Competition

Kiley's dance company started their competition season in February.  We spent a great weekend in Seattle for the first competition. I love going to the competitions.  It is fun to watch talented dancers and spend time with my girl.

Check out those eyelashes.

Snow

 Snow was late coming this year.

 It was January before anything really good stuck.

 The girls had to get out quick and enjoy it

before it melted.

Nativity Scenes

I love decorating for Christmas.  My favorite thing to decorate with is Nativity scenes.

 This is the first Nativity Scene I bought.  We got it at Costco about 8 years ago.  It looked so pretty all lit up in our entryway.

 I won this carved Nativity Scene from a raffle.

 Brad served a mission in the Philippines.  This cement Nativity Scene from the Philippines.

 This is a metal Nativity Scene from Ghana.

 This is the Nativity Scene I grew up with.  I am so happy to have it in my home.

 This is a fabric Nativity Scene from Ghana.

This was my new Nativity Scene this year.  It is from Kenya.  I think the figures are made from banana leaves and they are housed inside a gourd.

Christmas 2011

This year Christmas fell on a Sunday.  We got up early to see what Santa brought, ate a nice Christmas breakfast and went to 9:00 church.  After church, we opened the rest of our presents.

We tried something a little different this year for Christmas dinner.  Brad made us hamburgers and homemade french fries. Yum!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Afterwards, we walked through the mall and ended up taking the four younger girls to get a new pet at Build a Bear.  Kiley didn't get one.  That is our dog Henry on her lap. 

We came home, unwrapped Christmas Eve pajamas and watched Luke II and Mr. Krueger's Christmas. All the girls went to bed early so Santa Claus wouldn't pass by our house.

Baby Charlie

Kiley had a child development class at school first semester.  For one weekend she had to take care of a computerized baby.  He was programmed to cry at random times, day and night, and she had to figure out what was wrong and how to make it better. She will be a great mom some day (in the far, far distant future).