Christmas Catch-up!!

We had a whirlwind of a Christmas season with as much magic and fun as ever!!  Here are some of the fun things we did over the Holidays...

Elsie got her very first check-up at the dentist!!

 I played in several volleyball tournaments...which were oh so fun!!

 Here is Elsie at her Thanksgiving feast at her preschool!

 And our own thanksgiving day feast at home!!  We started our Thanksgiving Day off by going to the Methodist church nearby and helping out with the Thanksgiving dinner they put on for poor and homeless people! It was such a wonderful experience and such a great lesson for our kids.  I hope to make this a tradition every year, if we can!

 And we were home just in time to finish cooking and eating our yummy feast :)

 Over our very long Christmas break we had a lot of time to kill :)  So we did lots of crafts...among other things.

 Beckham got his Bobcat award in scouts! He was so excited.  I am still learning about all this scout stuff...it seems rather involved.  But so far, we are having a lot of fun with it!

 Here is Beckham with a few of is scout buddies ringing the bell for the Salvation Army outside of Walmart!  It was chilly, but they had a lot of fun serving this way.

This year, I was on the planning committee for our ward Christmas party!!! It turned out so wonderfully! Here are some of the decorations I made!!

 We had a "kid's corner" where there were Christmas stories being read, popcorn, and Christmas coloring pages.

 There were service tables at the party to represent each day of the first 6 days of the light the world Christmas campaign.  My Beehives were in charge of one of them and they did such a fabulous job!! At the end of the party we had a big dance!  Big kids and little kids alike all danced and had a blast:)

 Elsie even got asked to dance :)

 Jane loved dancing with her friends and Beckham ran around outside with other crazy boys!!

 At School, Elsie had a darling little Christmas party with a very special guest...Santa!

 All my kids were sure to tell him what they wanted for Christmas this year!!

 And, of course, there was a yummy holiday feast!

 As a family, we picked several items from the angel tree at our church and from one at Walmart and had a blast picking out presents for a sweet little 5 year old girl!!  We may have gone overboard...but we were so excited on Christmas morning to imagine her opening all her fun stuff with a huge smile on her face.

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve with their new Christmas jammies from Elf Eric!!

 We made our traditional gingerbread city!  This year was particularly disastrous- haha!!!

 And we decorated Christmas cookies for Santa!!

 When Christmas morning finally came I had a heck of a time making my kids sleep for a proper amount of time.  Beckham was so excited, he woke up at 1 in the morning ready to go- haha!!!  We squashed that idea and put him, reluctantly, back to bed.  Then Jane woke up at 3 announcing "It's morning!!"  I squashed that idea, again, and put the kids back to bed again- haha! Somehow, we managed to keep them at bay until 7am.  Then the fun began!

Jane got lots of Legos!!! She was thrilled.

 Elsie got her own sets of legos as well!!

 The kids got light up shoes, too!!

 And Beckham got a 3D pen!

 Grandma and Grandpa were so sweet and gave Elsie this darling ice cream shop!  It was so darling.

 Here is Elsie sleeping in her new mermaid tail blanket...

 Jane  doing legos for hours on end...

 and Beckham making all sorts of 3D creations!!!

Throw in a Christmas snow storm, and it was a pretty fabulous Christmas day!!!

I continue to feel so blessed!!  We have such a wonderful life and I am trying to enjoy every second of it! There was much much more adventure during our Christmas break...but I'll save that for another post, soon to come.

Halloween and Beckham's Baptism!!

 Warning:
 I'm gonna tell you right now that this is a long...yet super awesome... catch up post!!  I have been busy and have sadly gotten rather behind on my blog.  However, since January is such a dreary month, I figured this would be the perfect time to look back to my favorite season of the year...Fall, and to catch up on more of the fun Fall and halloween good times we had!!

Elsie is in a ballet class!!  Yes...it is the cutest thing you ever did see and she just loves it.  She has always had a bit of an affinity for dance so I figured she would thrive in a dance class of her own!!  She really does an amazing job of watching the teacher and following along!!

