December update

December is such a special time of year for me. I love Christmas and doing things to celebrate it with the kids.  A few of the highlights from the month are:
1) Decorating the house and tree with Levi, Rebekah and Nelson
2) Doing Christmas crafts FHE's throughout the month
3) Going to the Bellaire Holiday in the Park. The kids got to see Santa, but only the girls would sit on his knee.  Caroline, because she is too young to have an opinion, and Rebekah because she knows what it 's supposed to mean.  Levi wouldn't have any of it, so he stayed as far away from the large, strangely dressed man as he could. 
We drank hot chocolate, played in "snow", went to the petting zoo, got balloons, etc. 
4) Seeing Santa and his sleigh, again, for photos.  Levi did better this time, but perhaps that was because it was daytime, he wasn't tired, Nelson was there to help, and I think I probably bribed him with something.
5) Going to our ward Christmas party - seeing Santa was old hat by this time, so Levi went right on up (and snatched the goody bag out right of Santa's hand)!
6) Seeing Christmas lights in River Oaks - gorgeous!
7) Attending a friends Christmas party
8) Making Gingerbread Cottages at the library
9) Having an early Christmas with Nelson's parents and sister's family
10) Seeing Dad for the afternoon of the 22nd at Sam's and then driving off the North Carolina later that afternoon (we stopped in Mississippi just before Alabama border, for the night.  We arrived in the evening on the 23rd.)
11) Spending Christmas with Emily, Eric, their kids, Jeff and Katy. 
We had so much fun with them.  What a wonderful way to spend the holidays.  We baked several treats and ate delicious food.  Drove to see Christmas Town - gorgeous lights.  Played games, watched shows, and talked until late in the nights.  The men gave us (Em, Kate, and me) a gift certificate to a nail salon so we took advantage of that one of the afternoons and got mani/pedis.  Katy and I also had our hair cut at the salon Emily goes to.  Mine hadn't been cut since before Caroline was born, so it was much needed!
The crazy long drive with 3 little ones was hard, but the time we all spent together was definitely worth it (though Nelson says he doesn't want to do anything like that drive again for a long time, until the kids are older)!
12) Having a third little Christmas at home with just us the morning after we got back.   Levi was so excited to finally get the train set.  He had found it several times before and would rip it open to play with it. I finally put it up in the attic and it was sorely missed.
13) Spending New Years with Nelson's family, lighting off fireworks and eating yummy food.

                                                                          At the Nutcracker Ballet:

So excited about decorating the tree:

                                                     Christmas Morning:What did Santa bring?

                                               

At the ER in North Carolina for Levi's ear:

                                       Entertainment for the loooooong drive to North Carolina:

                                      A second Christmas, the morning after we arrived home:

Caroline at 8 months

Caroline's new tricks this month include:

• waiting and watching Levi to see what silly thing he'll do next to make her laugh
• babbling away, but not just any old babble.  She waits until I look her in the eye and then she proceeds to chatter away, clearly telling me some important story, maintaining eye contact the whole time.
• eating more, but she still prefers nursing or small bits of table food.
• expressing her emotions - likes, dislikes more clearly
• gets upset if a toy is take away from her, or is out of her reach