December Adventures Part 2

Happy New Year!!!  Here's to a fabulous 2014 to everyone!

Before I move onto our fun Christmas adventures, my sister Kelsy's wedding, and New Years, here are some more photos from our December Adventures!

Getting our Christmas Tree!
 
Decorating said tree...

 
Mitchell decorating! 

 
Shayla decorating 

 
The kiddos at a Christmas party!

 
We have a tradition to read a Christmas book every night the month of December!  This night Shayla wanted to read to Mitchell. 

Decorating Gingerbread houses with the Blaylocks

 
Mitchell too (Brayden had already run off)

 
Mitchells house

 
A visit to the LA Zoo 

 
Mom and Mitchell and gorilla

 
Fun times at LA Zoo playground

 

Shayla Student of the week poster (her h and y fell off as this was at end of week)
 
Seeing the Christmas lights and having a Scavenger Hunt on the way - here's a link to print out your own Scavenger hunt for next year - http://robinson.macaronikid.com/article/225189/after-holiday-scavenger-hunt

 
Baking Christmas Cookies!

 
Shayla kissing Mitchell under the mistletoe

 
1st Grade Fieldtrip to see the Nutcracker

 
Nutcracker at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

 
Shayla at park after field trip

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

Just a note to wish you all a Very MERRY Christmas before we head out to spend the day with family!  This is my FAVORITE time of year to be surrounded with all our loved one and we owe it all to our loving Savior who we celebrate today above all others but who we celebrate daily!  May your lives be filled with blessings in the New Year! 

All our Love

The Nelsons!

*Photography by Larissa 

(I tried a technique I was wanting to try and then realized that I did not have the right lens for it, but I still like how they turned out!)

Santa Baby!

The kids did enjoy a few visits to the other man in red and white. 

Here are this year's Santa Photos!

Shayla helped Santa read the Night Before Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Man in Red and White - A CHRISTmas FHE

I found this on http://www.latter-dayhomeschooling.com/2010/12/symbols-of-christmas.html and it is such a great way to help our kids remember the meaning of CHRISTmas.  It is great for a Sunday School add on and a Family Home Evening lesson! 

Here is the lesson: 

First, I held up a picture of a door I drew on a piece of paper. This door was covering a picture behind it.  I said, "Pretty soon we might have a special guest visit our house. You never know! I'm going to give some clues that describe this person and you guess who it is." The clues included:

·                     he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good.

·                     he has a beard and a kind face

·                     he spent his life giving to others

·                     he's often pictured in red and/or white clothes

·                     he loves little children

·                     he gives the very best gifts

·                     you can never see him, but you can feel him

·                     he gives us a wonderful, special warm feeling

·                     he can get into our homes even if the doors are locked

·                     he has special, wonderful powers

·                     we want to give gifts back to him, but he doesn't need anything we could buy; he just wants us to give to other people.

·                     I ended with, "He encourages us to be good so we will be ready when he comes."

The kids all excitedly shouted "Santa!" Then I had the youngest come and open the door (with one of the pictures below behind the door) to welcome our guest into our home. (JESUS!) We discussed how each description applied to both Jesus and Santa, and then we talked about how Santa is actually a symbol for Jesus, and everything we love about Santa is really everything we love about Jesus. We can be reminded of Jesus through many different symbols during the Christmas season, and we mentioned a few - candy canes, giving gifts, stars on the tree, etc.

We looked at a few more pictures of Jesus and even a picture of Santa kneeling at the manger to discuss how Jesus is the greatest gift. It was a very enjoyable and memorable lesson. 

LOVE THIS MAN IN RED & WHITE! 

December Adventures Part 1

December is always a fun month full of festivities and activities.  Here are some of the adventures we have had in December thus far (Part 1)!

GIRL SCOUTS! 

At our Dec meeting we prepped for Winter Jubilee!

Girl Scout Winter Jubilee - Mitchell got to join in the fun!

Face Painting

Our troop did the "Make an Ornament" table! 

Sleepover with Nanny - both Mitchell and Shayla practiced their sewing skills! 

I think Shayla is at my sewing skill level now! 

They babysat so Jon and I could attend his work party - fun times of course!

Annual Ladies Social Ornament Exchange - PJ Theme! 

Moms Group Holiday Dinner! 

St. Nicks Day - He filled our shoes! 

Ward Christmas Party I was in charge of - Winter Wonderland theme!  

The live kids nativity story - my favorite part! Shayla was the donkey and Mitchell was a wise man - can you find them in the picture? 

Chill! One "Cool" Experience!

Well, since there is no snow or deep cold here in California, we try to find cold to help us usher in the holiday season!  The day after Thanksgiving, we went with Jon's parents to this really cool event called CHILL at the Queen Mary.  It included a giant igloo, ice kingdom/sculptures (9,000 hours of work by workers flown in from China!), ice slides, ice tubing and ice skating! And we had many great photo ops, so here they are!!

 
We met up with our friends Hailey and Noelle as well!

 

My Sugar baby!
 
My little guy!

 

Brrr...
 
The ice slide 

 

So beautiful!
 

Mitchell loved ice skating (well ice dragging!!)  
 

Ice skating family!
 
Afterwards we went to check out the ship too! Of course Mitchell loved the guns on the ship! 

 

It was a great day and a great place to visit (yay for Groupon!)