December 2011

We are Christmas crazy in our house and we have so many fun traditions for the month of December. So this post will be a long one. It really was a month of reflecting for me. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and to be a mom to my sweet daughters. They really are my greatest blessings and I love them so much. Now on to December...
This is my girls being sweet sisters one day in December. Like I said, so blessed!

On December 10, Hadlee became an official walker. It took her about a month to get it down. But this was the day that my life changed forever because she was completely mobile. 

We did our traditional sponging of the windows with Christmas stencils for FHE one night.

We did our St. Nick's ornament trip.

Keelia had a Christmas program in preschool that my mom attended with me. She did such a cute job singing her songs.

My mom has her birthday a few days before Christmas, so we had fun celebrating her. She got a huge snow on her birthday, so she and the grandkids built some sledding ramps in the backyard. My mom loves snow and Christmas, so it was perfect for her birthday!

And one of our Christmas traditions is to "hide the pickle." Hadlee wasn't any competition this year and being my first year to have to hide the pickle, Keelia was the winner.

We all got the stomach flu right before Christmas. I was lucky enough to get it on Christmas morning. But I felt much better later that day. Hunter had the girls after church on Christmas day, but I got to have them Christmas Eve. And after a few hours there, they were ready to come home and be with their mom again. (Being without them was very hard for me. There is no way to prepare for your first holiday without your kids. One of the things you don't really think about when going through a divorce.) Hadlee and I were under the weather, but Keelia was on the mend, so she enjoyed it to the fullest. We had a wonderful Christmas together. We are so grateful for the season and for the Savior, who is the reason behind the season. Here are A LOT of pictures from Christmas...

All of my pictures from New Year's Eve are on my phone. But we had our usual spread and let the kids play at my mom's house. We watched the various New Year's Eve shows on TV and had a kids New Year's at 10pm. Some kids went to bed, some stayed up. Mine were both in bed by 10pm. At least from what I can remember. :) 

I've had a lot of years in my life, but I don't think I've ever been as happy to let one go as I was 2011. But at least now it is mostly documented.