Merry Christmas... and some other things!

Where do I begin.  We've been in Antarctica Rexburg for about a month now.  We've had so much going on, I don't know where to start.  Bare with me as I attempt to chronicle the past few weeks.  Our first note worthy event was the loosing of Anna's first tooth. We discovered at a check up at the dentist that her bottom two permanent teeth were actually starting to come up behind her baby teeth, sometimes referred to as "shark teeth," I later found out after a Google search. The dentist assured me that it was actually very common and that once her baby teeth were out, her grown up teeth would just move forward.  Anyhow, with help from a little dental floss, dad was able to get that baby out and Anna was a buck richer the next morning.  Her other loose tooth though has been hanging there for weeks, as she won't let dad touch it.  It is driving us all crazy just hanging there but no amount of bribing or coaxing or making up stories that it is going to get infected and turn green has convinced her to let dad take a crack at the other bottom tooth.

The amount of snow that has fallen has been so exciting. I really do love it. I think it makes things just feel more like Christmas.  It can be a pain trying to get out the door with a ba-jillion layers on, but it hasn't been as bad as I thought.  The girls love it!  Aaron is getting good at shoveling the driveway and using the snow blower as Alain has the cleanest driveway around.  The neighbors are also recipients of this great service as we often find Alain and Aaron at the neighbors cleaning their walks as well.

We spend a lot of time just hanging out probably driving my mom batty with the noise and the little messes and her never being able to find her phones etc. :)  We've had fun though cooking and baking and crafting.

Brooklyn has been Papa's shadow whenever he is home. She'll find me and inform me that she's headed to the shop to hang out with Papa.  She wants to follow him outside if he is snow blowing and sit right next to him whenever he is working on a project.  Here they are working on Nana's tree.

Here is our little button.  Can I just say one more time what a sweetheart he is?

  Here you are witnessing a small miracle as we captured all of the kiddos smiling at the same time!

A quick smile from Anna before she leaves for school.

She is loving school and adjusted very quickly.  She was able to participate in her classes Christmas program as a Christmas tree, and was so excited that even dad was able to leave work to be able to come see her perform. She loves that they get to play in the snow at recess and even forgave me when I forgot to pick her up on early day, and she was left out in the heavy snow by herself for 25 minutes until someone found her and called me.

Mom of the year right?

My mom has some of the prettiest Christmas decorations. We spent all day just after Thanksgiving getting out bin after bin .  It was a lot of work but so worth it.  I love her gingerbread man collection.  The girls had so much fun helping her decorate her tree.  She was very patient as Brooklyn kept putting all the ornaments in one spot.

Anna loves to hold Carter any chance she gets. I always warn her to be careful holding him over her, especially right after he eats.  He is lucky to have such great big sisters who are always looking after him.

Nana got Brooklyn to work doing the dishes

My gorgeous mom and the boy :)

Carter loves his papa

The other day I found Anna scribbling away on a leftover piece of wrapping paper. She was looking very serious when she told me that she was writing on her scroll.  She came to me when she was done and read me what she wrote. What a sweet heart.

"I know my Savior lives. He is my best brother. I love him.  I know he saves us. I know he is my Savior.  I know his birthday is on Christmas eve.  I love him very much."

Anna was also selected to be the person of the week in her class. We needed to trace out her body and decorate it to look like her and write facts about her on the limbs. I hesitate to even post a picture of our finished product because Aaron and I obviously lack any artistic talent what-so-ever. (Don't judge us Brad and Andy :) She had fun decorating it  though and sharing it with her class.

Do they have a great Papa or what? 

Papa's Nail Salon!

Would someone like to tell me when my little Brookie Cookie grew up. I don't like it!

Aaron's job is going very well here. He says how great it is to work on a tax return and have it filed in two days instead of months at his other office. It has been so nice to have him so close that he can come home for lunch and be home for dinner by 5:30.  I laughed the other day because he went to go on an audit for a potato farmer they do taxes for.  He went to count potatoes...... all day. He said he had never seen so many potatoes in all his life. It really is another world here and we love it.  We love being near Aaron's parents and Aaron's little sister Jenn and her family as well. Our kids are going to be so spoiled!  The small town feel is so nice even though we miss our friends so much.  I hope to make new friends here and will cherish all those who changed our lives forever by knowing them.

We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives.  We love our Savior whose birth we celebrate this time of year.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas!