December Newsletter & Slideshow

https://picasaweb.google.com/103753336633055957263/2015_12_Slideshow



Hamilton Newsletter

December 2015
FAMILY: It was a fun, meaningful Christmas season this year. The family got to see lots of Santas this year. The first one was at the ward Christmas party. Then, daddy's work had Smoky the Bear as well as Santa. And then the Gregerson's had Santa come to their home & we got to come see him :) On the 18th, we got to go to a Christmas party at the Vogts. They had yummy food & it was fun to sit & visit with our good friends! On the 19th, we headed to St. George so mom & dad could go to the temple and then we went to Tuacahn to see the live nativity. And then we drove to some of the cool lit-up homes in St. George. It was a fun night. The girls got to wear their beautiful new, sparkly, blue dresses from Grandma Devenish to church on the 20th. And on the 21st, we got to see the Bealers in the morning! Yay! Also - over the Christmas break, we watched the first 3 Star Wars movies - the girls had never seen them :) Also - mom and dad installed magnet boards in each of the girls' rooms as an early Christmas gift - they are so fun & nice! Mom took the girls sledding on the 22nd, and then daddy took them sledding on Christmas Eve. After sledding, we had a nice meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. Then we watched a Christmas movie and then mom had a special talk with the family about the special Christmases we have had over the years, including the Christmas mom & dad fell in love, the Christmas daddy was out of work and we were given so many sweet gifts, and the year Link came home. Then the girls got to put on their new Christmas jammies from Grandma Potts, we read The Night Before Christmas and sang songs, and then it was time for bed. This was the first year we've had just our little family on Christmas Eve and it was neat. Christmas morning came with all the delights of gifts and surprises. For our family Santa gift, we got a new projector to use downstairs - yay! Also - this was the first year mom insisted on the girls all buying gifts for each other & mom and dad, so that was fun to exchange gifts. We had a wonderful morning. We left for SLC at about 3, once the snow had calmed down and got to Grandma's about 6. We had dinner at the Potts & enjoyed having the Edwards & GG over. The next day Uncle Richard came as well as the Simons & Edwards and we opened more gifts. Later that day, we watched movies and played popcorn games. Sunday was church and then the Tew party. It was fun to see everyone and the white elephant gift exchange is always fun! On Monday, the Potts took the girls ice skating to McDonald's - thanks Grandpa & Grandma! We headed home on Monday afternoon and spent the rest of the Christmas break in Cedar.  We went swimming on Wednesday & the girls also went ice skating with daddy. Grandma & Grandpa Devenish came to visit & it was fun to see them! New Years' Eve, we cleaned and played our new games from Christmas: SET, Beat the Parents, and Fibber. We also read memories from 2015 from mom's newsletters & we watched the 2015 slideshow.  Mom went to bed at 10:00, but daddy, Ireland & Kezia stayed up till midnight!

JASON: Jason enjoyed going to the holiday activities at his work and also taking some time off to spend with family. Jason's santa gift was a new phone! He's had fun playing with his new Samsung s5.

HEIDI: The first weekend in December, Heidi went up to SLC with some ladies in the ward and ran a little 5k & had fun talking, eating & shopping. Unfortunately, Heidi lost her wallet and could not find it, so she had to replace everything in it :( Heidi was working this month on finishing up the homemade gifts for family, including a family tree game and Link tie bars. Heidi's Santa gift was a sound bar for upstairs. It's been great to send music and scriptures and whatnot to the bluetooth soundbar. Heidi also got some new boots and pants - yay!  

McKINLEY:
-McKinley had a "day of coding" at her school & she had a lot of fun doing that.
-On the 11th, McKinley's school had an extra Mini Mall & McKinley wanted to participate. So - we made mint brownies, snickerdoodles, and donuts! It was a lot of work! But McKinley made a lot of LiMe tickets and she completely sold out of her goodies!
-McKinley said that boys are already starting to ask girls out in her grade. She thinks that's pretty dumb (and she's right!)
-McKinley got to go on a lunch date with daddy this month - they went to Brody's Mexican Restaurant. She said it was yummy!
-McKinley worked for hours and hours on a gift for mom. She worked in her room and spent every spare moment on her secret present. Mom opened it on Christmas morning - a beautiful bouquet of flowers made out of felt!! There were purple ones and blue forget-me-nots. It was such a special gift & mom loves it!
-For McKinley's Santa gift, she got a Makey-Makey! It's a device that plugs into a computer & she's able to use any object to control the computer. It's pretty cool! She also got a Ronald Dahl (her favorite author) book set, lots of earrings, some overalls, and some new music. Grandma Devenish made her a brand new QUILT! It is beautiful, soft, warm & looks great on her bed!

