some Christmas festivities

The Monday after we got back from our Thanksgiving trip, we got our Christmas decorations out and set up our tree.  It was fun to do it together as a family and to see Brooklyn so excited about the tree.  She loved telling us where to put the ornaments and kept saying "peetty TREEEEEE"!  I know she doesn't fully 'get it' yet, but she definitely understands more than last year.  I love this time of year, especially with kids.  I love how even the small and simple things excite Brooklyn so much.   

 These are a few shots of our apartment with the Christmas decor up...

Setting up the tree...

 
Brooklyn's attempt to hold Jake = not a very happy Jake.

I love their new Christmas jammies.

One afternoon some friends and I (and kids too) went to the new outlet mall that just opened here.  They are owned by the same company who owns the outlet mall in Park City.  It was fun to walk around and go in some stores, dreaming of what we would buy if we had lots of money :-)  

blurry picture -- Mandy, Reese, me, Jake and Brooklyn, Kayla, Lexi, Kandas, Parker, Emily, Jackson and Garrett

We also had a Christmas girls night, where we went to dinner and each brought a $10 gift.  We tried a new place (Elephant Grill??...something like that) and did our gift exchange white elephant style.  It was a really fun night with NO kids!

Emily, Chelsea, Kayla, Kandas, Mandy, Anna, Kiya, and me

The kids got to sit on Santa's lap at our ward Christmas party.  I was positive that Brooklyn would cry when I put her on his lap, but she surprised me and was more than happy to.  She asked Santa for "Ariel" and "treats".  Jake was intrigued by his beard and almost pulled it off.

 

And these pictures are random...

  

Brooklyn is naughty but very honest...it cracks me up.  She knows when she is doing something she shouldn't and tells herself what I would tell her if I saw what she was doing.  For example, in the picture above..I could hear her saying "no no no Brookin....not color belly...paper"....which means No, no, no Brooklyn.  We don't color on our belly, only on paper.   Lately she has started calling herself "Brookin Jane" when she is doing something naughty because John called her that one night when we wasn't happy with her.

 

 
And the picture below is spilled eggs all over our kitchen floor.  The story behind it - John was chasing Brooklyn and she was laughing and running away.  I was making us breakfast for dinner and had a bowl of scrambled eggs on the counter.  Brooklyn came over excited and grabbed the bowl, which spilled everywhere, including all over her -- in her hair, in her eyes, all over her clothes.  It was hilarious..I really wanted to take a picture of her, but she was NOT happy.

 

still upset in the bathtub