A few things

The Christmas season came really fast this year. I have always loved Christmastime, but this year didn't feel quite right, we have had no snow this year and our kids really look forward to snow, but for some reason it just wasn't going to happen. This year marked a new tradition or event that will be taking place in our lives for the next upteen years. Kylee started band this year and with that comes the band concerts. She has done really well and learning her instrument and she practices all the time, she makes me really proud. The day of her band concert she came home and was really nervous because the directors told them there would be around 700 people there, she has never really done anything in front of a crowd that size and it really made her nervous. It was fun to watch her get ready for the concert, she was concerned about what she was going to wear (all the way down to her shoes) and she was worried about getting her hair done just right. I can't believe how fast she has grown up. The band concert was great, our family had a good time and after listening to all the other bands Kylee is really getting excited about her future years in band.

Checking out the crowd. She's in the blue shirt in the trumpet section.

Playing her heart out.

Another tradition our family has (or at least the kids and I have), is baking cookies and decorating them for Santa and other people. I have the best mom ever and she always makes sure I have sugar cookie dough so the kids can make the best cookies ever. We decided on a day to make cookies and then let the fun begin. It started with a fight as to who was going to roll the cookie dough, then it turned into a race to see who could get their cookie cutter in the dough first. After the first three or four batches, the interest seemed to dwindle and Kylee ended up doing a lot of it by herself. She decided it is lots easier to do it by herself because she can do what she wants!! I'm so glad to have the baking done for the year and hopefully next year will be just as entertaining.

Kylee helping Brooke roll the dough and Ben waiting with his cookie cutter.