December & Christmas Break

The month of December is truly one of my very favorite months! It's always packed with family and filled with so many fun holiday traditions and memories. I love it. 

Lyla's hair is past her shoulders now and we are able to do matching braids! Ah I love having a daughter!!

How darling is she?!

On December 21st, the night we went to World of Color, a rare alignment of Jupiter and Saturn occurred called the Christmas star. It shown bright and beautiful in the night sky and made us feel a little closer to Jesus this Christmas season. We went outside to see it first but it was freezing so Lyla tried spotting it through the living room window with those ginormous binoculars. haha She could barely hold them up. 

Christmas break was the best this year, being all together. Nic took the whole thing off ... 2 weeks with us!! One day we took the kids to the Children's Museum before our year long pass expired. Unfortunately we didn't get to use it much of the year because of Covid but this was a fun last hoorah and there was hardly anyone there. 

Arg, pirates!

I have the best video of this moment with Dentist Liam asking patient Lyla to open her mouth so that he could pull out her tooth. haha

These cute astronauts who launched us to every single planet ...

We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday in December! We took him some giant balloons, ya know so he wouldn't forget his age. ;) Happy Birthday old man!! 

These two have their moments but they played so well together over Christmas break. I have no idea what they were playing haha, but one day I found them in our front room like this ...

I think Liam's asking himself, "How many more toys do you think I can fit on this table??" 

This was such an incredible Christmas experience, a drive through live nativity! You pulled into the parking lot of one of our church buildings and they had you tune in to some recordings to hear the story of the birth of Jesus. It brought the spirit of the season for our family. The camel was so amazing to see in person too!

We also participated in a really special experience where our family was asked to write down a gift we would like to give the Savior for Christmas on a sign. The signs were collected and placed in the ground surrounding a manager and lit up by a star as all of us gave our hearts to Him this season. Ours said "Show kindness and love everyone". 

Then there was Lyla's preschool Christmas party! Look at her outfit!! I'm so sad it won't fit her next year after she has worn it two years in a row. It's a favorite. She got to take a special treat to share with her friends so we made these Santa sleighs ...

Look what she brought home!!! The cutest snow globe I've ever seen!!! I'll keep it forever. 

Another fun date night downtown! We went to P.F. Changs for dinner and walked around to look at all of the Christmas lights.

We ended the night at the Village looking for a cozy new throw for our living room to snuggle up and watch movies with during the winter. It still is always strange wearing a mask everywhere you go but it sets this season of life apart from the rest so I had to document it.

My mom gave me cute entry hooks for Christmas for backpacks and coats in the winter time! I need to adjust the print now to be more centered but I love how functional it made this space. The basket has also been great for shoe storage. 

It snowed a few days after Christmas!! Our kids freaked out as it was only the second one of the season but they still went out there until it melted by noon. Liam made this tiny adorable snow bunny.  

This little lady didn't last long out there in the cold but man she makes the cutest giggling faces as I tried to snatch her through the window. ;)

Not pictured from December and Christmas break ... lots of dinners with family (it was so fun having my brother home after not seeing him for a full year), endless hours playing with new toys and games from Christmas, and walks outside where Lyla learned how to ride her new bike!