December, Part 2: Lots of Fun Things to Do Around the Holidays!

Above: Here are Thomas and Johnny (with Grant behind them in the crib) trying on some of Grant's awesome hats at Kim's Polar Express Christmas party.

Above: Silly guys.

Above: Fun cousin time!

Above: Cute Caroline pretending to wash her hands in Grant's play kitchen.

Above: We went to the Draper Park to see the "Tree of Life" lights.

Above: Really pretty.

Above: Nothing says Christmas like dressing up like a mummy.

Above: Cute mummy with his mummy puppy.

Above: He knows how to play the part.

Above: Peter started his very first season of Jr. Jazz in December.

Above: What a ham.

Above: Jeremiah coached Pete's team.

Above: Jr. Jazz proved to be quite the experience. It was harder for Pete to pick up on than soccer and Peter has always had the type of personality where if he feels like he can't do something perfectly, then he feels that he is stupid or inadequate. So, we had a lot of rough moments with Jr. Jazz.

Above: We went to my work party at the Grand America Hotel. I had actually had my last day of work the week before, so it felt a little funny going to a work party where I was no longer an employee. I was grateful for what that job provided for us, but we knew it was time for me to move on. We didn't see how it was going to work for me to quit finance-wise, but we had to move forward in faith. It was just getting too hard on our family. The boys needed me to be work-free so that I could be there for them more. We moved forward in faith...and the Lord provided for us. It was right after I gave my notice for work that we were contacted about refinancing our house (which lowered our monthly payment, removed our monthly mortgage insurance, and we took cash out to pay off our credit cards--which enabled us to be free of a $500 per month credit card payment). Shortly after my work party, Jeremiah also learned that he would be getting a raise at work. We felt incredibly blessed and watched over by the Lord. We moved forward in faith, and He truly did provide. 

Above: One of Peter's homework assignments was to be a secret elf. :) He was so excited to put these notes around the house...but he didn't quite get the whole idea. At any rate, these notes made me smile, and if anything, he definitely understood the idea of loving me and I know my secret elf loves me lots.

Above: This is what I mean...my sweet little secret elf left all sorts of notes such as, "A Secret Elf made your bed," "A Secret Elf did the dishes," "A Secret Elf did the laundry," etc. However, while the Secret Elf left behind these sweet notes of service...the service wasn't actually done. Beds were left unmade, dishes were undone, laundry was still dirty. However, each time I found one of these cute little notes, it made me smile and laugh a little to myself. Plus, it made me feel very loved. The sweet little hide-a-smile looks on his face as I found each note were priceless. He didn't quite understand that in addition to leaving a note, he should do what the note said...but he was serving me just the same. He was so pleased about it and so excited for me to find each note. It was one of my favorite gifts this Christmas season.

Above: I know...Secret Elf or not, I need to do a better job of making my bed every day!

Above: We had an incredibly warm December. Here it is at the beginning of December and it was 65 degrees outside. The boys quickly shed their jackets and enjoyed the warm weather.

Above: They also enjoyed the company of cousins.

Above: What a sweet little train conductor.

Above: Cute guys! Pete was at school during this visit to the park. He was definitely missed.

Above: However, Caroline was happy to fill in any gaps.

Above: The boys were happy to be blowing raspberries...I think they were a bad influence on Caroline. :)

Above: Decorating Christmas cookies at Mimi and Papa's house for our Washburn family dinner.

Above: The other cousins were having a great time playing Mario Kart all together.

Above: We decorated another round of gingerbread houses. The boys did a great job!

Above: What a cute guy. I promise, he does wear clothes...he just sheds them immediately as soon as he gets home.

Above: This guy is really into pulling silly faces for pictures these days.

Above: Look at how cute their mini gingerbread houses turned out.

Above: They had a lot of fun and they were so creative. 

Above: Trying out my new awesome camera by taking pictures of the nativity sets that Nammy has given us. She gives us a new nativity each year.

Above: I actually bought this one off of eBay. It is the exact same one that was my favorite of mom's while I was growing up. I loved setting out that nativity every year. I always thought it was so beautiful. I didn't want to ask mom for hers, so I hunted down one of my own and got lucky!

Above: And here are the boys still happily decorating their houses while I took a nativity picture detour.

Above: Trying out my cool new camera that Mimi was so kind as to give me (for a combined birthday/Christmas present since it was a pricey camera). Doesn't it take cool pictures? I still need to become more proficient at using it, but I'm excited to get better and better!

Above: I love this picture. I left this branch like this the whole season. The boys helped me decorate our red and green tree. I believe it was Johnny who got a little overzealous on this branch. So what if some branches were bare...this branch was definitely deserving of its bounty.

Above: This was care of Peter...as are the askew ornaments/decorations in the background. That Pete loves to crawl behind and under that tree!

Above: Johnny loves Hello Kitty and McDonald's had some Hello Kitty toys in their Happy Meals around this time. Johnny snuck a few on our tree when I wasn't looking.

Above: Our completed tree. Didn't the boys do a good job?

Above: My blue, white, and silver snowflake tree. 

Above: We actually got to have two Jr. Jazz games before Christmas.

Above: Peter did really well, but he can be so hard on himself. Some of the games he left in good spirits, others he left in tears, others he left mid-tantrum. It was quite the roller coaster of a season.