Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Photos from Phones - December 2018 Round Up

I liked keeping this round-up up-to-date (somewhat) last month, so I'm doing the same this month.  It lets you see things closer to when they happen and it saves me such a huge undertaking at the end of the month.  And it gets done!  Win win win win win!  December is obviously a very Christmasy month, but I noticed as I glanced back through these photos that the vast majority of these photos have something to do with the holiday spirit.  Lots of Christmas cheer going on around these parts with two exuberant children.  And I wouldn't have it any other way!

12.1.18
(when it snows outside, the bike comes indoors)

12.3.18
(what a beautiful sight to start the day)

12.3.18
(he LOVES playing in the snow)

12.3.18
(but I think she wins all the snow excitement -
she is out there a ton (and bonus - can get ready
almost 90% by herself!))

12.3.18

12.3.18
(faint sunset colors in the east)

12.4.18
(it was the most beautiful bluebird day on our walk to school -
I couldn't get enough of the beauty of our little Eden!)

12.4.18
(it was dang cold, though - like 16 degrees when we left at
12:15 to walk Callie to kindergarten.  But I did it because the
roads were dry and walkable and I was feeling kind of cooped
up after having almost a week steady of snowy days)

12.4.18

12.4.18
(all the heart eyes for this scene!)

12.4.18
(same view from October and November - kind of fun to see
the change in seasons)

12.4.18

12.4.18
(the Hearthside is always lovely, but it looks
especially festive in the winter)

12.4.18

12.4.18
(you know you're tired when . . . he had fallen asleep on the walk
home from kindergarten drop off and didn't wake up when I picked
him up out of the burley, so I wasn't sure what to do with him
while I peeled off all his (and my) layers before transferring him
to his bed to finish his nap.  The table was right there, so I laid
him down and he kept on sleeping until I finally got to his snow
pants layer. Then he roused a bit but snuggled right into his bed
and slept on for another two hours!  sheesh!)

12.4.18
(still pretty on the walk home after school is over)

12.4.18
(yep, still snappin' three hours later)

12.5.18
(we picked some angel tree ornaments from the school's
angel tree in the office - I had to snap a pic so I knew what to
shop for later on our big Christmas Shopping Outing)

12.5.18
(on Wednesdays we actually get to have a bit
of  Mom'n'Sam time and today it looked like
No Match!)

12.5.18
(he's pretty good!)

12.5.18
(that's the face of a match maker)

12.5.18
(Callie checked out a Christmas craft book from the library
and we looked through the whole thing deciding which
crafts we could make with the supplies we had on hand.  She
chose these gingerbread boys and girls and it was really a
delightful afternoon activity to do together)

12.5.18

12.5.18

12.5.18
(we also opened up The Friend and Callie noticed this rock
nativity page and realized that we could use her rock collection
to make our own. So we did.)

12.5.18
(Panda Express for dinner before hitting up Wal-Mart on our big
Christmas Shopping Outing (it really deserves all those caps).)

12.5.18
(they were fans)

12.5.18
(the sunset was stunning!)

12.6.18
(Grandma Blanchard invited us over for a fun morning of
Christmasing - we had breakfast and then decorated a gingerbread
house.  Then Callie colored some Christmas pictures and turned
them into ornaments for their tree.)

12.6.18

12.6.18

12.6.18

12.6.18

12.6.18

12.6.18
(the first of many new ornaments that now adorn Grandma's tree)

12.6.18
(in case you thought he couldn't get any cuter)

12.7.18
(we walked Callie all the way into school today
so we could drop off the Angel Tree presents
in the office.  Outside the Callie's room we spotted
her grinch picture on the wall)

12.7.18
(feeling a little deja vu here - ha!)

12.9.18
(here come some Christmas book faves we/I
have liked this month - all new ones that
I haven't read before)
(I've read other versions of this story, but
not this one.  And it was cute like the others.)

12.9.18
(words from the KJV of the bible of the nativity
story with really adorable pictures)

12.9.18
(I've read Four Friends in Autumn, and I liked
this one even more!)

12.9.18
(I had this one on my holds list last year, but it
never got to us before Christmas.  Love Cynthia
Rylant)

12.9.18
(This one was quite serious but was really good)

12.11.18
(he's trying on the baby/bear carrier I made for
Grace for Christmas - shhh don't tell him he's
getting one, too!)

12.12.18
(another library craft book idea that Cal requested
for mom'n'cal time.  the instructions actually said
to use paint, but she had it in her head to use markers,
which I actually liked better.)

12.12.18
(seeing this little stencil with scribbles on it
made me flash back to primary when we would
decorate Christmas cards in the hallway on long
tables during sharing time (or something?) with
similar stencils. the bishopric would then sign
them and send them out to all the ward members
each December.  I sent this pic to Heather and she
had the same memory, which totally means it's real!) 

