busy, busy, busy getting ready, ready, ready!

What have we been doing these 20 days of December?

1. Mistletoe,

our elf from the North Pole who reports daily to Santa about our behavior, returned December 1st. He keeps us guessing each morning when we find him in a new spot. One night the kids asked him what kind of cookies are Santa's favorites - his answer was a clue he was hugging. What do you think it means?

2. Parties, Parties, Parties!

Here we are celebrating with our Wasatch Front family members - we missed Calvin & Wendy, Nathan, Chris & Cassidy, and Joey & Rayna; your absence was definitely felt! But we still managed to have a great time playing Wits and Wagers, watching clips from Christmas movies and guessing which one they were, and of course the highlight of any proper party: White Elephant gifts! Here's Wyatt's face when he opened up his marshmallow mug:

Tracy & Sydney
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These were seriously cute!

Christmas spatulas, tongs, and dish brush.

Way to go, Sydney - Raquel loved it!
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We all got a pretty good chuckle out of the gift Mark opened... got milk?

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Yes!!!!! Spam!!!
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Onto the Ward Party,
where Halle got to play Mary in the Nativity Pageant


We couldn't decide who
we were more excited to see:
Cindy Lou Who,

or Santa Claus!

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Taking a break from Christmas parties,
we headed over to Grandma Dixie's to help
Avaree celebrate her 1st Birthday!

Halle had fun decorating Daddy with the wrapping scraps,

but got bent out of shape when all the

boy cousins decided to "open" Uncle Brett!

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Christmas isn't Christmas without the Bauerle Party!

This is the only opportunity each year we get to see some of these cousins, so it was great to catch up. Each year more and more little ones are added to the family and this year you could tell -- lots of kids running around having a great time!

Here are some of the prizes from the white elephant game:

A "beautiful" rainbow hat with the tag still attached,

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and a ceramic Nativity!

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We sure do love this pretty lady -

she throws a mean party (so did Aunt Vickie!).

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3. School Progams - Here are pix from

Wyatt's Christmas program @ LPA:

Can you see him? He's in the middle of the

middle row in his navy vest & tie. Nothin' better than a bunch of

kindergartners singing "All I Want for Christmas

is My Tooth Front Teeth"!

These are two of his teachers,

Ms. Merrill & Ms. Pearson

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4. Christmas Outfits

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5. Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping!

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6. Gingerbread houses,

which we loved making even if

it wasn't structurally sound!

"school is cool"

Wyatt loved meeting his teacher at his Legacy kindergarten assessment. Get this: BOTH our kids have a "Ms. Merrill" for a teacher at their DIFFERENT schools! At least that makes Parent Teacher Conferences easy!

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Back-to-School breakfast: Waffles, Berries, Whipped Cream, and Orange Juice
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Isn't he handsome in his uniform?! I only cried a little on the way out, and I'm so proud of myself that I regained my composure before any tears could actually fall out...
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Our beautiful 3rd grader at her new school - a little nervous - but excited! (Can you tell Carson was disappointed he wasn't staying? That disappointment went away as soon as he realized mommy was taking him to the park, just the two of us!)

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a little frozen treat from Nielsen's to munch on while we talked about our first days!

getting accepted into a school we feel is a good fit for our family: AWESOME!

We are so excited!

And grateful!

An opening at Legacy Preparatory Academy's kindergarten class was offered to us for Wyatt for the 2010-11 school year. We've been praying for over six months and are incredibly humbled and thankful for this opportunity. We're also hoping this bumps Halle up further on the LPA list!