Merry Christmas!!

We have had a wonderful day full of joy and we hope you have, too! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Evan's talk

This morning, as we were getting ready for church, Evan insisted that he had to give a talk in "Sunday school". I explained that Sunday school is the adult class and asked if he meant his primary class. He insisted that he didn't have a talk in primary, he had one in Sunday school.

We were minutes away from leaving for church, so I told him that I hadn't been told about it so we weren't going to worry about it. He was sure he needed to have a talk prepared though, so he wrote one himself during sacrament meeting.

Here's what it said (with his own spelling, punctuation, etc.):

"Most kids think Christmas is about getting toys. But I think its about Christ and giving. Christmas exists because its the time we celebrate Christ's birthday. Sometimes I think its about toys but I know whats important, and its Christ's birthday."

I was so proud of him. He is quick to roll his eyes when I try to talk about the spiritual side of Christmas (or anything, for that matter), so I was really touched by his thoughts on the subject.

If you're wondering..... It turns out that they had originally given out talk assignments for today but then changed their minds and decided to do some Christmas things instead. They let Evan give his talk anyway. :)

A visit from cousins!

My brother and his cute family came up from Idaho to stay with us this past weekend. They were here for a wedding and then they stayed to hang out for a couple days after that. The boys were SO EXCITED to have their cousins come and enjoyed being able to play with them.







Cute baby Ameisha.






After church on Sunday, we drove to a spot where we could see the Seattle skyline. It was pouring and pretty chilly, so we didn't stay long, but it sure was a pretty view!









That evening, we let the cousins exchange their Christmas presents.







Ellie got a shopping cart, which she LOVES.



She insists on trying to sit in it.



The boys got kits to build catapults and a marshmallow gun. Needless to say, they were in heaven.



Asher "taking Ameisha's picture".



On Monday, we explored a bit of Seattle. We decided on Pike's Market which has a lot of character and things to see.





















We also visited the gum wall. While I was looking it up to make sure I remembered where it was, I learned that it is the fifth least sanitary tourist attraction in the world. (Not that I'm surprised. Honestly, I would have thought it would be higher on the list.)











After that, we had a yummy lunch in Chinatown and then we let them start their long drive back home. So fun to see you guys! :)

Ice Skating!

The school district that we are registered through for homeschool plans field trips throughout the year and this week, they arranged for us to go ice skating at the outdoor rink in Bellevue! I don't think I had been ice skating since high school and Evan had never been before. I was really excited to have some one on one fun with my little man. He was super excited too, and he ended up really loving it!



Evan did really well. He was super wobbly and fell a lot at first, naturally. He didn't just do a little wobble or stumble, though. His falls were flailing, sliding, spectacular falls. They were the kind of things you see in the cartoons with the legs slipping back and forth really fast and the arms doing circles in the air. I could not. stop. laughing. Luckily, he thought it was pretty funny, too.

I tried to catch one of his falls on video and got this one. It's not one of the better ones, but oh well. (Turn the sound down first.... it was super LOUD in there!)



He got the hang of things really quickly, and by the end of the night he was doing really well! I was super impressed.



What a fun night to spend with this cute kid! :)

 
(I promise we didn't coordinate our outfits on purpose.)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The day after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree. Decorating for Christmas keeps getting more fun as the boys get older. I love hearing their exclamations of "Oh! I remember that!!" and talking about the memories that come with each of the different ornaments. As an added bonus, they put the tree together by themselves this year. I hardly had to help!







Ellie tried to be helpful, too.





The cat was especially glad to see that we brought back her faorite piece of climbing equipment. We could not keep her out of the tree last year.





"What are you doing under there, kitty?"



Oddly enough, she hasn't tried to climb in the tree at all this year.

Yes, this one is totally posed. I have to do it every year.



We only put the lights and silver balls on the tree that night.



We finished off the other ornaments a few nights later and now the look is complete. Our living room is so cozy and Christmas-y now! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving with our wonderful friends. I feel so blessed to have great people to spend Thanksgiving with when our family is so far away. The dinner was yummy and the table settings were beautiful.

After we had eaten our fill, the men took the kids out in the back yard to shoot stuff with pellet guns and a bow and arrows. I didn't take many pictures during the course of the day because I was too busy enjoying myself, but I did break out the camera when Ben decided to try the bow and arrow.



I tried the bow and arrow too, and this is what I got for my efforts.


(That's the inside of my elbow, by the way.)

After shooting stuff,  we played some games and had a lot of laughs.





Things got interesting when we decided that the winner of the last game would be allowed to draw a mustache on the person of his/her choosing.







We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too. We have so much to be grateful for. I feel so very blessed!