December Pictures...
Abby & Davis being best buddies in grandma & poppy's garage
Abby getting her hair done up for her "Happiest Christmas Tree" pictures
The cutest Christmas tree!!
Abby with her friends from our ward - Rylee Peters and Kozie Manutai
My good friend and across-the-street neighbor, Klorissa - held the cutest and most fun "Mrs. Claus" party at the beginning of the month. It was such a fun way to get into the Christmas spirit. Several girls from our ward gathered at her house for a yummy lunch, some fun Christmas games, and a gift exchange. Klorissa's sister-in-law Summer hosted with her and they put on a great party!
Sunday night fun at Grandma & Poppy's house! (Ellie, Abby, Lucy, Davis)
I decided this month to put an ASU pitchfork on my car in honor of Riggs :)
I captured the sweetest moment in a picture, when Abby was staring at baby Jesus... our elf Simon decided to hang out in the manger one day and it was killing Abby that she couldn't touch!
Noah had his first band concert in December, playing with other fifth graders at his school. He plays the saxophone!
Here's Noah with some of his best friends who also happen to play in band: Nash, Wyatt, Louis, and Azme.
Listening to the primary children sing Christmas songs at the ward Christmas party is always a hit... Sophie and Noah are both in there somewhere!
The theme for the ward party was "A Cowboy Christmas"... not many people dressed accordingly, but Russ and Abby and I did. Here's Abby wearing Russ's hat and looking pretty cute!
Sophie told Santa that she wanted legos for Christmas...
... and Abby was too scared to say anything at all! Noah was nowhere to be found... on purpose I think. He thinks he's too cool to sit on Santa's lap.
Here's Kozie and Abby waiting for their dance recital to start. I was pretty nervous about how Abby would do. She didn't do much dancing in class up to this point, because she was too shy. So I thought that she would for sure be WAY too shy for the stage...
... I was wrong. She LOVED the stage. She is second from the right in this picture. She did the dance better than she ever had up to this point, looking down several times to make sure she was standing on her mark!
Her hat fell off of her had and she was of course worried at first, but moved on and continued to dance soon after.
I had the biggest smile on my face and tears in my eyes as I watched my cutest little dancer up there! She did so great and totally surprised me. After the recital was over, she wanted to get right back up on the stage and dance forever. We were one of the last ones to leave (besides the clean up crew) because she couldn't get enough!
Here she is again with her BFF Kozie after the performance.
Davis also came to watch and brought both girls a flower. So sweet!
These are just some of Abby's fans! Others included Alisse and Scott, Lucy, Suzy, and Grandma Vicki.
This year, we changed up our Sunday-night Sherwood family Christmas get together. In the past we have done a hay-ride and caroling, but this year we decided to have a little campfire gathering and play some games...
We played a "Christmas singing bee" game where everyone was paired up with someone they played against, and I would start to play a Christmas song, stop it, then tell the players to write down the next (however many) words in the song. It was fun!
Afterward, we had hot chocolate and donuts. Yum!!
And of course all of the kids got a little crazy!
Russ had to trade vehicles with one of his drivers one night, and took Abby for a little ride in the driver's truck. She loved sitting right next to Dad for the drive!
This year for Christmas, Grandma and Poppy gave all of the grandkids some money to go shopping with and buy their own Christmas present(s). Then on Christmas they played a game with those presents they bought. It was so much fun shopping with Abby. She was so proud of that little red envelope that had her name on it!
When I took Abby shopping, I also bought her a "treat" (toy) that I had promised if she danced at her recital. We bought this cute little black baby and named her Coco! Abby loves her so much and I think it's so cute.
It was fun to decorate for Christmas for the first time in this house. I already have an idea of what I want to do different next year but it was still pretty cute, I thought! Taking pictures makes it so much easier to decorate the next year :)
This picture was taken after Christmas... I have decided that the stockings will hang from the mantle next year. I love it like this!
Abby and Noah got to go on an actual horse-drawn-hay ride, with Russ and the other kids in mutual one night!
Little miss spoiled thinks she gets to ride on a toy whenever she sees one at a mall... and I usually give in because she's just too cute to say no to :)
This is us at the Clifford (Arnett) family Christmas party after Santa gave Abby her present. She isn't too fond of Santa! She was screaming.
