Delightful December

December was a fun-filled month!  We started it off by getting the Christmas tree up and decorated.  This is always a really fun time!!!  The kids (and us, too) love seeing all of the ornaments given to them by family and friends.  It definitely brings back some great memories.  Kassidy is always in charge of putting on the tree skirt, after dancing around with the skirt on her first, of course:)

 

 These 2 ornaments are very special to me.  My parents got them for us right after we were married so they were our first ornaments as a married couple.  I'm not exactly sure how much longer they will survive though...they are getting dried out.  At least we have a picture!

 This is another special ornament that won't make it much longer.  It's Kassidy's first Christmas ornament from her first daycare.  Hard to believe it was 9 years long ago!

  

 We had a very mild winter this year which was great for getting outside to play together.  The kids enjoyed some football and baseball with Daddy.   (I did play, too!)

 I just love Karson's face in this next one...such concentration!

 December was also the start of Upward Cheerleading.  This was Kassidy's 4th year cheering and I must say her best coach yet...me:)  Haha!!!

 

 Brotherly love during one of our games.

 The other coach, Kim, and I had 6 3rd graders and 5 2nd graders...a full squad!  This was my first coaching experience and what a fun time we all had:)  They were such a good group of girls and picked up on cheers very quickly.  We even performed a dance and cheer at halftime towards the end of the season.

 

 Kaleb has enjoyed Cub Scouts this year.  Here he is receiving a belt loop for Maps/Compass.

 

 One of Kaleb's good friends, Colton.

 At church we received a cute little packet saying they wish everyone a blast this Christmas season.  It included mentos and the connector tube to make a Diet Coke blast...It really worked!!!

Karson showed off how he can write his name all by himself and we can actually read it:)

Kassidy made this cute little gingerbread girl mosaic for school.  I helped cut out pieces for the hair, bow, and face, but she did the rest by herself and received an A!

Keith surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for our anniversary...edible chocolate covered strawberries...yum yum! ! !

Kaleb making his wooden frame at a cub scout meeting.

We were so excited to have Stephanie (my cousin) and John and their adorable twins Eva and Julia come to our house for a visit before Christmas.  Julia just loved the Minnie Mouse costume we got her for Christmas and wore it all day long!  They were even able to go to my nephew Alex's birthday party while in town.  It was such a fun day playing and talking with them.

 Kassidy showing off her latest hairstyle.

 Karson and I helped out at Kaleb's Christmas party in school.  They decorated little houses made from graham crackers on a milk carton.  I think the kids ate as much frosting and candy as they used for decorating:)

 Lil' brother got to join in on the fun, too:)

Kassidy and Kaleb had a special day at Monkey Joe's with a friend of their choice on their day off of school.  Here's Kaleb with his friend from class, Alex, and Kassidy's friend from class last year, Autumn.

Every time we go to Monkey Joe's we try to stop at Pet Smart (just next door) to see all of the animals.  They especially love to see the dogs in daycare playing.  We also got Jack and Daisy (our dogs) much needed beds.  While I was shopping for the beds this is what the kids were up to...

 Karson and I made a special trip to Chick-fil-A one morning to see Santa.  Karson was the only kid there when we arrived so he ran up to Santa and Santa picked him right up!  He got to talk with him for a good while and eventually sat on his lap and read him his list (a batman cave and cars).  He was so happy!!!

Christmas 2012 coming soon...