December Life

 Our December was busy of Christmas activities. We had a fun month.

We tried out geocaching for the first time. Unfortunately, both caches were gone when we found the spot for them. But we found a friendly cat along the trail. And the kids didn't complain too much on the 2+ mile hike.

I put on my brave face and took the kids to the zoo. It was packed! I should have known better. But we still had a fun time. The elephants came near the fence right as we were walking by so the kids loved seeing the baby elephants.

We spent a day making gingerbread houses, albeit post Christmas. I found a sports stadium one for Tanner, which he loved.

Lydia's favorite gift from Christmas is a look-alike Molly dog from my parents. She cuddled it the rest of the day and now demands to sleep with it.

Christmas eve brought new pajamas, a Christmas book, and some hot chocolate bombs. The kids had fun watching the bombs melt in milk. I didn't love the taste of the ones we got so maybe we'll try something else next year. It was a cool experience.

We had a secret gift giver for the 12 days of Christmas. They revealed themselves on the final day. So each day we got various things from cookie decorating kits, craft kits, movie night box, etc. It kept us busy each day with whatever they brought us. Our babysitters also brought a little painting bag for the kids for Christmas.

Ashton went on her field trip earlier in December to the Museum of Fine Arts. She wanted to go back and see more of the museum. They do free admission on Thursdays so I took her one day over break. After the museum, we visited the ice skating at Discovery Green and found some hot chocolate. This was the day the cold front was arriving in Houston so it was actually cooler, around 40 degrees.

I found out that TopGolf does half off on Tuesdays. And you only pay to rent the "bay," rather than per person. So for $14, you get a bay for up to 6 people. I took the kids twice over break and they had a great time. No one fell off the edge or got hit by a golf club.

Ashton wrapped up year 4 of playing piano with her recital. She loves performing and enjoyed playing for her friends and family.

One event we try to go to every year is at a local Baptist church. They put on a "Night in Bethlehem," which reminds me a lot of Nauvoo. They have lots of little booths set up with activities such as blacksmithing, tannery, rope making, etc. They also bring in a camel to visit and have yummy cookies and hot chocolate for refreshments. Joseph was sick so he wasn't able to come this year.

Joseph ran a 50 mile race in Brazos Bend State Park. The kids and I went out there for the day. We got to see him a couple times throughout the day. We had to leave before he finished to make it back for our ward Christmas party. The kids were excited to see him later that night.