Christmas 2012

 We're already counting down to next Christmas . . . . why is it that we love Christmas time so much?  We had a wonderful Christmas day and some simple, great family time the rest of the week.  Here are a few pictures of our week:

 

Christmas morning - here we are coming down to the living room.  It's always sooooo exciting!

 

We were treated incredibly well this Christmas.  Santa was good to us as were our family and friends.  Here's Sam inspecting his gifts from Santa.

 

Me too.  Santa knows that I love all things Thomas the train.  I also got lots of books this year, which I love.

 

Santa also gave our family a big gift - a trip to Disneyland and Southern California for this spring.  We are very excited!

 

 Sam got a set of real golf clubs.

 

 More Thomas trains from Sam to me.

 

 And more books from mom and dad. 

 

Here's Sam playing with some of his toys from Santa.

 

And here's me doing the same thing.

 

We got some great things from family and friends too - r/c cars, games, books, toys, and gift cards - these are to Build-a-Bear, which we had been wanting really bad.  Thanks everyone!

 

I had some viruses to battle this week - just a simple cold, but miserable all the same.  We kept things very low key this week and just relaxed and played around the house.  This is me doing some reading.

 

And Sam playing some basketball.

 

We did sneak out of the house one afternoon while mom was at work to go bowling with dad.  Sam won.

 

We built forts.

 

And after many days of begging, Sam finally broke free from the house to head out to play in the snow.  He played and played and played and was very happy! 

 

I came out for a little while - it was actually great to be outside the house.  Can't wait for spring!

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everybody - Happy Christmas!  Enjoy a few cute pics of me - - first up, me climbing.  I love to be on top of stuff - the furniture, the counters, the horse . . . whatever. 

 

Me - making myself a PB and Nutella sandwich for lunch the other day.  No, that's not Nutella on my face.  I would never lick the knife after each time I put it in the jar.  No way!

 

And finally - me playing outside in the snow.  Did we mention how great it was to be outside playing?  Oh how I hate being couped up in the house! 

 

Sam out - see you in the new year!

Twas the Night(s) Before Christmas . . .

 . . . and all through the house, two little boys were out of school for the holidays and looking for things to do.

 

This is how mommy found us our first morning off from school.  Snuggled up, reading.  I am really in to series chapter books right now.  Capitol Mysteries, Dinosaur Cove, Magic Treehouse, Geronimo Stilton, and Flat Stanley - are some of my current favorites.  I was reading a Flat Stanley book to Sam.  He loved it!

 

On Friday night, we went down to Thanksgiving Point to see the Christmas lights.  After the lights we stopped to see the reindeer. 

 

On Saturday we went to see the children's play at the Salt Lake Acting Company.  This year it was Click Clack Moo - Cows That Type.  It was GREAT!  This event has become one of our most favorite holiday activities.  We're already putting our ideas on paper for the play they might choose to do next year.  We'll see if any of us can predict it.  Our favorite characters in this one were Duck and Hen. They really did do a nice job!

 

 Here we are with mom waiting for the play to start. 

 

And here we are with dad at lunch after the play.  Mmmmm, mmmmm, good - our favorite Greek place up in town. 

 

That's it for this week - stay tuned.  There's sure to be a lot going on next time with Christmas and more days off. 
Happy holidays everyone!

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas . . . Part 2

There are so many fun things to do during the Christmas season.  We're trying to keep things simple, but yet take advantage of some of the fun.  But before we get to that . . . .

Two pictures to show you part of our normal, everyday lives - - first, me.  Reading.  I lOvE to read.  You can find me tucked away reading a good portion of every day.  I love to stay up late reading.  Mom and dad have to finally come in and make me stop - every night. 

And here's Sam - - just being Sam.  He's hanging out under the kitchen table.  Just hanging out!

Ok - back to the Christmas stuff - - my Christmas Sing at school was this last week.  For your enjoyment I present two videos from my program.  First - The Very Best Part of Christmas:

And here is If Santa Was a Cowboy:

Here I am with my teacher, Ms. Bollard.

