Emily started piano lessons! She is so excited she can hardly stand it. She loves to practice and we hope that lasts awhile! She keeps asking when she'll be able to play songs like Kelsie. Emily is fiercely competitive so I have a feeling she won't relent until she feels she's reached that level of mastery.
She is also reading like crazy now. It is so fun! She just reached that point where she can pretty much read any book she picks up and she is always reading. Her favorite thing to read is the picture version of the scriptures which makes me so happy. Note how she squints her eyes and face up as she reads because she's trying so hard to figure out the hard words ( I really don't think it's cause she can't see...hopefully). I know I'll miss that in a couple of months. It's really cute.
Carter loves holidays and especially loves decorating his room for the holidays. He is currently coloring hundreds of Christmas pictures to hang all over his walls. It is a little calmer than the spooky Haunted House that over took his room in October. I love his enthusiam though.
Matson is the sweetest baby ever. Yip. I'm positive he is. He walks up to us and gives us hugs and kisses all through the day. If I come home from running errands he comes to the door to greet me and blows kisses at me and then reaches out his arms while he waits for me to come in and hug him. He melts me....well, really...all of us!
Kelsie learned an entire 5 page piano duet "The Entertainor" in less than 2 weeks. Her teacher and I are both pretty amazed at how quick she mastered the song. It just goes to show how much you can accomplish when you WANT to learn something! She is so excited to play the duet with her best neighbor friend at the recital. She practices it constantly! Fun times!
A shepard, an angel, and a wiseman who insisted on being a king for the nativity. :)
A lamb who was not happy at all about his costume. He decided to sit this year out.
One of the traditions John and I started with our kids was to give them an ornament each year that represents something about them from that year. The kids love these ornaments and look forward to getting them out all year. This year we ended up with a Hannah Montana suitcase (K), a tinkerbell (E), a Little People firetruck (C), and a Christmas puppy (M). They opened their ornaments to add to the tree and headed to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads! Now we are just waiting.... We have one VERY excited 3 year old that is listening for Santa's sleigh bells and can't figure out what is taking him so long to get here. He's planning to wait up to see Santa and trap him! Merry Christmas, everyone! 
After dinner, John broke out his new Bingo set and everyone had fun playing Bingo together.
One last shot... I love this picture of Matson and Great Grandma. Matson loves Grandma and kept bringing her books to read to him. Of all my kids, he is my baby that warms right up to new people the most. He grins and makes friends with everyone, everywhere we go. At church, he walks around and find new people to visit and share his books with every week. He's a funny kid. 
