December Photos & Update

This batch of pictures catches you up on all the events of December. In the transition to our new blog, there were a few things that happened at the beginning of December that I never mentioned. I'll get that out of the way so into the new year, I'm all caught up!

For one thing, I think I forgot to mention my my baby sister had a new baby on December 5th! Her name is Makayla Dee Magana. They all live in Arizona, so I haven't got to see her yet. She is so beautiful in pictures though! I know it is tough having a 2 1/2 year old and in infant...so prayers for Andrea's sanity might be in order!

Between December 8th and December 17, we did a lot of fun activites on the advent calendar. We made thank you cards, letters to Santa, had Christmas tea parties and read Christmas books with cocoa. That made the time pass quickly. I was busy making a few gifts. I made a neat rag quilt for my new niece and my nephew along with several other gifts. It renewed my love of all things crafty. I bought a nifty new tool for scrapbooking that I need to get some use out of in the near future. It cuts paper into shapes from design cartridges. It's called a Cricut machine. I can even make vinyl decor for walls with it! FUN!

Michael was into making his own gingerbread men this year. He found a great recipe and made serveral batches! I did a little baking too. I have WAY too much junk around here now.

Kelby got recognized at an award assembly for making it on the honor roll. This is the first time that her grades have counted for this, so we were very proud of her! Hopefully she continues to work hard to keep getting that award. Kelby's friend Taylor invited her to a magic show at a local theatre on December 12th. I guess they even got to go on stage as part of the show. Taylor's mom got great pictures!

That same night we got a babysitter for the other two and Mike and I went out shopping for all our Christmas stuff. I'm so glad we did it early this year because we were trapped in the snow after that weekend.

I got to enjoy a ladies breakfast in LaConner on December 13th. I taught a workshop there on "Darling Gifts Under $10". The snow started to fall that afternoon. Our church even cancelled services on Sunday the 14th because the threat of snow was so great...however, little did they know that would be the least of it! They postponed the children's program until the next weekend...when the snow was even worse. School was postponed two hours on Monday. Tuesday cleared up and I got to mail a package at the post office and good thing, because Wednesday the snow came down and down until there was about a foot. School was cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before Christmas break even started. Kelby didn't get to bring home her gifts she made at school and Tegan had to miss a Tea Party they had planned!

We had friends over after school on Tuesday and on Wednesday to make ornaments for our planned retirement home visit. We made ornaments out of recycled Christmas cards, scrapbooking paper, and salt dough! Good thing we had something to do while trapped inside. We also watched a lot of Christmas movies and played a lot of Wii together since all this snow started falling.

I already told you how we almost didn't get to deliver those ornaments, but it all worked out in the end! One day we walked to the store in the snow, went out to lunch, and walked home. We spotted an exellent spot where other neighborhood kids were sledding. The rest is history because we've been over there time and again to have fun sledding since then! Okay, I think that fills in all the blanks! I hope everyone enjoys themselves this week and thinks up some good new years resolutions! I'm thinking up a couple of my own already.