December 2011

December began with the ward Christmas party. KC and Will, the Elder's Quorum President, were in charge of the party. It was a Mexican dinner with Mariachi band. At the end we had a short program and the primary sang. The girls were dressed as angels and the boys shepherds. The primary kids were adorable in costume, although their singing wasn't very loud in the big cultural hall. :s KC and I were pretty much running crazy all night, so below is the only picture I managed to snap. As I was bustling back and forth from the kitchen, it was fun to catch glimpses of Pearl and Coby dancing to the Mariachi music with some of the ward members. We have a really fun ward here which has made our transition to McAllen very nice.

Let the Christmas baking begin!!

A sweet daddy and daughter :)

We actually had a few weeks of colder weather in December, with highs in the 50's. Was kinda nice to be able to wear long sleeves and drink hot chocolate.

Christmas card photos

My mom flew in town mid-December and stayed for over 2 weeks! It was a lot of fun and she was so helpful in getting everything ready for Christmas. We went to see the lights of Hidalgo County. Pearl and Coby thought the little trolly ride through the lights was awesome.

My dad flew in December 23rd and stayed a week. Below is a shot from Ponchos, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants here.
Great food and great music. Below Pearl is learning to appreciate the Mexican culture that she growing up in.
When Grandpa came off the plane, Coby ran to him. So sweet! A local news guy was there and must have thought the same thing because he interviewed my dad (holding Coby) and they made the evening news!

Pearl and Coby went bowling for the first time.

Coby now refers to this outfit as his "bowling suit."

Following KC's family tradition, we had a "Jerusalem Supper" on Christmas Eve, and then acted out the nativity scene. We also threw in a talent show at the end :) Pearl was so excited getting everything ready for Christmas Eve and dressing baby Anna as Baby Jesus.

A Christmas Eve bath...given by Daddy of course.

Sampling the cookies for Santa. With Pearl, age 4, and Coby 2 1/2, Christmas season was a blast this year. Coby focused a lot on the subject of the nice list and naughty list and who was going to receive a lump of coal on Christmas morning. ("The Grinch is going to get a lump of coal for sure!!" "Daddy is on the naughty list because he forgot to turn on my nightlight!" etc, etc,) I bought a wooden snowman with drawers to open each day leading to Christmas. Inside they would find a small chocolate or candy. I couldn't believe how excited they were to open that little drawer every day, for 24 days. Great ages for being excited for just about anything. I love it :)

Christmas Day!

A few days after Christmas it warmed up into the 70's again and we headed to South Padre Island.

Daddy joined us after work.

The next day we boarded a pirate ship that cruised the bay and had all sorts of activities for kids. It was fun to see several dolphins during the tour as well. Below is Pearl considering her assignment to swab the deck.

Off with her head!

The pirates insisted that every person on the tour receive a mustache. They also did face painting. Pearl wanted a dolphin on her arm so she could see it. They spread gold coins all over the ship and had the kids gather them. The one who gathered the most coins won. Pearl ended up winning because the pirates kept dumping handfuls of coins in her bucket while she wasn't looking. Her cute little blond curls, unique to the area, seem to have that effect on people around here. For example, she got TONS more candy than everyone else when we went trick-or-treating. I was puzzled at how she ended up with so much more candy than everyone else we went with. KC told me that he noticed people giving her handfuls of candy instead of just a piece like they gave everyone else. So funny!!
Pirate Coby fell asleep about half way through the ride. :)

Playing pirates at home.

Happy 31st birthday to me! ;) We went to lunch at PF Chang's for my birthday. My parents left that evening to return to Utah. Was great to spend Christmas and my birthday with them.
We celebrated New Year's Eve high-priest style, by going out for dinner at 4:30 with some of the men and wives in KC's high priest group. We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home with the kids that night. Happy New Year!!