Nauvoo Christmas

At the beginning of December we had our church Christmas party.  It had a Nauvoo Christmas theme so the girls were supposed to wear long old fashioned dresses.  Emily was in a short play and was supposed to represent young Emma Smith.  I think she looks beautiful.

This is the Nauvoo bakery room decorated by the YW presidency.  It was amazing.  I especially love how they decorated the windows and chalkboard.

 Here are Holly and her friend getting some yummy treats in the bakery.

 Scott was in charge of decorating the Tin Shop and helping the kids to punch holes in metal canning lids to make a star ornament.  That is Scott in the brown vest next to Nathan.

 I even dressed up. I was happy to finally have a reason to wear this dress that my mom gave me a few years ago.

Megan and Melissa enjoyed visiting all the fun rooms and running around with their friends.

 Megan won the drawing for a free giant candy cane.

 Today I am thankful that:

Megan and Melissa got to learn Christmas songs with their school choir and do a few performances.

 We successfully got a Moulton cousin photo taken at the cabin to send to my parents on their mission for Christmas.

 My sweet Grandma returned to her husband and loving relatives up in heaven.  She is one of the nicest people I know.  She was always smiling and had a kind word for everyone that she was with.  I will miss you grandma!  You had a great 94 years of life!

Some Christmas Craftiness

Occasionally I get the urge to make something that will last.  Usually I am just cleaning, doing laundry,  or cooking meals.  A few years ago I made Valentine felt cookies followed by Easter felt cookies. Then I made Halloween felt cookies last year.  I have always wanted to make Christmas felt cookies so this month I decided I was going to do it.  First I found cute Christmas felt pictures on pinterest that I printed out for reference. 

 Then I drew some patterns so I could cut out the felt just right.

 Here is the felt cut out and ready to sew.

And the completed cookies!  I think they turned out really cute.  Each cookie took about 2 hours to make.

 My little girls decided to make their own felt creations.

 They cut out the felt themselves and did all the sewing.

 I decided to turn my felt cookies into a holiday garland.  So I made some poms poms and strung them up together.  I love the finished look.

Today I am thankful that:
*We got to attend my brother's baby blessing on Sunday.  I love that we live close enough to attend these special events.
*We have a December full of fun activities with family and friends ahead of us.
*We have a really great orthodontist.  I have 3 kids in braces so I am there practically every week.  The office is close by and all the workers are so nice.  

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving morning was spent preparing the food for our meal.  The rolls weren't rising very fast so I set them in front of the fireplace and that did the trick

 Melissa set the table for our meal.  She even folded napkins in the shape of turkeys and hats.

 My brother Derek was our special guest.

 Megan and Melissa did this funny pose.

 The food was delicious!  Megan made the cute name tags.

 Derek took this photo of our family.

We played a fun thankfulness game as we ate and learned a lot about each other.We took turns pulling little papers out of a bowl and then went around the table answering them.  For instance:
*Who is someone in our extended family that you are thankful for
*What a place you go that you are thankful for
*What is  a technology that you are thankful for
*What is a toy that you are thankful for
*What is a dessert that you are thankful for
*What is an animal you are thankful for (cow was a favorite because it makes such good food)

After eating our lunch and taking a fun walk through the neighborhood with Derek, we met up with my brother Barrett's family at his in-laws house nearby.  My girls had a fun time running around with their cousins.

I enjoyed visiting with the adults and then took this photo with my brother Derek before saying good bye to him.

On Friday we had Scott's sister Laura and her family over to play and eat lunch with us.  Nathan had fun playing legos with his cousin.  He made the 2 thumbs up sign so it must have been really good.

 The girls had fun playing twister with their girl cousins.

Saturday brought a little snow to Washington.  We can't wait until it snows again and there is even more to play in.

Today I am thankful that:
*We have a warm house on these cold winter days
*We have family that lives nearby to spend the holidays with
*My kids get so excited about decorating for Christmas.  We put the tree up on Thanksgiving and I have slowly been putting up the rest.