December Activities

I was sick with a cold, then sinus infection, then stomach bug from Thanksgiving until a week before Christmas, so we didn't do many of the things I had planned for the holiday season.  I probably should have gone to a doctor and got medicine to knock it out quickly, but I'm kind of stubborn like that.  However, looking back, it wasn't worth 3 weeks of sickness.  We had so much going on with Daniel's finals, Emersen's dance recitals, parties, my brother's wedding, and preparing for Christmas that I just had to give up some things.  Last year I wrapped all of our Christmas books and we opened a new one every night.  This year I never got around to wrapping them so we only read a few of them throughout the month.  I tried to keep up our countdown activities.  I prepared the calendar, but some days we just didn't quite get there.  We didn't see the lights at temple square, drive around looking at other Christmas lights, or make gingerbread houses.  By the time I was feeling better, I didn't want to worry about squeezing everything into one week and stressing out about it.  There's always next year.

Here are some highlights:

Lots of mischief from this little guy.  He is becoming quite the independent soul at 18 months old.  Can I also say, yay for nursery!

We put together some packages for our Grandma and Grandpa Lyman and Uncle Joseph who are serving missions right now.  Emersen helped me make these cute reindeer cards (got the idea from Pinterest).  We used Bentley's thumbprint too.  I sometimes feel bad that I don't include Bentley in things like this, but he would probably just be more work than play.  

She also colored some pictures for them.  This one was for Uncle Joseph.  I wasn't too happy that she decided to add these lovely "stickers" to her picture!  But it was all part of a rough day with the kids anyway, so I cried and laughed about it at the same time.  Then I managed to carefully peel all of the stamps off without too much damage.

We made these ornaments with pom-poms.  This was probably her favorite project.  She even had to hang the wreath on the tree in her bedroom. 

And finally, we included in our package these little candy bars turned snowmen.  I got the idea and printable from this site.

Our yummy snowman pizza smothered in olives thanks to Miss E.

Sponge curlers.  She took them out sometime during the night and decided she never wanted to sleep with them in her hair again.  Ever!

Bentley discovered just how comfy this chair is and climbed up to read a book.  (Ladder and level in the background because I'm stenciling his wall!  It's going to be fabulous if I ever finish!)

Emersen got to bring a stuffed animal to her last dance class of the month.  Then they also gave her a teddy bear.  She loves dance so much and especially loves her dance friends.  They are so fun to watch.

  

Bentley got a new haircut while watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.  It completely enthralls him for some reason.

I found this little necklace kit in the Target dollar bin.  I gave it to Emersen and showed her the picture of the finished necklace to make.  She started stringing the beads without any rhyme or reason.  Part way through, she stopped and picked up the picture.  She examined it closely and then took all the beads off the string and started over, making it look EXACTLY like the picture on the kit.  I was impressed.  When she was almost finished, she picked up the string the wrong way and all the beads fell off.  She had to start over but this time she enlisted my help to do one side while she did the other.  She told me exactly what color beads to use.  I love watching her figure things out.

We made some Christmas sugar cookies to take to our friends.  She is always very anxious to help whenever I am baking. 

We had a tea party with her little dolls.  Their names are Grandma, Mommy, Emersen, Sloan, Sofie, and Daddy.  Daddy got home from work and brought his blue recliner to join the girls.  She plays for hours in her room by herself.  I love sneaking a peek and listening to her imagination at work.

We made paper snowflakes again like last year.  She did a little better job cutting with the scissors this time.  She got frustrated after her first one though and didn't want to do anymore by herself.

She found these Barbie playing cards that I had in the closet and loves to do all sorts of things with them.  I find them all over the place.

With this being the driest December in history, it was easy to play outside.

Let's not forget the Lyman family Christmas party.  The best part was skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Lyman.  They are on a mission in Oakland, California.  I'm sure they miss the rambunctious family gatherings.  We sure missed them!

They sent some really fun presents from Chinatown.  Parasols and fans, wooden lizards, rice krispie treats, scarves, karate headbands, Ghirardelli chocolates, and a fabulous pop-up book of A Christmas Carol.

We don't see Daniel's family as much as we used to.  (It used to be every Sunday!)  So we enjoyed visiting and playing.  We also did a little program with talents and a gift exchange.

Emersen wanted to sing "I Am A Child of God" for the program, but she got really shy and held her hands in front of her face like this through the whole song.  It was pretty sweet.

Now it's on to a new year!