Dearden Family Christmas Party

Every year we have a Christmas Party with Grandpa and Grandma Dear (Taylor's Grandparents) and the extended family. We had lunch and did a cute Nativity program and then Santa visited. Santa always knows what each family member has been doing for the year and gives us a nice review. The kids each get a gift and they are always perfect. Carter got a "Transformer" car, Serena got a "My Little Pony" and Aleeya got a cow that counts and says colors. It is always so uplifting to see the amazing family relations we have and the kids LOVE playing with cousins. The party was held at a Lodge that Taylor's cousin, Camille, has as part of the housing development they live in. It was perfect and a great time was had by all. Carter as Joseph. He did amazingly well and was so cute with the baby Jesus. I have a video of him patting his head and looking down at him. Jesus was played by a real baby, Parker Brady.

Serena was a wise "women" bringing gifts of jewels.

Aleeya, the Shepard, being held by Aunt Staci.

Santa greeting Carter, he was the first to jump on his lap.

Serena is sitting by Aunt Dorothy. She was VERY helpful and would take every gift that Santa pulled out and give it to the person. She also wanted to talk about everything that Santa was saying. Luckily, after a few gifts Santa was able to pull out Serena's gift and then she was busy playing with her new toy.

Aleeya, like the other children, did not love Santa and was eager to get off his lap.

Treehouse Museum

We have a membership to the Treehouse Museum so at least once a month we go there for our Thursday fieldtrip. It is a fun, safe environment and I enjoy following the children around and watching them learn.

Serena rocking the drums!

Carter and Aleeya making music!

Aleeya stealing dinosaurs from Carter's line-up.

Polar Express aka Front Runner

We created our own "Polar Express" experience. We rode the Front Runner and sang songs, had hot chocolate and cookies, read the story and meet Santa to get our bells. The kids wore their pajamas and had a great time. We had official golden Polar Express tickets and the train worker was willing to come and punch them for us. It was a fun time and much more economical than going to Heber.

I can feed myself!

Aleeya prefers feeding herself and she really get into her food!

Field Trip to Hill Air Force Museum

Flight Simulator that lets you shoot missiles.
Carter watching the bombs drop.

Science experiments

We visited the Hill Air Force Museum for our Thursday field trip. The kids always have a fun time in the learning center and it is amazing to see the size of the airplanes and learn.

Small attempt at being "Crafty!'

So, thanks to my friends who have creative minds and ambition I made these shirts at a girl night out. I bought the hair bows.

Serena has a hard time looking at the camera!

It looks like they are realizing that they are dressed the same!

The Christmas Decorations are up!

I am not a huge fan of decorating for Christmas. I blame my mother, she dislikes putting up the tree, and she can blame her mother, as an adult my mom would always go and decorate for her mom. Therefore, it is a multi-generational dislike of putting up the tree.

This year I have decided that with the few hours it takes to put up the tree and then an hour to put on the lights (I only throw them on, no putting them nicely attached to the branches) that I want to purchase a pre-lite easy to assemble tree. I started looking on-line and was hugely disappointed to see that they are very expensive. The tree we have now is a very nice one and so I am spoiled and want a nice tall, full tree. So...here is hoping to find a huge discount on a tree after Christmas.

Anyway, after avoiding it as long as I could, I even folded all of the laundry and put it away, it wasn't that bad. Carter had a great time and was helpful in holding the lights. Serena and Carter were very good at putting the ornaments on and they thought it was so much fun. Carter was making up his own words to "It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas" as he decorated. So now that it is done we can enjoy the finished product.

Carter and Serena being Christmas presents under the tree!

Serena opening a Carter present under the tree.