December Misc

A few December happenings (still obviously playing a bit of catch-up on the blog!):

Decorating for Christmas

Cody and Jaden were eager (for at least the first 5 minutes) to decorate our Christmas tree this year. They actually remembered quite a few of their ornaments from last year. I always enjoy seeing what memories will stick with them from year to year as they get older. 

After the boys' interest waned and they ran off to do other things, my littlest helper stuck with me. Adley was way more interested in the ornament boxes than she was in the actual tree. Adley loved opening up each box and often tried to taste-test the corners of the ornament boxes too. 

Playtime

Our December days at the beginning of the month were still quite warm, so we enjoyed a lot of outdoor playtime. Jaden and Cody are getting to be quite the little artists with their sidewalk chalk. Here are some of their Minion drawings.

Adley loves the outdoors! Now that she is crawling, however, it's a little tougher to figure out how to entertain her outside so she's not eating leaves, grass, dirt, etc. Riding in the Cozy Coupe is a perfect solution!

Half Birthday

Jaden and Cody turned 5 1/2 on December 2. They are always excited to start telling people that they are the extra 1/2 year old. The boys' kindergarten teacher let them bring snacks in for their half birthday. Due to a long-lasting up-and-down fever bug for Jaden, we had to send in treats on two different days. Cody wanted to bring Ghirardelli brownies, and Jaden brought in chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles. For their actual half birthday, Papa and Grammy delivered half of a chocolate Costco muffin to our house for the boys to enjoy. So thoughtful! What a yummy treat!

Jingle Bell Run

Kim encouraged a group of us to sign up for this local 5K run at the beginning of December. Kim, Chelsea and I ran it last year and really enjoyed the festive nature of the event. This year, Andrew and Mom joined us too and walked the distance.

Chelsea, Kim, and I purchased matching Santa socks for the race. It was actually a very chilly morning (in the low 30s!!), so the socks provided a little extra warmth for us. Kim ended up winning out of the three of us (woo-hoo!) and got 6th place in her age division. I wasn't able to train quite as much as I wanted to leading up to this race but was still proud of my 26.42 min. time. We all enjoyed the yummy snacks and freebies at the end of the race.

Jingle Bell Jog

In lieu of a classroom Christmas party, Jaden and Cody's kindergarten classes hosted a healthy family alternative-- a Jingle Bell Jog. Both Jason and I, along with Adley and Nathan (who we were babysitting that morning), were able to join the boys for this event.

We found some fun Christmas hats at the dollar store prior to the Jog. Cody and Jaden's teacher had attached small jingle bells onto the boys' shoes.

All of the Jingle Bell Jog participants were encouraged to jog, run, or walk as much as they could around the soccer field for a period of about 30 minutes. Jaden and Cody did a mixture of sprinting and walking with their friends. 

I ran a few laps with the boys, while Jason walked with our two bundled little ones in the stroller.

At the end of the event, everyone gathered in the school atrium for a breakfast of muffins, kolaches, and fruit. We enjoyed spending part of the school day with our kindergartners!