Mulberry Street

Each of these building replicas were created out of natural materials.  Yes, every single detail has been met using leaves, twigs, pine cones, acorns, bark and more.  This holiday display is fabulous!  This outing will be a new tradition for our family.

Grandma Kristy and Grandpa Barry spent Christmas with us. It was a great visit and I loved the fact that they traveled to us, rather than the other way around. We may have to make this a family tradition – make family travel to us! Genevieve was ecstatic to have her grandparents around and to show off her new toys. Emory was delighted to have new arms to love and hold him. I hope their trip was relaxing enough. We tried not to cram in a lot of sight-seeing, but then we sorta made my dad work on our house for two solid days. He helped Eric install a new light fixture in the kitchen as well as recessed lighting in the basement. To say that I love all the light would really be an understatement, because I am in love with all the light. We spend so much more time in the basement now that it doesn’t feel like a cave. Thanks Dad! The few sights we saw included the DC Temple Festival of Lights, where we listened to the Pacheco Family Singers (they were fabulous!). The Museum of the America...

Merry Christmas! I just can't get enough of these two cuties in their Christmas pj's.

We visited the DC Temple to see the colorful light display.  We even caught a concert while we were there.  We've tried to make it up to the temple every Christmas season.  While they no longer have a live nativity, it is still a great outing and helps us remember the birth of our Savior. I love the statue of Christ in the visitor's center.  The resurrected Christ is beautiful, welcoming, and loving. I really liked the trees decorated in various styles, especially this one from a children's book about the birth of Christ. My next favorite were the trees with dolls from around the world.  Genevieve likes to sing, "I Love to See the Temple" before bed.  It's great to show her the temple and talk about the importance of the temple in our lives. The DC Temple has always been my favorite and there is nothing like seeing it lit up at night.  Simply stunning.  It makes me very envious of the people who live across the street. We survived the co...

Our visits with Santa went better this year.  Although Genevieve never smiled, she did sit on Santa's knee AND talk to him.  She told Santa she wanted a doll with blonde hair.  Funny.  I never thought to ask her, so it was nice to hear.  Emory was, of course, indifferent about the whole experience.  But we know that will change next year... Emory can still pull off his "old-man" look with success.  However, I can't say that I've seen any old men sucking on their thumbs, that must be Emory's own take on the look.

Genevieve has been attending a dance class for a few months now and was able to participate in a recital.  For weeks she has been talking about dancing on "the stage."  She has been super excited.  We have been super nervous.  Eric and I fully expected her to be the one in the group who froze on stage.  But, none of the girls did, at least not from Genevieve's class.  (That's not to say that no one froze, actually there were several tears shed from cute little girls in pigtails.  It was sad but also really cute.)  We were impressed with the dance teachers' compassion toward all their students and their ability to keep the dancers going.  It was a very entertaining hour and Genevieve did a fantastic job.  She is fourth from the left in the lineup. Then, after I zoom in, she is the girl on the right.  (I shouldn't have to point that out since the girl on the left has long brown hair...but just in ...

K is for Kite and Kitten L is for Light M is for Melt (We melted chocolate and then dipped pretzels.  Then we saw how the chocolate returned to a solid state.  We also discussed how candles melt, ice melts and snow melts.) M is for Mammal (We made Reindeer ornaments for our Christmas trees.) You'd think it would be intimidating to be in the target of a 3 and 4 year-old snow-ball fight, but it wasn't.  They really couldn't form balls and the little bit of snow they managed to pick up flew back in their faces.  I think the kids suffered the greater casualties. Here the kids are running away from me, squealing.  They got cold pretty fast, so we headed back inside to make hot chocolate and warm up before their moms arrived. Our Learning Board - We sing a few songs, discuss the weather and rotate the dial based on the day's conditions, we practice counting and learn about months of the year, and finally we discuss a letter.  Each child gets to help w...