the month of December

I thought I would do one bigger post about December, instead of lots of little ones so I can get caught back up on blogging.  Here is a recap of what we did in December (and some random things too)... 

• had a few play dates - I watched 2 kids of a family in our ward a couple times...the little girl is 17 months and the baby brother was just 2 weeks old - this is about how far apart Brooklyn and this baby will be.  It was interesting to see what life is going to be like in 5 months.

also had a play date with Sophia....Brooklyn is getting better about not clobbering her, but I still have to watch her closely...for Sophia'a safety

• went to temple square with friends - it was FREEZING that night so we didn't stay too long and then came back to our house for cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate

Brooklyn did great - she was all bundled up in her stroller and liked looking at all the lights

• Brooklyn found new ways to entertain herself (her favorite place to play now is in the kitchen)

she loves to pull the saran wrap out as fast as she can before I catch her 

also loves playing with any utensils I give her

• Brooklyn ate part of an ornament - we had our tree up on a table this year...barely out of her reach...but I found her one day chomping away on a blue ornament...not sure how she got it down.

• sleeping in the living room on December 23rd - John and I started this tradition last year and hope we will continue doing this each year and have our kids join us too when they are older.  We moved our mattress into the living room, turned off all the lights except the Christmas tree, rented a Red Box, and had hot chocolate and treats.

• Christmas Eve - spent with the Mortensen side at Marc and Betty's.  We had a delicious dinner, the kids reenacted the nativity, and exchanged gifts.  It was so fun to have Sonya in town from Texas and Shari and her family in town from California.  We spent Christmas Eve there and had Christmas morning with Marc, Betty, and Sonya.   

Sonya, Aleks, and Brooklyn

Brooklyn and cousin Brynna

the grand kids doing the nativity (Brooklyn was the angel...being held up by Aunt Heather)

Brooklyn didn't understand opening presents, but enjoyed ripping the paper off.  She was definitely more interested in playing with all the paper rather than her new toys.

here she is with John's new tools that he got from his dad

the loot

this pink ball was probably her favorite gift and the one she has played with the most

us after church

• a visit from Charli...Tom and Kelsi's little girl.  I'm excited for these girls to grow up together and be able to play with each other when they get a little older.

Charli, Brooklyn, and Sophia (I love how Sophia is smiling)

and this picture is random...but here I was trying to take a picture of Brooklyn and she pulled my lens cap off right before I snapped the picture.

And that's all the pictures I took in December.
We are excited for 2012 and what it has in store for us!