December...

It's been a busy December so far. Here are the highlights!
Sammie started rolling over. It's not consistent, but I'm calling it 'the beginning of the end'.

Josie is still being the trendsetter of our house. She wakes up from naptime everyday either wearing a completely different outfit or accessorizing her current one. Lovely.

 We went to Justin's work Christmas party. Noah 'borrowed' a Santa hat from the skeleton.

Santa and Mrs. Claus came! I had taken the kids to see Santa at the mall the day before and Josie had no problem going up to Santa but at this party she was very shy around him. It's a good thing Mrs. Claus was there!

 Noah had no problem cozying right up to Santa!

This was (obviously) Sammie's first year with Santa. She didn't really know what to think. At least she didn't cry!

 Funny Josie face.

Noah and his buddy Dax comparing loot. Clayton was in school during this party (they do it at lunchtime), which is why there are no pictures of him here.

It's been cold, but not too cold here yet so the boys have still been able to spend time outside. They are blowing the bubbles that Santa gave them.

They look a little transfixed here.

One way the kids have been keeping occupied is with the Wii. Justin and I have a few old school games (original Mario Bros. and Sonic 2) that the boys have really gotten into. It's fun to watch them play the games I grew up with! (Josie just pretends to play, and yes her dress is on backward - another post-nap outfit change.)

We had tithing settlement the other night so I told Clayton that he needed to look appropriate for going to the church. This is how he came down. I LOVE when he dresses himself (remember his Thanksgiving outfit?). This kid has serious style!

Josie found her Halloween costume the other morning and has been wearing it nonstop. I mean, who doesn't want to eat breakfast dressed like Belle?

If I'm taking Josie's picture, I had to take Clayton's...

...and Noah's. (Yes, he was crying. At first he didn't want me to take his picture but then got really upset when I put the camera away.)

Watching 'Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas' dressed like Belle. Ahhh...

Every year we make sugar cookies. Not to give away, but to keep. Ideally I'd love to give them to our friends and neighbors but my kids like to take a very active roll in helping and because of the kind of helpers they are we choose NOT to give away our cookies (you're welcome friends and neighbors). That said, I like that we have a project that we can do together that my kids can help so much with. I'm not worried about them licking fingers, coughing into the batter, making a mess, etc. because I know that these are just for us. It's a fun project that we look forward to every Christmas!

Baking Belle!

Love this look of concentration!

Once the dough was in the mixer and there was nothing else to do but wait, both the boys bailed. Josie dutifully sat by the mixer though and waited for any chance she could get to reach in the bowl and sample the batter (girl after my own heart).

This is just a cute little series of Sammie that I took. This one is a little washed out but I'm loving that double chin!! Also, I got her hair under control! Yay! I think this is the first time since she was born that she doesn't have an Alfalfa-style do going on!

Cute happy girl!

I love this picture. This is how Sammie looks when she's really happy. She doesn't laugh, but she starts to squeak/squeal and it's the BEST sound!

Sisters!

Movie and popcorn (I rarely let them eat in the family room so it's always a special treat when they get to). They were watching Elf. I think it may have gone over their heads a bit, but for the most part it was a hit. (Surprise hit of the holiday season: Alvin and the Chipmunks - who knew??)

After the movie our dough had chilled enough for us to cut and bake our cookies. The kids LOVED using the cookie cutters!

Look at Noah - this is why we keep our sugar cookies to ourselves!

Santa Baby!

We got this hat when Clayton was a baby and all of our kids have worn it. We looked at old pictures today showing each kid in this hat as a baby. They got such a kick out of that!

We decorated our cookies the day after we baked them (we like to stretch the fun out around here). Lots of fun and lots of hyper-sugared up kids when we're done!

The boys were really trying this year to make their cookies look good. They were trying to be careful and do a good job. I think their cookies turned out super cute!

Clayton was an animal! He was a cookie decorating machine! It was SO fun to do this with him.

"Leave me alone mom, I'm busy."

I love that the tounge comes out when it's time to concentrate!

There's the smile!

Yet another example of why we don't give these out (hmmm, is anyone else noticing that all my examples center around Noah??).

Good times!

Notice anything about Josie's decorating preference?

Yep, all pink all the time. Pink frosting and pink sprinkles. Justin asked, "Jos, is there anything in your world that isn't pink?" the answer is, 'No, there is nothing in her world that isn't pink.'

Clayton with his plate. We had these eyeball candies leftover from Halloween and the boys loved that. They thought it made their cookies look so funny.

Noah's cookies.

While they were cookie decorating I was busy assembling neighbor plates (a.k.a. - the goodies the kids DIDN'T help make). Pumpkin chocolate chip cookes, Oreo truffles, and sugared cranberries. Yum! We went around the neighborhood and caroled and passed out our goodie plates! I can't remember the last time I went caroling. The kids had a blast.

It's been such a fun December so far. I can't wait to see how the month finishes out!