Christmas and Beyond!

Whew! Christmas is over! The holiday season is always fun, and full of crazy busy fun things to do. Here's a couple highlights:

I took Cooper and Amelia's picture for the Christmas letter--guess which one I chose?:

Amelia had her orchestra Christmas concert. I am amazed at the progress she has made. She works hard and practices most of the time I ask! :-) 

She also had her recital, but the video is so big I'm having trouble posting it. Here she is with her teacher:

Our family Christmas party:

And, of course, CHRISTMAS! 

For Christmas from Nana and Grandpa, Amelia and Cooper received jump passes for the Gravity Factory:

That's it! We had a fun New Year's Eve, and are ready to tackle 2018!

Nutcracker 2017

We have survived The Nutcracker!  It was a crazy week, but Amelia and Cooper were so excited to perform. Cooper even opted to stay in the "man cave" the remainder of the ballet, so I sat and enjoyed the dancing. We were lucky enough to have my mom come up for Saturday night's performance, and my kiddos were thrilled to have her there! Here's some pictures:

This is Amelia and Cooper dressed for the party scene. 

After the ballet. We don't have a picture of Amelia in her Waltz of the Flowers costume because there was a costume Nazi at the door forbidding any ballerina to go past the hallway with their costumes on. 

Nana!

Cooper is getting rather, ahem, specific with his candy bouquets now.  He puts in requests. One of these years I'm going to get him flowers just to watch his reaction. :-) 

These are pictures from dress rehearsal. This year Amelia and Cooper stood next to each other a lot during the dances. Cooper was thrilled. Amelia a little less so.  Notice Cooper's double thumbs up to me? Love it.

Both children did a wonderful job and I am so proud of them! I'm proud of Amelia's hard work and effort she puts into her dances, and I'm proud of Cooper for not climbing in the fireplace during the performance. It's the little things. Onto recitals, ward parties, and final school days before the break!

November Days

November was much, much, MUCH calmer than October. We still had a few things going on, however. Amelia had festival a few weeks ago. She was really nervous, but scored 95 out of 100! Glad those expensive lessons are paying off!

All November, each Saturday, Amelia and Cooper have had practices for The Nutcracker. It's the first weekend in December--just next weekend!

Cooper also had his first choir concert. IT. WAS. PACKED. He did a great job and sang his little heart out.

Over Thanksgiving weekend we did some shopping in Idaho Falls and HAD to stop by Papa Kelsey's for lunch. It was delicious! 

We continued onto Blackfoot to have our Call Thanksgiving. It was so fun to see all our family, cuddle babies, and eat yummy food!

 We came home Friday night and started setting up Christmas! Our tree is getting full of ornaments. Each year we choose an ornament that signifies something we accomplished/experienced/learned that year. We also have one for our family. It's so much fun to re-live the last ornament's stories.

Notice Amelia's perfectly pointed toe?

That's it for November! We have a concert tonight, but then we're clear until next Saturday for The Nutcracker!