Christmas

Wow we have had a crazy Christmas season. We started out with Samantha's school Christmas program. Here is her class singing Jolly Old St. Nicholas.

Above are the boys talking to Santa at the ward Christmas party. Below is Samantha and her friend Maggie talking to Santa.

We went to Grandma Ruth's for dinner and to open presents with her. (forgot to take pictures)

Below is Samantha opening her gift from Colin. The kids opened their present from each other early so we wouldn't have to take them to Oklahoma with us.

We had Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner and to open presents with them. Then after giving away candy canes we came home and opened the rest of our family gifts.

On Christmas Eve we made the 12 hour drive to Grandma Connie's and Grandpa Don's in Oklahoma. The kids and Dot did great in the car. We all had a fun time.

Here are the boys with their stocking loot. I was completely exhausted Christmas morning and only took 2 or 3 pictures. We stayed in OK until Sunday. On Saturday we went to a wildlife preserve. We didn't get to see any buffalo or long horns but the museum had great exhibits that the kids loved. After we went to Meer's restaurant. That was quit an experience.

When we got home Sunday Samantha had a gift waiting under our tree. Apparently Santa's elves put it in a different place than the rest of our gifts and Santa didn't see it until he was over Arizona.

A Family Tradition

This is how Dale's family counts down to Christmas. Dale made these as a kid and now we make them too. They are super easy and fun. Each kid colors their own paper with Mary and Joseph. When they're colored, cut them out and glue the path to the top of an egg carton. Bethlehem is glued to the end of the path. Mary and Joseph are glued to a craft stick. With a knife poke 12 holes in the path for each egg cup for Mary and Joseph to go in. Put a candy kiss in each cup. For each of the 12 days before Christmas the kids get to move Mary and Joseph one spot closer to Bethlehem and get a treat.

Christmas Crafts

The kids and I went to a friends house after school today for some Christmas crafts. The kids ate mini candy apples and decorated rice crispy treats and fudge. They did Nativity stickers, painted a Christmas tree ornament, made a scarf & a jingle bell necklace, and did a whole lot of playing. A good time was had by all!

Our Beautiful Gingerbread House

The demo crew

Three days ago

Rizban

We have an elf named Rizban visiting us until Christmas.

To quote Samantha," He looks like a toy but I know he's real"

Every night Rizban flies to the North Pole to report to Santa.

The first thing we do in the morning is to see where Rizban is hiding.

Samantha has even started leaving dinner for Rizban every night.

We love Rizban and hope he's giving Santa a good report about us.

Our Fun Weekend in Roswell

We spent Thanksgiving at Dale's sisters house in Roswell this year.

We all had a lot of fun. Here are the highlights.......

The yummy Thanksgiving food. Heather (Dale's sister) and Dale are awesome cooks!!

I helped the kids make these corn "poppers" for everyone. They were filled with candy and homemade turkeys (I should have taken a picture of the turkeys, too cute)

Dot loved playing with her "cousin" Holly

Dale and the kids playing Jason's Nintendo after a big Thanksgiving dinner

The kids had too much fun playing Heather's toy violins. Here are all 3 preforming.




They also couldn't get enough of Heather's skeleton puzzle. Samantha was extra impressed that it was her exact size.

We did lots of other fun stuff too. All the girls went shopping one afternoon. We even met Santa Ros (an alien Santa) at a craft show. Too bad I left the camera for Dale. While the girls were out the Big boys took the little boys to a park with a zoo. Did they take any pictures? NO! The highlight of their outing was Dale climbing into and shaking a pecan tree so the little guys could gather fresh pecans. They were very proud.

We also got to eat at a spaceship McDonald's. A big hit with the kids!!