Christmas Fun

After we kicked off "Light the World" on Sunday, we were able to decorate our tree. This is always hilarious because my OCD cannot handle the disaster that is my tree when they finish, but they love helping. And it always makes me happy to see them playing and working together. 

Tucker is a little like me and was very careful with where he put his ornaments. It was cracking me up watching him decide where to put his ornaments. 

Both Tanner and Bailey were super helpful and were able to reach the high branches. 

And Benson was less than helpful but oh so very cute.

This scene makes me so happy. Love these cute kids of mine!

And Tucker got to put the star on the tree this year. 

Then on Tuesday (Dec 3) we went to the "Cookies with Santa" event at the kids school and that was as crazy as ever.

We started out by frosting sugar cookies and then writing letters to Santa.

Then we went to see Santa and talk to him. This is always such a cute interaction. 

And after seeing Santa we went to the gym to have a "Snowball fight"

It was crazy but fun and the kids loved it. 

Friday night before Bailey and I went to the nutcracker, we met Daddy at the Stake Center to see the "Nativity and Noel" even that our stake puts on each year. We went last year and loved it. We loved seeing all the different nativities displayed. 

And then we got to sit and watch the live nativity. This was so special.

The couple that played Mary and Joseph were in our ward so the kids loved that.

We ate a pizza in the parking lot and then Bailey and I left to go to the ballet. 

Daddy left bright and early Saturday morning for drill so the kids and I just hung out at home and played and until Fireman Santa came around our neighborhood.

This is one of the cutest traditions our little city does is "Fireman Santa". The fire department drives Santa around on a fire truck through the city and he gives all the kids treats. It's always so fun.     

The following week we went downtown to mail our letters to Santa. This is another favorite tradition. We mail our letters in this special mailbox  and then Santa writes each kid a letter in response. The kids cherish their letters and it's always so fun. 

I love that the magic is so real (Even if its not real for all the kids- they make it magical for everyone)

After mailing our letters we walked over to the "5 & 10" and played.

We always love Santa's sleigh and getting to play on "Sam's toy Truck". 

Love these sweet kids of mine. 

On Friday I got to go to Elm Tree to make Gingerbread houses with Tucker and the rest of the kindergartners.  I love this cute kindy boy so much!

He worked so hard and did such a great job. 

Then finally, yesterday we got to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. We loved this so much last year that we wanted to do it again this year. 

I had arranged for 6 families, including us, to ring the bell for a total of 6 hours. We took the last shift and it was great. The kids pretty good and it was a nice way to serve others. 

We finished our shift, ringing the bell, and drove to our ward Christmas party. We had a soup and salad lunch and then worked as a ward to complete a number of service projects. 

As a family we worked on a tie blanket. 

Then the kids made nativity scenes to give away. 

It was a great way to serve and spend time with our ward. We love our ward so much. 

It was a great way to spend our day!

Nutcracker Ballet with Bailey

Tonight I got to take Bailey to see "The Nutcracker" for the second time. 

And we got to go with Aunt Sarah and Hazel again. The girls loved it so much last year so we were so happy to get to go again.  We also ran into other friends too- like Camry Lowden and Mrs. April. 

Sure love this girl of mine. I love having one-on-one time with her.
She's my favorite girl in the world. 

And we loved seeing the ballet with our other favorite girls. 

We also got each girl a "Sugar Plum Fairy" nutcracker that they loved it. 

They were so cute playing with their nutcrackers together. Seriously these girls are the cutest friends in the world. 

After the ballet was over Bailey got to meet a few of the dancers. She loved it. Although she said the Rat king was a little scary. 

We had a fantastic time! I love times like this with my sweet girl!

Light the World & Elf on the Shelf Kickoff

We are so excited to celebrate this awesome day. Two of our favorite things fell on the same day this year and we had so much fun celebrating them together.
"Elf on the Shelf Welcome Back" and our "Light the World Kickoff". 

We decided to use lights as our theme for our elf on the shelf  breakfast. 

I just love these kiddos. 

So here was the setup. We had a big pancake breakfast. 

The elves brought us a little letter about how they were so excited to serve others and focus on the reason for this season. 

Don't you love the stocking silverware holder?

And we combined our breakfast with talking about how we wanted to participate in the "Light the World" as a family. 

It was such a fun morning and the kids were so happy to have our elves back. Our elves move each day and bring us ideas of how to Light the World. So it was a great morning and we are so excited to kick off the month of December.