December 2015

Snowy December seems like a really long time ago.  I guess it was a really long time ago.
Ahh, I'm bad at blogging, but I press on.

At the beginning of December Bryon's dad took him to San Diego to watch a Broncos game.  I may have been a little bit jealous (although not of the Broncos part :))

We were really proud to see our nephew get a volleyball scholarship to TWU (our alma mater).  Can't wait to go see him play!

  

December began with Kai deciding that he wanted to be a dog.  I decided it wasn't a battle worth fighting, and he spent a full week acting like a puppy...periodically eating without his hands, walking on all fours, and sleeping on the floor of his room etc.

This guy does not lack personality.

They love each other a lot.

A walk in the park to collect pine cones for Christmas decorations.

Dog mode was obviously still in effect.

Kai's first time skating.  I thought he might hate it, since he is often nervous about new things, but he really loved it and couldn't wait to go back again.

You know, just sitting around in his onesie playing with his favourite Christmas decoration.

Time to hunt for our Christmas tree.  It's always one of my favourite days of the year.

Kai was our go-to guy for shaking snow off of our potential trees.

Sometimes grocery shopping is just too exhausting :)

Enjoying a sunny day at the park with friends.

Back to the skating rink!

And, more snow!

Bryon shoveled a bunch of snow from beside our house into a big pile for Kai so that he could build a snow cave.

Just the right size for 2!

My snugglebug.

Time for our annual family Christmas pageant.  Isn't he the cutest shepherd around?

We invited Gramma and Papa over so we'd have extra actors.

Kai was the director and assigned roles.  Papa was Joseph, Gramma was Mary (complete with a baby (bear)  in her belly...see it?!), Bryon and Anders were shepherds, Kai was a wise man and I was an angel/narrator.

Kai and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip, where he bought his gifts for Bryon and Anders.

Kai kept a journal over Christmas vacation, and had to pick a word out of a hat each day to use in his sentences.  This day his word was "ski" and I loved what he wrote about Anders.  It's already come true too.

We're so glad that neighbors with kids moved in this past fall.  The kids always have a great time playing together.

Helping me make Twix cookies. Yum!

Wrapping paper rolls make pretty great car tracks.

A few days before Christmas we had our annual small family Christmas celebration, with a salmon dinner and opening of our gifts. 

Grandpa and Grandma from Canada Skyped with us to watch the kids open the gifts they'd sent.

Nightly advent reading.

Bryon, Kai and I had a sleepover in the living room, and then the next morning we opened stockings and gifts.  Anders loved this book that Kai bought for him.  And, Kai hopes that the "No No, Yes Yes" lessons stick with Anders :) 

Anders' stocking mostly contained toddler treats which he was pretty thrilled about.

Before we knew it, he'd eaten most of this bag of animal crackers.

The boys did their annual treasure hunt for their main gift, and Anders got a new car :)
Oh, and he's also still eating crackers, of course.

Christmas morning at Gramma and Papa's mountain house.
The boys were up crazy early!

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Later that day we went sledding and made some pretty awesome jumps.

Napping on mama's lap.

All ready to practice some skiing.

Taking a break in the lodge while daddy goes to do some harder runs.

 

Snow shoeing at Bear Lake.

 

We arrived home to find Christmas presents from his Canadian cousins waiting.
He was thrilled!

Anders always (maybe I should say usually) wants to be as close to Kai as possible.