Breakfast Gingerbread Houses

Made with graham crackers, peanut butter, rice krispie cereal, and marshmallows. Super fun!

Almost Christmas

Sam getting her Christmas shopping and wrapping done 

 

Watching Christmas movies 

 

Polar Express party at school 

Sam was so excited to wear her PJ's (especially her robe) to school. I actually let her buy new PJs to wear to her party. That was partly because her jammies looked pretty raggedy, but it was also for her :)

Brooklyn always wants her picture taken after I take Sam's. She is such a cutie!

 

Scones at Winder Dairy  

Brooklyn wouldn't go to Santa this time...so Santa suggested that I sit on his lap with the kids. Nic encouraged the idea..so here I am sitting on Santa's lap.

 

Lots of late nights driving home...loved this picture of Brooklyn asleep holding Sam's hand 

Sam striking a pose!

 

Baby doll blankets made by Great Grandma  

 

Sam's letter to Santa. She wants a "pink jeep".

I am so proud of how well she is doing with her letters since she has started preschool. She picks things up so fast. I am grateful for her good teachers and such a good school.

 

Brooklyn's letter/drawing for Santa.

We asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her and she said "toys". Sam told us to add "little people" since she loves those.

 

 We are counting down the days until my sister-in-law, Lauren, will be here to stay with us. We are excited to get to know her better and have her in our home. Can you believe that it is only 9 days until Christmas?

Mommy/Daughter Date to the Nutcracker

I had such a wonderful day with Samantha today. It's always a joy to be with her, but it was neat to do something special. I was so excited to take Sam to her first ballet.

 

 

First was lunch at Iggy's.

Grandma, Kimmy, Great Aunt Susan, and her daughter-in-law Samantha joined us.

 

Then on to Ballet West's Nutcracker. Sam was so excited to be there.

 

 

After the Nutcracker is over they had the Sugar Plum Fairy party. When I was buying the tickets I asked what this was and was told on the phone "after the performance you get to go on stage, meet the dancers, take pictures, get an ornament etc". So I paid $15 extra for us to do this. I thought it would be well worth it for an opportunity like this. Well, when we got up on stage we were told no photography was allowed. And you had to pay $4 extra to get a picture with the dancers from their photographers. There were only 5 dancers on stage and they were not the principals. We paid to get the picture but didn't even get to talk to the dancers. I was so disappointed.

 

I broke the rules and snapped this picture so there was proof that we actually got to be on the stage.

This is a terrible picture, but it's the only one I was able to grab of the dancers. They were walking backstage and I asked if I could just grab one quick picture. Joshua Whitehead (who played the Nutcracker and is on the left) is on Breaking Pointe and he was so kind to let us take a quick illegal picture LOL.

 

Besides my disappointment about what was provided with the after party, it was very neat to stand on their beautiful stage. It was so neat to see their set pieces and costumes up close.

 

It was so neat to attend the ballet with Samantha and have a girls day with others in the Mills family. Samantha's excitement was magical. She is at such a neat age. I loved watching her watch the ballet. It was something I will cherish my entire life. I can't wait to do this with Brooklyn in a few years as well. It's days like today that make all of the hard days as a parent so worth it.

Ward Christmas Party

Sam was so excited for her opportunity to be Mary in the Nativity at our church Christmas Party. She practiced holding baby Jesus before hand and I loved how gentle and sweet she was in acting out her part.

 

The kids also got to see Santa! Sam was giddy with excitement to tell him that she wanted "a pink jeep that she can push on the gas peddle to make it go". We were really trying to talk it up to Brooklyn so she wouldn't freak out. I kept telling her that Santa brings toys and that he had a treat for her. She seemed excited but I was unsure of how she would do.

 

I love this picture so much. I love how Sam is looking into Santa's eyes. She looks so happy. It makes me cry when I look at it.

 

I think it helped that Sam went first and was so excited. Brooklyn suprisingly went right to him.

I also love this picture. Brooklyn is studying Santa and Sam is so happily looking at Brooklyn.

They were excited to get their treats.

Brooklyn was so chill. Maybe it is because it was past her bedtime.

Out of order...but this is when she first started talking to him.

 

Christmas Photoshoot at Trolley Square

I LOVE Trolley Square. It is one of the coolest buildings in Salt Lake in my opinion. It is gorgeous. I love the exposed brick, decor, and history. We went to the mall to check out the new Ballet West store but ended up taking a million photos because of all of the beautiful Christmas backdrops throughout the mall. I wish the mall had better stores..but for now I will be happy to use it just for great photo opportunities.

 Isn't this display gorgeous?

 Santa's sleigh

(They have free pics with Santa on the weekends, and the sleigh is available for pictures all of the time).

Ballet West Store

 Huge gorgeous Christmas Tree.

It's crazy to think that years ago I used to go dancing all of the time at this very spot.