I think of the tragedy in Connecticut I can't help but get teary almost every time, as it really hits close to home. I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for and am so appreciative to a loving Heavenly Father who gives me all I have.

Christmas is coming, and the tree is on the ground...

It really is a beautiful tree, if I do say so myself. At least it was, that is, until a certain one year old started to undecorate it (actually it still looks ok- I have just had to rearrange a little)...

 Don't be fooled by that sweet face. He is actually capable of things like this...

Still such a cutie though. And he is walking so much these days! Still mixed in with some crawling, but he really is walking a ton! Saturday night I pressured Jake into taking us to see the Zoolights...

 I had high hopes, I really did. Zoo, animals, lights- seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately things started a little rocky. It was very crowded, and we had to walk like 50 miles just to get to the entrance. It was also hot. That's right- balmy warm, and all the girls were wearing boots. Not the best idea. It was late, the baby got tired and cranky, it was super crowded, and the lights were honestly not that impressive. Tons of the zoo was blocked off, not many animals were out, and the lights were kind of underwhelming. Totally not worth our $. We were hot, the kids were cranky, some found it boring, and we had to listen to Cole say things over and over and over again like, "Coley wants a light up stick" or "Coley wants to see the lions" (who unfortunately were being a little inappropriate- beware of the zoo on a Saturday night)!

 I'd like to say we had a good time, but we all felt a little like this...

The girls favorite parts may have been when we went in the gift shop at the end and picked out things we would buy (even though we weren't buying) and then went out and took fun pictures by the lake while we waited for Jake and Cole to bring back the car. Oh well, it was worth a shot I guess. I just wouldn't go if I was you. 

So Christmastime is a wonderful time of year, but definitely a huge project to pull off as a parent. Lots of list making, buying, wrapping, gift giving- all wonderful, just a lot. Had fun putting together a bunch of packages to give away. We also had our traditional "brown bag" gift exchange for FHE where we find random things around the house to give to one another to practice the proper way to receive gifts. Cole was funny this year because I think he actually thought his gifts were for him to keep. He grew really attached to the masking tape I gave him and even went to sleep with it that night. The next day he was asking for his heart underwear. Funny boy!

He really is funny these days. One day he told me something like, "When you go to see the tooth fairy, you get your cheeks ripped off." And he became a little concerned with people dying for a day or two and would tell me things like, "I hope sissies don't die." He also is in this funny phase right now where he refers to himself in the third person, as in "Coley wants..." And when he wants me to pay attention to something he's saying, he'll often say, "Look at Coley's face". Three year olds... funny little creatures...

The fam got to see Santa at the ward party...

And for December, we were having some unseasonably warm weather. This was my children, Dec. 1, before 9 a.m. I believe. It cooled down quite a bit today which I guess is needed because it wasn't feeling much like Christmas around here.

Jada is doing great in Kindy and learning a ton. She got to be Star of the Week and helped make this awesome poster. And today was spent grocery shopping. Honestly I dread this task. One of the fun parts of feeding a family of 7 is grocery trips that look like this...Good thing Jake works hard to pay for us to eat!