Making our own mangers

For FHE yesterday, we made a little manger and baby Jesus for each of the kids. Each of the kids got a little bag of hay that they could use to fill up the manger and make it nice and soft for baby Jesus. The caveat was that they could only put a piece of hay in if they had done something nice for someone else. There was a lot of hugs for mom and dad going on originally so that the kids could put some hay in. And then they figured out that they needed to do a bit more to get that hay. Both Annika and Mieka have been getting lots of hay this morning - helping with shoveling the mass amounts of snow, picking up toys, making beds, helping to make breakfast. I think by Christmas day that baby Jesus' manger is going to be overflowing with sweet helpings and hay. :)

Mieka decided that her baby Jesus needed some company.

Also had to post cute pictures of the girls in their Sunday Christmas outfits. Cute! :)

Not quite so cute family picture ... but when you are rushing to get out the door to church you go with what you get. :)

Jingle Bell Mieka!

Mieka had her super cute preschool program on the 17th. She boogied and sang with the best of them. :)

A picture right before the program started. One grandma told us she was so cute that she should be on tv. :)

Singing AND signing Silent Night. Yay Mieka!
Mieka's teacher Miss. Jilane is amazing! She does such great stuff with the kids.

They also each got up and said what they wanted for Christmas. This time Mieka said she wanted a skateboard! Huh? Well - maybe next year.

After they were all finished with their program they got to go and sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. He also gave them a book for Christmas. Mieka got Curious George's Christmas - her favorite!!! She was so excited. :)

Yay Mieka! You did such a super fantastic job. We are so proud of you! Love you!

TuTu Cute

Both of the girls had their mini dance recitals at their dance school on the 15th and 16th. At their school they do a huge production of a classical ballet at the Covey Arts Theater in June - this year they are doing Sleeping Beauty. So, the Christmas recital is a small in-class recital that the parents can come and watch at the studio. Both of the girls did FANTASTIC! Especially since they have only gone 3 weeks - we started late because of the soccer season.

Mieka had her performance on Wednesday. They started out by stretching and doing some practice runs of their dance. Then they put their little costumes on and performed their dance for us. Then they did what is called the princess walk - where they do different ballet moves down a path of carpet squares. VERY cute. Yay Mieka! You did a super duper fantastic!!

Annika had her class on Thursday. They too started out by stretching and rehearsing their dance. Annika's group got to perform their dance a couple time because after the first time the dance director brought in new costumes. Guess she didn't like the first ones too much. :) Yay Annika! You did a fantastic job too!

Video coming to a computer near you soon!

My cute little ballerinas!! :)

Deck the Hall's - Annika's playing the piano

On Monday the 13th we got to attend Annika's piano recital. Her teacher, Sister Bankhead, scheduled a room at the American Fork library because she has so many new students. Annika was the third one in a long line of pianist to play. I think she was more excited than nervous about playing. She did a super fantastic job! When Dave gets a chance he's going to make a you tube video of her playing so grandparents can see it.

Picture from right before the recital started. She wasn't worried at all - she just wanted to play Stack the States on my iphone. :)

Annika played Deck the Halls and All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth. I tried to get her to turn around after she finished and give a big smile, showing that she was missing her two front teeth, but she wouldn't have anything to do with that. Guess it was too cheesy for her. :) She did a fantastic job! Yay Annika!

Express to the North Pole

On Saturday the 11th we got to ride the "Express to the North Pole" - the train ride formerly known as the Polar Express. Not sure if they were sued by the author or film company, but they no longer read the Polar Express book or give out bells. BUT - the girls still had a fantastic time getting to ride on the train and seeing Santa Claus. A very nice family gave up one of their seats so that all of us could sit in seats facing each other. Talk about Christmas spirit for which we were very grateful.

We started off the train ride by seeing Mrs. Claus and getting to try some of her famous Christmas cookies. Yummy chocolate ones! Yay!


We then read The Night Before Christmas and sang Christmas songs. Before we knew it we were at the North Pole!

Annika was very excited to see Santa.

Mieka - not so much. She was hiding under the coats. :)

But, she finally warmed up when he gave her a fun toy top.
Mieka told Santa she wanted a doll house.

Annika told Santa she wanted a teddy bear. Really? That wasn't on the official list. Oh wait! Yes it was! Bummer. Maybe next year :)

Over all it was a super fun night on the train. I'm grateful that there are so many fun activities for families to do in this area. Lots of great opportunities to create fantastic memories.

Graham Cracker Houses

On the 10th we had a fun afternoon of making graham cracker "gingerbread houses" over at Emilee's. The girls had a fun time piling the candy on their houses and munching as much as they could in the process. :)

Emilee and Janice hot glued their houses together. Good idea! We opted to use a milk carton as a base and just frost the graham crackers on to that. Seems like they both worked great.

Num Num. Munching as fast as she can.

Kindergarten Devotional

On the 9th Annika participated in the Kindergarten Devotional at school. Each of the children dressed up according to their part in the program. Annika was a drummer angel in the angel band :)

Annika with her carpool buddies - Emma and Kenya.

Just before the program with her buddy Olivia.

Annika got to lead the pledge of allegiance at the beginning and was so confident! Where did this child come from?? Surely not Dave or me. :)

Then they sang several Christmas songs and each child had a part about why Christ is the center of Christmas. I was so amazed at how each of the children had all the poems, parts, and songs memorized. They do an amazing job at American Heritage. And the spirit of these little 5 and 6 year olds help remind us what Christmas is about.


Yay Annika! You are an amazing angel drummer and singer! We were so proud of the fantastic job you did on your part and leading the pledge. Love you!