Annie's awesome preschool teacher organized a fieldtrip to the Zoo in December. The big experience was feeding the giraffes! Annie was scared and captivated at the same time.
Giraffe tongues are SO COOL!
Seriously. They are purple and so long.
A bond was forged between child and beast this day.
Isaac was all on board with giving snacks to the giraffe. He's quite the snack guy himself.
Annie was recovering from a bug (it seems like we were all sick for like a month), so she was pretty low energy by the end of the field trip. I'm still glad we went. It had been too long.
Annie is always sneaking in Science projects, which usually involve getting random things wet/glued together/dyed with food coloring. She recently got in trouble for deciding that her white shirt would be cooler if she dyed it blue.
I love Christmastime. It is becoming even more fun as my kids get old enough to appreciate all the activities and take a more active role.
Teaching Isaac the ways of the nativity nesting doll
Elf mode- activated!
I love my little Christmas helpers
Aaron's work sent this train set along with the XR kids gingerbread sleigh activity. Isaac was ENTRANCED. The train was running almost constantly for a few weeks. One time, he grabbed it and tried to bring it on a family walk.
The train box had some truly hilarious Chinese translations on it. This says "Easy for children to dig it out- so this kind of toys possess features of knowledgeable and interesting." It was "Pretex" brand, which had a logo that looked suspiciously similar to the Playtex logo.
The Mills hosted a gingerbread competition! Ours was inspired by a Calvin and Hobbs snowman scene. We titled it "Blood."
No one appreciated our art except for Isaac. He thought our art was delicious.
Our ward had a Bethlehem themed Christmas party. We ate on the floor with blankets and mats and had Middle Eastern style finger foods for a delicious meal with some cool Middle Eastern background music. There was a simple program with a nativity and sing along songs. Everything was gorgeous and delicious. It was the best ward Christmas party that I have ever been to.
A view of the well and other families enjoying their meal
I talked my friend Rachel Mitton into doing a musical number with me at the Relief Society dinner. We were way better in practice- we both got super shaky- but I love the arrangement! There was a program about the names of Christ, so we picked "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Everyone got to pick a name of Christ to put on an ornament to take home, and I love how it turned out.
Bree, Eowyn, and Tauriel were in a Christmas dance program that I took the older kids to see. Bree and Eowyn were angels in this number with the fog machine. Tauriel was a reindeer.
After the dance program, we headed to the Rancho Holiday spectacular. The hit activity was the "reindeer" rides.
This little guy is just SO enthusiastic about everything. He makes life delightful.
We waited in line for that face paint for 40 minutes, then drove home and washed it off for bed.
She maintains that it was worth it. I am unconvinced.
Another fun holiday experience - Aaron got shingles! He alternated between telling people that it was a Harry Potter scar and that I karate chopped him in the head. It didn't hurt, just itched and lasted an unfortunately long time.
An instant classic piece of schoolwork from Elliot
