It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas came and went so fast this year!  We were able to do lots of fun things, though, and thankfully it didn't feel too stressful...  It helped that so much happened toward the beginning of December, like our Ward Christmas party.  It was the first weekend of the month and was a nice way to help kick off the season.  Who doesn't love meeting Santa?  My kids, thankfully, don't mind talking to the old jolly fellow.  This Santa at the party was especially nice and knew their names and everything! ;)

Ari was excited to get to sit by her "best friend," Kaylee, who's in both her church class and Kindergarten class.  Cute little girls!

The next day we went to a little Christmas celebration at our dentist's office.  They had hot chocolate, cookies, another nice Santa, and a train ride.

That afternoon we wrote their "official" letters to Santa on this great form I got from my friend, Alma.  It was fun to help them fill it out and see what they wanted this year.  I love that Ari just wanted a treasure (jewelry) box, nail polish, and paint!  (Santa can totally handle that!)

 More than anything, Matt wanted a Kindle Fire tablet.  He'd been asking for one all year long!

 And Bryan wasn't sure what he wanted after getting so many great things for his birthday!  I think he was stretching a little here, but it was still nice that he didn't ask for anything outrageous.  I love that his favorite thing about Christmas is the lights. :)

Speaking of lights, that night we went to one of our favorite places at Christmas, the Riverwoods!  I look forward to going every year! 

Sending their lists to Santa...

Being silly in line to meet Santa - our 3rd Santa in two days. :)

Owen was so cute!  He wasn't scared one bit!

Ho, ho, ho!

This year it wasn't freezing cold so we got to walk around and actually enjoy the lights!  

Matt's big smile is the best!

I love these little goofs!

The following weekend, David went on a boys trip with is brothers, and Annalece and I had a girls night out to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert!  This year the special guests were the muppets from Sesame Street!  It was pretty surreal to see Big Bird up directing the choir. :)  It was all so much fun and so well done!

With Annalece and her aunts and uncle.  It was such a fabulous night!

We made lots of holiday treats, but a definite favorite is always plain old sugar cookies!  

I'm always wary these days to take treats to people, because you never know who has an allergy or who's anti-sugar... So I opted for potpourri (orange, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cranberries) as a neighbor gift.  It's always been my favorite smell around the holidays so I'm hoping others liked it, too!

Poor Ari got sick with a fever the last week of school before Christmas break.  She missed all the parties and a lot of the fun family things we did, like Grandma's cookie party!  Poor thing was not happy about it, but thankfully she recovered fine, thanks in part to lots of naps snuggles with Daddy.

Grandma's party was a little different this year because I left both Ari and Owen at home (Owen had a cold) and only Heather and her girls and Bree were there for most of the time we were there.  It was nice and cozy, at least!  You can't see it well, but Bree modeled her cookie after Lexi Lou. :)

The boys just tried to pile as much frosting and candy on their cookies as possible!

Other people started to get there just as we were leaving, but we enjoyed the tradition of being in Grandma's house.  She puts so much work into those cookies and we love it!

Bryan turns 10!

It's hard to believe our boy is in the double digits!  He's very proud of that fact, of course, and likes to remind us of the fact that he's now a "tween" (cringe)!  But I couldn't ask for a better 10-year-old boy.  Seriously.  He's super thoughtful, responsible, helpful, funny, affectionate, smart, confident, and only occasionally obnoxious. :)

For his birthday, we celebrated as a family this year.  We'd just come back from our weekend in SLC, and we were looking forward to doing lots of fun things together in Pennsylvania, so we didn't plan anything too crazy for his actual birthday, though we tried to still make him feel extra special!  The night before, after taking family pics, we went to his favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings.  The boy eats wings like a maniac!

Check out this humongous dessert they brought him for free!

The next morning we had sausage for breakfast and he got to open up a few presents from us.  He asked for mostly clothes!  New soccer pants and shoes!  (He's so grown up!)

Ari and Owen and I picked him up and took him to lunch at Jimmy John's, another of his favorite places to eat.  It was fun seeing him in the middle of the day, and he kept saying how he was one of the luckiest kids to get to go out to lunch.  (I should really steal him away from school more often.)

After school, David came home early and took the kids to the Nickel Arcade by our house, while I stayed home and cooked lasagna, Bryan's pick for his b-day dinner.  Javi and Annalece and Celine joined us for dinner, and then Bree came over later for more presents and cupcakes.  Here he is opening a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid book," his favorite series right now.

A new board game...

A bunch of things in packs of 10 from Aunt Bree... :)

Pleased with his haul!

He asked for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting - my favorite!

 Celine was more than willing to help him blow out his candles. :)

So while it was a pretty chill day, we had a lot of fun celebrating our Bryan.  (Doesn't he look so big in this picture?!)

Some things about him at age 10:

He loves soccer and is getting better and better at juggling and footwork.

He loves watching Real Madrid soccer with David and knows the names of all the players.

He's surprisingly good at football and enjoys playing with the older kids at school during recess.

He's great at math and completes his multiplication table faster than anyone in his class.

He's an avid reader, and loves graphic books like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

He enjoys playing Minecraft and Disney Infinity on the Xbox.

His best friends here in Springville are Janie and Barry.

His favorite foods are chicken wings, burgers and fries, and Fanta.  (Not the healthiest eater...)

He does LOVE Odwalla green smoothies.

He's in the blue Bastien piano books and is doing great!

He's finally able to follow a tune and sing on key!

He likes to look good and always makes sure his hair looks just right. :)

He likes using cologne.

He mostly wears soccer clothes - pants, shoes, jacket.

He loves to play board games!

He's a good little scouter and is looking forward to being a Webelo!

He likes to be "cool." :)

He has a good sense of right and wrong, and really tries to choose the right.

He's a great helper with his younger siblings and sets a wonderful example.

He's not afraid to talk to people or try new things.

He likes to give hugs and scratch my back.

He likes to please people.

He's still quick to say "I love you."  (Hope that never stops...)

We are SO blessed to have you in our family, Bryan!  You are the best oldest son and brother we could have hoped for!  We love you!!