4-H Sewing Project

This month Emma began participating in 4-H.  She is part of a group called "The Happy Homemakers."  She is learning to sew and will soon begin learning how to cook.  She is brand new to sewing so she is just learning the basics.  She has had one lesson so far and an assignment to work on a project - a stocking.  Her mother is of no help so she is doing this mostly on her own.  Today we got out the sewing machine and spent some time practicing.

She was pretty frustrated for a while that it wasn't turning out perfectly but I pointed out that it didn't need to be perfect since she is just learning.  She was concentrating very hard on keeping her lines straight.

But finally she finished and this is how it turned out.  I think she did a fantastic job!

We will be looking forward to all of her other creations and then maybe she can teach her mom a few things!

Merry Christmas 2012!!!

Christmas FINALLY arrived at the Perry home!  So much waiting and anticipation was driving Emma and Sam crazy! :)  What special treasures will Santa leave for the Perry girls this year?  Will we have a White Christmas?  Can they sleep in a tent in the living room so that they can catch Santa?

Of course, we told them they had to sleep in their room.  They were sure that they would wake up in the middle of the night because they were so excited but we ended up waking them up a little before 7:00 so we could get the show on the road!  This is Emma and Sam coming out of their bedroom eager to see what was under the tree.

First they took a look at their stockings....

Clara found her new scooter..... but first she wanted her bottle.

One of their favorite gifts was a set of American Girl books - The Smart Girls' Guide!

Clara loved her new book from Aunt Tracie and her stuffed piggy from Emma!

And Samantha LOVED her new boots!  It looks like Emma loved them, too!

We had a great day together just relaxing, eating our treats, sitting by the fire, and having a delicious Christmas dinner.  Then we settled in to play with our new toys.

Emma and Samantha spent lots of time reading their new books.

Plus, mom had a toy of her own to play with.  Her new Kindle!  It's been lots of fun so far!

We hope that you had as an enjoyable Christmas as we did.  We wish that we could have been with our family but we were thinking of you all and sending you lots of Christmas love!

Once There Was a Snowman.....

One of the best things about living in the mountains is the snow in the winter.  Unfortunately, over the past few years we have not had a White Christmas which is a little disappointing.  We were thrilled when it began snowing yesterday and it has continued into today - it is also forecasted for the rest of the week.  Yay!!  Mark and the girls took advantage of the snow to make their own snowman!

This is what winter is all about!  Such fun!

Family Visit

Hollie, Bryce, and their girls came to visit us today so we could get some good family time in before Christmas.  We had so much fun together - it really was a great day.  We spend the afternoon making yummy treats:  cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped candy canes, fudge, etc.  The girls lasted about a half hour and Hollie and I did the rest while the guys watched football, but we didn't mind. 

Emma, Karlie, and Samantha were really good at dipping the pretzels while we listened to Christmas music.

Aunt Hollie rolled out the chocolate crinkle cookies - one of her specialties!

In the evening we ordered some great pizza for dinner and then headed over to the local Living Nativity.  It was wonderful!  The weather wasn't too freezing and the wind finally settled down.  Sometimes you just need to take a few minutes and get away from the hustle and bustle of the shopping and remember the real reason for the season.

We had so much fun..... except for Lillie since it was an awfully long day and she was so tired.  What a sweetheart!

We love our families and wish that we could all be together at this time of year.  We are thinking of each and every one of you!

Advent Calendar Activities

This year I again made an Advent Calendar for the girls so that each day they have a Christmas activity to participate in.  These are a few that we have done this past week.  One night we made Snowman Pancakes for dinner.  The girls loved them but I was told that they weren't as good as their Aunt Hollie's pancakes.  I'll have to try harder next year.

On Tuesday afternoon we made gifts for the girls' school teachers.  They were very well received.

On Thursday we made Grandma Alberta's famous Molasses Cookies.  This recipe is a family favorite that has been passed down through the generations.  We usually only make them around the holidays and they are DELICIOUS!

Good Helpers!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Around the World

Tonight's activity on our Advent Calendar was to learn about Christmas traditions in other countries.  I went to the library last week and found some good books that were great resources for me and I did alot of research on the internet.  I decided to go with traditions from our heritage so I chose England, France, and Norway.

We talked about a few Christmas customs and I made a dish from each country: an English trifle, potatoes gratin (France), and Norwegian pancakes.  Everything was really delicous.

I really like the idea of incorporating these different traditions into our own family.  We'll see what next year brings....

Santa Claus

Friday night was our Ward Christmas Party and, of course, Santa Claus came for a quick visit and passed out bags of candy and fruit to all the kids.  While Emma feels a little too grown up to sit on Santa's lap, she tried to do it so Clara would feel more comfortable.  Unfortunately, Clara wasn't have any of it so we settled for having her just stand and watch her big sister tell Santa what she wants for Christmas.

