Christmas Cookies

I have always wanted to make cookies for our neighbors and this year we finally did it.  It was actually a lot more fun then I thought that it would be and a lot less wok then I thought that it was going to be.  I think that the secret is, I made the dough and then I let the kids do what they wanted, no micro managing and no impatience.  Ryan and Julia did the rolling of the dough and the cutting of the shapes, while Sawyer napped.

When the cookies were all cooled and Sawyer was rested, he joined in on the fun and helped put the frosting and sprinkles on.  This was really hard, but I totally let them decorate how they wanted!  They had a lot of fun and then we put them on plates and delivered them to all of our neighbors. 

While we baked cookies and decorated them, Dennis was busy making elk jerky!

Although we did not share any of this, we aren't that nice! haha!!!   It was so yummy!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, the annual Christmas card photo.

This is one of the pictures that will be included with our Christmas card, and you all will get to see it when I get them sent out, hopefully tomorrow!  I love Christmas trees, I think that we should leave our up all year this year.  What do you think?

Ward Christmas Party

Our new ward in Texas seems to have a lot of people that have lived in Hawaii and one time in their life.  I was not surprised when the theme for our ward Christmas party was a luau.  One ward member taught a different dance to different groups within the ward.  Julia learned one with the primary and Ryan learned one with the scouts.  The night of the party all the kids looked so cute on stage.  Sawyer is in nursery and because they are so young, they were not taught a dance, but of course when kids were invited on stage, Sawyer was front and center.  (This is the kid that asked santa for a stage for Christmas).  All my kids are performers, each in their own element, but still they all love an audience.

This is Ryan being "cool"

And this is Ryan being real!

Choir Concert

Ryan had his first choir concert of the year the beginning of December.  This is a choir that he had to try out for and he goes to school early twice a week to practice.  He is really enjoying it and if you have ever heard Ryan sing, you would agree that this a a wise path for him to follow.  He has an amazing voice, I love listening to him sing, which he does do all the time!  The choir did an amazing job.  They are split up in to parts, I am so impressed that third and fourth graders could sing different parts altogether.  It was a very enjoyable concert, I think Julia loved it the most since she spent the whole concert participating in her new favorite passtime, texting!

friends and our pretty fall tree

This tree is on our backyard and at one time it was so beautiful.  It had every color that a leaf can turn in it.  There was green, yellow, orange, red, purple and brown.  Everyday I said I need to get out there and take a picture of it.  Of course, as always, I was a day late!  The previous night it froze and all the beautiful leaves looked like their color had been mixed with black.  So imagine this tree brighter and more pretty.  And yes, I did say that it froze.  It only snows every 10-15 years here in Houston, but of course the first winter we are here is snows.  I did not get any pictures of it, because I kept thinking that it was going to start snowing and then I would take a picture, but I soon realized that the almost invisible flurries, was what texans refer to as "it is really coming down".  There were other places in Houston that got more snow, snow that actually made it to the ground, but where we live, we only saw in barely floating toward the ground. 

This is Ryan with his good friend Caden.

And this is Julia with Caden's sisters, Grace and Maddie.

All these kids have a lot of fun together. 

Welcome Christmas Season

Nothing welcomes the Christmas season better then putting your Christmas tree up.  I love this activity.  I love pulling out the ornaments and remembering all the ornaments that the kids have picked out in previous years.  I love how much the kids love putting their own ornaments on the tree and the place on the tree that they put them. Ryan's are high this year, but only on the left side of the tree.                
                                      

Julia's are in the middle of the tree-right in front and all together.

Sawyers are all hanging on the bottom of the tree almost touching the ground. I have had to move his ornaments up to put the presents under the tree!

And of course I had to get the picture of them in front of the finished tree.  They were all in a very silly mood, so instead of the beautiful Christmas card picture , we get a silly one!