Tales from the Taylors: December

I started December off with a cookie order for a baptism of a student I tutored during the summer. I think they turned out pretty cute!

I checked on Everett one night and found him like this...sound asleep

I was shocked that he had such a good grip on the crib slat

These kiddos are pretty lucky!

The second time for the glucose test was successful. I just had to hang out at the doctors office for 3 hours. But my mom watched the kids so I got to have a "break" at the appointment.

For book club this year we bought socks and filled them with goodies and then exchanged them. Here are all the cute socks that we got.

I taught the girls how to frost cookies with Royal Icing. I think they enjoyed it

Cute Variah cleaned up all the toys so that the house would be clean for book club and she decorated for my friends. I thought it was so cute how she did this with Ana and the Snowman!

Aubrey, Natalie, Me, Maure, Kathleen, Tiffany and Clarissa. Such a good group of ladies! I look forward to our get togethers each month

Variah even tried out Royal Icing decorating the next day

Tyson and Ashley were in charge of the Taylor family Christmas party this year and did an around the world theme. Each one of the families brought a dish from another country.

They had Dutch shoe making for the kids to do while the food was being prepared.

Meat pies from New Zealand

Potatoes from South Africa and Goose from Germany

Cheese bread balls from Brazil and Egg Tortillas from Spain

Tres Leches cake from Mexico and Pavlova from Australia

They had posters all over with facts about how each country celebrates Christmas

Santa Claus came and filled the kids shoes with goodies

The shoes were filled with candy from other countrys

This little girl let me do her hair in some curlers from Anna and her hair turned out pretty cute

KSL Studio5 did a contest for the month of December. They dropped off wrapped boxes around the state of Utah. Each day they announced which city they would be dropping the boxes off the next day. We learned they were going to be in South Jordan so Daniel decided to take a late lunch to see if he could find it. Lo and behold he went to a park by his work and saw the box sitting on a bench. He was on the phone with me and I was like "run to the box" but he was able to drive right up to it. The KSL person hadn't even posted the picture on instagram yet. So once she posted the picture of the box on the bench, then Daniel was able to pick it up. He soon saw ladies driving up like crazy people searching the park for the box! We could NOT believe he'd found the box. And since December is month of giving they had the slogan Get a Box, Give a Box. So the finder was given 2 boxes full of the same stuff.

Each box is worth $150 and had in them an apron, hat, blanket, Albion Fit $25 gift card, Thread wallet, 2 zoo lights tickets and a $100 visa gift card. We gave one of the $100 gift cards to someone in my mom's ward who needed the money.

We went on a sleigh ride to Santa's village.

We were hoping there would be more snow to make it more magical, but all we got was mud and ice. But the kids enjoyed being able to sit up front with the horse driver and see the horses

We sat all by ourselves on the next bench of the sleigh

These two were pretty excited to meet Santa. Once inside you could either pay to have pictures taken with or take none at all. We chose the none at all route cuz really? $20 to take pictures? But I was super pleased with both kiddos cuz they actually talked with Santa and told him what they wanted. I thought for sure Everett would cry. Nope. Our kiddos haven't ever cried with Santa.

These were the letters the kids wrote to Santa while we were waiting for our turn to talk to him. Variah's says "I want a dog and a doll"

Our cute kiddos in their elf hats from Santa

This tree was huge! The kids loved staring at how tall it was.

Variah loves writing and coloring. So after she colors a picture we get a sweet note on the back from her. This is a picture she made for Everett. It says "To Everett from Variah I love Ü"

Variah was a great helper in her new Christmas apron from Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. We made caramel bugels for our neighbor gift

In order to prepare for our new baby girl, we decided to have Everett and Variah start sharing a room. That way when the baby comes I won't be sleep deprived with a new baby and having to get them to go to sleep. So we set up the toddler bed for Everett.

It was a hit! He was so excited to sleep in his "boy bed"

They were both pretty excited. So excited they played til 9:30!! So glad we started this process 2 months before our baby comes.

A few months ago I bought a subscription for a Datebox. Each month around the 15th, a box shows up in the mail with everything needed for a stay at home date.

This art date box came with paint brushes, paint, masking tape, 2 canvases, a throw away table cloth, everything to make cake pops and a spotify playlist of love songs. We made the cake pops that afternoon so the kids could have some after dinner. Then once they were asleep we started painting our canvases. It was fun to listen to the music and chat while we painted. I think our finished projects turned out pretty good.

Ta Da

This little boy looked so handsome with his new haircut in this outfit from Julia. The best part is that Julia is one of Everett's favorite people and when I asked him who gave him his clothes he said "ulia".

He knows what happens and how to stand Sunday afternoons in front of this window...pregnancy pictures! Haha

Asleep in his "boy bed"

Helping dad shovel off the back patio

And the grass...

Daniel had the opportunity to feed the homeless breakfast one Sunday morning with a team from 4Life. They also passed out coats for those that needed them.

Variah's preschool teacher Mrs. Jean gave her a minnie mouse puzzle for Christmas. Variah was very excited and put it together all by herself as soon as she could.

Everett and I got the gift of nasty colds for the Christmas holiday. Because I can cover my mouth but Everett can't, he missed out on the Grandpa Burningham Christmas party.

Variah and I were the only ones that went. She had lots of fun that night and even got to play a little violin of my cousin Clara's.

This year both kids were old enough to "pick out" gifts for each other. So we went to Dollar Tree Christmas Eve morning and split up. Cute Variah pointed out that Daniel and I would be able to get gifts for each other too since we wouldn't be together. So we did that as well.

Everett got a pink jump rope for Variah. He wanted to carry it around the store. Variah chose a dump truck for Everett. The kid LOVES construction stuff! I got Daniel a word search book and Variah picked out a hair towel for me.

During the day we decorated Christmas Cookies for Santa.