Counting down to Christmas

 To get in the spirit of Christmas we did our traditional 12 Days of Christmas scriptures and activities.  We skipped a few nights of our envelopes but for the most part it was a very successful countdown with lots of fun memories!

Our neighbor gifts consisted of a craft and a treat - the kids did the little candy cane cards and I did the chocolate peppermint pretzels, then we all helped out in delivering them.  It was a late night...

We played a Christmas game...

We made paper candy canes to decorate our table and drank hot chocolate...

We had friends over for a Monday night advent (singing hymns and reading scriptures about Christ and then eating lots and lots of dessert)...  The kids enjoyed playing the Don't Eat Rudolph game...

We went to Desert Ridge for their "snowfalls" and had the kids do their Christmas shopping for each other (a la Target dollar bins)...

We decorated a gingerbread house and the kids promptly ate it....

Claire busied herself eating a delicious treat from a neighbor while we worked on our gingerbread house...

We went to the Studio Movie Grill and watched Rise of the Guardians...

And we admired the Wizard of Oz themed gingerbread village at the Desert Ridge Marriot...

Other activities this month included class parties!  I went to Emma's and Ben got to go to Becca's.  I'm so glad Ben took a few days off of work the week before Christmas...

Adam and Grandma Dangerfield had a birthday!  We had delicious red and green cake made my Aunt Lacy...

More Advents and family time!...

And we shopped till we dropped!  Shopping for a family of 6 at Christmas time is labor intensive - but it was fun!  Here are a couple of my shopping buddies at the Tanger Outlets taking a break with their soft pretzel bites.  :)

December Activities

 Here's some random goings on in December...

Emma invited a friend over to play - they ended up playing old xbox games and were all huddled around the television with their little chairs...

Aaron came to visit! - his girlfriend Stefani was also visiting her sister who lives near us, so Arizona ended up being a good place to come hang out :)  We went to the Anthem outlets for a bit of shopping and to see the BIG Christmas tree!  It's the tallest live Christmas tree in the nation!  Very impressive...

After the outlets and lunch, we hung out and played at our favorite Anthem park.

That evening we went to see Cirque du Soleil!  Aaron and Stefani joined us, along with Ben's siblings and parents, and we took Emma and Becca too.  Jake and Claire stayed home with a sitter.  It was a great night and the girls got to stay out super late - they felt like big girls!  I wish I would have got some pictures from the evening :(

Our ward Christmas party was a breakfast and visit from Santa.  We even got to wear our pj's.  

Emma got picked to come up and read about one of the symbols of Christmas...

We had lots of wonderful advents and Sunday dinners at Grandma and Grandpa Dangerfield's house leading up to Christmas.  The family has grown to the point that the kids now get their own kid table to eat at - they love it...

We had a fun movie night with the kids at home one evening and had an intermission of Ben's famous hot chocolate, complete with candy canes and marshmallows, and homemade pound cake.  Mmmm...

Whenever we get the chance, we really love meeting up with Ben for lunch downtown near the hospital.  This particular visit we went to Pei Wei and then to the Starbucks next door for hot chocolate...

I miss December already!

Arizona Winter- Picnics, Ice Cream, and Hiking

The past month has been busy and wonderful - I'm finally going to get caught up on my blog to document it all :)  We went to the park one evening and took a pizza for dinner.  Ben was working late, but it was so fun to go on a fun evening outing with my little crew...

We've been recommitting to a consistent homework time each evening and often all 3 of my school kids have some work to do.  I love to see them all busily doing their school work together...

We had tithing settlement a while back, and afterwards we all went to yogurtology for a treat - it's always a favorite outing...

Arizona is a lovely place to be in the wintertime.  It's perfect hiking weather!  The kids love hiking - as long as the weather is comfortable, they never whine - it's great!

I love that this hiking trail is right next to our neighborhood - the desert it so lovely here...

And now some hiking videos...

Claire is 18 months!

My Claire is a big girl!  She turned 18 months a couple weeks ago and started nursery at church (yay!).  She was sad at nursery and missed mommy - I'm hoping she starts to enjoy the fun time away from mommy for a couple hours each Sunday.  :)  Claire is feisty, fun, and affectionate.  I love my sweet baby girl.