Random Acts of Kindness

 I wanted to teach the kinds about kindness, and really teach them about being kind to everyone.  So I decided to do a family home evening lesson on Random Acts of Kindness.  I found an image online that said "please enjoy this random act of kindness.  Now pass it on"  and I printed them out, and got them laminated.  In theory these were going to make the rounds.  Then for family home evening we went to the shopping area in our community and the kids all had to fine a random person to give their card (attached to a small gift card) to.  Skyler ran up to this person and dropped it in his basket.  Ryely found a little girl and her Dad that she wanted to give it to. Hers was funny. We finally got it given to them, and we walked away, and the guy chased us down and asked us what we were up to.  He could not believe that someone would do that.  The kids had a lot of fun with it, and while I am sure that we still have a lot of work to do in teaching them to shoe real kindness to everyone, it is a night they will not soon forget.

Fun in the Snow

We took the kids tobogganing in their time off school.  They loved the big hill, and are all really little dare devils.  I am by far the biggest chicken in our family.  I went down once, and for some reason Ryley and I were being sprayed pretty bad with snow, so I tried to protect her, when we got to the bottom, I checked to see how she fared, and she was laughing hysterically.  It was the time of her life!

Chritsmas Eve

 We hosted Christmas this year to help accommodate Mom.  All of my brothers were going elsewhere for Christmas, and Mom was not comfortable joining us at Nielsons for Christmas Eve, so we hosted it and mom was a part of the action.  We had Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Cooper, Loewens, and Ashlyn and Jeff.  We did it some what traditional for both sides of the family.  My family always does appetizers on Christmas eve, so we had appetizers.  Then the Nielsons always do a talent show, and act out the Nativity, so we did all of that , and played some minute to win it games. Skyler, Grandpa Nielson, and Uncle Jeff all had magic tricks to show off, and the Skyler, Dakota, and Grandma Nielson played the piano. As the night wound down, and we were getting ready to go our separate ways the kids all got some new pajamas.  We had a lot of angry birds jammies, and a lot of happy and excited kids.

Izzy the Elf

Bear with me while I play catch up over the past 3 months.  I still have not finished documenting last year.  We had an elf on the shelf that visited our house during the month of December, and she was a naughty little elf.  On her last night here she decided to shave a line in Uncle Erics beard.  (Maybe she thought it was as gross as I did?)  regardless, the kids found our naughty little elf with all of the evidence.

A Funny boy

Ethan has recently developed a love for layering, I think he could use a little fine tuning, but it makes me laugh.

Regal Kids Christmas Party

We were able to attend another Regal kids Christmas Party this year, and as always it was a huge success.  Each of the kids found their own way to enjoy the bouncy houses.  Skyler prefers to slide hear first. Ethan goes traditional, and Ryely goes for the tummy, being slight more conservative than her older brothers.
Then the kids all decorated ginger cookies.  For some odd reason Skyler loves ginger cookies, even the stale hard ones that you use with gingerbread houses, he loves them and would rather eat than decorate.

Ethan had Grandma do his bidding and piled as much candy as possible on the cookie.
 
 Ryley is just particular.
 
 Ethan refused to have his face painted, but Skyler and Ryley were both happy to stand in line.  Ryley wanted some cute candy canes on her cheek, but Skyler wanted bushy eye brows, a mustash and a beard, what a weirdo.
 Of course Santa came as well, and the kids were all spoiled and loved the treasures that they received.  Ethan even had a picture to give to Santa.

Pason Christmas Party at Shakers

We had the annual Pason kids Christmas Party at Shakers again this year, but they made one small change that made a huge difference for our family.  They put crayons on the table and covered the tables in paper.  I have 2 very focused coloring children who will color for hours on end, and it just happens that they are my 2 youngest that have the hardest time staying occupied at Shakers. Can you not see the focus and determination in these 2 - they did in fact manage to fill the whole of the paper in drawings.
 
 Skyler on the other hand loves this trip and keeps himself very busy.  He loves the climbing wall, and this year won enough tokens to get a lava lamp.  He was pretty impressed with himself!
 We had no tears or tantrum when it came to Santa, just 3 very excited little people.
 Ryley was given this super funny little purple elephant backpack that has a stuffy that attaches to it, she loved it!  I thought it was just about the weirdest looking thing that I have ever seen.
 Thank you Pason for a really fun day.