Celebrating The Season

Party

Claire and Shay were excited all day to go to our ward Christmas Party and since we told them the night before they keep asking and asking if it was time to go. Unfortunately, it didn't start until 6pm so it was a long day for them, but they helped me bake cookies and clean up the house a little before we started getting ready. The gym was beautifully decorated and we had some good food that they ate without fighting! After food, there was a short musical presentation from a member of our ward who plays the bagpipes, and then the primary kids were brought to the stage to sing Jingle Bells while Santa and Mrs. Clause snuck up behind them! I wish I had a good picture of Claire's 'O' face after discovering him, but they were so excited to see them and sit on his lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas.

Friends

On Friday, we went to dinner at a friend's house and afterward walked down the street to a house that had a fancy Christmas light set up. This is the first time I've driven them anywhere while it is dark outside and their joy at spotting the decorated houses was fun to listen to. The girls had fun at a new house full of toys they had never played with so they didn't eat much dinner. By the time we were driving home, they said they were hungry...we were already getting home late, but they had to eat a snack before going to bed. The house with the lights that dance with songs was exciting for everyone! They had a way to control what songs you can listen to and we focused on the fun kid's songs that they would like most because I didn't last long in the cold before wanting to go back inside!

Everything Else

I found some Christmas PJs and the reindeer I made two years ago while going through some things in my sewing room so Claire made her own reindeer out of Duplos and I thought they looked cute. Especially since they had wavy hair from braiding it when it was wet! Claire did this random thing when we were reading this week and wanted to memorize the words she knew on the page we were reading so she didn't have to look as we read. It didn't go so well so she then wrote them down on a page so she could read from that page instead of the book. I don't know why or if she had the idea from somewhere specific, but she did pretty good on the two pages we did! Just as I said, Shay built a castle with the magnet tiles again at our baby appointment and wanted me to take a picture so she could show Claire. She had found the tinest little gem in the car right before we went in and it took all of 2 minutes to lose it on the ground which made her sad, but the toys in there made it possible to distract her.