12.13.18
(I really love this snowman picture/ornament (all the bells didn't
last since they were too heavy for the branch, so most of them
are hanging on our doorknob, which also brings back memories
of the jingle bell wreath we had on our doorknob growing up).)

12.13.18
(She used her paper to wrap up other crafty things she made.
A truly homemade gift!)

12.13.18
(I LOVE Patricia Polacco's books and this
was a new one that I haven't seen or heard of
before (not that hard, since I just discovered
her last year and fell in love).)

12.14.18
(playing (through the door only) with the stray
kitty that was hanging out on our porch for a day
or two - he's been around forever, but he comes
and goes and it's been a while since we've seen
him)

12.14.18
(a whole row full of people coming to watch my
mom's bell choir concert at the tabernacle and the
funniest part was that we all arrived from various
places at almost exactly the same time! after about
a million and one concerts that she's attended for us,
it was fun to finally return the favor for her.)

12.14.18
(The Tabernacle was looking lovely and festive for this packed
house/standing room only Westminster Bell Choir concert -
the first one we've seen my mom perform in.  It was really great!)

12.14.18
(Kylie took this video of her opening number)

12.15.18
(a lovely and peaceful sunset on our drive home from Cache
Valley)

12.15.18
(we got home from our weekend in Logan and I found
this note on the counter from Callie - oops!  We forgot to bring
it with us!)

12.15.18
(I love this list of Christmasy things Callie wrote on the back:
Joy, popcorn, snow, "stokings", Christmas tree, bells, warmness
(my fave!), Christmas "pressints")

12.16.18
(Gregg remembered similar plastic canvas
squish-to-open-and-find-a-hershey's-kiss-inside
ornaments hanging on his Grandma Blanchard's
tree and decided to remake the memory for
each of his siblings and parents (and us!)
for Christmas.)

12.18.18
(morning Christmas story reading by light of
lamp and Christmas tree lights - pretty cozy, if
you ask me!)

12.18.18
(He's really into the Cars 3 movie lately (since he's seen it twice
in a month or something) and has started acting it out with his
own cars - he lines them all up for a race, with some on the side
as spectators, and he'll even "train" them with his little launcher
track.  He talks about Lightning McQueen and "the little brown
tow truck" and Jackson Storm all the time.  haha.  It's kind of
adorable.

12.18.18
(Haven't taken one of these Burley Bundle
pics lately - they're getting bigger!)

12.19.18
(the temple was looking lovely this evening)

12.19.18

12.19.18
(pretty sky from Sister Bott's driveway)

12.21.18
(Christmas cookie delivery from a neighbor
buried under the snow on my porch -
there was a package I ordered for Christmas
out there, too, but luckily the contents
were fine on both)

12.23.18
(more Christmas book love from this year's library
stack.  This one was a super quick chapter book
read - I think I'll read it aloud next year to Cal.
 not pictured in this group: A Newbery Christmas,
which was a compilation of 14 Christmas stories or
chapters written by Newbery award winning authors.
It was very fun.)

12.23.18
(I read this one aloud to the kiddos and we all loved it)

12.23.18
(I love all things Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode)

12.23.18
(just a random pick off the Christmas shelf, but it
was fun and cute)

12.23.18
(I learned a lot about the Rockefeller Center
Christmas Tree from this one)

12.23.18
(I didn't know Pam Munoz Ryan wrote picture books!)

12.23.18
(Cal says she likes this one)

12.23.18
(I liked watching the DVD of Jane Seymour
telling this story - I didn't know the background
of this song, so it was fun to learn)

12.24.18
(Gregg took a few turns at Nordic on Christmas Eve morning.  While
he was gone, we were making a gingerbread cake, but we ran out of
molasses.  Since he had the car, we were kind of in a pickle.  Cal
wrote him this note and put it on his desk.  For cute!  (I sent him
a text, and he saved us by stopping at the super busy grocery store
to grab us a jar so we could finish our cake.))

12.26.18
(boxing day pre-clean-up)

12.26.18
12.27.18
(we have a full pantry door this December!  I love
to see it!)

12.27.18
(this year's rendition of this nativity advent calendar)

12.27.18
(and this year's rendition of this one - I love to
see it evolve each year!)

12.27.18
(stories and snuggles while it snows)

12.27.18
(mom 'n' cal time with the giant busy box)

12.27.18
(she is in heaven!)

12.27.18
(have you seen googly eyes this huge before?!)

12.27.18
(ta-da!)

12.27.18
(frog puppet - check!)

12.29.18
(Cal had been begging to go ice skating, so we
made a visit to the rink in Huntsville Park to
slide around on our boots fora  few minutes
on Saturday afternoon - someday we'll try
skates, but for now the boot method works
just fine for us.)


Every other round up here (whew!):
2018: NovOct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2016: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2015: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar Feb | Jan
2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June

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