My little Mary

Shaylee's Christmas program at Children's World of Music was on December 15th. She came home that day from school and said, "Mom, I get to be Mary tonight!" I was surprised because usually Mary is reserved for a Kindergartner. I thought that maybe Miss Cindy let everyone be Mary one time in the practices and dismissed it, knowing she would be an angel. So, I was really surprised when she came out all dressed as Mary. Shows me not to trust her! She was a beautiful Mary and did such a great job up there singing all the songs. I always love to watch the sweet little Christmas programs.

Shaylee and Ellie

Hannah, Shaylee and Maddie

Shaylee and Sullivan

Shaylee and Miss Michelle

Christmas Festivities!

On Monday December, 14th we built our gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. It was an interesting build this year, since the roof was broken in half on one section and thirds on the other. I had to be really creative to make the house work. Thank heavens my mom has had issues with hers before and taught me that hot glue works wonders with a broken Gingerbread house! It looks darling and you would never know! Just don't eat the roof!





On Wednesday December 16th, we had our annual Christmas piano concert at the Zundel home. Brandon played "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and Kenyon played "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and "Jingle Bells". They both did a great job! Thanks Karen for being such a wonderful teacher!
(I thought we had pictures of this, but I can't find them!)

On Monday December 21st, we had the May's over and made yummy sugar cookies and had a fun family home evening with them. We have had such fun this Christmas season and we are anxiously awaiting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.


Merry Christmas!

Christmas lights

On December 11th we decided to go see Christmas lights with my mom and dad. It was cold, so we decided that we would try out the lights at the Portland International Raceway. They decorate all along the race track and then you can drive on the racetrack to see all their fine lights. They do the 12 days of Christmas all up in lights. It was really fun and we had a great time. Along the way to the racetrack we saw the Christmas ships on the river, so we stopped to watch those as well. It was a night filled with fun and lights!

Everyone in the car, notice how my mom leaned away,
so I didn't get her in the picture? Sneaky, Mom!

Nine, Nine, Nine's so FINE!!!!!

Brandon turned nine years old on December 12th. Every year I am amazed at how old he is. You would think I would get used to it by now, but no- I can't believe my first born is nine! How did he get so old? It always makes me just a teeny bit sad to see him gain one more year on his age, but I guess that is life!

Here is a little bit about Brandon at nine:

-He loves anything that has to do with Space-He is so interested in it, Pete even bought a telescope that I think has been used once!

- He loves to read. Right now he is into fact books. Space, animals, words, etc. Anything that helps him to gain knowledge.

-He still loves to draw and create. He is very creative.

-He loves webkinz. And he has quite the collection!

-He loves the wii. A little too much! His favorite wii game right now is wii fit plus. He gets really into it and I love to watch him play it. It's too funny!

-He is usually a very responsible child. As long as he doesn't get talking! If he's talking while you are trying to get him to do something you might as well forget it!

-He LOVES to talk! He can talk and talk and talk and talk about anything!

-He is usually very happy. He has had a bit of moodiness come about this last year, but snaps out of it pretty quickly.

Brandon has been a joyful child and I love him and can't wait to see what this next year will bring.

For Brandon's birthday we had a friend's birthday party for him on December 9th. I am a girl that comes from a family of mostly girl's, so I had no idea what nine year old boys want to do at a party. I came up with the brilliant idea of having a movie party. That would keep them busy and calm, right? Wrong! Whoa! Nine year old boys are CRAZY! That is all I can say, but they had fun and Brandon loved every minute of it and that is all that's important.


On Saturday his actual birthday my mom and dad were here, so we spent the day with them. Brandon went on a walk with Grandma and Grandpa in the morning. One of my kids favorite things to do with their grandparents. Then he went on a date with his dad and then we all went to Woodburn to the outlets. We came home and had icecream and cake and presents.


Happy Birthday Brandon!

The Festival of Nativities

Every year we go to see the Festival of Nativities. They have some really fun stuff for the kids to do and we love to see all the beautiful nativities. This year, much to my dismay, Pete volunteered our Snow globe nativity to be in it. I was reluctant because this nativity is very valuable to me. Not monetarily, but sentimentally. It is the first Christmas item Pete and I bought after we got married. I was afraid it would get lost or broken. Luckily, nothing happened to it and we had a great time!

Santa's lap

On November 27th when we went to see Shaylee dance, we ran into none other than Santa Clause! We were so excited to see him and the best part was there was NO line! So, we took advantage of that and my three brave children all sat on his lap. Guess who isn't brave? I guess we'll give him a break since a man dressed in red with a beard is scary to a two year old!

Thanksgiving and Dancing!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house this year. My sister and her family came and we had a wonderful time. I was so busy making sure everything was ready and then cleaning up, I forgot to take pictures. We ate some yummy food, visited and enjoyed hearing the kids have so much fun together.

On Friday morning. Pete headed out to do some Black Friday shopping. We do it a little bit backward. I stay home and Pete fights all the crowds. We both prefer it that way. I got all the kids ready to head out by 9:00 am, to Shaylee's dance performance at the Festival of the Trees. She did such a great job and was so intent on the dance. It was so cute!

Shaylee before the performance

Natalie, Shaylee, Maddie and Hannah

After Shaylee's performance, we headed home and picked up a babysitter, to watch the kids while Pete and I did some Christmas shopping. We went to some of our favorite stores. Costco, Gymboree, Ann Taylor Loft, Old Navy, Target and other fun stores. Can you guess which store is Pete's favorite and which is mine? :) Then we headed to Burgerville for lunch. YUMMY!

On Saturday we spent all day putting up our Christmas decorations. After an insane day, we decided we deserved a break and headed to IKEA for some meatballs. We dropped the kids off at the Playland and did some more shopping. Can you tell we like to shop? Even if it's just window shopping, we enjoy shopping together.

We had a wonderful weekend and really enjoyed spending time together. It was a little sad getting back to reality today.

Do we have a soccer player?

Kenyon played soccer this year for the first time. His team was the Rockets and they did very well this season. Kenyon was the youngest one on his team since he played up a level to be with his two friends, Alex and Spencer.

Do we have a soccer player on our hands? Well, probably not, but at least he decided that he enjoyed it half way through the season. I thought the first few weeks we would be dragging him to two practices and a game every week, kicking and screaming for three months, but luckily he ended up really liking it. Kenyon is not a runner. He doesn't enjoy running, at all. He doesn't enjoy doing anything that requires him to go at a normal or above normal speed. For those of you who don't know Kenyon his speed is stuck in slow motion most of the time. He gets this from my side of the family I'm afraid. I have a brother and sister who he reminds me of so much, it's amazing. Anyway, back to soccer, you can tell that this is a recipe for disaster with soccer, but he wanted to play with his two friends, so we signed him up and it ended up being a good experience for him. By the end he was doing really well, and even scored a goal! WOO HOO! Way to go Kenny!

Jaron loved playing soccer on the sidelines

as we watched Kenyon play his games

I'm an aunty!

My sister had her baby girl yesterday and so, I am an aunt again! Jillian Grace was born around noon and she weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches long. She is adorable. Congratulations, Cindy and Nate on your sweet baby girl.

Thanks mom for the pictures!