Baby Aliya Fundraiser

Dec 10 - Back at the end of October, my good friend had a sweet little baby who was born with lots of complications. She came really early and was less than 3 lbs and had the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times when she was born! She had to be transferred to McKay right after birth, and then ended up at Primary Children's Hospital because she was having problems with her kidneys and eyes. They learned she had a very rare syndrome called Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome, which causes all sorts of different problems and will be something they have to deal with for her whole life. (You can read more about sweet baby Aliya here . You can even donate to her family!)

My friend, Tarasha, has been so amazing through all of this and the best mommy to baby Aliya. All of us really wanted to help, but didn't really know how. We made a big poster telling her how much we all loved her while she was in the hospital and then gathered supplies and put together cute bags for her girls of fun things to do while they were traveling back and forth between here and Primary's. But, we still wanted to do something a lot bigger. We knew they were going to have a lot of medical expenses, so my friend, Emily, headed up a big fundraiser and a bunch of us got involved helping. We didn't really know how much help it would be, but we figured anything would help. It turned out to be an amazing success! We held a craft boutique, silent auction and bake sale. So many businesses and people in the community donated. It was amazing!

I was on the committee over the craft boutique. I had no idea what I was in for! I think we thought at first we could just gather donations from crafty people, but that wasn't the case. We ended up making a lot of what we sold ourselves and having to get donations so that we could make things, and it turned into a lot more hours than I ever anticipated. As the fundraiser got closer, I was at my friend Barbi's house more than I was home! I would get kids off to school and such and then take Avery (and Rylee on non-school days) over to Barbi's and we would work on stuff until the kids were getting home from school. Then I would go home and do dinner and family stuff and go back after the kids were in bed and stay until midnight or later. Darren was very helpful and never complained about how much I was gone. I really appreciated that! It was a lot of fun getting together and making crafts, but just started to be a lot! But, when I saw it come together, it was SO worth it!

The day of we had a ton of people come through and we were able to sell almost everything we had. We made over $10,000 for their family and it felt great to help someone so deserving. It also felt pretty nice to be done! I loved doing it and would do it again in a heartbeat though!
This is the main committee of ladies who helped with the fundraiser. They are all in my ward (or were until it got split :( ) They are so amazing and I loved working with them! Back Row: Me, Natalie, Julie, Emily, Barbi, Karen, Jen and Jenn
Front: Jen, Karen, Mandy and AmeliaThe set-up - All the tables in the middle section and along the back wall were the craft boutique. The far side was the bake sale and a family in our ward also made cotton candy all day and sold it. The wall where I am taking it from was all stuff for the silent auction. This was all the stuff that was for the silent auction. We had some awesome stuff including a trip to Hawaii!!!
At the front was a little table where the family sat and had pictures of Aliya. It was really cute!
This was all the baby stuff that we had and some of the MANY bows.This was our jewelry table. A couple more views of all the stuff...
When the sale started, the place was packed!
Some more stuff... We made all the magnet boards and also the glass blocks. We made them banks that said "I hope they call me on a mission" with a cute little missionary on them and a tie tied around them. They were our biggest seller!!! This banner was so cute! I think we all wanted to buy it! We made a TON of different little blocks like this with different sayings. I had never mod podged before, but I am pretty much a pro now!!! Some snowmen we made... I wish I would have documented every project we did! It was pretty amazing! We had some countdown books that counted down to Christmas and some cute quiet books for church that were about the articles of faith and the proclamation on the family. We also made some countdown blocks that were really popular, too. We made some cute recipe card magnet boards and some small magnet boards to hold a photo or two. We did some conversation jars and lots of cute subway art. We also did a million different mod podge projects! We had a lot of wood donated so we had to use it somehow! We had so much stuff and then there was a lot of projects that were donated as well. These candy cane bath salts were super cute. We didn't make these ones, but I thought they were a great idea!
Some of the yummy bake sale stuff!
These were the girls I worked with. Emily, me and Barbi headed up the craft boutique. They did a lot more than I did! They were amazing and I had a great time working with and learning from them. I was so glad I had them!!!

