Santa

Kiera got herself all dressed up as Santa...she put on a red shirt and pants, a black scarf for a belt, a santa hat, cut a beard from a white piece of paper and made a red nose. She then wrote her letter to Santa which she spelled all by herself! 

 Kiera's letter to Santa 2012, age 4 1/2

Translation:

American Girl Doll

Markers

Puzzle

Color Pens

Sparkle Pens

Kalahari Fun

We took our first trip to Kalahari yesterday. Kiera and I played hooky from school. We all had fun. Kiera wasn't afraid of anything including the fast slides and the slides that were in the dark. She especially enjoyed the outdoor hot tub! We used Ryan's digital waterproof camera to take the pics. There must have been a drop of water on the camera lens as most of the pics are blurry, but they still capture our fun!

First slide of the day

 She looks like a boy here! 

 Relaxing on the lazy river

 wave pool

 speed slide

 outdoor hot tub

 Santa was at Kalahari!

New Hat

We went to visit Aunt Cheryl at a craft show last weekend and look what Kiera got!

Thanks for the new hat! It's so adorable with the brown coat. Kiera loves the long braids.

Sunday School Program

Today was the Sunday School Program. Father Tim read the story of Christ's birth as the children acted it out. Kiera's class were the shepards. It was sooo sweet. 

Kiera and Mrs. Hupp, her Sunday School teacher

 Walking in with praying hands

 I think she spotted me! Look at that face!

 Sitting right next to the teacher, that's my girl!

 Father Tim reading the story of Jesus' birth

 One student from each class had a role in the main cast

 At the end, the children stood up and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Extended Family Christmas Party

This weekend we had our extended family Christmas party. We did some new activities this year and everyone enjoyed the changes. The smaller venue made it more conducive to talking with everyone. We made "themed trees" and raffled them off. We made a family Christmas tree painting with our thumbprints as ornaments. We had a blast! Kiera, of course, loved all of the attention from her big girl cousins! We missed you Emily, Christina and Tyler!

Gingerbread House

We had fun

 decorating

and eating

 a gingerbread house!

Advent

Kiera learned about Advent at Sunday School and Mimi bought us advent candles so we were all prepared to celebrate the first Sunday in Advent. We ate dinner by the candle light.