Merry Christmas!

My goal in years past was to have our family film uploaded for viewing on Christmas Eve.

Well, after spending the majority of the day on my very fun project and less of the time with the girls, I decided to lighten up on my goal and get it posted when I can. 

So here it is.

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a wonderful celebration.

(And yes, it is really TEN minutes long. It's just so hard for me to cut these sweet faces in their awesome acting! I had to convert it to a smaller size so the pictures aren't as crisp. Sorry!)

Here's our 2012 production of Rudolph.

Our 2011 production of The Gingerbread Man.

And our 2010 production of the The Nativity.

Look at how the girls have grown!

Woah! Whole in One . . .

Scratch that last post! Forget the five days of blogging. Who has time to blog when it's Christmastime???

Let's just do the whole thing in one post, eh???

One picture from our Thanksgiving break to Idaho. We got to spend it with Andrew, Maria, Inara, and baby Alba. We had a great time. We sure miss them!
(The only two pictures I have are these: The girls with Inara, and a screen shot from Robyn's Facebook page.)

Claire's Number Four Birthday:
Instead of making cake/cupcakes this year, I took Claire to a cupcake shop and she picked out this plate of goodies.

Then we played a cupcake walk and whoever won each time got to pick their goodie. After that, we sang to her, she blew her candles out, and we chowed down, sampling everyone's.

Then she opened gifts. (Back up here: in Disneyland, she tossed a coin into some water and wished for "a real live unicorn." And a few nights ago, she saw a star and wished for "unicorns all over the world and even in outer space.") So when I found this life-size, stretchy unicorn, I knew it was perfect. And she loved it! When she got it unwrapped, she launched off the couch, slid face-first onto the floor, and then rolled and rolled and rolled around with it in her arms. She laughed and laughed. And then she put the elastic on her hands and feet and ran around with it strapped to her. It was hilarious. We all laughed so hard.

The final part of her party was that the girls got to take a bath with glow in the dark rings, bracelets, and wands. It was so fun! We turned the lights on and snapped the toys, then put them in the tub with the girls. They had a lot of fun.

We also made another trip back to Idaho for Rhett's grandfather's funeral. Rhett was privileged to get to share the life sketch during, and I was able to play a piano solo. There was also a table display of some of the things of his life. I thought the keepsakes and pictures from the Korean War that he served in were really neat.

His purple heart medal:

The burial was an exceptional experience. There was a 21-gun salute from these veterans standing a ways away from the burial spot.

And then there was this group of veterans standing during the ceremony. The veteran on the right was the one who folded the flag and presented it to Grandma Vance, thanking her, on behalf of the President of the United States and all its citizens, for her husband's service.

Christmas Teaser

So I've decided to do the "Five Days of Christmas Blogging." This will begin December 19th, and will be a little Christmas countdown until Christmas Eve.

It will also be updates of the past few months, like pictures of Disneyland, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, and a Funeral.

And here is a little Christmas teaser . . . Summer's letter to Santa that she wrote last night. She sounded all the words out. I only helped her with "dark" and "Thank."

"Dear Santa, Please give, please, me a rainbow, glow-in-the-dark stick. Thank you. Summer."

* * * * *

A few days ago, Claire asked me this:

"Mom, do almonds really have milk in them? Or do you just squeeze the white part?"

And on our last trip home from Idaho, she said this: "Mom! I just swallowed a checkmark . . . without swallowing!"

What???