The White House: Bringin' on December!

So to finish off November, Ross got his medal for finishing his preschool gymnastics class that I coached with my friend Roni. I had the kids calling us coach, and some of them were quite taken with it. Though I stayed "Mom" for Ross. ;) He definitely is getting stronger and more coordinated. It was really fun to teach some gymnastics, though I won't be doing it this next semester - my kids are still pretty little and our schedule is just a bit too tricky for it to feel like it works for us.

He did it! His favorites were jumping in the pit, forward rolls, and pullovers.

We've gotten some snowstorms, but lately it's been warming up quite a bit - like it's supposed to be 70 this week. How crazy is that? So Ruby was fascinated by the melting snow...

My mom helped us bring on December by sending ADORABLE Christmas jammies - and these kids of mine - just melt my heart all the time!

LOVE baby bellies! And cute smiles :)

Daddy rides to bed are also quite enjoyable :)

We've also been binging on this AMAZING music video by The Piano Guys. I watch it at least once a day. We had a special little experience with Ruby when she watched it for the first time. We had the missionaries over for dinner and shared it with them, and the kids sat and watched with us as well. It got too the part where the newborn Baby Jesus is shown, and all the sudden I hear, "Baby Jesus! It's Baby Jesus!" and I looked over to see Ruby with sweet little tears in her eyes and complete joy on her face. Her eyes were so wide and she started clapping when the angels appeared. Once it was over, she jumped to her feet, clapping her little heart out and begging me to play it again. It was a sweet experience for sure. I'd like to think we all felt the same when Christ was born and clapped our hearts out and sang just as joyously.

I felt this was especially sweet, because our little Ruby is a busy body with the spice of life in her - she doesn't like to just sit and hang out during scriptures or prayers, but this portrayal of the Nativity spoke to her. I will forever cherish that.

A few other festivities we've been having - Buzz the elf has come to visit which is helping in the behavior department... and we went to our city's light parade again - it did not disappoint - the kids were very satisfied. :)

Ruby was too enthralled with the parade to look. But he's cute ;)

Cute snow monster :)

This kid LOVED the parade - he just saw another lit up truck coming our way...

We've also managed to have a Christmas dance party. Steve's gotten in to this Dubsmash app as well...he's pretty good...

Also blanket rides are fun...

And sometimes Daddy takes the kids to the church gym to get some wiggles out. :)

And here's Rowland doing his standing thing these days...

Ruby especially loves Christmas songs. She will sing and serenade at the top of her lungs to anyone or anything. Even at the doctor's office before flu shots...

Speaking of flu shots...can you guess which of the three kids did NOT get a shot? Two of them did...

Ross was mad I wouldn't let him hold my phone to watch a show on it. Rowly had JUST gotten his and was pretty much over it - Ruby had hers before Rowland. Always a circus at our house!

She had just jumped in a puddle and didn't understand why her socks and shoes were all wet...

And he's just adorable. Ross loves to give Winnie the Pooh to him when he wakes up from a nap. :)

We got our decorations out and went and picked a Christmas tree...well actually - hardly anyone sells real Christmas trees around here, and when we stopped at Big R - which was completely sold out, one of the workers was kind enough to give us his since they were going to get another bunch of trees on Monday. It smells divine and looks amazing!

We decorated it today and we also got to watch the annual Christmas Devotional our church leaders do every year. I love all the stories, the scriptures, and reminders of what this season truly is for and what it is all about. Our kids were a bit crazy, so listening to every talk didn't exactly happen, but we felt the Spirit, and it was wonderful. :)