December

 I always host a piano recital at the beginning of each December so my music students can showcase their progress over the past year.  Natalie is really thriving at piano.  She learns quickly and is a great sight reader.  She complains about practicing every day, but I 'm sure she'll appreciate my persistence later.  :)

 I accompanied a few of my students as they played the violin.

 It actually worked out quite well because the evening's festivities and yummies were sponsored by Nestle for my blog.  The featured products were Sweetarts Candy Canes and fudge!

 I love teaching Natalie's friend, Jovie.  She really loves playing and is such a sweet student.

 Rob entertained the guests afterwards.  Something cool was happening on his phone.

 We played a few minute to win it games.

 Balancing ornaments on a yardstick.

 And trying to move the Oreo from the forehead to the mouth without dropping it.

 We got some good laughs out of this game.  Jovie definitely won this one.  She was wiggling her eyelids and cheeks...it was hilarious!

 The kids got new Guardians of the Galaxy Infinity figures for a campaign I worked on for my blog.  I made them Rocket Raccoon masks and we watched the movie together.

 We made graham cracker houses on the first family night in December, like usual.  We just love this tradition!  Jane insisted on decorating her own.

 They all turned out so cute!  I love these kiddos so much!

 We paid a visit to Santa at the mall.  Jane was poking, scratching, and hitting Blake while we were in line, and we told her that she better be good or Santa wouldn't bring her presents because he was watching.  So when she got up to him, she started loving on Blake and sucking up to Santa.  She's devious.  :)  But it sure made for a cute picture.

 I went to a Favorite Things party with some friends and got a gigantic Snicker's Bar.  Talk about heaven!  I'm ashamed to admit that this giant chunk of chocolate was gone all too soon.

 I took the kids to Natalie's classroom one day so we could decorate milk carton candy houses with them.  It was so fun.  

 Blake was so proud that he did it all by himself.

 Chris and Kerri paid us a visit on their way through to California (they're moving back with Rob's parents).  We of course crafted the weekend away.

 Blake tired himself out and fell asleep on the counter.  I still don't know how kids can sleep like this.

Jane just relaxing in her jammies (and picking her nose).

I love making Christmas goodie plates for neighbors and friends each year.  This time I made oreo truffles, homemade oreos, and mint fudge.  Rob left out of town this day, so I delivered all 14 plates by myself.  It was not easy!  The kids were so good for me.

Jane is such a good mommy to her baby.  When we were going to get Natalie from school I told her to get her shoes, and she went and grabbed her doll and tried to put shoes on her.  :)

This is our newest family photo that went on our Christmas cards.  The story behind this photo is one that needs to be told.  We drove up the canyon so we could get that perfect picture out in nature.  It was freezing, but I didn't want the kids to wear coats for the picture, so I told them to tough it out.  They of course complained about the cold the whole time.  We had to climb a mountain to get to a place that would work, so we were quite the sight getting set up.  Then Rob had to say, "Oh look, there's bear poop.", so the kids were freaking out, thinking there was a bear nearby.  Ugh.  But we got a good picture, at least after doing a head swap on Jane.  :)