Fleming Island 2nd Ward Christmas Party 2011

At our ward Christmas Party, Orrin played "O Christmas Tree."

Amara danced to "Zat You Santa Claus?"

Aleya danced to "My Favorite Things" while Andrea sang.

Aleya's Best Friend from Kindergarten, Moves Away

Aleya's best friend in Kindergarten this year is Bella. They are like peas in a pod and both love fashion, dancing, dress-up, make believe, and being SUPER SILLY.

Bella's family is in the military, just like us, and are moving to South Carolina.

We made sure to get the girls together for many play dates before they moved.

They wrapped presents and made cards for their babies and unwrapped them under the tree.


Aleya will miss Bella. Fortunately, she is just a short drive away . . . AND her grandma lives in our ward, so she's sure to come back to visit!

Clay County Christmas 2011

Amara Performed with her Petite Company at the Clay County Christmas Show at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts.

"Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"

"Christmastime"

The girls are DARLING in their Christmas dresses.

I love the costumes for the Senior Company.

Amara's company danced to "Zat You Santa Claus." It was sweet.

COOKIE EXCHANGE PARTY 2011

I had a HUGE turnout for my 2nd Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange Party.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The cookies were AMAZING, so lovely, unique, and TASTY!

There were 20 different kinds of cookies.

Everyone took home four of each kind of cookie, plus leftovers. It was quite a Christmas booty! Everyone took home a booklet with all the recipes, as well. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME!

SCIENCE PROJECT MAYHEM!

Orrin chose do to his 6th grade science project on Solar Power using a solar-powered grasshopper.
Between reports, experiment, project boards, and powerpoints . . . it was VERY BUSY and a lot of HARD WORK! Orrin's project took 4th place and is going to the County Science Fair.

Joseph chose to do his 9th grade science project on Geotropism (gravitropism) and how plants send their roots toward the pull of gravity, etc.


Joseph conducted much of the project, powerpoint, and report on his own. We hope he gets a good grade.

Time for Christmas Decor!

I finally had some helpers this year to put up the Christmas decorations.

Aleya REALLY wanted to put the star on top of the kids' tree.

Here's the finished tree. This tree has all the "fun" decorations, hand-me-downs, and homemade decorations from school and church over the years. The kids also like to have colored lights on their tree.

This is the first year Christian climbed on the roof to help hang the outdoor lights. Andrea usually does it, alone, each year.

We have a fun lights display with dripping icicles. The "Merry" light sign was out of commission this year.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . . I replaced the homemade stockings with these new and mismatched stockings this year.

We are adding to our Nutcracker collection this year, thanks to a sale at Target.

Andrea made the candlesticks at a Relief Society Super Saturday.

The snowflakes are from Nursery decor from years back, made by a friend.

At our last home, Andrea spiral hung the gold mesh lighting on the banister of the stairs, but we have NO STAIRS at this home, so she hung them on the drapery.


To remind us of home and snow, Andrea ordered this mini Temple Square village and decorated it with mini lights and mini trees and such.

Of course we hang up Grandma's Advent Calendar and homemade wreaths and countdown chains.

The reason for the season . . .

This is Andrea's ever-evolving masterpiece . . . with many ornaments from our family vacations and other special family keepsake ornaments. All the ornaments are metal or plastic, except for about five glass ornaments. WE ARE LOVING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!