Christmas Crafts

Dec 7 - For a few of our countdown activities, we did some crafts. The kids love making projects - especially for the holidays. Our first project was this little foam gingerbread house. The kids loved it! Rylee especially liked lining up all the little tiles for the roof. She is all about this kind of stuff! Our finished house. I get a little crazy when we do these. I should just let the kids do it however they want, but I always have an obsessive need to do it just like the picture on the box and with as little mess as possible. I am trying to get better at that!


Dec 11th - Once the fundraiser I helped with was over, I felt like I could do all the fun Christmas things I had been neglecting and catch up on some things with the kids. We made our gingerbread house the next night since it was Sunday and our Daddy was home to help. We had so much fun! It is so fun to see the kids different personalities in decorating - Logan can't just wait to get everything on and be done, Rylee wanted everything just so and was very meticulous and Avery would mostly just sneak candy...My cute little decorators
Avery eating the candy - We bought one of those kits that comes with all the candy to decorate with and the candy is all pretty hard and gross, but that didn't stop her!
Hard at work decorating the roof
Rylee wanted them all in a line and all just so! Can you tell which parts Logan did and which parts were Rylee's? So funny how different kids are!
Daddy got silly and gave Logan a frosting mustache! Logan thought it was hilarious! Especially when he saw himself in the bathroom mirror.
Ry
Miss A
Log Bog
Trying to get a picture and the girls are fighting...
A little better
I love this face!!!
Our finished house! Not quite like the one on the box, but we had a great time making it!
Notice the many lines of candy.... That would be Rylee's work!

SANTA!!!

My kids were the perfect age for Christmas this year! They were all so into it and were SO excited about everything... especially Santa. We got our letters written early since Santa likes to load up his sleigh really early to be ready for the big day. Here are their lists. I love them!
Logan's -
"dear Santa Claus I have been a very good boy for Chrismas I want.
1. Kinect SPorts year 2
2. Cars 2 escape at Sea (That is a lego set...)
3. Star Wars III genral grievous Starfighter
how are your reindeer
Logan"

I love how he numbered his list! It is just so Logan's personality. I also told the kids they shouldn't just write to ask for something, but should ask Santa something or tell him something. That is why he added the "How are your reindeer?"

Here is Rylee's list. She insisted on writing it herself. She LOVES to write! She spends so much time every day writing and asking me "What letter is next?" She writes notes and cards to everyone all the time. She did a great job on her list, too. It said...
"DeaR SantA ClAus
i hAve Been a gooD giRL. (I love the backwards g's and the way she dots her i's) CAN You give ME a easY BAKe OVeN ARieL SQUINKieS AND A PInK LeAPSteR. Hoyw ARR yoUR ReINDeeR? Rylee"
I love how her writing changes so much through the letter and the mix of lowercase and capital letters. I also love that she copied Logan's question to Santa. They really are always wondering about the reindeer though.

Rylee is so sweet and wanted to be sure that Avery got what she wanted for Christmas, too, so she wrote a letter to Santa for her. Every time I asked Avery what she wanted for Christmas, she said, "CANDY!" I would ask if she wanted any toys, and she would always say "Jus candy". As the month went on, she decided she could ask for both and if anyone asked her what Santa was going to bring, she would say "toys and candy". It was pretty cute! Here is what Rylee decided her list should say:
"DeaR SaNtA CLAUS
i hAve BeeN A GOOD BABY I WANt CANDY ABBY toy Love AveRy"
I love how Rylee makes her Y's!


Dec 5 - For Family Home Evening and our countdown activity for the 5th, we attended our little City's tree lighting ceremony. It was FREEZING so we almost didn't go, but I am glad that we did. It was fun! Most of the people there were from our ward, so we had a good time and the kids saw lots of friends. We sang a few Christmas songs and then they lit up the tree and Santa came in on a FIRE TRUCK! The kids thought that part was SO cool! Avery talked about it for weeks! She would say it so cute and excited. It was a little funny because the tree they lit was TINY! I don't know what I expected.... more like Rockefeller Center I guess, but this tree was like 4 feet tall. I'm sure if they keep the tradition it will be really big in 20 years, but it just seemed a little funny to have a big ceremony to light such a little tree. It was a fun night though. This picture is the kids with the tree in the background. They were way too cold and had too many friends to play with to cooperate for a picture!
After Santa came, we were able to go inside the city building and the kids could see Santa and they had some treats. I was so glad that part was indoors. Here is Rylee talking to Santa. (She had to keep her hat on because her hair was a mess underneath!)
Logan and Santa - He is a pro at this by now!
Avery was REALLY nervous, but she ended up doing OK with Santa. Especially when she found out there was a candy cane involved!

