A Major Award

This cool kid got a responsibility award at school for always doing what's right.  Landon really is a great helper, hard worker, and is always willing to be kind to others.  Grateful for this boy and his efforts to do what is right.

Personalized Snow Globe Lanterns

Following this year's Relief Society Craft Workshop I had some extra lanterns and the grand idea to personalize them with the kids pictures inside. I also managed to find a little dog putting a letter to Santa into a mailbox that looks exactly like Chloe, so we commemorated her first Christmas with us as well.  The boys thought they were so fun and I'm sure ten years from now they may even elicit tears thinking how fast the years have flown by.

Christmas Lights 2018

We put on our pj's, loaded our thermos' with hot cocoa, and piled in the van for our annual trip to drive through the Clinton Christmas lights.  It was a slow enough night we got to drive around twice and loved every minute of it.

 

 

Gingerbread Houses 2018

This year we broke from tradition a little bit and made gingerbread houses with friends instead of with family.  The last couple years we haven't had family in town until after Christmas, so our normal tradition hasn't always happened.   In fact I don't think we did them at all last year, so when the Giaimo's invited us to their house we jumped at the chance.  I'm not sure I've ever seen so much candy or frosting in one place before and we all had so much fun.  Dean wowed everyone with his building skills and I did what I like best and decorated his creation.  We make a pretty great team.

 

Ward Christmas Party 2018

This year the Christmas party was a breakfast Saturday morning.  Once again the Primary was asked to put on a little program, so I  pulled out the Nativity costumes and enlisted some helpers to get the kids all changed quickly.  I made Maya's year by casting her and Landon as Mary and Joseph, and after some heavy convincing Bridger let us use his doll Jack as Baby Jesus.  Braddock ended up needing to go to the bathroom right as we were going on stage, so he missed the entire thing.  Haha! That kid!    We enjoyed yummy food, socializing with friends and family, and even a visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause! 

Natural History Museum

One of my very favorite things as a Mom is tagging along on field-trips with my kiddos.  Somehow in all the time Landon's been in school, I've never managed to go on any of his field-trips until now.  That made it even more special.  We loaded up the buses three to a seat (yes I did share a tiny bus bench with two third graders!) and drove into Pittsburgh.  It's always fun watching the kids light up as we come through the tunnels and enter the city.  We had a great time learning about rocks and minerals and then exploring the dinosaur exhibit.  We definitely didn't get to tour everything so we'll have to go back someday as a family.  I sure loved getting to know Landon's friends better and spending the whole day with him.

 

Christmas Choral Concert

We are now seasoned concert goers, and we've learned how to navigate the world of packed, stuffy Jr. High gyms.  We got to Tanner's concert early enough to get our favorite seats along the wall and this time around the crowd was big enough they let the 5th and 6th Grade Chorus families leave after they performed.  Hooray!  The kids were all supposed to wear ugly Christmas sweaters so Tanner sported his Rudolph hoodie.  The kids did a great job and sang some really fun songs.  It was great having Grandma and Grandpa there to support him too.

Decking the Church's Halls

 

 

Hanging of the Greens

Each year at the boy's elementary school they have a day they've dubbed "The Hanging of the Greens."  This is the day all the Christmas decorations go up in the classrooms and throughout the halls.  The PTA gets to come in and help and this year I was lucky enough to help in Braddock's class.  His teacher had put together tons of cute activities and crafts and then couldn't be there that day.  I was super impressed by their great substitute.  He know all their names and ran things like he was there every day.  So the other Moms and I got to work helping the kiddos with their projects.  I took a ton of pictures so Mrs. Frioni could see all she had to miss after she had worked so hard to make it amazing. 

 Braddock's teacher got all the kids antlers and Rudolph noses.  She even had antlers for the Mom's.  The whole thing was reindeer themed and SO cute!

 Can't get enough of this little reindeer!

 This little girl has had a huge crush on Braddock.  He came home with a million love notes from her.  Too funny!

 They made Santa's sleigh from all sorts of items.

 And a party's not complete without making reindeer food.  We certainly wouldn't want them to fly right on by and miss us!

 At the end of the day we grabbed Landon from his class and had to snag a picture of him in front of his picture on the 100 point wall.  SO glad this kid loves to read so much....