Amelia Bedelia has always been a favorite in our home. Amelia is a housekeeper who takes everything literally. For instance when asked to make a sponge cake she actually puts sponges in the cake, or when she is asked to dress the turkey she makes clothes for it and dresses the bird. My kids love listening to all the mischief she gets into. We even saw a cute play about all the silly situations she gets herself in. This week I have had a few of my own Amelia Bedelia days.

Instance #1-Last week I was buying ice cream for a Young Women activity and was in a hurry when I was coming home. I rushed to pick the kids up from school and they helped me carry the bags into the house. While I was putting items away I handed Kelsey the 2 buckets of ice cream and told her to take them downstairs (where the big freezer lives). We then ran back out the door to finish all our errands and activities. About a half hour went by and I turned to Kelsey to confirm she took the ice cream downstairs in which she replied yes she had. I then asked if she actually put the ice cream in the freezer in which she replied "no, I just took it downstairs." We rushed home and put the ice cream in the right place.

Instance #2-We have been shaking up the room situation here and in so doing we decided to paint and get new bedding. This little project has taken the better part of 2 weeks and all our free time-little of it that there is-and putting our home in complete upset. Something that puts me in a complete state of anxiety but that is another problem. . .I digress. I set to wash all the new bedding and Kamryn asked if she could help open all the packages. I gave her the OK while I was standing in the laundry room and told her to put the bedding outside the door. I then went to move clothes and shoes in another room. I came out a short time later and noticed the bedding was not outside the laundry room door. I went room to room thinking she was playing with the sheets and finally found her downstairs. When I asked she replied she put them outside the door. I asked her to show me and sure enough. . .the sheets where literally outside our front door.

I love the Amelia Bedelia instances in life. They keep me on my toes and make me smile.

Christmas Season

The month of December is always a blur with activities, school programs, recitals, and Christmas parties. I am going to highlight a few of the activities that kept us busy during the holidays.

Kamryn and Kelsey had a dance recital that they had been working on since September. It was so nice to have Aunt Chelsea come and watch them dance. They usually only have us watching so it was so nice to have someone else cheering for them. They still talk about having her come to watch them and take their pictures. Chelsea even braved a snow storm to come. Thanks Chelsea it meant a lot.

Kamryn started dance this year and so this was her first recital. She danced to two songs one being "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". She thought this song was just for her considering she already lost her front tooth. She did a great job even waving to us while on stage.

Kelsey is an old pro at this recital thing and knew all her steps and remembered to smile while she preformed. She also danced two numbers and loved every minute.

Everyone got their favorite webkinz in their stocking this year. Kelsey got a little Panda.

Conner got a snake. At the time we were reading the book based on the Princess and the Frog. In the book there is a snake named Fang so Conner was very excited about getting a snake like was mentioned in the book.

Kylie has wanted a guitar for years and finally Santa brought her one this year because Mom and Dad weren't going to. She loves it and has even learned a few songs.

The week of Christmas we took the kids down to Salt Lake's Liberty Park for a musical Nativity. It was bitter cold but we braved the weather (along with other crazy folks) and walked around the park listening to different groups of people singing about Christ's birth. It was wonderful and our kids loved it.

The cold was getting to McKenna and Kylie because they started acting goofy.

We made our gingerbread houses out of gram crackers. I think Kamryn had more fun eating the candy than she had putting it on her house.

Santa made an early visit to our home before Christmas. The YW/YM take an annual trip around the ward caroling and with us comes a special visitor. The youth were great sports consider the temperature was 24 degrees that night. I chose to walk so I could keep the blood circulating as opposed to riding in the wagon. At this point Marc ran out to supply me with more layers to make the rest of the night a little warmer.

The first grade had a really cute program about Santa becoming sick and his brother taking the toys (it reminded me of Fred Claus). Kelsey was a dancing doll who performed a song and then jumped in Santa's bag of toys.

Conner didn't want to have his picture taken so this was the best Marc was able to get.

Conner was a cowboy who strutted to a cowboy song and then did his cowboy walk off stage. He was so cute to see him stay in character all the way off stage.

Kelsey singing off stage with her cute rosy cheeks.

Kylie's program was about the gingerbread boy running away in the school. She was a baker. All the kids had a part in the program and the teacher had all the parents crowd in her room. It was nice and cozy but the kids did a great job singing their songs and performing.

Kamryn was able to visit with Santa after her school program.

Kamryn sang the cutest songs in her program and is still singing them weeks later. This is the only program Marc wasn't able to attend and you are able to tell with my picture taking skills.

During the time off of school one day we decided to play monopoly and once we played for a few hours we decided to take a break and we all suited up and went outside to make our best snow creatures. McKenna won by making a dragon. She was out long after we were inside enjoying hot chocolate and waiting to get back to our game of monopoly.

What a wonderful couple of months we have had. Now we are back into the swing of a new year and back to our routine. Now January is already busy with McKenna's school play, painting the little kids rooms, a new Young Women's program and Marc's birthday. We are off and running.