Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa R

 We also had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa R's house!

 It was a full 2 days of celebrating and enjoying family!

 

Christmas Morning

 We started the morning off with just us at our house. The kids had been feeling and shaking the gifts for the last week and it was finally time to rip into all of them. :)

 And then the Whittemore's came over for our traditional breakfast and Christmas together.

It is one of my favorite times of the day. Thankful for such a close friendship. :)

Christmas at Grandma & Granpa B's house

 This year we continued the tradition of enacting the Christmas story. And this year Mark was Joseph...complete with a stick on mustache (that came from Dylan's stocking :)).

And Dad as the story teller.

 Janae and Cadence had twin outfits this year from Grandma.

 The kids had so much fun.

Thankful that our family is close by and we can celebrate all together.

My Birthday

 This year is number 37 for me! Mark surprised me with a night away staying at a hotel downtown and having a evening with just Israel and Kati. It was wonderful to just relax and be around ones that I love dearly.

 I also celebrated with dinner at Jolene's house over the weekend. Janae was so cute with what she wrote on her hand for me. :)

And Michelle and I celebrated at Mark's parents house on Christmas. :)

Awards and Performances

 Cadence was the winner of the most Tiger Traits Awards for December! It is a way of recognizing good and kind acts with her classmates or teachers. 

She was really excited about receiving the award. :)

 With her principal

 Cadence and Dylan also had a Christmas performance one morning during school. It was fun for Mark to be able to be there to enjoy the kid's activities this year! 

 And Isabelle had her very 1st performance! Her preschool class sang a couple songs at a evening Christmas performance. It was really sweet to watch her. I was really curious to see how she would do being in front of a audience since she is so shy...but she did so great. She sang all the words and did the motions. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time! :)

Getting Ready for Christmas!

 This year decorating for Christmas was really fun for me to watch the kids decorate the tree all on their own! They had such a great time looking at every ornament, knowing which ones were theirs and remembering the memories of them.

 We had a small tree this year that fit perfectly in the only spot that it could fit, in our little house. The kids used every single ornament we own...it was packed full. In the evening after they decorated the tree, I sat on the sofa and had a huge smile on my face looking at the hodge podge of ornaments all over. And thinking to myself it was perfect, perfectly decorated with precious little hands.

 The kids also had lots of fun at Grandma R's house with the annual tradition of decorating Christmas cookies. :)