IRELAND:
-Ireland's class got to go on a field trip to the movie theater to see Polar Express. She had fun!
-Ireland didn't want to sell anything for the mini mall, but apparently she bought lots of sweets!
-We were walking back from activity days one day & mom was walking with Noelle - holding her hand. Ireland said "every one of your steps is two of her steps." Mom said "that's because I'm twice as tall as her." Ireland said "more like THRICE!"
-For Christmas, Ireland got a beautiful Christmas dress from Grandma Devenish, a mermaid tail for her to use from Santa, a cute purple outfit, Digibirds, a crystal shamrock necklace, and some games. She also got a snorkel set from Aunt Cindy. Yay!
-Christmas evening when mom was putting Ireland to bed, she tucked her in & asked what her favorite gift from Christmas was. Ireland said "You mean besides the gift of Jesus?" :)

KEZIA:
-Kezia said one day "I want a gift card for Christmas!" Mom asked why? She said "So I don't have to use any of my precious money to buy things."
-Kezia got to have a PJ day at school & loved it!
-We were listening to a song one day that said "Completely unaware." Kezia must have not heard it correctly, because she said "ew - it said underwear!!" :)
-Kezia's big news this month - she lost her first tooth!!! It was loose for days & daddy worked at it. It was pretty stubborn, but he finally got it out and Kezia put it under her pillow on Christmas Eve. We got visited by the tooth fairy AND Santa on the same night!
-Kezi's big Santa gift for Christmas was a huge, 3 foot tall Elsa castle! She also got a beautiful Christmas dress from Grandma Devenish & mom & dad got her a robe & My Little Pony towel, a sticker by number activity, & a Mining for Gems set.

LINK:
The Christmas season always has a big piece missing, and that is you, our sweet boy. We are grateful that you get to spend it with the author of Christmas, though, and we hope you saw how we tried to use the money we would have spent on your gifts to brighten someone else's Christmas day. We love you so much Link. Thank you for all you do for our family.

NOELLE:
-Noelle, of course, loved all the Christmas decorations. She loved to take all the plastic ball ornaments off the tree and throw them like a ball. She also loved the yarn Christmas house that Jason's grandma made and she loved the nativity sets - she especially liked to take baby Jesus and his manger.
-Noelle has gradually done better with nursery. She still cries when mom leaves, but she calms down quicker and has been better about participating. We hope she continues to progress & hopefully one day she will ask to go to nursery!
-Noelle found some paint downstairs and came upstairs with hands and shirt covered in blue. After cleaning off Noelle, mom headed downstairs to see the damage. Carpet, walls, stuffed animals. :)
-Noelle has liked to pull hair lately for some reason. We've had to start putting her in time-out. Now, if she does something & mom even says the words time out, she will go sit on the rug by the front door with the saddest expression on her face :(
-Noelle is cute about wanting to set the table. She will get out the plates and put them on the table.
-She has started to throw fits & have meltdowns when she doesn't get her way. She will just lay down on the floor and cry. Hello pre-terrible-twos!! :)
-Noelle really loves to sing & can most of 5 or 6 songs, including her goodnight song.
-For the most part, Noelle didn't really notice when her "Noel" song came on this season, but there was a NOEL solo by a young man in our ward and he sang the Noel part very loud. Noelle kept turning around & looking at him like "why is he yelling my name?"
-Noelle often has questionable fashion choices. She often wants us to put on Dora panties over her jammies or clothes and she almost always has some type of shoe on - usually boots that she can put on herself :)
-Noelle loves to assign things to people. As in "Ireland's backpack!" "Kezia's shoes!" "McKinley's apple!" She sure loved having her sisters home for the Christmas break.
-Noelle's Santa gift was a slide! It's about 4 feet tall & Noelle didn't even want to eat breakfast after seeing it. She just kept going down it and saying "Again!" Again!" She also got a cute outfit, button art activity, a BabyLit book set, and a Leapfrog ABC Magnet set, which she has fun using on the magnet board in her room. She also got a beautiful dress from Grandma Devenish, and a magnet puzzle from the Edwards. She got spoiled this year, but had a lot of fun!