December randomness

It's been an eventful month. Imagine that!  We made a few fun memories outside of December 25.  

I'm having tons of fun with my young women at church.  We manage to enjoy each other apart from Sundays, too!  Our ward Christmas party was a kick.  The youth all performed musical skits on a holiday theme.  The Beehives lip-synced to the hilarious "Pretty Little Dolly."  A few days later all of the youth went caroling on hay rides.  We had a great time, but it was freezing (about 18 degrees)!

Kate is a climber. She has learned to scale chairs and bar stools, which grant her access to all kinds of things. On this day it was an open jar of peanut butter, which she raided with her hands and smeared on the computer. When I put the stools on the table, she managed to climb up and get stuck under one of them. Ha. Serves her right!  I mean...poor baby.

This was inevitable, but I'm pretty sad about my awesome yellow flower pot.  *sniff*

This photo really scares me.  How can she be that tall?

But this one is pretty cute.  The girls enjoy their reindeer antlers from Granny.

Gavin bought a sherpa-lined hoodie (Walmart version) with his birthday money.  That has become his favorite article of clothing EVER.  He loves the soft fuzzy stuff on the inside so much that he wears the jacket under his clothes and pajamas.  It's hilarious. He knows what he likes!

Gavin also LOVES one of his Christmas presents: a climbing rope that hangs from the back yard tree.  It's so good for the kid who needs sensory input for his joints.  Garry is crafting a swing to hang on the bottom knot.  Our back yard just got a little cooler.

We invited friends over to decorate our traditional sugar cookies.  This is one area of my life that offers ample evidence of my lowered standards.  The mess and the work don't bother me.  The quality of the finished product doesn't bother me.  Frosting cookies is just a fun activity.  And this year it was just a check in the "done" column. I think the kids enjoyed themselves.

I took Tyler out for ice cream (and a grocery trip to Costco).  He was feeling slighted on Christmas and I told him we could go on a date.  Apparently two scoops of bubblegum ice cream fixes everything.  The low fat, no sugar ice cream I had was pretty good, too.

Lexi had a cute little friend over to play one day.  Those girls are two peas in a pod.  I loved their twinner dress-up outfits.  Silly girls.

Last night we had a great time playing games with friends at their house.  The kids really enjoyed each other and played some fun games.  Garry and I had great conversation with our hosts.  We definitely ought to be social more often!

Garry took the kids bowling yesterday.  They had a fantastic time.  Garry got the high score, but Lexi was next with 77 points!