To Sum Up December....

I'm going to just put it all in one post...
Here we are creating gingerbread houses with Mike's mom, her sister, and the Wood family:
We got to see who the artistic ones really were! Nicholas' 3rd grade all had a big party the last day of school before Christmas Break and here he is with his buddy, Noah:

Nicholas with more of his classroom buddies.

Christian, Warren, and Noah:

Mike's birthday -

He's holding the framed Nelson Family Motto (you'll have to stop by to get a better look at it) and his beloved Oregon Ducks blanket his mom made for him:

Getting help blowing out his candles on his banana cream pie. "3" candles on one side and "9" candles on the other (could he really be that old?):

"Cheese!"

Opening presents on Christmas Day:

Zach and Nicholas got "Othello" from Aunt Sara (Love that game!):

They can never have enough guns!

And best of all, Uncle Jonathan (my little brother) came to visit us from BYU for a couple days and we got to celebrate his birthday too! Here he and Zach completed assembling this wooden truck:

Not an easy feat considering the directions were all in Chinese! Thanks Nannie and Papa!

What a busy and fun month! And it's not over quite yet!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Mike's coworker made this cake for him... (notice the braces).
How cute is that?!

Zach's Patriotism Award

Once a month the elementary school picks a "character trait" for the kids to work on and then one student from each class gets an award in that category. Zach earned the Patriotism award! To earn the award the students needed to follow school rules, help others, and show respect to the flag.
We all went to the school for the assembly at 7:50am that day to see Zach get his award. Hooray Zach!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Push pause on my music playlist first...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gotta Love Santa!

Or maybe you don't...

Perhaps it would have helped Brooke if she knew Santa and Mrs. Claus were really her nursery teachers!

And... standing in front of our tree!
Nicholas getting a turn at cutting some branches off:

Zach getting a turn at trimming Grandma's tree too:

Jon Schmidt

A couple years ago when Jon Schmidt came to town I took Nicholas in hopes of motivating him to keep playing the piano. This year I took Zach. Zach was on the edge of his seat and loved the whole 2 1/2 hour show! Jon Schmidt brought his cellist, Steven Nelson and they are an awesome pair! Not only do they have great talent but they are so funny and entertaining! I could go on, but I'll just say, I can't wait for them to come back!
P.S. I added more of his songs to my playlist, scroll down to #55-59.