Samantha (who is definitely NOT shy) couldn't wait to get on Santa's lap.  I'm sure she gave him a very long list of all the things she wants.  Hopefully he will come through for her! :)

Christmas Performance

As part of the County Childrens' Choir, Emma and Samantha were able to participate in a Christmas performance this past week at our local library.  The city was celebrating 100 years of service so there were activities and cake and Santa came for a visit.  The girls both sang solos with the choir in front of a nice crowd and they did a great job!

It's really hard to get up in front of people.  We are so proud of them for being brave and sharing their talents with everyone!

Gingerbread House

Part of our Advent Calendar of Activities this season included making a gingerbread house.  I took a shortcut this year and got a gingerbread kit instead of making things from scratch.  We had a fun time putting it together while listening to Christmas music and sneaking some of the candy....

Mark was very meticulous with getting the frosting in just the right place so Sam and Emma could put the candy on.

It's coming along....

Here is the finished product with our happy helpers.  It was snowing that day so it seemed especially Christmas-y while we were doing our fun project.  What a great afternoon!

School Christmas Concert

Central Elementary had their Christmas Program last week.  Our our school, the program only consists of first through third grade so this year only Samantha was able to participate.  Emma will do a program in the spring with the fourth and fifth graders.

The second grade sang some very fun songs and Sam had two speaking parts which she was very excited about.  Singing is one of her favorite things to do and she did a great job!

Emma Turns 10!!!

Emma Katelynn turned 10 on December 3rd!  It's so amazing to me how the time has flown by and she is such a beautiful young lady now.  We celebrated all weekend with activities and hopefully she felt how much she is loved.  Emma loves her baby sister so much and Clara wanted to give her a great big birthday hug!

The night before her birthday we had a fondue night - cheese AND chocolate!  We had bread and cakes and all kinds of fruit and we ate to our heart's content!

Yummy!!!!

On Monday, both girls had a caroling event through Children's Choir.  Mark came home early from work so that I could attend the caroling party with them.  We met downtown and walked from shop to shop singing Christmas songs.  Here is Samantha getting ready to perform.

Here is Emma with two of her friends from choir.

Afterwards we came home and had pizza, birthday cake, and opened presents.  Mom and Dad got her a new mountain bike which she is so anxious to use.  Unfortunately, the snow outside makes for a difficult environment to ride bikes.  She'll have to wait until spring comes.

She blew out all her candles and we dug in to the cake!

We sure love Emma and we are super proud of the sweet spirit that she is!  Happy Birthday!

Our Christmas Elf

I haven't made a blog post for several weeks because it's been fairly quiet in our household.  My sister Shellie gave me a hard time about not seeing any updated pictures lately so I am making this post for her!  Clara was playing around with our Santa hat the other night so I put it on her and tried to take a picture.  She had a hard time looking at the camera and she squirmed and fussed.  I sat her down and looked at her and said, "Mommy wants to take a pretty picture!"  She sat right down and looked at the camera and I got this great shot.  What an angel!

Halloween 2012

Halloween this year turned out to be a family day which was pretty great.  The girls had no school so Mark took most of the day off of work so we could do some activities together as a family.  We hadn't had a chance to visit the pumpkin patch yet due to the non-stop rain we had been having.  The day was cloudy, but dry, so we decided to check it out.  We were worried that the hay maze would be soggy and run down because of the rain but it turned out to be in fairly great condition.  Plus, we were the only ones there so we had free reign to play to our hearts' content.

This was Clara's first time at the maze so her big sisters made sure she had a fun time exploring.  She ran around so happy and excited to be there!

Here is Daddy and Clara at the top of the hay stack!

The pumpkin patch is a family owned operation that is right on their working farm.  It is out in the country and in a really beautiful area.

There even happened to be a little fort for the girls to play in.

By the evening it was time to get our costumes on and get ready for the trunk-or-treat!  Clara was REALLY not interested in having her picture taken.  She was adorable as a little bumble bee but these are the only two pictures I was able to get that somewhat showed her costume.

I think she was just sick of being in front of the camera all day. :)

Samantha was a "Vampire Gypsy."  She put her own costume together and was very proud of her accessories!

 Here she is looking very fierce!!!

Emma was a Vampire as well.  She also put her own costume together and especially loved her cape!

SPOOKY!!!!

It was a fun day but then we were tired from our adventures.  We came home and got in our PJs and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."  Then we were off to bed dreaming of Halloween candy!  Now we are on sugar overload and I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of all the chocolate in the house!  We hope you all had a Happy Halloween, too!