December

Man, December is such a fun month!! With Addie's birthday and all of the Christmas festivities, we were just going, going, going the whole time. We started the elf on a shelf this year and also had an advent calendar with fun activities every day so we just had a blast all the way through the month! I'm so sad it's over, but it is a little bit nice having some recovery time now ;)
Here are some of the pictures from our fun adventures:

Emily's letter to Santa:

 we made paper snowflakes:

 our friends, the Hawkins, came to visit:

watching the deer :)

 we went to the zoo with Fleming, her boys, and our cousin Keri:

can you spot the photobomber?

Emily shared her pretzels with all the littles

playing tag with Aunt Fleming

we finally went on the train ride!

 the girls spent a whole day doing some Christmas baking:

Emily went ice skating for the first time. I was expecting her to be a little apprehensive, but she went straight for it and never got discouraged. She had so much fun and keeps asking to go back!

so excited!

they had a small ice rink off to the side for the kids to practice, but it wasn't long before she only wanted to go on the big rink!

we almost didn't take the girls to see Santa because I was afraid they would freak out and it wasn't worth it to me to pay to make them cry. Then I found out that our neighborhood was doing Santa pictures for free so I decided it was worth a shot! Emily did awesome! She walked right up to him... it was Addie that screamed :( I loved this Santa! He was so sweet and gentle with the girls and he talked to Emily for a long time! We loved it!

she was still a little shy ;)

 we made gingerbread houses:

 dressed up on Christmas Sunday:

 our elf made mini pancakes for Addie's birthday:

We went to a really awesome walk-through light display and carnival. Just like the ice skating and Santa visit, I expected Emily to be a lot more timid when it came to the carnival rides. She has been surprising me again and again. She LOVED the rides (even though she was only tall enough to do a couple of them)! I guess I need to stop expecting her to be afraid and open her up to more opportunities :)

horrible quality pictures :(

 On Christmas Eve, my family came over for Christmas carols and hot chocolate:

 Christmas morning!

Santa brought an easel for Emily and an elephant rocking horse for Addie

Emily had been asking for a pink care bear for a long time. When Addie opened her care bear first, Emily seemed a little confused. This was her face of excitement when she opened hers next! Thanks Grandma Barb!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Robbie had a big win with her "super hero ponies"

Uncle Danny gives the best gifts!

we tried to recreate a picture from last year but they've gotten too big!!

 It was so fun having all of my siblings in town!

my parents got a pool table, so we had several tournaments! Fleming was the first champion, but I can't fail to mention that Grant and I also won tournaments ;)

On New Year's Eve, my family went to the temple and had lunch at torchy's tacos afterward :) It was the year anniversary of Fleming and Jeff being sealed to the boys. Grant and I also celebrated our 5 year anniversary in December and Stevie and Shianne were celebrating their 1 year anniversary. So many fun things to celebrate!

we had fondue and did fireworks that night. Emily and the twins watched from inside the house, but Addie braved it and went out with us. Every time a firework went off she said, "oooo!"

cheers!

 And here are several more miscellaneous pictures from the month:

this is the only picture I got of them in their matching shirts

it has been the warmest winter I think I've ever experienced (80 degrees on Christmas is just not right!). I hate it because I love cold weather, but at least we've been able to enjoy being outside!

the girls were very spoiled having their uncles home for so long!

how else do you push 3 kids at once?

cleaning the church

we loved having daddy home for 2 whole weeks!!

Emily has finally started letting me put her hair in a ponytail and it's adorable!

Wow, that's a lot of pictures!!! We had such a fun month and a wonderful Christmas. Emily is finally at the age where she's understanding all that's going on, including the true meaning of Christmas. The first time I tried to explain to her that the reason we have Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth she laughed and said, "no, it's not!" I was determined at that point to focus more on Christ and, hopefully, she could now tell you about Christ's birth and why we celebrate Christmas ;) I hope everyone had a wonderful season and has a fantastic new year!