Out with the old...

There are no more days left to put off posting about all the things we have done in this last month of the year, so I guess it's time to upload and put words to the 20 plus pictures I have been meaning to post since before Christmas. Procrastion...working on that bad habit may have to be one of my resolutions for the new year. Good thing I don't have to start until tomorrow!

That same procrastination tends to breed laziness too, and I am too lazy to move this picture to where I wanted it, so you get Chloe's cute face first.On to the events of our Christmas season. This is a time of year I look forward to every year. As my kids get older, that anticipation becomes even greater, and yet it still seems to come and go so fast. We managed to fit in some fun activities and traditions though that I think/hope we will always remember.

Kiddos in Christmas outfits. I loved that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. That we got to celebrate the real reason we celebrate by getting to go to church, feel the spirit, and remember the birth of the Savior helped make it such a nice day. I also loved that my kids got to wear their outifts on actual Christmas.

One of the new activites we did this year was playing Minute to Win it at my parents house. The games were fun and ended with a visit from Santa ("who was really Grandpa" Chloe whispered to me after sitting on his lap)

Adam saw Santa, screamed, and then ran in the other direction. No pictures with Santa this year for him.

This was the first year we took the kids down to Salt Lake to visit Temple Square. Previous years we have had a newborn preemie baby and colds, so we were glad to all be healthy and able to see the beautiful temple and lights. Chloe was a little disappointed because she thought the temple would actually have Christmas lights on it, but decided that it was still pretty and the red trees were her favorite.

We ended the evening with a trip to the always fancy Wendy's for Frosties and french fries with the crazies

and laughed to see they fell asleep in some crazy positions on the drive home.

Here is where I was going to post that first picture of Chloe. Throughout this last month, our kids have been crazy, mostly with excitement about what each new day would bring. Chloe wanted to pose and pretend and Noah, when he gets a little wild, never fails to pull his shirt up over his head. We managed to fit in a few more restful, book reading evenings a few times.

My kids were so good this year they got THREE visits from Santa. Or maybe they were so wild they needed to be reminded three times to behave. I choose to believe the first. Here is another visit from Jolly St. Nick (aka fun Sgt Jones).

This year we let the kids sleep in our room on Christmas Eve. I have great memories of sleeping with my siblings on Christmas Eve and hope they will enjoy that someday as well. This year they let mom and dad in on the party.Christmas morning was great. I love that my kids are at an age where nothing disappoints them. They are happy with anything and everything they get. We had a great time and enjoyed spending the whole next day in pajamas playing with all the Christmas spoils.

This month and actually the whole year have been good for our family. We've grown and had experiences that we will always remember, but I always look forward to the new year and starting fresh with a whole year before us. Happy New Year!