Last week of School

Well - this was the kids last week of school before Christmas break!  There were lots of parties and early release days.  I had some Christmas shopping to get done - not much, it was mostly finished, but a couple small things that needed to get done.  I met up with my mom and helped her find stuff for the kids and got a couple things done myself.  It was a nice morning!  

Tuesday was the end of Semester for Institute and we were supposed to bring Christmas treats - only a couple of us did, but it was still a great lesson with yummy treats!  

Thursday, Dan's company had a company Christmas party.  We snacked and played White Elephant.  Sandi ended up with "The Poop Game" which the kids had a fun time playing with - and I am exceedingly glad that it didn't have to come home with us!  We got to take a water bottle home.  A nice one!  The gift Dan brought to give was a fish with a fish bowl and food.  Evelyn fell in love with the fish and was heartbroken when we wouldn't let her take it from Tammy (who ended up with it) so she could bring it home - she named it and everything.  She realized that she could earn money to buy her own fish with a little work - so Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, she worked hard cleaning stuff and earned enough money to buy herself a betta.  We told her that she could get it first thing Monday morning.  I think she is almost as excited for that as for Christmas. 

Friday evening, we let the kids decorate gingerbread houses - they came pre-built from Walmart with decorations and frosting included, so the kids had a great time decorating their houses and eating the candy.  

Saturday evening, we went caroling with some friends in the ward.  We walked around their neighborhood and sang songs and handed out Christmas treats.  It was a lot of fun!  We had so many people, that we split into two groups and Eileen even went with the other group.  There were a bunch of pre-teen girls pushing David's stroller and they thought it was the cutest thing that he was singing along too.  He loves to sing!  It's so cute!!!  

Sunday we just had a 1-hour church with beautiful Christmas messages and music.  After, we headed home and got things ready for a Christmas party.  The kids had been missing Bagna Caulda night at Frank and Tina's, so I made my first ever solo batch of Bagna Caulda.  We had friends from the ward along with my parents and Sandi and her kids.  The Bagna Caulda was yummy and we had a wonderful time singing Christmas songs.  It reminded me a lot of when we used to go to Doug and Lisa's house in California and ate Bagna Caulda and sang Christmas songs!  We managed to get a very musical group together and the sounds of Christmas songs was glorious!!