Sunbeam class 07

Here is a great sampling of our 4 year-old Sunbeam class! I took this today with their badges that read, "I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!" They are a lot of fun. We will miss them when they "move on" the first of the year! Left to right: KJ, Campbell, Ethan, Rebekah, Nicole and Kaitlyn. They are a handful but mostly a lot of fun! We used to have 10 come most every Sunday until they recently split the class to make it more handleable!

Santa at our house!

Santa came to our house!!! We were peacefully standing in our kitchen and heard the front door open. Then we heard a loud "Ho, ho, ho!" Sadie started barking and running all around. It was unexpected chaos and no one knew what to do or where to run.

Then we realized that Santa (our friend, Kevin Layton, who dresses up each year and visits kids in the neighborhood) had come to check in on us! The kids each took a turn sitting on his lap and telling him what was on their list (that he hadn't yet received by his account.) Dawson was good with it and answered all his questions with confidence but didn't recognize that he knew Santa in a previous setting. Campbell was scared stiff because of this Christmas figure bounding into his place of safety. He made a diversion by engaging Santa in examining his stuffed monkey, George. He cracked a smile momentarily when he got a candy cane and quickly jumped off his lap. Hayden didn't scream his high-pitched scream of the 2006 visit, but he did cling to Gary for dear life. He agreed to sit on Kevin, I mean Santa's, lap long enough to get his candy cane. Then it was jump and run back to the safety of dad's embrace. It was a fun evening. It's a lot of fun watching the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of our kids!

Christmas is in the air!

It seems to make it real when the lights are up and tree is out. We have started a little later than I would have liked, but the important thing is it's done! The boys are really fun to watch. They love to help and are actually really really good help! We sit back and let them decorate the tree any way they want to. Dawson especially has enjoyed reminiscing about the ornaments he has made from the last few years. Campbell has taken his place in being daddy's helper. He thoroughly enjoys getting tools out and helping Gary "fix it." Another fun thing we've done is driving around and seeing lights others put up. We've ALL liked that! We took 3 cards from the Salvation Army tree and Dawson and Campbell chose something to fulfill that card for another child. (Of course I had to help Hayden and he wasn't all that interrested!) It took some explaining but they finally understood why we were going to give up these cool things to someone else and they didn't get anything. I finally had to say, "Trust me, YOU are getting something for Christmas, you just don't know what it is." That seemed to be what made it stick. It's fun to see their excitement in doing something for others.