The Adams Family: Christmas Fun is 1/2 done!

We have had a marvelous December (thus far) and have really enjoyed cramming in as many festive activities as humanly possible. At least humanly possible with two kids joining in on the fun. I'm sure I have missed some along the way, but have tried to captured as many of the moments as possible.

Our ward primary sang at the neighborhood rest home. They did such a wonderful job and it was truly heart warming to see the happiness they brought to the residents of the rest home. Emma sang "I wanna hippopotamus for Christmas". She did great! We bought her a hippo stuffed animal and she held it while she sang. She just loves to perform and this was no exception.

We elfed ourselves for a Christmas project. The kids think it is hilarious and I think it's pretty cute too!

Emma with one of her favorite babysitters, Lexi. This is the photo booth app that Emma LOVES to play with. Silly girls!!

Grant playing on the playground after his toddler exercise class. I have had so much fun taking him to these classes while Emma is in preschool. It is fun to have one on one time with Grant. I had three years of it with Emma before he was born, so it is nice to squeeze in these moments!

Our friends, The Despains, invited us to a Gingerbread Man party! The kids went on a scavenger hunt to catch those rascally gingerbread men and then decorated them. It was a fun time. The party was 2 weeks ago, but Emma ran into the Mom at our ward party last night and exclaimed, "your party was so awesome!" I guess she really enjoyed herself. She loves a party... just like her Momma!!

Emma's creation...

Hard to see this picture because of the lighting, but we dropped off donut holes at the fire station to say "thanks". We chose the station of a friend from the ward and he took us on a tour of the station. The kids LOVED it. This is us sitting in the fire truck. I am really grateful for all of the community servicemen that keep us safe and protected.

Having "Breakfast with Santa" through the Town of Gilbert. It was a cute activity... a bit over priced for the rock solid pancakes they served... but a fun way to get in the holiday spirit. And lots of fun activities and not many people in line for Santa. Grant was WAY more obsessed with the blow up Mickey in the corner than Santa.

First time sitting on Santa's lap this year and Grant was so scared he could barely breathe. Now seriously, this kid is the happiest kid on the planet and he says hi to everyone in the stores. I tried to tell him that Santa was nice, but he was still absolutely petrified. Poor kid.

Emma doing one of the crafts. She loved the activity.

This was also a very "259 Christmas Weekend". Jeff and Krystal Trapnell came into town from Utah an we took advantage of the fun!! Friday night we had dinner with all 259 at Culinary Dropout and then had dessert over at our house. So fun to have everyone together!! Many laughs were had, for sure! On Saturday, we had dinner with our families at a park and then did a 259 house concert at McKane and Emily's new home for our close friends and families. It was super fun!!!

Here are some of the gang at the park and the kids rolling down the hill enjoying the great weather!

The boys singing!! They sounded pretty good for ZERO practice.

Watching "Home Alone" while making our neighbor gifts of kettle corn. Grant immediately caught on to the famous gesture made by McCullough Caulkin in the movie. Pretty cute!

Monday evening we did FHE with The Lorenzen clan. The kids and I swung by Bass Pro Shop in the morning to our our pass to stand in line for their great Santa later that night.

The store has a wonderful winter wonderland with activities and plenty of things to keep the kids happy.

Baby George was supposedly "grumpy" that night... but he kept smiling for me... so I don't really believe them!! :)

Second visit to Santa. Still crying.... although not as hard. We will keep working on it.

OK though seriously guys... this Santa is the BEST I have ever seen. I think I believe in Santa after meeting him. Here is a sweet shot of him asking Emma what she wanted for Christmas. She told him "Ariel Stuff" and a doll.

Emma trying to pet the talking moose.

On the carousel...

And on the way home we stopped by Sonic for a treat and Greg forget to tell them to make a "small cone" for Grant. They handed this HUGE cone to him and he couldn't stop smiling!!

And little Missy after taking her VERY FIRST SHOWER. This is a very big moment. She hates to have water in her face. Always has. Doesn't like splash pads or sprinklers or anything that would land water in her eyes. She is neurotic in the pool about always wearing goggles. For the last 6 months I have been warning her that when she turned 5 she would need to start trying showers so she could be ready to shower on her own for Kindergarten in the Fall. She talks about it regularly. Well. The big moment arrived! She is not quite 5, but for one reason or another a shower was in her best interest, so she tried it and she LOVED it. Now she is never going back. In fact, she took another shower today and it was hard to get her out. After 30 minutes of talking and playing I finally told her she should probably wrap things up.

Our ward party Santa. I guess third time is a charm, because Grant was thrilled to see Santa!!! Greg told me it would be cruel to try him on Santa's lap for a third time, so I was not going to force him. I set him down on the ground so that I could take a picture of Emma on Santa's lap... and Grant RAN (I mean SPRINTED) toward Santa and jumped up on his lap. Look at how darling he is just staring at Santa. There were NO tears, NO fear, just excitement. He now says, "Santa, lap, nice, presents". Yes! We have sufficiently brain washed him into loving Santa!!!

Blurry... but you get the idea. No Tears.

And my cutesy Emma.

Mother Daughter Date to the Nutcracker! A friend in the ward organized a group of Moms and daughters to see the show! Emma was thrilled!! It was fun for me too! I haven't seen it since I was a little girl and this was such a well done show!

Emma has been in her leotard ever since dancing around the house. Cute!

We even got a backstage stage tour and then Emma got to talk to some of the dancers and take pictures with them. Here the stage director is talking of some of the special effects.

And here they are showing the fog machine...

Emma meeting and greeting all of the dancers. She was ECSTATIC that she was able to do this.

A new tradition in our home.

A letter from Santa mid-way through the month with Christmas books attached. We tied a yellow string from Emma's door into the front room where the letter and books were... she was very excited about the letter. Even though she threw up 3 times last night, she was showing some enthusiasm about Santa being in our home last night.