Christmas activities

The kids had fun decorating the tree.  Although Austin broke about half of our "unbreakable" ornaments, the tree got tipped over a lot less this year.

 

 

 Mary got to be an angel in the primary Christmas program.  She was very excited and did a great job.

 The kids met Santa at the ward Christmas breakfast.

 

 

 We decorated cookies with cousins.  Thanks for the picture, Rachel!

The kids made gingerbread houses with Grandma Joy and Grandpa Wolf on Christmas Eve.

New pajamas on Christmas Eve!

Mary was so excited on Christmas Eve she stayed awake past midnight.

We hung our stockings...

...but we also put shoes in front of the fireplace for Sinterklaas to fill with candy.  Mary's kindergarten class learned about Christmas traditions around the world, and her favorite country was Holland.  She instructed us to put one of Daddy's shoes out for each child in the family.  "They're the biggest," she explained, "so we can get LOTS of candy.  I want the new baby to have a shoe, too, so he can have some candy, too.  You [Mom] can eat some so he can have a little taste."

Austin finally got his train set, which he has played with for about eight hours a day ever since.

The kids are also very attached to the Pillow Pets they received from Grandma and Grandpa Luke.

 At the Luke family Christmas dinner, the kids participated in a short Nativity play.  Mary was Mary, Anna was an angel with her cousin Claire (thanks for the pictures, Andrea!), and Austin was a shepherd.

 After Christmas, we went to the zoo and saw the lights at Temple Square.

 

Austin thought it was funny that the giraffes were eating Christmas trees.

 

Mary's first school portrait

Mary saw me posting this picture and said, "I got a picture taken.  I look beautiful!"  She certainly does.

Anna's portraits

Isn't she a doll?  We love this little angel!

 

 

 

 

 

Lagoon and Kmart

In August, we canceled our Disneyland trip and had a "Disney day at Lagoon" instead.  The kids had a blast.  Someday we'll make it to Disneyland, but Lagoon was more than enough fun for this summer.

 

 

 

Austin's favorite part was riding the zoo train, which he called "Thomas." 

 

Mary was very proud of herself because she rode a "scary ride" with Daddy.  She loved it.  I didn't get a picture of her and Dad, but this is the Ladybug Bop ride:

Epilogue

Here's a recent conversation we had at our house:

Anna: How come we never go to that one place we were going to go?

Mom: Disneyland?

Anna: No!!

Mom: Which place?

Anna, annoyed: It wasn’t a place we were going to today!

Mary, very serious: Anna, think about it.  Was it Kmart?

Anna, giving up: I forgot.

November

Mary and Anna got new beds from a furniture store with a giant chair.

Mary got to be the VIP for a week at school.  She got to make a poster describing herself.  She picked the pictures and wrote the captions.

I got to go to school with Mary on the last day of her VIP week.  She described her poster for her classmates, and they all raised their hands to give her compliments like, "I like how you color," and, "I like how you play with me."  Mary called on the children and, after each compliment, she very politely said, "Thank you."  We brought a sewing-card activity for all the kids to do.  I am amazed at how much Mary has already matured in school.  She loves everything about kindergarten and has gained a lot of self-confidence.

Anna is modeling Mary's Native American costume from school, complete with papoose.  Mary's Indian name was "Morning Star."

 Austin potty trained himself.  He is such an amazing little guy.  After I told him how proud I was of him one morning, he told me to get the camera.  "Take a picture mine!" he said.

Then he said, "Take a picture my toilet!"  He was even fully clothed for the shot.

 

 We enjoyed some backyard sledding after a winter storm.

We went down to my parents' after Thanksgiving.  Austin was fascinated by the plane my dad is building.  He kept telling me, "Want to see the airplane again!"

 

We took the kids to the movies for the first time with Grandma Joy.  "Tangled" turned out to be a great choice, since the moments of peril and villainy were much milder than I expected.

 We also visited with Great Grandpa Erickson.  It was nice to see him.

On the way home, we got caught in a snowstorm and had to stay the night in a hotel.  The kids were absolutely delighted.  When we got home, Mary said, "I want to do the whole thing over again!"