Dec. 18 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas

We went old school on this one, and watched the 1966 version that I remember as a kid!

And it's only 30 minutes long!!

Dec. 17 - Lights!

 This is one of our favorite things to do!

And you HAVE to be in your PJ's, robes, and slippers for it to be fun!

 (I think it is Hayden's personal mission to make sure I don't have a single photo of him with a normal face!)

 Brian sat in the back with the kids this time.

(Those glasses that Ashlyn is wearing were awesome! My parents sent them and they make each light look like a snowflake! So cool!)

 Ronan was my front seat buddy (and photographer with my iphone)

 First house off 108 (Beavercreek area) the BEST!

They even had Santa flying into the air with the reindeer (not shown)!

 We enjoyed any and all homes with lights on!

And sang to the Christmas music as we went along!

And the best part was that when we arrived home, we were all ready to go right to bed!

Merry Christmas!

Dec. 16 - Festival of Lights

We went to the Festival of Lights at the LDS D.C. Temple.

Always such a beautiful sight!

We arrived and it was still a little light out, so we went into the Visitor Center first to check things out.

Ashlyn was SO excited to see her favorite display in the Visitor Center....only to find that they had remodeled, and it was GONE! She was very disappointed, but quickly found other things to look at.

They had a display of nativities from around the world. This one I enjoyed from Sweden, our neighbors are Swedish, so it reminded me of them.

Then outside to see the lights in the dark!

Crazy kids outside!

Outdoor life size nativity.

Beautiful night!

Dec. 15 - Party & Ballet

Today was a double dose of Christmas Activity for the girls and I.

We went to our ward 'Christmas Breakfast Party', and everyone enjoyed the food and fun.

Except for Duncan that is....he was home with a fever.

(I had to pick him up from school yesterday because he had a fever. No other symptoms, just a fever)

I didn't take any photos at the ward party...too busy feeding myself and my brood, but a good time was had by all.

That afternoon Morgan, Ashlyn, & I got dressed up,

and went to see the Nutcracker Ballet!

We had a great view right up front!

Ashlyn was mesmerized by the dancers! I loved watching her watch the show!

It was beautiful.

This is the 4th year we've seen the Nutcracker performed by this dance studio, Arabesque Dance Studio. And one of our favorite parts is the 'Holiday Dance' they do at the end!

Ashlyn called out "They are like the Rockettes!"

So fun!

Happy Day of Christmas fun!

Dec. 14 - Elf

Today's Christmas Activity was purposefully a movie.

One that Brian and I didn't not join with the kids in watching....

because we went out on a date!

(Although, we all do enjoy Elf)

To celebrate our 17th anniversary!

Our actual anniversary really isn't until Sunday, but you take the night that works, right?!

We went to a really nice quiet restaurant, The Furnace Branch Inn, in Elkridge.

It was wonderful food, a relaxing environment, and great company!

Happy 17 years!

Dec. 13 - Hot Coco

Tonight is Scouts, Activity Days & Court of Honor, 

so we needed a low key kind of activity.

We enjoyed our hot coco in the morning before school.

It was great, and enjoyed by all!

Dec. 12- Home Alone

One of our family's favorite holiday movies.

Side note...

today was the last time in our lifetime we will see

12:12 12/12/12

Dec. 11 - 'Cane' Someone!

This is something we did growing up. Tons of fun!

We've only done it with our kids a few times.

I've taken the YW 'caning' when I was a leader before...good times (expect that one time we scared an older British lady who was going to call the police on us because she thought we were delinquent youths up to no good-oops!)

Here's the letter we leave on the door:

Originally we planned on only caning 2 families...but there was much unrest in the household. So, we all put names into a hat, and pulled out 4 names who we would cane.

Ideally they would be people who didn't read this blog!

We were all armed with candy canes and set to be sneaky!

 We hung them on bushes, planter boxes, stuck them in the ground, where ever we could! 

Then hung the Candy Cane poem on the door, knocked and RAN!

Hayden was our main 'Runner'. When we were done, we would all get back in the car, and he would wait until everyone was in, then knock and run to the van as quick as possible!

Once he slipped and slid under the open door, got his pants muddy, and banged his tooth on the van door....all in the name of sneakiness!

It was a good time.

Dec. 10 - Teach the Children

Tonight we read the Story Teach the Children

 It's one of my favorite stories from our "Christmas Book"

It goes through the symbols of Christmas, telling of their original meaning and how they represent the Christmas story.

Everyone has a small stocking that holds their 'symbols' so they can get them out as the story is read.

Morgan lead the night, and it turned out great!

Dec. 9 - Gingerbread Houses

Today Madelyn and I stayed home from church, as she was not feeling well again.

She got sick Friday afternoon, but was fine by Sat. morning, and was running around and eating all day yesterday. But woke up this morning with a sick tummy again.

 So she assumed her spot on the couch.

She did however perk up later this evening when we made our gingerbread houses (which aren't gingerbread at all, but graham crackers).

 The house Ashlyn and daddy made.

 Madelyn & I's masterpiece.

 Ronan's

 Morgan's

 Duncan's

I loved how he made a person to go with his house!

Hayden's

He said his was an abstract design. :)

A Good Time!