Tabernacle Chior Concert.

It seems I won the Mormon lottery again this year!  Out of everyone in my family I am the only one who was randomly selected to get tickets to the MoTab Christmas concert.  My brother Dallin immediately called and asked if he and Becca could have the other two tickets.  It was the perfect way to kick off our {mine and Dallin's} birthday weekend.

 Becca, Dallin, Gregg, me.

We went to dinner and then the concert - it was great.

Thanks Dallin and Becca, and Gregg!

Truman's Gift.

 Truman came home from school with a gift for our family, he could not wait till Christmas for us to open it.

 Hand stamped package.

 What is it?!?!?

 "Look mom"

 It was this cute little Santa hot chocolate mix,

 With the following note.

We instantly made the hot cocoa and read a book.

Thank you Truman!

Let's Play Music.

Today was our last day of Let's Play Music for the semester.

Truman has official graduated from Red Balloons.

{See this post}

 Echo Ed.

 Doing our Solfeggio hand signs "Fa"

 Playing our bells.

 Such concentration.

 Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.

 Placing our "red balloon" on either a line or a space and making it take "baby step" or "leaps"

Following along and pointing to the chords for "Primary Chords"

Now getting a chance to play Primary cords on the auto-harp.

So fun to see they can do it all by themselves at the end of the semester!

Singing "who stole the cookie for the cookie jar" and getting a cookie at the end!

Puppet shows are a favorite.

These puppets are to "Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.  The kids learn to listen to the music and hear different instruments, sounds, feelings, speeds, etc.

"Frog in the Middle"

And his cute elf ornament from Miss. Emily.

Our favorite songs this semester were;

"Great Big Red Balloon"

"Ooooo Halloween" -Bodie's favorite from listening to the music in the car

"Five Fat Turkeys" - Bodie's other favorite

Playing "Three Blind Mice" on his bells

and as always the puppet shows "Magic Lamp" and "Waltz of the Flowers"

Birthday Dessert.

Tonight my girlfriends took me {and Laura} out for dessert at Kneaders for our birthdays.

{Tara, Ali, Kristi, me, Laura and Tami}

We all have fall/winter birthdays so for 6 months starting in September we go out once a month for dessert.  It's a great excuse to leave the husbands at home to put the kids to bed.

Sunday.

Sometimes you just need to chill with your favorite blanket, favorite football and favorite dad.

The Polar Express.

Today we bundled up for a ride on the Polar Express in Heber.

 All aboard.

 The kids were so excited to ride a real train.

The train went past grandpa and grandma Quinn's new house.

And of course there was a visit from Santa.

Santa picked up the kids, put them on his lap and asked them what they wanted for Christmas.

What?

They looked at him like he was crazy, they had no idea what he was talking about.

You are asking me what I want for Christmas?

Yes, they will someday be indoctrinated with the worldly traditions of Santa, it's inevitable.  But for now, we aren't really focusing on Santa.

Gregg and I decided at the beginning of the month that we were not going to have Santa decoration in our home and we weren't going to threaten our kids all month with, "If you don't ... then Santa won't come" or "Santa is watching you".  It's just a battle we didn't want to start and after all, that is not the reason for all the celebrating at this time of year.  We are trying hard to have a Christ centered Christmas.

Yes, Santa will still visit our home and bring gifts.  I am one of the biggest believes and I love the magic of it all - it doesn't mean we have to focus on Santa all month.

So, when this Santa asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas they just looked at him blank-faced and Gregg and I chuckled!  When he walked away Bodie said, "Who was that, Jingle Bells?"

By the time the ride was over the snow was really coming down, it made the entire experience a little more magical.

Book Club.

Tonight we had book club.

We read Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks.  I must say I highly recommend this book - it was such a great story.  Its about a boy Max and his imaginary friend Budo.  The book teaches so many great lessons about friendship, facing fears, along with some teaching and parenting ideas.

Thank you Tara.

Next month it's my turn!

We are going to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I ready this in high school and loved it - and the movie {the original with Robert Redford}.  When the new movie was coming out a few months ago I re-read the book and then Gregg took me out to the movie and I absolutely loved the new movie.

It's a classic if you haven't read it.

December.