Dec 8th - Our kids got to see Santa again at the ward Christmas party. It was really different than any ward Christmas party I had been to. Because our ward is SO big, we couldn't do dinner, so they had the local ice cream place come and serve ice cream. The kids could take their ice cream and dip it in all different colors of candy coating and add sprinkles and all kinds of stuff. They loved it! Rylee and her BLUE ice creamAvery with her purple ice cream. Logan was already off running around with his friends so I didn't get a picture of him.

Then, Santa made an appearance. It was a little funny because his suit wasn't the greatest and some of the kids were saying "he wasn't the REAL Santa. Just someone's Grandpa or something because his suit isn't like the real Santa's." He didn't wear boots, but regular church shoes with some boot type things on his suit that were supposed to make his shoes look like boots. It wasn't fooling the kids! That was the first thing they spotted... "He doesn't even have real boots. Just Sunday shoes." It was a little funny, but it didn't stop my kids from sitting on his lap and turning in their Christmas lists! Rylee and Santa
Logan talking with Santa Logan and Santa
This one wouldn't go NEAR Santa. I think she could see through that fake suit, too. She wanted nothing to do with him. Not even for the candy! But, she did find some more ice cream....
She loves that ice cream! And I love that messy face!

Seeing Santa so many times meant we didn't have to make the trip to the mall. We even saw him again at the Webber family party. The only bad part about not going to the mall is the pictures are never as good....

Jingle All the Way

Dec 2 - Our countdown activity for Dec 2 was to attend a Christmas musical performance, which worked out perfectly since Logan had a piano recital that night! They performed at the Assisted Living Center near our house and I think that the residents there really enjoyed listening to all of them. They each played a Christmas song. Logan played "Jingle Bells" and he did such a good job! He was one of the youngest ones, but he had his song totally memorized for weeks and knew it really well and did great performing, even though there were a lot of people. I loved when he would practice at home and Avery would walk around and sing "Jingle all the way" !Our handsome pianist!
Logan with Mom
Logan with Dad
After the recital, we took the kids out for dinner to celebrate how great Logan did! They picked Texas Roadhouse. They love that place! Logan always has to order the sweet potato loaded!
Avery chowing down! Another fun night with the family....

First Gift of Christmas

Dec 1 - This year to start something fun, we made a countdown chain to Christmas. It wasn't just a countdown though. Each day had a special activity to do - sometimes it was a service project, sometimes it was something fun, sometimes it was something to help keep us focused on the real meaning of Christmas. A lot of them were things we do anyway, like read Christmas books or watch movies or go look at lights. We had a lot of fun with it. There were a few days when our project or activity didn't really get done... For instance, there was never any snow, so the build a snowman one wasn't happening! And for awhile we I was working on my fundraiser so much that a few of the items got overlooked. I wish I would have kept a better list of what we did do. We had a lot of fun doing it and I am excited to do it again next year! The kids loved picking off the chain and reading what we were going to do that day.

The first day on the chain was to open the first gift of Christmas! The kids were SO excited to get to open a present so early! The reason we did this is because when we were in Disneyland, we found a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar and I knew Logan would LOVE it! But, I didn't want to have him have to wait until Christmas. So, we gave it to him early and gave the girls something small to open, too. We explained to Logan that he wouldn't get as much from Mom and Dad for Christmas since his BIG gift was this one, but he was fine with that. Especially once he opened it!
Logan and his giftHe was SO excited when he saw what it was! My kids LOVE those chocolate advent calendars you can buy at Christmas to count down, but he thought this was SO much better! He came home from school every day and got his chores done so fast so he could open that day's box. It was great!
Rylee got a new Princess bookAvery opening her present
Avery got a cute new Christmas book about gingerbread men.

YEAH!!! I LOVE December! And I LOVE Christmas and the big countdown! I think I am worse than my kids. There are so many fun things to do and so much time with the family. It is my favorite month of the year!