Hello December!

The much anticipated month of December came and went in a flash. It was a wonderful and magical month and we loved celebrating!

We had our sneaky elf come back this year. Andrew got into a little bit more, but we'd still have to remind him to go look for him. He brought us Christmas Jammies and the Polar Express Book. Made us elf-sized pancakes and muffins for breakfast. And was as Andrew say. "He's a pretty pretty sneaky elf"

Andrew was super excited to decorate the tree. We pulled out all of his ornaments and put them in a small shoe box. He asked about each one. They all still ended up on the same branch, just like in years past, but this year had to be quickly moved because of the girls. I was kind of lazy and pretty much only half decorated my tree. No ribbons or bow and only a few of our favorite ornaments on the top half of the tree. The girls actually did pretty good.....considering being 14 months old. They'd come up and admire the lights, and shake the tree a bit, but that's about it.

Making Christmas Cookies. It's always a bigger mess and takes a lot longer. But this kid had such a fun time helping me dump everything into the mixer. 

I love pulling out all my nativities. Again. I was lazy and only pulled one of my big ones out, as well as the two or three the kids can play with.  Those are the ones that got the most use. It was fun to see them sit right by the tree and play.

We tried to make more progress on the huge backyard project, but with all the rain, we basically have a huge mud puddle in our backyard. And most of the rain has eroded what we had piled up in to the trench we dug. So much for all that work....

We love love love having the missionaries in our home and were lucky to have them a bunch of times during the month of December. Andrew has really started to admire these two missionaries. He wanted to stay in his church clothes, when he knew the missionaries were coming for dinner, because that's what missionaries do. I also love that they prepare a short message just for him. What great examples in his life!

We actually had quite a warm December with lots of Days in the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, most days were downpour rains. So although they were warm, we couldn't really enjoy them. One day after Andrew's therapy we decided to hit up the park by our house. It was a little muddy in one area, but these three had a blast.

I was able to go and help with Andrew's "Winter Party" at school. The best part was that I didn't tell him I was going to be helping. The look on his face was priceless. It melted my heart and he ran right to me and gave me a big leg hug! Sweetest thing ever! Love him and we had a great time!

I loved that Andrew remembered the real reason we celebrate Christmas. This year we built even more upon what he remembered. He was so darling one evening after we had a little chat about why Jesus was born in the stable and how the animals gave him their manger for his bed. Not 5 minutes later, he was having the same conversation with Olivia. So precious and made my heart explode. Love them!

Andrew couldn't believe that these men had such big candy canes....lol. He cracks me up! 

We were able to take Andrew on a few "dates" over the holiday break. Both Stephen and I have been wanting to spend some one-on-one time with this kid. And this was the perfect timing with all the rainy weather. He was pretty excited too when we told him we'd be taking him on a mommy-son date and a daddy-son date.

He and Stephen slipped away one afternoon and went and saw "The Good Dinosaur" movie. This was Andrew's first time at the Movie Theater. He was pretty excited and had a fun time with dad.

Then another afternoon Andrew and I headed to the children's museum that's just right close by our house. I love that we don't have to head into the city to do this and he has a ball the entire time. We spent a good three hours there and could have stayed longer. His favorite this time was driving the real airplane. He loved it and spent most of his time there. So much fun!