holiday moods

My kids have been in the best moods lately. Every day at school is "the best day ever" and the overall mood in the house is plain old jolly! With treats to nibble on all day, a paper chain link to cut off, and freshly fallen snow who can blame them? Christmas is in the air! Even adults like me can feel it now, so it must be pretty thick. Sometimes I wish I was five again and could past time waiting for Christmas by throwing on my best dress up garb, some wings, a reflection contest medal and bounce around the house to Christmas music.  Instead I will settle for checking off my Christmas to-do list  while watching the magic of Christmas in my kids care-free lives. It makes my to-do list worth it.....every bit of it!  Speaking of that to-do list. It is pretty much done. So today I think I will be care-free for a few hours and hit the slopes with my holiday honey. It is a Christmasy thing to do! You all should try it and get your Christmas ON. 

Swiss Miss Dance

Ellie did a little ballet performance at Swiss Christmas Days.  Although the place was so packed that you could not move an inch and hot, really hot and extremely stuffy. It was fun to be at a Christmas community event, kick off the holiday Christmas season and see Ellie up on that Christmas stage doing her thing. She was counting down the days until she could wear her very beautiful ballet outfit and dance on the stage. (literally counting down like she is doing now for Christmas) Stage freight...nope she loved every minute of it!  Oh and isn't it amazing what a little mascara can do to my 5 year old. I feel like I have seen her in the future now. Shane and I have decided after looking at these pictures that she can't wear mascara or lip gloss until she is 18. 

My mom and Stephanie came up for the show. Stephanie 

bought that pretty flower for Ellie. What a nice Auntie!

Ellie with her friend Jada. How cute are they? They defiantly 

can't wear makeup and leave the house together until they are 21!

These two girls think every waking hour together just isn't quite enough. 

Ellie wishes they were sisters on a regular basis. 

Sweet moves Ellie!

lucky me

We went to Shane's Christmas work party the other night. They had a drawing for some prizes. And Shane won this beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer... so lucky me because really it's mine. I am the true winner. I am so excited!  Baking for Christmas has just become wonderful!

supersonic

Lately I have this yucky head cold thingy. Today is by far the worst.  I feel like my head just might explode.  Lucy is the only one left around to take care of me. The only problem is she is getting a case of the sickies too so she is not much help. If only her cuteness or her squeals near supersonic frequencies could heal all. That would just be lovely. Happy Holidays Everyone!

the spin park

On our totally and completely necessary road trip to southern Utah during Thanksgiving we found the coolest park. It was so innovative. Full of unusual contraptions to play on that the kids loved. Spinning seemed to be the theme, lots and lots of things to spin on. Shane would get Ellie spinning so fast on some of the contraptions that a crowd would form. The good news is she only fell on her face a couple of times due to the dizziness. Why she would insist on still spinning and spinning faster and faster I will never know. We came here about 100 times in-between activities before we left for home. I felt like they deserved it after being forced to a back of a cave. :)

no permanent damage

Are we mean parents if part of our Thanksgiving fun includes taking our kids into a cave and telling them not to be scared because inside there are only trolls, cougars, and witches bones? All the while Ellie is putting on her bravest face hugging on to Canyon telling him "Canyon we have to be brave. All it is... is regular old darkness and regular old monsters" They both claimed to not be scared but every time Shane growled they could be found clinging together like taffy to braces. We got lucky and all made it out unscathed with no sign of permanent psychological damage. Lucy was oblivious to this act of inhumanity sleeping away in the pack. So we are not really that mean. We only tease and torture the older children.

Bouldering around outside the Cave.