Valentines Day and Dipping Strawberries

We had a fun Valentines Day weekend with our traditional cookie baking and frosting, lasagna dinner by candlelight and sharing love letters to each other. Travis and Jaxon got roses and chocolates for us girls. Jaxon was so clever and distracted me while Travis brought in the goods. Such wonderful boys. :)

Zyanya helped us out this year, they had lots of fun!

The next Monday was a holiday and it was the day we picked for our annual strawberry dipping at Mamie's.

There were several times when Ginger just went in stem first and didn't even care.

This is always a fun month to spend together.

Violet's Ice Skating Lessons

Violet was so excited to get ice skating lessons for Christmas, and she has absolutely loved the experience so far. She looks forward to every Saturday morning when she can go. She's made lots of progress considering she was a wall clinger the first two times.

 

We see no reasons to stop now. She loves it so we'll keep going for the forseeable future. Way to go, Violet!

Just Around the House

Our January was pretty relaxed and...long. We got around to putting away our Christmas decorations mid January, it was that relaxed. I'm just glad it's right after Christmas so at least the kids have all these new things to entertain themselves with. :)

Grammy and Pappy gave us a years worth of car washes and we've gone out of our way a couple times just for the heck of it. The kids love it! They wish we lived closer so we could go every day.

It actually hasn't snowed that much overall this season, but we did get a couple good storms. The kids have been able to work and play together in it.

We invited Britian and Laykin over to play during the break.

Ginger graduated from nursery and is now in Rayitos! She's the youngest in her class and she's had a tough time adjusting. She's usually so independent but for some reason, even with me right there in primary, she cries and cries. Going to class is worse.

With her wonderful nursery leader Hna. Perez.

Then a week or so ago she comes out of class with a big cupcake and a smile. Smart teachers. She still struggles a bit, but is slowly getting used to primary.

Ginger also got some puppets for Christmas and the older kids especially have fun making movies of different shows.

Grammy and Pappy also got the girls dress up clothes which they have loved to death.

Beckham wanted to dress up too. 

 It's been nice having somewhere nice for Ivy to lay down during the day.

More time inside also means more time reading and LOTS of trips to the library.

Violet sharing her hair. Still haven't gotten around to the cutting. Gotta do that.

Christmas 2019

We definitely felt the countdown to Christmas this year! Last Friday after the kids got out for the break we made and decorated Christmas cookies for friends.

That evening Jaxon had his first Christmas recital and did fabulous!

The next day we saw the beautiful lights at Temple Square with the Andersons and enjoyed Krispy Kreme doughnuts and hot cocoa.

On Monday Mamie and Papa were so nice to invite grandkids over to watch "The Polar Express" while us parents got some last Christmas errands accomplished!

Then it was Christmas Eve. We did our traditional Christmas Eve trip to the bowling alley with Grammy. This was Ginger's first time really participating and she loved it!

That evening we went to Mamie and Papa's for dinner, opening presents, and singing Christmas songs.

Then it was home to get as much sleep as possible before Santa's arrival. Which, of course, is not much. But we were not disappointed, especially when we woke up to a real white Christmas!

It took a few seconds for Ginger to register it was Christmas.

 

The only thing Jaxon asked for was a Tesla ball.

After stockings and other Santa gifts, we went upstairs and had cinnamon rolls and finished with family presents under the tree.

This is how she gives thumbs up

After cleaning up we continued our tradition of opening experience gifts. Travis writes a little poem with a clue of where each child can find their experience coupon. Ginger got tumbling class, Jaxon got Chinese summer camp, and Violet was probably the most excited of all.

She got ice skating lessons.

That afternoon we went to Grammy and Pappy's for more gift sharing and then to Brady and JaNae's for a yummy Christmas dinner and fun games. It was such a wonderful Christmas and we are all so grateful for each other and for the birth of our loving Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

Ginger Turns 3!

We love this three year old so much. Full of spunk and mood swings, I think she's appropriately named as she brings a bit of spice into our lives.

She wanted pizza for dinner

In our family we let the birthday kid pick whatever they want for dessert. So it could be cake and ice cream if that's what they wanted. Or it could be something totally different. Ginger shocked us by requesting doughnuts and ice cream. Strange, but so be it!

Though she can be at times stubborn and independent, she also loves to hold hands, give hugs, and say "Yo te amo muchisimo!" several times a day.

 Her day was definitely a special one. We love you, Ginge!

December Fun

After Thanksgiving we had fun spending time together and getting ready for Christmas.

It snowed once and the kids took advantage of it and went sledding in our backyard.

Then the warmer temperatures came back and we enjoyed a spontaneous trip to the Creamery after school with friends.

We've all been enjoying Disney+ since it came out last month, and on our very first television (yes, finally after 11 years of marriage) :). In the past we mostly rented movies from the library, which also proved difficult as not all of the discs had a Spanish audio track. As a result, our kids only recently seen many Disney movies for the first time, thanks to Disney+ offering most titles in Spanish. Like here they're watching Beauty and the Beast for the first time.

Violet was scared of the Beast, hence her dog.

Violet and Ginger kept reenacting the scene where Belle walks down the stairs in her gown to the dance floor. They wrapped themselves in blankets and did the same. Violet insisted this was her princess smile.

And of course there's the usual romping in the leaves.

Violet likes to read outside the car while waiting for Jaxon to come out of school.

And we loved decorating for Christmas!