Fun filled month of activities!

December was a happy, but crazy month! We fit in a lot, the only thing we didn't really get to do was go sledding (not a flake of snow in Boise!) and we never decorated sugar cookies like we normally do. Here's just a snid bit of what we were up to:

I tied an enormous blue and orange blanket for my parents. My mom mentioned that they needed something to keep them warmer at the Boise State football games, so 6 yards of fabric later, voila! a queen sized, double-fleece, festive bronco blanket. For my first attempt at one of these blankets, I really liked how it turned out and am already thinking about making smaller sized ones for the kids.

The kids bring home "family projects" each month for school. In September it was an apple, October a pumpkin, November a turkey and December a stocking. I broke out my stamps, glitter, fiberfill stuffing,  some jewels and we went to town. We copied a stocking real fast so Lex could have one too. She thoroughly enjoyed the stamping and was a little over-eager for all the glitter

It was a fun Saturday activity! Everyone was really happy with the way their stockings turned out:

My parents joined us for dinner and family home evening a couple of weeks before Christmas. Dinner was really fancy, Marc grilled out some hamburgers....ok, not that exciting, but it was what was on the menu when we scheduled it and one that we could stretch to include a few extra servings. For family home evening we talked about ways that we can serve others and made a service tree. The kids got to draw pictures on paper ornaments of ways that they can serve and we watched a short little video about the Red Coat. It was a fun, simple, night, my favorite types!

Later that week, the kids were invited to Grandma's house to make Gingerbread houses. It was something they looked forward to all month! They remembered how much fun they had last year with their cousins and they were practically jumping up and down in excitement. They came home with bellies full of candy, these cool glass ornaments that they painted in the inside and their own unique gingerbread houses.

While the kids were at the party, Marc and I got to go visit our friends the Andersons who just had a baby girl. When Ann opened the door holding her little newborn, it was like deja vou back in Cincinnati when we went over to meet their son Dax for the first time. Fun memories! I didn't get any pictures, but their little girl is gorgeous and such a sweet baby.


Marc was given some free tickets to go to the "Idaho Spud Bowl" previously known as the Humanitarian Bowl. Utah State played Ohio. He took the boys, and a friend and his son and they had a fun guys night out. This is the largest potato in the world:

Here's the boys at the Boise State Stadium and our iconic "smurf turf". We were worried about them being cold and bored, but they had such a great time. Didn't complain once about being cold, enjoyed all the festivities and even made it through the 3rd quarter of the game. Considering they were there more than an hour before the game started, I was pretty impressed!

 Here's the kids all dressed up for Christmas. I can't believe how grown up they're all starting to look. Tyler's suit coat is about 6 inches too short in his arms now!

We've enjoyed Christmas stories, watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, listening to Christmas music, and receiving Christmas Cards in the mail. The boys had a Christmas Advent calendar of types where they got to put a cotton ball on Santa's beard each day. I love that there's so many fun things to do at Christmas time!