The week before Christmas...

The week before Christmas we actually got a bit of snow. It only lasted a few days but we lived it up! Nora spent almost the entire day outside and loved it. We pulled the kids around on the sleds and had a great time. Brian even pulled me around the yard once :)

Sophie had a school concert on the 20th. It was the 2nd and 3rd grade classes and Sophie tried out to sing a solo part for "A Song of Peace" and she got it! Brian and I were surprised she tried out since she is pretty shy. She was so excited but the day she found out she got the part she had a rough night being very grumpy and whiny. I finally said, "What in the world is going on with you tonight?" and she threw herself on her bed and cried, "I don't think I want to sing the solo part!" She was very nervous and scared, but with lots of prayers from us and our families (thanks everyone!) she decided she could do it! And she did such a good job. She has a sweet voice. Her music teacher told me she has such a pure, sweet voice and perfect pitch. The night before the concert her music teacher called me and said that the girl who was the back-up for Sophie was really upset about not getting the part and she thought maybe she was trying to get Sophie to not do it. I felt bad for this little girl and I could tell Sophie was thinking about letting her do it instead because she didn't care about it as much as the other girl did. But in the end Sophie did it, and she did a wonderful job. We were so proud of her! I can't get the video to load on here, but it is up on my facebook page.

The boy on the left in the blue also sang with Sophie, but for some reason we couldn't hear him very well, and only occasionally. Which was too bad, but we could hear Sophie really well. She did forget to sing the last line at the very end of the song, but no big deal. She realized she had missed the start of the line so she started singing it quietly, but the boy didn't join in and she got nervous that she was wrong. It was such a fun day. I love seeing my kids finding the things they love to do! Here are the girls in front of our tree the day of the concert:

The Monday before Christmas we had a Family Home Evening with our friends and neighbors, the Osmans. We decorated gingerbread men, acted out the Nativity and had dinner. We had a great time and we are so grateful for these wonderful neighbors!

Sophie was the angel, Nora the wiseman, Miles was Joseph, Hallie was Mary and Marshall and Wesley were shepherds. Although Wesley wanted nothing to do with it. He fell off a chair right before we started and just wanted to sit with Brian.

We delivered 14 treat boxes in one night! I made caramels and it was kind of a nightmare. It boiled over my pot and all over the stove and down the sides so I had to pull out the stove and scrub it and the floor down. Then I took off the front glass to clean behind it and the whole front part kind of fell apart and I lost a screw and the side pieces either broke or we couldn't figure it out. So Brian and I spent an hour trying to put the stove back together! The good news was that I was able to save some of the caramel mixture because I had my buttered pan right there and dumped some of it in there. So I reboiled it and it turned out delicious!