All Things December

December is a crazy, busy month so here are some of the highlights of some of the many activities we have done.

 

TEMPLE LIGHTS w/FRIENDS

 

Alora and Alli H.

Jackson and Hone W.

The annual cocoa-after-the-lights at the crappiest McDonalds in Mesa.

 

CHRISTMAS ELF, RUDY, RETURNS



 

 

4th GRADE HOHOKAM INDIAN PROJECTS

 

Jackson and friend Dylan with one of their projects.

BUCKEYE ELECTRICAL PARADE 



 

MAKING CHRISTMAS COOKIES

 

CHRISTMAS EVE NIGHT 



Looking for Santa's sleigh before going to bed.

Alora asked for roller skates and Santa listened!

It might have taken two years of asking, but Santa finally brought Max "Pop the Pig."

It's been a crazy month, but it has been fun.  Now, it's time to settle down for a loooooong winter's nap!

Merry Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas from a Bunch of Fuls!

L to R: Alora (7), Max (4), Noah (11 1/2), Jackson (9 1/2)

Nutcracker Ballet

My friend, Lisa, recently purchased tickets to see the Nutcracker Ballet but was then unable to use them, so she sold them to me.  Alora was ecstatic to have a mom/daughter date.  Before going to see the show, we ate at Chili's (her choosing) and then headed to the ballet.  We made it a couple of minutes late, but luckily, the performance started a tad bit late also. 

 

This performance was put on by kids ages 3-22.  Alora was enthralled the entire time, except for maybe the last few minutes (I think she was getting tired).  We ended the night getting chocolate shakes at McDonalds on our way home.  She is now obsessed with purchasing a Nutcracker doll, but being this close to Christmas, we haven't had any luck so far.  

 

 

Fourth Grade Gingerbread Village

This year Jackson has Noah's old teacher for 4th grade so it was his turn to make a gingerbread village.  Each kid, or engineer, has to plan our their assigned building or place and make up a budget based on the materials they will need.  They then construct it and reevaluate  their budgets upon completion.  This is the third year I have helped and it's always interesting to see how buildings or places change from one kids perception to another.  Jackson's portion of the "village" was to make North Lake, an area in our community where you can check out boats and fish. 

 

School Christmas Performances

It's that time of year again when we have to cram ourselves into the toasty-warm gymnasium and hear the same old random Christmas songs (i.e. Hearts Around the World) sung by our kids.  Noah is too old to perform, so this year it was just Jackson and Alora.  Even though the songs are kind of on the annoying side, the performance was actually pretty good and our kids did great. 

Alora is again the smallest 2nd grader.  At least we get to see her entire body and not just a little head poking out!

Jackson's last year performing.  Another one down!

Max had his own preschool Christmas performance last night.  Poor kid fell asleep half an hour before we had to go and then was super scared being up on stage in front of everyone.  I would try to motion to him to smile and he would just shake his head and stick out his bottom lip even further.  It was too cute.

Church Christmas Party

This year our church building was transformed into the Polar Express.  We entered on a make-believe train, complete with our conductor (the Bishop) and fog.  The kids were invited to wear their pajamas, but only our two little ones wanted to (Jack and Noah were too cool).  Towards the end of the evening, we were visited by the big guy himself and surprisingly, our "too cool" older boys chose to sit on Santa's lap!

 

 

Courtside Suns

One of the oral surgeons, Dr. Lam, that works with Jeremy has several season passes to the Phoenix Suns.  This past week he gave Jeremy 3 tickets so he and the older boys could go.  They were stoked!  These tickets retail for $400 each and are the second row on the court, so obviously were way out of our reach.  They even got access to the VIP area, which allowed them all the food and drinks they wanted.  As if that wasn't cool enough, Noah even got a Markief Morris' signature on his hat after the game!

Markief Morris signing Noah's hat