Preschool Party

Today was Wesley's Preschool Christmas Party and Also Wesley's birthday day at preschool. Since his birthday is during Christmas break they celebrated it today. He got to bring the snack, a show and tell toy and be the line leader all day. They had cute activities for the kids to do, we sang some Christmas songs with the Pastor, and then went to see St. Nicholas. It was really neat to walk into the church's chapel with the beautiful stained glass windows depicting Christ and his life, lit candles, and St. Nicholas sitting on his big chair. St Nicholas tried to explain that he was not Santa Clause and talked to the kids about giving and the true meaning of Christmas but I think the kids were a little confused. They all said "no, your Santa!" Which was a little funny.

Wes was the last to leave St. Nicholas. He just sat on the stage and wouldn't leave. Silly Boy!

Gingerbread Houses

For FHE we got together with some friends and made gingerbread houses. The kids ate and ate so much candy which they thought was the greatest. What is better than lots of candy and spending time with friends.

Griffith Park Ward Party

So this was a party that we have been planning for a while now and I think it turned out great. The best part was that Santa came to visit. As I was preparing for the party Wes kept asking me if it was time for "Santa's Party". It was fun to hang out as a new ward and get into the Christmas spirit.

Wes sleeping while we set up

Wes in Reindeer antlers

This years Christmas Tree

This year we were very excited to go pick and cut down our own tree from a Christmas tree farm. Christmas tree farms are everywhere here in Portland. The trees are really pretty cheap too (better than what I am used to in AZ). I have been told that Oregon is ranked the top producer of Christmas trees in the U.S. I have even seen people selling them out of their drive way. So we had many places to pick from but we chose to go to Christmas Mountain. We headed out on Friday after Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. I had never cut down my own tree before. They gave us a "hayride" around the farm/mountain and told us to tell them when we wanted to get off to start looking for a tree. We wanted to get a smaller tree and found a tree we liked pretty fast but looked around for a while then came back. Isn't it always that first one you always come back to? It was so much fun for all of us. After we got our tree we hung out by the fire and had some complimentary hot chocolate. I love Christmas time!!!

School Pictures

A few weeks ago Wesley had his first school picture taken. They turned out way better than I thought. I guess he smiles better when someone else tells him to. I heard that they had the kids sit on some kind of slide and slide down after they smiled. That might have helped too. His class picture turned out so cute. Check them out.