Way back when I only had two children I made personalized stockings for them out of placemats. Since adding to the family, I had always wanted to make the additional ones. Finally, this year I accomplished it. They took maybe a whole 45 minutes to make. Karlie's has brown on the back and Kelsee's is red. I can't believe it took me so many years to get it done. It does feel good though!!
On Thursday, December 18th Kody and I braved the total ice roads and went to get a tree. It was so cold and snowing that we took the first one they showed us. We shoved it in the back of the van. Then carried it in and had to let it defrost for a day or two before we could decorate it. Life had been so crazy we just did not get the time to get one sooner. Due to the snow the kids have only had 1 1/2 days of school this week and it also cleared my calendar. So that was nice. Saturday morning Dennis put the lights on the tree and then that night Karlie and I decorated it. It's beginning to look like Christmas!
The snowman must have really had a bad night. This is what we found this morning. Kayla felt really bad. She said it looked like he had been stabbed. I explained to her that he had because she used the roasting sticks for his arms. She then screamed when she realized she had stabbed him!!
The kids were so excited to see snow that even though it was dark they went out to play in it. they had so much fun making huge snowballs for a snowman and even starting a snowball fight with the neighbors behind us.
Our neighbor gave us Candy House Kits for the kids to make.
Kayla worked the hardest and then after seeing the results of the others, an earthquake suddenly hit hers.
At the Stake Creche they took the cutest pictures of the kids. My only regret is Kody was not there. It would have made the best Christmas card photo. Kody had a basketball game at Capital in Olympia. Atleast they won.
Cross Country season was great! Kody as a Freshman was the third runner on the varsity team. He was one of the two Freshman on the team. This season he improved his time by one minute, endured through a heel and hip injury and just flat out ran his heart out. He is very good at this distance running thing. He had awesome teammates, great coaches and it was fun to see his name in the paper every week. He is excited that he was able to letter and get a District Star. At the awards banquet (which he did not get to attend due to basketball tryouts), he was also given the "Matt Berry Award". It is a leadership award that is passed down and the person who received it last decides who gets it. It was a great honor and he was told by everyone that he really missed out on a great speech. (Thanks Brad!) Now he will keep it until he is a Senior and then pass it on.
the league. They did really well.
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Kayla loved dressing up and doing chores. She made butter, chopped carrots, ground wheat, washed clothes, got her hair curled, found eggs, jumped into the hay, made yarn, drilled a hole and milked a real cow. 
Karlie had a good time also.
They both make pretty cute pioneer girls.
It felt like we has several Halloweens this year. One at the school, at church and then the actual holiday. As most of of you know it is not my favorite holiday and having it several times was probably a punishment on my part.
On a good note I survived and have to admit it really wasn't that bad. Kody was a good sport and answered the door for all the eager trick or treaters. The girls got so much candy I was filling my jacket pockets so that their buckets were not overflowing. It rained all day but by night it was beautiful and the kids did not even have to wear a jacket. Much different than the snow we have become used to in past years and the girls looked so cute!!
Kelsee's 2nd grade class had a field trip to the Thomasson Farm in Enumclaw. Karlie and I went along. We were told the kids would be learning about the crops, their rotation and about soil. None of that went on... It was a lot of play. The kids had a great 
time.
