December in Review

Wow! It's been almost a month before we posted our last post. We've had a very busy December.

Brooklyn and Ethan was very excited for Christmas this year. Ethan asked every day, "is it Christmas yet?" Santa Claus visited our ward Christmas party, and Ethan was scared at all to sit on his lap. Brooklyn, on the other hand, was a different story. Here's the video:

As part of the kids Christmas present, we took them to Build-a-Bear Workshop, where they chose their own animals and helped build them. They watched the toys get stuffed with fluff, got to put a heart in each animal, gave their new-born toys a "bath," and had birth certificates printed. Ethan named his bear "Pooh" and Brooklyn named her monkey "Monkey." Our kids are very creative. This year, we had the kids each get a present for each other. Brooklyn got Ethan a toy doctor kit, and Ethan got her a Barbie car. They both loved the gifts. Ethan wrote Brooklyn's tag all by himself. All of the letters of both their names are there, just not in the same row:

To:
Brook
lyn

From:
an
Eth

We cheated this year and let the kids open their presents from us on Christmas Eve before we left to spend Christmas with family later that day. It was nice to not have to pack the cars with all of those presents. We asked Ethan, "What was your favorite present?" and he named each of them. He would make a great politician someday.

The kids big present this year was a play kitchen and a lot of toy food. They have loved "baking" cookies and sharing ice cream.








Brooklyn has been obsessed with Jessie from Toy Story. Just about every day she asks if she can "watch Jessie?" Grandma Taylor gave her a Jessie doll for her birthday, and after she opened it, Ethan said, "She thought it was a princess." Jen asked, "Did you think that?" Ethan replied, "No, I thought it was Jessie. I was correct."

Grandma Taylor also got Brooklyn a Jessie costume from Disneyland on her last trip. Brooklyn loves the costume, despite the fact that it is still a bit big on her.

The local newspaper sent out a coloring book filled with coloring contest pictures from local merchants. Ethan colored a number of the pictures, but we were only submitted the one for the local credit union. He ended up winning second place in his category (under 5 years old) and received $10.00! Now we wished we would have submitted more pictures. He was excited to go to Walmart and buy some toys with his very own money. He chose a Barrel of Monkeys and a Toy Story alien. A couple of weeks ago, Kyle peaked into Ethans nursery class. The kids were gathered around for their lesson. Ethan wanted to say the prayer, but another girl was picked instead. In protest, Ethan covered his ears for the duration of the prayer and kept them covered for a few minutes after the prayer was finished. Kyle couldn't resist snapping a picture.

Ethan went to primary for the first time today. His new teacher was one of his first nursery teachers, and he really liked her. We're glad she's his teacher again. He did really well today. His teacher reports that he participated during the lesson, gave the prayer all by himself, and was quiet during sharing time.

One of the best things that happened this month was that we got a new roof on our house. Our roof has been a constant problem since we moved into our house, and the insurance company agreed to pay for a new one. We didn't have to do any of the work. This sure was a blessing.

We took down our Christmas decorations yesterday, and Brookyln cried when we took the tree down. She kept saying, "No, tree! Tree!"