Taylor Elementary Christmas Concert

Eliza, Sarah  and Caleb all participated in the annual Taylor Elementary Christmas Concert.
It was a little bittersweet knowing that this would be the last Christmas Concert we would attend at this school.

The trio sang one song together in a special choir, then they each sang a song with their own class.

Can you spot them? they are on the top row.



Eliza's Class sang "Christmas Don't be Late"

 

 

 

Caleb's class sang "We three Kings".

 

                                                    Sarah's class sang "Jingle bell rock!"

Nibble, Nibble Little Mouse.....

Who's been nibbling at my house?!

                    Decorating a gingerbread house is one of our favorite Christmas traditions!!

12-12-12

This year, the kids Birthday was Extra special because it was on 12-12-12!!!
We figured out that if you add up the digits in the date it equaled 9! And that's how old they are!

Adam and I surprised them by picking them up from school and taking them out to lunch. Then, we took donuts to school for all their classmates.
After school we had a small family party and had A Dairy Queen Ice cream cake! YUMMY!!!
The kids all got remote controlled toys for their Birthday!
That night we went to our ward Christmas Party and the whole ward sang Happy Birthday to them!

Happy Birthday Eliza, Sarah and Caleb!

Stars were Gleaming

Every year I make new ornaments for my Christmas tree.
I do this for two reasons.
First, I am really particular about how I want my tree to look and It's hard for me two find ornaments that I love.
Second, I am a cheapskate, so making my own ornaments makes more economic sense to me.

This year I made tin stars for my tree.  It was so easy to make these and they ended up only costing .25 - .50 cents (depending on size) each to make. I found the tutorial on pintrest, but It had a lot of unnecessary steps so I'm posting my own tutorial for you.

I used these disposable tin trays from the Dollar store. There were two trays in each pack.

I traced a star onto the foil. Notice the tips of the star are not pointed.

I cut it out with kitchen sheers. It was surprisingly easy!

I cut 1/4" slits in each interior corner of the star.

Using a ruler, I folded down the edges of the star.

I punched a hole at the top of the star .

On the top of each star I used a pointy thing (I really don't know what it was it looked like a bead made from a bone. probably something from scouts....any way you could use a nail as long as it's not to sharp.) but I used it to press a strait line from the center of the star to each inside corner of the star. 

Then, I flipped the star over and did the same thing. this time going to the outside points of the star.

Once it looked like this, I just sort of pushed inward from the edges and played with it a little until it looked like.....

THIS!!!! Then, I spray painted the stars with some paint I already had and using some dark brown paint and a sponge brush I gave them a little distressed look. 

Viola!! I made big ones and small ones. I love how they look on my tree!
Oh. and I made the sweater ornaments with an old sweater that I picked up at a thrift shop for a dollar.
I just cut the sleeves into small sections and slid a cheap plastic ornament inside and used craft glue to glue the tops and bottoms together.

The Tree all decorated.

I just had to throw in a picture of the window /wreath project I did this year as well. I love how it turned out!

Singing Sarah

Sarah joined a community Children's Choir at the beginning of the school year. The Choir is Awesome. I can tell that her director has spent less time teaching them songs, and more time teaching them to sing. I love it! The choir has been invited to sing at a couple of Christmas Events in the community. One of the events was in a chapel so I didn't get any pictures. But her last performance was for the Snowflake town lighting so I was able to snap a few shots. The Choir sings beautifully and Sarah looks Beautiful while singing.

 

 We are so Proud of you Sarah!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanks giving with the Quists this year. We drove down to the valley on Wednesday night and stayed with my parents. On Thursday we went over Paul and Beth's for our Feast. We enjoyed eating, visiting, playing games, making crafts, and eating some more.

Lydia taught the kids to make Cornucopias. Then they filled them with Treats!

The Cousins all enjoyed playing Thanksgiving Bingo! They also loved the Dancing game On the Wii. But they were moving so fast while playing it that all the pictures came out blurry!

The WHOLE GANG!! I love these people!

I spent Thursday night doing some black Friday shopping with Lydia. I was able to get ALL my Christmas shopping done!! YAY!!

Early Friday Morning, Adam left to go to Albuquerque with his parents to attend his Cousins wedding. the kids and I stayed with my parents and we went on a hike on Friday.

It was a beautiful day and the hike was awesome.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!

Cleaning Crew!

 

I love my cleaning crew! They are fast, effecient and best of all, they're Cheap!