Thanksgiving Point Farm

Last Saturday we went to the lamb and wool festival at Thanksgiving Point as a family. Bracken and Chandra loved getting to pet baby lambs, see a sheep sheared, make their own wool bracelets, watch dogs herding sheep, and of course, ride the ponies.  Having sunshine and warm weather again has been AMAZING.

Fun with Uncles!

My little brother's came to visit for a few days while my parents went to Florida.  Bracken and Chandra love their uncles, and the kids had so much fun.  We went to the bounce house, played outside, built with k'nex, and we went to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum and farm. Thanks for coming boys!

Bracken, Chandra, Dallin and Tyson with some of their creations.

Tea Party

Chandra got some beautiful tea party dishes from Grandpa Rudy and Grandma Ginger for Christmas.  She wants to dress up and play tea party all the time. Bracken has found his own ways of making this more manly, and dresses up as Prince Derek (from the Swan Princess).  They include all the stuffed animals they can fit at their table, and have so much fun eating little snacks and using their tea party manners.

Murder Mystery Dinner

Melissa hosted a New Year's murder mystery dinner with the Johnson's visiting Utah at the time.  It was quite entertaining.  The kids partied with pizza and movies downstairs, while the adults had a 5-Year High School Reunion with a murder upstairs.  

(Characters: Jeff- football player, Niki- drama queen, Steve- nerd turned billionaire, Melissa- recovering nerd, Sally- high end shopper and little sister to the guy who was killed, Mike-cowboy, Brian- Class President, Kira- cheerleader.)

December Activities

Decorating the Tree.

Making Salt Dough Ornaments.

This was a huge hit.  They rolled, cut out, colored and stamped for over an hour and a half.  The dough started drying out and crumbling to pieces so I had to say "enough" and start the baking. They were so proud of their little ornaments. 

Bracken worked on this little present for Chandra faithfully throughout the month.  He chose the material himself, and sat on my lap and helped me cut and sew the entire little apron.  If he wanted to work on it and Chandra was awake he'd always spell, "Mom, let's work on Chandra's A-P-R-I-N." He was so excited to give it to her on Christmas morning. 

 Decorating Christmas Trees...instead of gingerbread houses.

I always love the idea of decorating gingerbread houses with my kids.  But the reality is never as perfect as the idea.  By the time I assemble the house and let it set up, they're off to a new project, or have spent the entire time trying to eat the candy that's supposed to go on it. Plus the gingerbread is as hard as a rock and not very tasty.

So this year I tried something simpler.  I just bought sugar cones, covered them in green frosting, turned them upside down, and gave the kids sixlets and Christmas sprinkles to decorate with.  It was a huge hit!

Reindeer and Snowman Pancakes

 Celebration Time!  Brian finished all his finals and few other obligations until school starts back up.  That means partying with the kids.  We went to Cedar City to visit friends, to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, sledding and playing K'Nex and making forts.  We loved having Brian with us so much.

Bracken's favorite thing at the Dinosaur Museum are the T-Rex's.  Chandra's is the big shark.  She loves it and is scared to death of it at the same time.

Thanksgiving Point also had a couple of reindeer visiting.  Bracken even touched Comet's antler.  It was freezing, but made the kids happy.

 Blowing Green and Red Christmas bubbles.  (I know, kinda lame, but they LOVED this and asked for this activity over and over again.)

Building our Snowman Family together...and lots of sledding this day too. 

Went to see Christmas Lights at Temple Square.  We bundled up really well and everything was beautiful.  

We certainly had a fun-filled December!

Awkward Spelling

Bracken loves his new found skill of spelling, and he uses it often.  He's figured out that if he spells a treat or activity I'm more likely to do it with him.  "Mom, let's read a B-O-O-K.", "Y-E-S I want a C-O-O-K-I-E." He's also found it helpful to keep secrets from his sister. "Mom, let's work on making Chandra's Christmas A-P-R-I-N." (They're not always spelled perfectly. :)  It's fun to hear him laying in bed at night sounding out words, or studiously making letter sounds as he works on writing a letter or story.

Every once in a while it can get awkward though.  A couple of Sunday's ago during sacrament meeting I hear Bracken starting to sound things out under his breath.  He announces to me in a loud whisper, "Mom, I can spell six, "S-I-X, S-I-X."  He pauses for a moment, and then much more loudly and excitedly says, "And I can spell a new word!  S-E-X, S-E-X, sex!" He was so proud of figuring out a new word, and I just wanted to climb under the seat as it felt like all our neighbors were looking at us.

Sometimes spelling is just awkward.