Christmas Fun!

Pre-Christmas!

The Wilson things have been busy while waiting for Santa to visit. (Side tangent on Santa: I am so very glad my kids understand perfectly well that Santa is not real yet still have so much fun pretending!)
Sweet Kristen realized we would not all be together in March when Emily has her birthday, so she made it possible for us to celebrate now while we are together. And we had a great time singing "Happy birthday to Emily, eating cake, and then looking at all Emily's clothes and accessories.
Another activity we enjoy at the Wilson's is a little guitar jamming, singing, and dancing!

Travel Time!

Friday was our driving day. We drove, and drove, and drove! And thanks to our Father in Heaven we made is safe and sound. Our kids never complained, never fought, and never cried-the whole thirteen hours!

Long Drive

We made it to the good ole South! It is so nice to be here. The children were so great. No fighting, and no whining - the whole twelve hours! We are so blessed.

Kramas at the Hizzy

          At this very instant, little J is trying every ounce of patience I possess. That child has gotten up about fifteen hundred times. JUST GO TO SLEEP!!!

Ok. On to the point. Today we celebrated an early Christmas so that we wouldn't have to carry our gifts all the way to the good ole South and then back up again. So while J had his nap and M was at school, Santa came to our house. We found our stockings, opened the presents from Santa, got high on chocolate, and then opened our gifts from each other. M picked me out the most precious necklace. I could tell it came straight from her heart. She is such a thoughtful and loving sweetheart! Here are a few pics of the kiddos enjoying their gifts afterward:

(That is a face caught in the action of making car noises.)

(Side note: the track is what he got today-and he loves it!. The rugs are apparently permanent additions to my living room decor/floor because he will not let me put them away! He loves to drive his cars on them!)

One of the gifts M received were Barbie dresses. We had a good time dressing the dolls and taking them to a ball. Unfortunately, we realized we have no Ken to dance with at said ball!

At bedtime we have to get J to tuck his cars into bed so that he will put them away and go to bed. It usually works. Tonight he counted them and said "good night" to each one separately...

Wintery Fun

Here in B.S. (hee hee) we have been trying to participate in the big events. And so far there have been quite a few- and they have been lots of fun!
        One activity we went to was for toddlers only. We played in a rice table, with blocks, with trains, with doll houses, had snacks, saw Santa (which J did not like at all) and the most fun of all: a big pile of shredded paper!

We also recently went to a Christmas festival downtown. Each store had treats and an activity, the library had crafts, there was a live manger seen (J loved that he wanted to pet the animals about three times), a tractor ride, (also a favorite with our kiddos) and ice sculptures. There was live music and caroling and even horse drawn carriage rides-which we did not get to do. These pics are pretty bad, but my kids met a polar bear and gave him a high five.

Face painting:

Aren't these the cutest Eskimos you have ever seen?:

It was really fun to watch the guys making the ice sculptures. It is hard to see here, but the details on the sculptures was amazing! We are going to an ice sculpture festival in a neighboring town in Jan. I can't wait!

Field Trip

 M had a field trip this week. They went to Pinecrest Christmas Tree Farm. The children all had a wonderful time. First they learned about different types of Christmas trees and pine cones. Then they listened to a tree story, had hot chocolate, and colored.

Then they went on a tractor ride.

And, just for fun. Here is a precious pic of M all dolled up! The occasion was she and her daddy had a special shopping trip to go on together. She asked for a morning shower, conditioner in her hair, and a facial mask! She picked out her outfit and even let me brush her hair! They had a fun daddy/daughter date!

A Buttery Day

Today was cold and rainy. We couldn't think of anything inexpensive,inside, and spontaneous (since we had not planned ahead) to go and do so we stayed inside most of the day. To help ease the boredom we decided to make butter.

It takes a little while, so during the waiting and watching process we worked on spelling and writing:
(This was all M's idea. She loves writing these days.)

