December/Christmas

December was a good month, although it didn't feel quite as busy as some years.

We started the month with a recital.  Joseph teaches Maddy the violin, Rebecah teaches Annika piano and Jenny teaches Rebecah piano.  Jenny decided to have a little recital for everyone learning piano and violin.  It was short and sweet and everyone has made improvements.  Rebecah played a beautiful arrangement of O, Holy Night at her recital and in church.  She did a great job!

Kimball is doing well in track, although not as well as he would like.  He has gotten a personal record in every meet so far this season.

Having the Whiting girls over for the evening while their parents attend the temple.  We even managed to get the Grinch's reflection so we will always remember what we were watching.

Rebecah continues with therapy.  Her physical therapist has said that Rebecah is able to return to physical activity.  We finally started OT regularly and the progress is much slower with her eyes than the rest of her body.  The teachers are FINALLY following accommodations for Rebecah and printing her assignments on large pieces of paper (11x18).  The larger paper makes Rebecah's eyes work less to focus causing less eye strain and symptoms.  She practices tracking objects on the computer, working with her convergence and divergence focusing muscles and also working to improve her memory.  We have at least six more weeks of vision OT ahead of us.

We don't have an Elf on the Shelf, but we have Meme!  Meme does fun things year round.  He'll sit at the window all day waiting for Eden to come home or poke his head through the stair railing at bus time.  One afternoon he was watching TV when Eden came home from school.  It's fun for Eden and for me.  We talk about Meme as if he were real and for her, he is.  My mom shared The Velveteen Rabbit with me when I was near Eden's age and I think it's about time I shared it with her.  Maybe I'll give my book to Eden the way my mom gave it to me!

Twinning in Christmas pajamas.   

Most people meeting us for the first time don't know that Lincoln and Annika are twins anymore, but sometimes it's fun to twin with your twin.

We took the little ones to Palmyra to visit the Joseph Smith Farm and the Hill Cumorah on Joseph Smith's birthday (December 23rd).  It was a fun little trip and the kids enjoyed it.  The older ones stayed home because they have seen the sights so many times.

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve service at church.  After church the kids decorated graham cracker houses.  In the evening we kept our tradition of attending the Lutheran church for their Christmas Eve service.  We were able to attend the church where our friend pastors.  He was happy to see us and welcomed us with big hugs.  There was a lot of singing during the service and it was wonderful!!  The Lutheran service went a little long so we abbreviated the rest of our Christmas Eve activities to watching The Nativity Story while we ate dinner.

Christmas morning!

We didn't read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 on Christmas Eve so we read it after seeing what Santa brought, but before opening the rest of the presents.  

Rebecah is obsessed with the color orange.  She was very excited about this hoodie.

Lincoln has so many Minecraft Lego sets he now has a Minecraft village!

Dinner was simple, but I loved my colorful plate!  Kimball requested collard greens this year and it was a great addition to our meal.  

Ice Skating!  It was the first time Lincoln, Annika and Eden have been ice skating.  They did really well and Eden got much faster using her skate helper. 

We have been very blessed this year and we look forward to a wonderful 2024!