Pre-Christmas Pics

Here are some pictures of a few things we did in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The kids painted ornaments. Wes had a dog bone that he painted blue and yellow.

Sydney's was a penguin that she painted pink.

The kids helped me with a special present for dad, so I decided to take a picture of them.

We went to my mom and dad's to hang out the week before Christmas. The kids decided to cuddle and watch a show.

My cousin, Ryan, and his wife, Becky came by for a visit and to take my grandma to breakfast.

The kids were admiring the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas.

A different view of, essentially, the same picture.

Preschool Parties

On Friday, December 16th, we got together with Sydney's preschool friends for a little Christmas party. After Sydney's party, we went to Wes' preschool program. After his program, my mom took the kids back to her house for the weekend and Brian and I went to party at The Melting Pot and the Seattle Symphony.

At Sydney's party, the kids painted sticks to make ornaments.

After they were done painting, we had food and decorated sugar cookies.

Wes had a preschool program. I never did figure out why he wasn't dressed up and most of the other kids were.

All the classes sang some songs.

As we headed back to Wes' classroom, Santa was handing out candy canes. Sydney timidly took one (since she's still afraid of Santa).

We then enjoyed reindeer cookies that all the preschool children had helped make.





Here's a picture of us at the Seattle Symphony before we saw Handel's Messiah.

Fun day!

Natalie's 30th Birthday

On December 15th, we celebrated my 30th birthday! Oddly, I feel no different than I did when I was 29. :)

The day started off with me babysitting some kiddos (which works out fine because then my kids are mostly occupied) and a 30-clue scavenger hunt that Brian made for me (to test my aging brain, apparently).

I've come to realize I don't really like cake all that well (or pies, for that matter), so I opted for a hot fudge brownie sundae as my celebratory dessert.

Wes and Sydney with their 30-year-old mamma (and the poster they colored for me in the background).

A brownie topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Who can resist?

Yum!

The kids helped me pick which cards and presents to open.

I think they were slightly disappointed there were no toys among my presents, but we all still had a good time!

Christmas Rush 5k

On December 10th, Brian and I ran the Kent Christmas Rush 5k with some friends in our ward. It was my last 5k in the 25-29 age division. However, considering I haven't run more than once a month over the last six months, I had no hope of placing in my age division.

Luckily, I was able to finish the whole race running, which I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do. My finishing time was 30:50.7 (definitely not a PR). Here were my stats:

Division Place: 21 of 68
Sex Place: 234 of 1119
Overall Place: 532 of 1848

Brian finished just a few seconds ahead of me. After the race, Brian and I went to breakfast at Shari's. We consumed at least as many calories as we burned during the race. But we had fun! A special thanks to Aunt Sara for watching the kiddos for us during our Saturday morning date. :)

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

After we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, we pulled out the Christmas decorations.

On December 3rd, we went to our ward Christmas party. They had a big piece of paper on the floor for the kids to color on.

After dinner and some carols, the kids gathered together to hear the story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Then, Troy and Wes waited in line to sit with Santa. Sydney wasn't interested in talking to Santa.

Thanksgiving Week in Boise

Since I'm behind in blogging, all of the Thanksgiving week pictures are going into one post.

We arrived on Tuesday, November 22nd and the kids spent the 23rd playing in the backyard. Luckily, the weather was pretty nice so they could spend most of the day jumping on the tramp, climbing on the swing set, and riding around on the 4-wheeler.

Wes, Ryan, and Danny were doing a great job sharing the space!

Grandma Swensen read the kids a book.

Lunch time!

On November 24th - Thanksgiving morning - Sydney helped Grandma prep the turkey.

Sydney then helped Brian make deviled eggs. Sydney loves to cook!

Baby Ruby (2 months) enjoyed her swing and all the people around to hold her!

Many hands make light work! Everyone contributed to the Thanksgiving Feast.

The kids stayed out of the way by being sucked into iPad games.

A rare picture of me! :)

My Uncle Kirk with football in the background. My Grandma and Grandpa Swensen were also there, but I didn't seem to get a picture of them.

The little kids' table.

Little Lanie having her first Thanksgiving meal. She was a big fan of sweet potatoes, the rolls, and jello with whipped cream. :)

After Thanksgiving dinner, we drove down the street to sing at a nursing home. The kids wanted to ride in the back of the truck, but Grandma didn't feel comfortable with them being in the back without adult supervision. I think she was still uncomfortable riding in the truck bed, but the kids sure had a great time!

Here's a picture of some of the grandkids outside of the nursing home.

Wes volunteered to do a solo...well, duet with Brian, I guess. I was pretty shocked since usually my kids like to play the "shy card" when it comes to performing.

Later, the kids all attempted to make these Oreo Turkeys. They look a bit psycho, but the kids thought they tasted good. :)

On Friday, November 25th, we found out that Santa had made a special delivery for each of the families.

He dropped off an elf to watch each family until Christmas.

Here's a picture of Little Miss Lanie.

After some shopping (for the adults) and a movie (for the kids and some adults), the kids got PJs on and then decorated gingerbread houses.

Here are the girls working hard on their house and dolls!

Here are the kiddos with their finished products!

On Saturday, November 26th, we went to downtown Boise to the holiday market. Grandpa was nice enough to share his doughnuts with us.

I think Sydney liked them. :)

In one building there were a couple of Christmas activities for the kids.

Sydney's face is painted with a snowflake (or spider web?), but it's hard to see.

Sydney really felt like cuddling up to Danny for this picture!

The Hanks Family in Santa's sleigh.

Sunday, November 27th was Ruby Lyn Dildine's blessing day. What a cute family!

Here are all of the cousins with their Great Grandma and Grandpa Swensen.

The cousins in a line: Nathan (13), Danny (11), Madison (8), Ryan (7), Mitchell (5), Lydia (4), Wesley (4), Sydney (3), Lanie (8 months), and Ruby (2 months).