December

December was full of excitement!

I love the weather in the winter in Texas. It can be warm or chilly but you almost always can go play outside. We enjoyed a lot of outside play time this month!

Bubble mustache.The children's cousin, Madeline, made Elsie and Shelley the cutest hats! Elsie would not take hers off for the longest time when she first got it. I love the face she is making here. Not sure what it means, but it makes me smile.

Elsie is a pretty good, clean eater usually...unless she is eating ice cream.

Shelley had a dental check up early in December. We bought some nail polish to prevent thumb sucking and Shells has done amazingly and no longer sucks her thumb! We are so proud of her and her determination to want to stop. All it took was a little motivation and nasty tasting nail polish. She sucked on it once and was done. She has grown up so much since then. I think the sense of accomplishment has really helped her grow and develop. She is our little angel and is so sweet! Way to go, Shelley Eliah!

Jorgen is loving life right now. He is enjoying playing the piano and he just adores school!
I went to his class Christmas party and had fun being with my boy!
Here he is with his all-time favorite buddy, Owen (and also another friend, Ellie)

Jorgen with his other buddy, Teagan.

The day after school got out, we headed to San Antonio with Matt and Jene' and their girls to go to Sea World again. They were having a lot of different Christmas celebrations and we had a blast! I did not bring my camera but we did manage to take a few pictures with our phones. I did not take any pictures of the shows but they were amazing! I absolutely loved the Christmas theme to everything. It made Sea World an even better experience than last time we went, even though the crowds were bigger. Sometime about Christmas music playing and lights glittering made a huge difference.
Here are the children dancing to the Christmas music.

Shelley and Elsie adored the carousel.

Sesame Street characters!

Elsie and I played at a playground while the rest of the bunch went to a 4-D movie.Justin's favorite: The Mariachi

Candy cane forest

We are so glad Matt and Jene' came along with us! It was such a fun trip!

I have had to rake leaves a few times this month and the children just love jumping into the piles of leaves!

I had lots of helpers this time around which made for lots of fun and also lots of help raking them into bags. We love our neighbors! Meera, Jordan, and Tristan.

Gingerbread man making night:

Elsie could not help but eat hers before we got a good picture....somebody already ate his gumdrop buttons (and eye).

Every year our neighborhood has donuts with Santa at the fire station. Right before we head over to the fire station, Santa rides around the neighborhood and waves to the children. Our children just love it!

We saw Santa twice this year, once at our neighborhood party and another time at Justin's work party for families. Both times Elsie cried when she saw Santa, the second time was worse than the first ;).

Jorgen and I went on a date to see the musical Scrooge. One of my friends and her daughter were in it. Jorgen is good friends with her daughter and so he especially had fun seeing his friend in a play. I am so glad he loved it! It was so much fun seeing it with my little buddy!

Jorgen brough flowers for Carly and gave them to her after the play.
I think I should start arranging plans for these two's future...they are adorable together!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!
This was our first Christmas home and by ourselves since we have been married. It was heavenly! It is always fun being with extended family but it was fun and special being just our little five.

On our way to church...

This picture cracks me up...for some reason they are all smile-frowning...Not sure what I said to make them all do that ;).

We had so much fun being together and had a great week with Justin off of work.

Elsie is growing up too fast! She gets lots of hugs and kisses at our house, you cannot help but want to squeeze and kiss those cheeks!

For Justin's birthday on the 27th, he decided it would be fun to cash in Shelley's prize for quitting thumb sucking and we all went to Chuck-e-Cheese.

Good Job Shelley! Happy Birthday Justin!

We had fun eating out at a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Daddy!

Justin requested Watermelon Bombe for his cake. I made it for Shelley's first birthday and we have been craving it ever since. It is divine!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTY!

Jorgen got a t-ball stand for Christmas and had fun with Justin practicing.

Justin took the kids to a park near my doctor's office and they had fun exploring and running around.
I just love what her headband is doing...She calls herself stylish a lot lately. It is so cute!

Justin had to go to work one day and he took Jorgen and Shelley. His office is located in Mustang Square and apparently Shelley's baby got a ride on one of the bronze mustangs.

The month ended with Justin and Jorgen driving with Matt and Madeline (Justin's brother and daughter) to El Paso for the Sun Bowl to see the Utes play. They woke up and drove ten hours on Friday. Went and saw fireworks and played that night. Woke up, swam and then headed to the game. After a wonderful WIN for the Utes, they drove home and got home at 6am. What a trip!

This is where they ran in the New Year...at a truck stop in Big Springs, Texas.

And just as a side note, Justin is taking Shelley and Jorgen on a cruise in February with all the Hansens and Shelley drew this picture at church on Sunday and said, "Daddy, this is you and me. I want to take it on the cruise!" She is getting so excited!

This was taken last night as the kids were running around. They have so much fun together and I am so glad we have been blessed with such wonderful children.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!