Time Flies When You're Having Fun!!!

There was just so much going on in the month of December.  I felt like I was running from one thing to the next and trying to get all the Christmas stuff done.  There was primary meetings, book club, teaching piano, dentist appointments, activity days, Mimi started basketball, driving people to work, etc.  On top of all that, I had Christmas to put together.  I baked chocolate bread, but the hard part was getting it delivered!

Sometimes this happens...I call them 'kissing loaves'!

In the middle of all this craziness, I realized I had a Groupon about to expire.  We had tickets and $$ for the fancy theater in Thousand Oaks with the VIP seating and the restaurant.  We finally ended up using them to go see "The Hobbit"!!!  We were both pretty excited about the movie.  Dinner was great.  We ordered a bunch of delicious food and then still had some left over for candy.  Popcorn was included in the deal and they gave us our drinks to go.  We walked 50 feet to the theater and sat in our reserved recliners.  It was a super fun experience!

Mom was feeling her creative juices flowing one particular Sunday.  I did a half french braid for Liz which (amazingly enough) turned out beautiful.

Then, I had this idea to braid Miriam's with the ribbon.

And then, I pulled a really old trick from up my sleeve and gave Rachel 'candy canes'!  Momma's still got it!

On Sunday, Rachel especially, likes to sit with Sister Bobbi and her daughter, Morgann.  Morgann, is now in the singles ward and not usually there, but she still loves to sit with Sister Bobbi.  Somehow, Rachel got the news that Sister Bobbi wasn't going to be in church and she just lost it.  She cried these big tears and had the saddest face ever!  We made it up to her by visiting Sister Bobbi that evening while we were out and about.

 

We had our usual busy Sunday and then the girls helped me deliver chocolate bread in the afternoon.  I love that they can get in and out of the car on their own!!  It's so helpful!!  We finally got it all done, but it was getting late.  Our neighbor had invited us to her church's live nativity that was only this weekend.  Things had come up on Friday and Saturday but I really wanted to take the girls and they really wanted to go.  So we drove over and waited our turn in line (in our car).  I had forgotten about waiting in line, so I pulled out my phone and looked up some Christmas jokes.  (Grandma B had been texting Christmas jokes to me all month!)  We had a great time telling jokes in the car and shared some of the better ones with the people directing traffic along the way.

The live nativity was very well done.  The angel telling the shepherds the good news was very cool and the girls enjoyed seeing the nativity.  Afterwards, you could get out of your car and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate while listening to their choir.  They also had a small petting zoo.  What a great evening.  Even though it was late and a super long (exhausting) day, the girls loved it!