Here, she and her dance mates are dressed up for a Halloween dance class!!!

 Our ward party was super fun and alfresco, to take advantage of the nice whether!! The kids had a fabulous time going trunk or treating and enjoying a pie eating contest!

 Elsie was Rapuntzel, in her wedding dress!!!

 Jane was a cartoon version of the Mad Hatter!!!  I did her make-up like the picture on the cover of the package, upon her request.  Not too shabby...for someone who knows nothing about doing makeup!!!

 Beckham...continuing his theme of scary Halloween costumes, went as a skeleton ninja!!  He played the part well.

Carving pumpkins has never been my favorite activity, but one I tolerate nonetheless.  Because what would Fall be without carved pumpkins?!?!  Plus the kids love it! So I covered our entire table with plastic and let the kids go to town!!  It is nice that they are old enough to pretty much do all their own work...I pretty much just supervise and encourage :)

 I was able to attend 3 Halloween parties this year!!  Here is Beckham at his 2nd grade Halloween party  with his bestest new pal, Ethan!!  Both ninjas-ha:)

 And Jane at her 4th grade party with her gaggle of sweet friends!!!

 And I had so much fun attending a preschool Halloween party again with Elsie.  I haven't been able to do that for years and I thoroughly enjoyed every second!!  The kids got to trick or treat up and down the hallways!!

 And they had a Halloween feast at the end...lucky!!!

 This Fall brought a very exciting event!!!  My sweet, big boy Beckham turned 8...which means Baptism and Cub Scouts!!!  Here he is modeling all his new scouts gear!!

 Beckham woke up on his birthday to a flood of balloons falling in on him as he opened his door and  a parade of balloons with sweet messages following him down the stairs!!

 We did family birthdays this year, so Beckham got to have a scavenger hunt for his presents which he totally loved doing!!

 Jane surprised Beckham with a present that she bought from the book fair with her own money!! And not to let Elsie feel left out, she got one for her too!!  What a sweet gal!!

 I sure do love this crew!!

 A little buddy from up the street came over just in time to watch Beckham open his presents and have cake with us!!!  We sure do love our big, sweet and spirited boy!  He can be a handful at times but I am certain that "tenacity" will serve him well in the future :) :)

 Soon After Beckham's big day, Grandpa Harper came to stay with us for a few days to be there for Beckham's baptism!!!  I am so glad he came, it was so nice to have him! He was pleased to be able to see the kids' memorial day assemblies while he was here!  Jane got to present Ryan with a Sterling Elementary Service coin along with a big hug!!

 And she had a speaking part in the assembly as part of the Student CEO group!!  Can you see her down in front speaking into the microphone?

We had a lot of fun using one of Beckham's bday gifts to make bouncy balls with grandpa...

Then Beckham was able to decide what we did as a family on the weekend for his birthday :)

He chose, of course, to go to a huge arcade and fun zone!!  Beckham and Jane did the high ropes course.  The first time they tried this, more than a year ago, they froze and had to be rescued... so I was pleased to see that they managed it quite well this time!!:)

 We all had a blast that day!!  We also a snuck in a visit to Adam Ondi Ahman for my Dad!

 Then came Beckham's big day- his baptism day!! He was so thrilled to get his own set of engraved scriptures!!  He had been anxiously waiting all year for these!!

 Here's the treat table, littered with our family's favorite candy bar, the Kit Kat, to serve as a reminder of the baptismal covenants we make.  Kit Keep his commandments
                                                                   Always remember him
                                                                   Take his name upon you
Jane also used this idea in her talk that she gave on baptism that day!!  It was really special to have her and Elsie be a part of the program.  Jane gave the talk on bapstism, My dad gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Elsie gave the opening prayer...she is especially good at prayers!!

 Beckham wore a goofy face for every picture this day...I think to combat his nervousness:)

 We got through it all though, and it all went so well!!  We love and are so proud of Beckham.  He is growing into such a sweet and smart big boy!!

 And to top off the wonderful day...more presents!!  Grammy Cathy and Granpma and Grandpa Dick all gave Beckham some lovely gifts and cards!!