The Best Thing We Did this Christmas...

We decided with our kids that we would make homemade gifts for each other this year.  The rule was that we could not spend a penny.  We had to make the gifts from things we already had at home.

So, the work began earlier in November.  Sarah came up with the idea to make one of Justin's old shirt into roads...she can drive the cars on his back for a little massage.

Allison began with the idea to make a "Daddy jar for all his stuff."  We dug in my crafts and found an old can and popsicle sticks that she could paint.

Spencer asked to go on a walk around the neighborhood for rocks and this is what he came back with.  Of course, he had to get them all clean for his project.

Allison had just barely started to learn to write other words besides her name and one word is "Dad." She was all prepared to label her project.

And her final project for her Dad!

Sarah checkin it out to make sure it works before she wrapped it and put it under the tree.

And now we begin to see Spencer's idea come together.

"DAD ROCKS!"

Justin opened these three presents and all we could say is how fun it was to watch these three feel excited to "give" and loved their creativity. 

I made this hopscotch for Sarah.  She loves it, but I have to say I was probably more excited to give this to her than anything else Christmas Morning.  It really came from my heart.

I put together this shadow box for Justin.  I wanted to highlight his huge goal he accomplished this year for him.

I finally made this skirt happen for Allison!  I'd wanted to do this for years.

I have to add that I don't sew more than straight lines so I was quite proud of myself and thrilled that she wants to wear it everyday.  Project accomplished for her.

 I made this football target for Spence to practice is throwing in our backyard.

 Sarah made this coloring book for Allison and made blue snowflakes for Spencer.

Justin made coupon books for each one of the kids.  I love that these will help them spend one on one time together.

 Spencer was so sweet and made me and the girls bracelets.

It was completely Allison's own idea to make Spencer and Sarah "little wooden people" so we looked through what I had and I happened to have little wooden balls and golf tees.  This is what we came up with...our favorites Darth Vader and Spider Man.

Bottom line...I absolutely love that we all focused on giving instead of getting.  It was a very special year of Christmas I don't ever want to forget!

Our Christmas Letter to You

It's been too many years without a Christmas card and true to our family motto, the "Best choice" this year is to electronically send out the Christmas cards that I want so bad to appear in each hand of all our really dear friends and family members.

So, from the bottom of our hearts...Merry Christmas!  Justin and I are so blessed to have hundreds of friends, neighbors and family that have come and gone through the years.  We sit back and talk about all the places we've lived and realize how blessed we have been to know so many wonderful people!

Justin is an airline pilot and absolutely loves his office up in the clouds.  This is year 5 of flying for a regional airline and we're looking forward to what our future holds of making captain and then possibly a major airline.  In the meantime this man just ran a marathon with his 4 brothers and his mom.  He's discovered he loves running all over this nation and seeing new places.  This year he got to serve as a Sunday school teacher, help with the Cub Scouts for a little bit and is now doing one of the best things he has ever experience, he's on the High Council for our church.  I'll also mention that he loves training our dog, Sky.  Somehow he finally talked me into that extra little body to care for.

Among my biggest blessing of being a wife and a mother, I have had the opportunity to be our primary music leader for our church.   I love a good challenge of trying to keep those 160 kids entertained but also teach the truths of the gospel.  I'm still teaching piano lessons (for the last 6 years) and love it!  I'm finding that as I have 20 or so piano students coming and going in my home that my own children are building great friendships with these built in play dates everyday too :) Between dishes, laundry and cleaning I find time for my music, reading and blogging which will forever make me HAPPY!

Sarah has been experiencing life at the Intermediate School as she is now in 5th grade.  She feels so grown up switching between 8 different classes and owning her own locker!  She loves her teachers!  She reminds me every day that she is "almost 12 years old" and "almost in Young Womens (a group at our church)."  She has mastered her 1000 piece puzzles, figured out how to navigate her way through the computer, takes piano lessons, still loves to call all the grandmas without me knowing, takes "her baby" everywhere we go because "she's her daughter," has probably copied every book from our book shelf word for word, started a yoga and palates class, sings in choir at school and walks our dog, Sky, almost every day.

Spencer's mind is always going!  He's nine yrs old going on twenty!  He does multiplication and division problems for fun and is always found with some science book in his hand. He still loves Minecraft, Beyblades and his new love is Star Wars. Lucky he has a few great friends that are into the same things! He's learning to play tennis, play the piano and his Dad is teaching him all about football.  He is in 4th grade at our brand new Elementary School and is loving being in the Honor Choir.  It's special that his Choir Director is male and that made him want to join in the first place.  They have performed multiple times in the last few months and his voice and memorization skills are superb!!!  

Oh, our Allison!  She is constantly keeping us on our toes and keeping us laughing.  Her preschool teacher told me yesterday that she needs to start a journal for all the funny things she says.  Allison has mastered writing her own name and all the letters.  She loves counting everything and thanks to Spencer has learned how to add and even subtract a little.  She's just learning to read and loves to especially impress Sarah and Spencer with new words she has learned.  Her favorite things are swinging, climbing all over Sky (our dog), singing, reading with mom, running with Dad, dancing, helping in the kitchen, standing in front of the primary with me, teasing anyone around, playing with all Sarah's baby dolls, stuffed animals, dress ups and princesses.  Notice if she's moving--she's happy!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!  We pray that you will feel the love of our Savior everyday, just as we do.

With Love,
Justin, Megan, Sarah, Spencer and Allison

Family Nativity Outing

We visited a LDS church that was having a Nativity Display...and made one of our own!

We borrowed Ben Powell that day...Spencer needed a brother.

Spence and Ben took the star challenge...found all these little one inch stars throughout the entire church.

We all listened to the live performances taking place...makes me happy to see my children enjoy music like Justin and I do.

This is Allison's favorite manager scene...I'd never seen one like it!

This was my favorite scene...there must have been a hundred.

They even had a children's room set up.  Allison didn't last through the Christmas quilt room because she was so anxious to get her hands on these neat puzzles.

I absolutely love the month of December with all the special places to take our family--the recitals, programs, parties...so fun!  We rarely get enough sleep because there are too many fun things to do under the christmas tree and too many goodies to drink or eat...for some reason it's always way more fun before bed!