"We are making butter by M"
And the finished product:

One proud girl with a bowl of butter! "Where is J?" you might ask. Not participating!I thought he would be excited to make butter since that is a major food group for him, but he just didn't have the patience to sit around and watch it. For some reason watching cream churn just wasn't fun enough for him....

On another note: others have already aptly expressed how I feel concerning the horrific incident in CT. But, I would like to also express my condolences to the families of this tragedy.What happened is really beyond belief. I'm sure the families that lost a dear one are still trying to grasp (or avoid) the reality of it. That there could be someone so evil out there is terrifying. We have not told M because we just don't want her to know that such awful exists in the world. The fact that some young, innocent, precious babies had to live through it absolutely breaks my heart. I have cried several times for those sweet children and for the families that have had to experience this. I hope and pray that they will somehow find peace. I don't know anything I can do except pray for them. I think one of the hardest parts about a catastrophe like this is that once it is gone from the media, those not affected forget about it and move on, while the families who are grieving will never forget and will have to wake up to it every. single. day. For the rest of their lives. My heart goes out to them.

This is just happening way too much in our country recently. You think in your head, this would never happen where I live. But, it is obviously a possibility. At the risk of sounding crazy, I am going to talk to the principal at M's school this week. They have drills for this kind of thing, but I don't think it's enough. They either need a metal detector at the front entrance, or have the teachers keep the classroom doors locked or something. I need to know my daughter is safe. We can't live in fear, but there must be someway to protect our children. God bless those families and those little ones.

My Little Man

I uploaded these pictures last night, and now find it very fitting to do an all J post considering we had quite a scare with him today. I don't need to give all the details-just know we were scared out of our minds! Thankfully, all is well and back to normal. I am so truly thankful for this little guy and love him to pieces! Here is a run-down on what J did in UT.

Playing with cousins (who were all such good sports about it!):

Getting dirty:

Jumping:

Playing trains (and cars):

First Snow Day

Well, we got about two inches+ last night. It was a very magical and exciting morning here at the Wilson's. While we had snow in UT it was somehow just different having it here where we live. Folks have been promising us snow- and finally delivered. So, we had to get out early enough this morning to play in it! We threw a few snowballs and made a few snow angels (while still trying to stay dry). I didn't get too many shots because I was trying not to freeze my patootie off. We walked M to school. Then, on the way home J did not want to ride in the stroller. He was not having it: he ran most of the way! The first little bit he was giggling, then he went into a "yahoo" stage, (never heard him say that before) then he started singing this little song he made up: "snow is so fun" repeated several times. He had to step on every frozen puddle, and walk through every single yard. (Is there etiquette on not messing up the snow in someone else's yard?) It was so fun! We stayed out in it for another 11/2 hours at which time both parties were painfully cold and so we came in. I was all confident in myself thinking, "yes, I can handle living in a cold place. And, I might even enjoy it." That is, until this avo when I had to get back out in it to run a few errands and play with the kids some more. One half hour into playing I had lost all patience with having cold digits. Poor M, she was having fun with friends and J and I,but I told her I couldn't take it anymore and that we had to go in. Maybe I can build up a tolerance? Anywho, we have to look on the bright side, right? Snow sure is beautiful!
Here are my beautiful snow angels:

(Notice J's smile in this last one. They were both so delighted!)

Beautiful Days

We had some really gorgeous weather while out in UT. And we took advantage! Here are a few activities we did in the sunny and warm and sn!

  Hiking! It was a warm day but once we got high enough where the sun was behind the mountain it was pretty chilly-hence the jackets.

Side walk chalk! We had a lot of fun drawing airplanes and aliens and ourselves and whatever else we wanted.
And here are a couple pics from one of the Sundays. It was so beautiful outside and the kids all looked so darling in their Sunday best, so I really wanted a nice one of all the cousins together. I think they turned out hilarious! Here is the first and last one I took! (You can imagine what was happening in the middle!)