Trees, Trains and Santa

The beginning of December was filled with lots of fun for the kids.

Daniel went bowling for the first time with a bunch of friends from school. Daniel has been extremely excited for the Christmas season. He has been wearing his Santa hat, singing Christmas carols, decorating gingerbread houses...

 Here he is diligently working on his "Cat in the Hat" Christmas activity book.

Brian and the kids reading the devotion for our Jesse Tree.

We got a beautiful tree from Costco. The tree was big and shaped perfectly- we'd expect nothing less from Costco!!

The kids decorated their own mini tree,

and could hardly wait for me to put on the lights so they could start decorating our tree.

Each Christmas, the kids get their own special ornament. This year, Kendall got a "Monster's, Inc."  ornament with Sully and Boo. We thought it was perfect since everyone always says she looks like Boo when she wears pigtails and it has become her nickname too!

Examining their hard work.

We attended Grandpa's department party at UCSB.

Daniel had a great time passing out (and eating) candy canes with Grandpa...

while Kendall had fun playing with her buddy August.

The kids with Santa and Mrs. Claus, a.k.a Grandpa and Grandma.

We had a fun playdate with the Damron's and Rosemberg's at the park.

Checking out the annual Christmas train display at the library.

Enjoying a cozy fire on a December evening.

Then we got sick. All four of us. With super bad colds. We all felt miserable. But we are finally on the mend and looking forward to a healthy and happy Christmas!