Christmas Sunday!
Abby's a lucky girl to have her bff in our ward and her nursery class with her. I had to snap a picture of the cute matching girls this day!
... And as I was snapping pictures, Kozie's mom was too. I love Russ's face in these pictures. You can tell he thinks that "the golden child" is just the cutest thing ever!
A peek inside the cute nursery class during singing time!
I can't believe how big Noah is. We took this picture for his grandparents for Christmas...
... and Abby couldn't stand to be left out of a picture so we had to get one with her too!
Just about every day during winter break, Noah would meet the other boys in the neighborhood at the park to play football. They also do it 3 days a week or so when school is in session. It's something he takes very seriously and makes sure that he gets there on time and attends "training camp" which is put on by the older boys in the neighborhood. I love it!
Abby spent a whole night the week of Christmas... throwing up. It was so sad! The next day she just laid around and was better within 24 hours. Thank goodness it didn't last longer and in to Christmas day!
Russ thought she looked so cute cuddling on the couch, and was trying to get himself into a position to take the perfect picture of her!
Usually on Christmas Eve, we don't have much going on. So we got together with other members of our family that were also not doing much, and went to see the temple lights. Afterward, we walked across the street and bought dinner from some food trucks. It was a pretty fun thing to do!
I loved this new statue of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. I think the look on Mary's face depicts so well, the way a mother feels about her baby.
Before bed, Abby and Noah got to open one Christmas gift. I wonder what it could be?!
New pajamas of course!
I made sure that the house was nice and tidy for Santa to visit and snapped this picture after he must have snuck in and out. He brought fun things for all the kids...
... and also stuffed everyone's stockings full of goodies!
Abby was so happy the next morning to find that Santa brought her a bike. She had been asking for this exact bike for months!
Noah got new lego sets (and so did Sophie)! He couldn't wait to start putting them together.
I was so excited for this surprise from Russ: plane tickets to fly into Dallas, then drive to Waco to see the Magnolia market place!!!! Running into Chip and Joanna isn't likely but would be the best surprise ever! They are the husband and wife from "Fixer Upper" (a tv show on HGTV) that renovate old homes and also have a store and are just cool people. I LOVE Joanna's style and can't wait to bring some souvenirs home from Texas!
Mary Ann and Russ's girls came over... here's the aftermath!
Look at the cutest queen dress-up stuff that grandma Price gave to Abby. The close-up picture of the high-heels show Abby's face on them, where usually we see a Disney princess's face!
We spent the whole afternoon at Grandma & Poppy's house for the Sherwood family Christmas and Abby received a stage with her famous green X on it! haha! Ellie was so creative to think of this, and her and Lance made it happen for Abby the performer!
Christmas night was spent at Grandpa Price and Kathy's house... look at these cute matchers!
I had to take this picture to document Abby's awesome bed head!
This picture shows what a big girl Abby thinks she is. She will drag that step stool all over the house so that she can reach things up high, and just helps herself. She is so funny lately and my favorite new thing she says is "what the heck?! I just tooted!" haha!!
Grandma Vicki gave all the little girls these cute little night gowns (like what I had when I was young) for Christmas, along with a matching pair for their dolls. Abby is obsessed and not willing to part with her "zip jammies" lately, so she wears her's over the footie pajamas.
The "doll" sized jammies fit Minnie Mouse perfectly!
I can't see a cuddly moment like this and not snap a picture :)
I had my "best nine" instagram posts from the year 2015 generated... and these are them:
New Year's Eve, we got together for some yummy food and games at my parents' house. My parents, Bryan, Auburn, Roxy, Suzanne, Russ, Noah, Abby and I were there... but some of those people were party poopers. The dads didn't play the game with us but we had a good time. They fell asleep instead and we ended up leaving before midnight even!
We got home to our house just a few minutes before midnight, and our neighbors were setting off fireworks in the street. Abby was so concerned about what was happening!
New Year selfie!!
First sleeper in our house of 2016 :) It would be nice if this was a sign of things to come, but I'm sure it's not. Abby is still a night owl (like her mama).
I am excited to start a new year. Last year brought many trials and sadness to our family and our extended family. As hard as it was to endure our own trials, it was even harder to watch our loved ones suffer. I'm hoping for 2016 to be a little better!
