Petersons Never Give Up: December

December this year was a whirlwind. We were quite busy and had a lot of parties and excitement. Here's lots of pictures in no particular order:

Oreo kept getting in the garden boxes outside and coming in covered in mud. He loves baths and I'm pretty convinced he got muddy one day when the kids were getting baths and showers because he wanted one too. We got some tarps to cover the boxes to help not get so much mud on the dog, lol!

Alana got really sick at the beginning of the month. All the kids and Sean had coughs and colds, but Alana had a pretty high fever and missed 4 days of school. She napped several times, and got lots of rest. She is pretty emotional though especially when she's sick and had a really hard time going back to school. One morning I went to drop her off and she got sad and didn't want to go. I tried walking her up to the gate and the principal happened to be up there and told me she would take her and I should just leave. Alana was crying and didn't want to go with her. I felt a lot of pressure from the principal (who is a very kind lady) to just leave her there crying, but I knew she needed some time to calm down and I was really proud of myself for trusting myself and doing what I knew my daughter needed even when I felt a lot of pressure. I had her ride with me to drop Lizzie off at school and then took her back to school. We made a goal that if she could go to school every day that week, we could go to the Dinosaur museum.

My parents gave us some new silverware for Christmas and I think it looks so pretty in our drawer.

Sean made Brian a Christmas stocking this year. He made Xander's last year too, so he most likely will make their new baby girl one at some point. Jill has one from when she was little.

My parents took us to the Olive Garden for our Birthday dinner and Brett ordered pizza, he wanted pictures of the pizza because he though the bubbles were so funny.

Alana has been wanting to sew with me so we sewed a pretty soft scarf for Grandma together.

We had so many presents under the tree.

On Christmas Eve we all opened matching pajamas and posed for a picture in front of the tree. We used the picture function on Sean's phone and it worked awesome!

Santa came!!

On the day after Christmas Sean took Alana and Brett skiing. They had a great time! Lizzie and I went to the aquarium.

Lizzie got a new kindle for Christmas and she loves it!

Another sick napping picture of Alana when she was sick at the start of the month.

Someone doorbell ditched these beautiful daisies on our front porch one day. It was so sweet and they were so pretty. The next day my sweet neighbor Eve came over to tell me she had brought them!

Brett had his Christmas recital and did a wonderful job performing Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

Alana and Lizzie helped me decorate the front room Christmas tree.

Alana's blanket:

Sick days snuggling with Oreo

Mom P's blanket:

Our ward Christmas breakfast. Santa came!!

Oreo loves balls and will carry them all around the house begging anyone to play fetch with him. He thought the ball ornaments on the tree must be for him =) We had a gate around the front room tree, and a scat mat (a little mat that gives a shock if you step on it) around the family room tree. They both worked great. He did get a hold of a few ornaments, but no presents.

On the 14th we went to the cemetary with the Zaelit family to have a family prayer and leave popcorn for the deer. We stopped at Banbury Cross donuts on the way home.

We made 4 batches of oreo truffles this year and everyone enjoyed them a lot. They are all gone now =)

Brett has been loving Beyblades and asked for a stadium for Christmas. One Sunday we built a stadium out of legos. It actually worked pretty well. Last night Brett and his friends started making beyblades out of legos. They actually work really well.

Alana's top tooth was really wiggly. One night Oreo jumped up on her in excitement and knocked her tooth. It started bleeding and she took it right out. She was started, but excited and we told her it would make a great story.

Lizzie had a really cute little program at school. She made and wore reindeer ears and sang some cute songs.

Here's Oreo ready to catch the ball.

On the Friday before Christmas, the elementary school hosted a polar express breakfast so we went to get some donuts and hot chocolate and watch some of the movie.

We made cookie boxes for Sean's coworkers.

The Saffrons came over one afternoon/evening and Oreo figured out how to play really gently with Rowan.

BreAnna painted us the most beautiful tribute to our sweet birds!

Oreo has been losing lost of teeth. I pulled this one out one day for him because he was bleeding all over the hall while we were playing ball.

I made Minky capes for the girls and a scarf for Brett.

We hosted a sweet family we knew in New Mexico for a few nights while they attended a family wedding. It was nice to have extra space and a bathroom for them and so so fun to see them!

Brett and Alana both did great holding 3 month old baby Emily.

Sometimes Oreo just goes in his bed for a nap and its really cute!

Here we are at the dinosaur museum when Alana earned it for going to school. Sean had to work the weekend before Christmas so the kids and I went on our own.