And here we are on our last visit this year with the big guy in red. 

We finally got around to getting our Christmas tree.  We got it during a snow storm and it had to sit in our garage air drying for a night.  So we got to bring it in and decorate it today.  It's perfect!

 And of course, our Christmas tree train is up and running.  This is one of the best highlights of our holiday. 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's the dog days of December around our house.  Lots to do, Christmas cheer to spread, homework to keep up with, etc, etc, etc.

 

We've been sneaking in some Christmas crafting.  Check out our super cool, super large Gingerbread men that we decorated.  Here's Sam's:

 

And here's my gingerbread man. 

 

Other than that, enjoy two more cute pics of us from this week - here's Sam showing daddy that his sock has a big ole' hole in it.  See those little toes peeking out?

 

 And just a handsome Mason-man.  I'm getting bigger and older by the day!

 

Sam Alert:  Howdy y'all.  I had my Christmas program at school on Friday. Here are two videos for you to watch from my program.  First up - Jingle, Jingle, Jingle. 

 

And enjoy this one - Holly Jolly Christmas. 

 

 Santa made a visit to my class.  Candy canes all around.

 

And here I am (a little blurry, but you can still see me) in daddy's snow boots.  We had a lot of snow last night.  Daddy had to get the snow blower out - first time in two years. 

 

Sam out - have a great week!

Dinos, Projects, and Angels

Well now, that title makes our week sound pretty full, doesn't it?  Daddy had to work late a few nights this week, so we headed out to Family Night at the Dinosaur museum with Mom last Monday night.  We haven't done this as much as we used to . . . and we still love it.  They always have fun things for us to do and see.  The Grinch had been in the museum and the scavenger hunt, crafts, and games are always a hit. 

 

Here I am with a Smilodon (Saber Tooth Cat). 

 

And here I am with the Megalodon - super giant shark like guy that lived around the time of dinosaurs.  This is what I really wanted to see the most this trip.  My friend and I had gotten in to a deep discussion at school about this guy.  I wanted to see him again up close and personal.  And I studied up on how he relates (size wise) to a great white shark.  It was fun to be able to share what I had learned with my friend at school the next day. 

 

 And here is Sam with the Woolly Mammoth. 

 

We're loving the holiday lights that are up everywhere! 

 

We got up early on Saturday morning to head to the kid's workshop at Home Depot.  Guess who was there to visit with all the kids?  Yes the big man in red himself! 

 

Our project this month was a picture frame.  We made, it painted it, and decorated it all by ourselves.

 

Dad is always right there to answer our questions and help us along. 

 

And here we are with our projects - - - all done and beautiful!

 

After we finished at the workshop, we got to go shopping for the Angel Tree.  This is one of our most favorite Christmas traditions.  In fact, this year Sam and I have been doing extra chores to earn some money to save for this very shopping trip.  We picked a little 5 year old boy this year who needed some clothes and snow boots and transformer toys.  We had so much fun shopping for him.  We each picked out a toy and paid for it with the money that we had earned.  It always makes us feel so good to know that we've helped give presents to someone who really needed them.  We each had a little change leftover and got to drop it in the Salvation Army bucket at the entrance to the store where we dropped our packages off.  I think our hearts grew three sizes this day!  Here we are at lunch after all of our shopping was done.

 

 Other than that, we've been doing a little more Christmas decorating.  We don't have our tree yet, maybe next weekend. 

 

 

And we went to visit Grandma June's grave for her birthday.  All-in-all, a good week all around!

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - check out my new "do".  My hair is just the right length to do a faux hawk.  I've been having mommy gel it up this way to go to school this week.  I'm breaking the stereotype of Sam as the good kid.  Ok, I'm still the good kid, it's just that I have some cool hair now. 

 

 And here I am working on my project - hammering.  I'm pretty good at it!  No fingers were harmed in the making of my picture frame! 

 

Sam out - have a great week!