Okay, so now on to the rest of December. The 19th was another EVENTFUL day! Russell and I went Christmas shopping with Grandma Betty (my Grandma Kiesling). When we were done shopping, we went back to her house to do the wrapping. Russell was excited to get back to her house. When we picked Grandma up, Russell saw two squirrels running up and down one of her trees and up on her deck. He thought they were pretty cute. So after we were done shopping, he wanted to go see the squirrels again. Grandma showed Russell the big bag of nuts she feeds to the squirrels. They went out on the deck together and put out nuts for the squirrels to eat. Russell was SO excited. Grandma has a really big front window right by the deck, so you can look right out at the squirrels eating. Grandma told Russell she named one of the squirrels "Sammy the Squirrel." At one point, we had FOUR squirrels eating on Grandma's deck. Russell thought it was hilarious that there were four squirrels named "Sammy." Here's some of the adorable pictures:


Russell LOVED being able to be so close to the squirrels. Here's two eating off of the deck.

This is a close up of one of the "Sammys".

Russell and Grandma putting out some seconds. Russell thought they were still hungry.

They would come right up to the windowsill and eat. It was amazing.

Russell had to take a picture of the cow flashlight Grandma bought for him. I think he's a pretty good photographer-don't you?


Here's Grandma's Christmas tree. Big and Beautiful and REAL as always! I love it.

Here's Russell posing for HIS picture. We had to have his cow and Grandma's cute bear in the picture with him.

This is my favorite picture of them all. Russell loves his Great-Grandma so much! I love you too Grandma!

That afternoon, when Brian came home from work, he told me we had to listen to the radio. A local station was qualifying people to be entered to win a snowmobile. I got through as the lucky 10th caller and let Brian talk on the phone to try to guess the correct movie. Luckily, it was one we knew-The Santa Clause. They just played a short clip and if you knew which movie it came from, you were qualified for the giveaway. This was the last chance to be in the drawing-so it was pretty exciting!

About an hour later, we had to go watch the news. That morning (before shopping with Grandma) the news station came to Zack's school. A girl in Zack's class lost her house to a fire- they lost pretty much everything- it's such a sad and scary thing. Everybody was safe, but their belongings were wiped out. Zack's class and the school donated some money and necessary supplies right after the fire. But Zack also had his Grandma Merrell make a quilt for the girl. Grandma Merrell sewed the quilt together and Grandma Nancy had it embroidered. We bought some material that Zack picked out. It was a great group effort. Anyway- the news station was doing a follow up story on the family and the fire and talked about how concerned and involved the classmates had all been. They filmed Zack presenting the beautiful quilt to the girl and showed it on the evening news. They also interviewed Zack, his teacher, and the girl. It was awesome to see him first thing on the news. He is such a good kid! (If you want to see the news clip- email me and I'll send you the link.)

Next it was on to the ward Christmas party. Grandma Nancy and Chris and Grandpa and Grandma Merrell came with us. We ate hoagie sandwiches and desserts and then we had a talent show. Zack caused some teary eyes when he sang "Christmas Shoes." He has a wonderful voice and is not afraid to share his talent. I was relieved when he agreed to sing- here's why. We were on our way home from church the Sunday that they passed around a sign up sheet for the talent show. Dani says, "I signed up to play my flute." I said, "Great, that will be really nice. I signed up to play the piano." And Zack says, "I signed up too! I'm gonna belch my ABC's." Yeah- he's Brian's son. ha ha. It made us really laugh. Not only does he actually feel this is a true talent, but he wants to share it with everybody. But Brian convinced him it might be slightly more appropriate, especially in the church at a ward party, if he sang instead of belched (not to mention a little less embarrassing for his mom).
Dani had her first solo performance playing her flute. She is amazing! She has only been playing since the beginning of the school year, and I am so impressed by how well she can play already. She loves the flute and is SO good about practicing. It's so awesome to see her enjoying music and developing this talent! This picture shows her right before her performance. She played Jingle Bells, Good King Wenceslas, and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (which she affectionately calls Jolly Old Saint Knucklehead).
Here I am playing a medley of Silent Night and Still, Still, Still. (The camera was acting up, so you might need to squint and turn your head sideways to recognize me. ha ha)
Russell got a hold of the camera and started taking pictures. Wendy, Oakley, and Cedar joined us at the party. Russell took a picture of Wendy- apparently he likes close-ups.

Next, he took a picture of Oakley.

He also took a fun picture of his daddy.

Whew! That was one busy day! But we had lots of good memories and exciting times together with friends and family.

Dec. 21st- Happy Birthday Drew! Happy Birthday Isaac! We went to Isaac's birthday party. The kids had a great time playing together. And best of all Shane and Laura made THE BEST chocolate cake ever!!! Plus the gravy at dinner was really yummy. Maybe I'll write a song about it.

Dec. 22nd- We had a lot more of the wonderfully windy, icy, snowy weather this day. Little did we know- the Christmas blizzard was on its way. We had an early dinner with Grandma Betty at Sizzler and we exchanged gifts. Thanks Grandma!

Dec. 23rd- Luckily the weather was a bit better today, because we needed to drive to Rexburg for the big snowmobile drawing. Grandma Nancy kept Russell, so it was Mom, Dad, Dani, and Zack. We drove there, did a little bit of shopping, went to the place for the drawing and anxiously waited. Each contestant got a stocking with a card in it. All the cards were opened at once and only one was a winner. Drumroll........We didn't win. But we got a Klassy cookbook, a calculator, and a yummy box of Florence's chocolates. Most of all though, it was really nice to spend the afternoon and evening with the two older kids.

Well, once again I have run out of time (and energy) to finish updating for December. I love the Christmas season. The lights, the decorations, the stories, the parties, the wonderful memories with family and friends. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!