December shenanigans

Blake and the kids got super excited about building an ice fort.  They filled a bunch of bins with water and it was -30 degrees so it froze pretty nicely!  Then it got warm and melted but it was a good effort.  Blake loved doing it.  It was like he was a kid again.



The kids and I dipped pretzels for Christmas for friends.  It took a loooong time, but William didn't mind because he dug into the chocolate as much as he could. 

The dishwasher has been broken in our rental and I was about sick of doing dishes, especially with all the holiday cooking.  So, Blake and William took over dish duty for the night.  William loves doing work so much. He gets very annoyed if he can't help.

This was my afternoon doing pretzels while I watched Food Network. It really was so fun.

This is the best shot we got of the kids in their Christmas best.  You can see that grumpy kids and 9:00 church don't mix very well.  William was being super cute in his little outfit and Brooke got dressed and did her hair nicely.  Hailey was annoyed that she wasn't on the bench.  Love her face in the next picture, ha.  Teenager life is coming.  Spencer wins 10 points for being the best smiler ever.

Brooke made this ornament at preschool of her fingerprints.  So cute.  And she got this book from her teacher.  She loves it.  She has done so great at preschool.  Those were her pajamas for pajama day.  She just picked whatever she wanted out of her drawers.  She's funny like that.

Ice cream that was accidentally left in the car. Thankfully it was in the winter and not the summer!

I got to go with Spencer on his field trip to Christmas carol at the hospital.  It was so cute to see them walk around singing and spreading joy.  We all got on the elevator at the end and it was very squishy. Spencer's teacher mentioned "this was every teacher's worst nightmare."  Thought that was pretty funny. The girl in the picture is Eliza from our church and in Spencer's class too.  I have been her primary teacher and primary chorister.  I was pretty amazed because her 2 year old brother had passed away and they buried him that day.  She made it back to school in time to go to the Christmas party.  She is a special spirit.

I just loved being able to spend this special time with Spencer.  He is doing so well in school and always tries hard.

Brooke, William and I delivered our Christmas treats one day.  She loved dropping them off and wanted to sing Rudolph to everyone.  Especially at our friend, Steve's house, who she just loves.  The first time she saw him, she loved him.  Too bad he is married and 25.  

Blake had this stethoscope from his medical days.  William was so fascinated with hearing his heartbeat.  It was really sweet to watch.

Brooke has been a big cooking helper.  We made these amazing cinnamon rolls and they were so amazing.  Like better than cinnabon.

One day, the girls were playing so nicely downstairs together.  That doesn't always happen. I love when Hailey teaches Brooke something new and Brooke listens.