Boys vs. Girls

Christmas Eve morning we have a tradition of splitting up and having some relaxed fun before the chaos of cooking and Christmas begin.

The girls enjoyed breakfast together at Mimi's Cafe.

with plenty of time for girl talk

We had grandmas, siblings, aunts, cousins...a very fun group to be part of.

The boys met up at the park to eat breakfast sandwiches

play frisbee golf

do stomp rockets

and then headed to City of Hope to feed the fish

Hanging with Santa

We had a couple different parties over the holiday season where the kids had a chance to talk to Santa.

The first was at our ward's Breakfast with Santa.  Ethan got to sit right next to Santa to each his chocolate chip pancakes.

And all 3 kids got a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted.

We also went to the annual Christmas part at the Brush house.  The food, as always was incredible.

we had fun dressing up

And Santa made his usual stop to visit the kids.  

Happy New Year from Brielle

Brielle's picture from church this past week.  'I can help my family by buying candy.'  Apparently that is something we need help with? :)

Christmas Cookies

It is always a fun tradition to decorate cookies at Christmas time.  The kids had a great time.  They had lots of Christmas sprinkles to use, but kept choosing the farm themed sprinkles instead.  Silly kids.

Preston-6 Months

Preston at 6 Months-finding himself very entertaining at the Doctor's office.

Preston Stats

Weight: 20 lb 11.2 oz (94%)

Height: 29 1/4 in (>99%)

HC: 44.7 cm (87%)

Preston at 6 months

*Rolls both from back and stomach
*Is starting to pull himself forward (army crawl) or spin in circles, but for the most part will still stay where he is set down.
*Wants to be sitting up with the family at meal time, not down playing at the floor.
*Showing interest in starting to eat solids
*Nurses around the clock, averaging 9x a day, but is a fast, efficient eater.
*likes his pacifier
*Still likes to hold on to something to fall asleep.


I've had strangers, multiple times in the past month express concern that his socks are cutting of circulation to his legs because of his giant cankles.  A lady at the store today advised me (in very broken english) to iron his socks while they were wet.  She said she had a chubby little baby too.

And, just for fun...here is the rest of the family.  

Who do you think Preston looks most like?

Ethan 6 months
Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz
Height: 29"

Brielle 6 months
Weight: 18 lbs
Height: 27"
HC: 43.3cm

James

I'd guess about 9 months, based on the Christmas decorations, but it's the closest in age that I have scanned on my computer.

Megan at 6 months

Believe, Dream, Inspire

Brielle entered a (very) short story for the Reflections program at her school.  She won at the school level and District level and is now moving on to Council level.

Here is the story:

Reflections 2013

Literature

Believe, Dream, Inspire

The Kind Princess

Princess Diana lived in a sad town.  Diana had a dream about how to help. She believed that being kind was important because it made people feel happy.

She went to a town fair and she found a little girl that was last in the ice-cream line.  Princess Diana was in the front of the line.  When she noticed the little girl she let her go first. Diana was happy because she was kind to the little girl. 

Other people saw how happy the princess and the little girl were.  They decided to try being kind too.

The town lived happily ever after.

Anticipation of the Sleepover

An example of just one of the reasons why sleepovers are so exciting around here.

Decorating turkey pancakes, freshly made by Papa, with a supply of chocolate.  Really, what could be better in a little kid's life?  YUM.