All Things Christmas

We did a lot of Christmas things this year.  At least, it felt like a lot. :)

On December 1st, we went downtown Murfreesboro to the tree lighting event.  It was so fun and it was even better this year because Nels was able to meet up with us.  Yay!

The kids got these free elf hats.  Aren't they so cute?  The hats came in handy throughout the month too.

We saw real reindeer.

And got our pic with Santa.

I love their expressions as they talk with him.  

They wrote letters to Santa too.

We drank our free hot chocolate with candy canes.

I thought it might sprinkle, so I brought the umbrella just in case.  Sofie and Noah were so funny as they marched around with it. 

The kids each made two ornaments!

Then we sang along to the performer and counted down for Santa to flip the giant switch to turn on the Christmas tree lights.  Such a fun evening!

On December 2, Nels took Sofie, Noah and Kira to the ward Christmas party.  Isak was sick.  So I stayed home with him.  Nels took a pic of the kids as they sang a song with the Primary.  I think they had a good time.  Isak and I made brownies and watched Dr. Who and ate popcorn.  :)

This year we put up lights outside!  Nels and I were pretty proud of ourselves for doing it.

December 3, I gave the kids some gifts. :)  They each received a chocolate advent calendar, Christmas coloring book and their Christmas pajamas!

They were pretty happy with it.  I was surprised how well the coloring books went over.  I also gave them a big box of 96 crayons.  For several evenings, they colored while we read the New Testament. 

I splurged and bought these macarons from Costco.  They were fun for everyone to try the different flavors.  I decided I'm not a huge fan of macarons.  I'd rather have a chocolate chip cookie. :)

I'd bought Sofie this fun reindeer headband.  She had fun wearing it to school.

I couldn't decide which photo I liked best.  :)

Isak wore a Santa's hat.

My mom gave me this kit to make an advent for Christmas.  They are little envelopes clothes pinned onto the rope.   Inside the envelope, I put a name of Christ and the scripture on a paper.  It took me a while to do, so I'm excited to use it more next year.

December 16, we went to a family in our ward's Christmas concert.  They have a huge, nice barn that they held the event in.  We ate dinner and then enjoyed their musical performance.  They have eight kids and they all play and sing.  Their oldest Maylee is an excellent violin player.  She also plays the piano and harp!  It was so fun to watch and listen to their talents.

Here's us eating dinner before the concert.

Cheers!

School was done by Dec 20.  So one day, I painted the girls nails with Christmas colors.

We read some fun Christmas picture books this year.  I enjoyed reading to the kids while they ate their dinner.

I'm holding a pretty card from my mom...

My mom also gave me a Christmas card set to make.  It was so fun to make while watching Christmas movies.

The kids wrote in the cards and we gave them to their teachers along with a Target gift card.

My mom is fabulous.  These are the gift boxes she gave to the kids this year!

A few pics of the kids that their teachers sent to me.

Noah and Sofie had a book exchange party.  

Here's Noah...

They got mugs from their teachers.

And these cool glasses.  Sofie made this giant snowflake!

I gave the bus drivers some popcorn with a note.

I made bread and brownies and we delivered it to some friends.

The kids sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" when we delivered them.

December 23, We went to a house with lots of lights.  1438 Trotters Lane in Rockvale.  

So many lights.  So fun to walk around and look at everything.

The Grinch was there, so the kids got a pic with him.

Then we got some donuts at Dunkin' Donuts.

I don't remember why, but Sofie started crying about something...And there was a tree behind her.  I have a few pics of her crying in front of the tree from the past.  So instead of cheering her up, I took a picture.  I'm terrible.  Haha!  I eventually cheered her up later though.

Isak got a Sonic shake instead of a donut.  

Fun night out to see lights and have a treat. 

And that's all of the before Christmas Eve and Day celebrations we did!

Franklin, TN - December 2023

We spent the day in Franklin on December 21.  

We listened to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional on our drive.  Very enjoyable.  

Our first stop was JoAnn's.  We donated 12 fleece blankets to Project Linus.  The YW did a great job doing the blankets and I'm glad we could get them donated before Christmas.  The kids helped carry them inside.  

Then we went to the mall and specifically to Claire's.  Kira picked out a lot of earrings!  Mostly, unicorns, hearts and rainbows.  So fun!

The kids each got a quarter and they spent it on a gum ball, runts or squishy toys.  

Then we walked around the mall and ended up at the Lego store.  The kids spent some time building creations and looking at all of the different sets. 

And a few pics with the pizza guy.

It was fun.  Noah found this fun Stitch hat.  We didn't buy it.  I take a pic and that's how I don't have to buy everything the kids want.  :)

Then we went to historic downtown Franklin to a bakery called Bakehouse.  

Kira picked out this pretty cookie.

Sofie and Noah got these giant cookies.  I picked out a snickerdoodle to give to Nels for later.  

Isak and I shared tomato soup and a turkey sandwich.

Then we walked to the center of downtown Franklin to the huge Christmas tree.  

Then we went to Pinkerton Park and the kids played for while.

Then we drove home.  It was a nice adventure out together.

Piano Recital and Robotics Competition

December was busy and fun.  

Isak and Kira had some new things that we got to support them doing.  First up, was their piano recital on December 9.  

It was at St. Pauls' Episcopal Church.  A favorite moment was when Noah whispered in my ear, "Why are there so many t's?"  It took me a second to understand what he was asking, and then I responded, "Those aren't t's, they are crosses to represent Jesus dying for us."  "Ohhh."  :)

Isak played "Joy to the World."

Before and after they performed they bowed or curtsied.  

Kira played "Jingle Bells."  

They both did wonderfully.  I loved hearing them perform and I enjoyed the other performances as well.  

Right after I took this picture, the tornado warning bell rang.  So we all went quickly to designated tornado areas.

Our area was in the kitchen.  We stayed there for a while until the warning became a watch.  Then we drove home.  Thankfully, all of us were safe and our home was too.  The tornado touched down about 20-30 miles north of us and a few miles south of us.  Kind of scary, especially when I saw the footage of the tornado in Nashville.  So that was our first piano recital experience.  

The morning of December 16th, Isak and Kira had their first robotics competition.  It was a scrimmage with the local schools so it was a little less intense and more of a learning experience for the teams.  

The gym was set up with tables and teams testing out their robots.

Below is a photo of the competition table.  They get one minute to drive their robot and get points.  There are two drivers on each team and they compete against one other team.  So each driver gets thirty seconds.  They try to knock over the red blocks, pick up and deposit green and purple blocks into a box and then park their robot for points at the end.  Here's Kira with her teammate for their 1 minute.

Here's Isak with his teammate for 1 minute.

Isak also wrote a code for the robot to drive by itself and get points.  He got it to work and it was pretty awesome.  

They each competed three or four times.  And the competition lasted almost four hours.  

Nels came with Sofie and Noah for about an hour or so.  They ate bananas and were like wild monkeys so Nels took them home.  :)

Here's Kira with her team.

And Isak with his team.  

And all together. 

They have two more competitions.  One in January and one in February.  

It's so fun to go watch them do their things!