Merry Christmas!

I really did a poor job of capturing pictures of Christmas this year. I got out the video camera instead but that means I don't have many pictures to put on my Christmas post. :) I love the Christmas season so much that it always makes me sad to have Christmas day actually come and see the season come to an end! We were able to spend time with both my family and Brian's over the holiday and that is always a lot of fun to chat and laugh with everyone. The kids really got into the spirit of giving this year with each of them making gifts for their friends and buying gifts for each other...thoughtful gifts for each other...not just something they stole from the other's bedroom and wrapped as they've done in years past. :)

This is my one picture I have of Hailey on Christmas morning going through her stocking and finding the fun earrings and nail polish. The rules for Christmas morning is that they can't come wake us up until at least 7 am so they actually showered to kill time before coming to get us. Nice!

...and this is my one picture of Nick on Christmas morning holding up something he got in his stocking.

I did, however, get a couple of pictures of the awesome wrapping job Nick did on the present he got for Hailey. I'm pretty sure we were out of tape after he got done with his wrapping!! :)

My favorite part of the morning was captured on the video below. The presents Nick and Hailey wanted MOST for Christmas were the new Ipod touches. I knew they would be looking for small rectangle shaped boxes under the tree and I also knew that what they would want LEAST would be socks & underwear. So I decided to hide the ipods & cases in a box under socks & underwear...hehehe. I set these presents aside and directed them to open some of the other presents and then near the end just casually mentioned opening those too like I had somehow forgot they were there. I could tell they were getting a little anxious that underneath the tree was quickly becoming depleted of presents and they still hadn't opened anything "ipodish". My favorite part of the video is how diplomatic they both were about getting a box of underwear for Christmas when they were really hoping those boxes contained ipods!! :)

As the season comes to an end my hope is that we can keep the feelings and spirit of Christmas all through the next year. I feel like the Christ centered lessons at church and conversations at home have been particularly near to my heart this year and I am grateful for the birth of our Savior and the role He plays in our lives. I'm grateful for good friends and family that surrounds us and makes our lives so much richer.

Catching Up

I haven't been very good at blogging lately...I guess it's due to the busy-ness of this time of year. So, here's a short picture tour of our life over the last month or so. :)

First, I just thought this science experiment was cool. Nick was bored one day and asked if he could try something his science teacher did...of course that makes a mom nervous when you're asked questions like that, but I thought is was pretty cool....perfect colors for the season. :)

Nick has been learning the saxophone in band this year and he's to the point now where he can play along with Hailey playing the piano. Maybe they're ready to start the Morrow family band? Okay, maybe not. :)

Our favorite little girl Ellie became a big sister last month. Now we have TWO favorite little Spencer girls!!!! :) What a blessing for them to adopt another little sweetheart and I can't think of two people who deserve it more!!

Hailey's 6th grade class put on their puppet show last week. I think this is one of the neatest projects they do because they have to take a story and turn it into a puppet show keeping the main points but putting it into a "conversation" and adding their personal touches. Then they make the puppets and the backgrounds to represent each scene. This is Hailey and her friend Jerika getting ready for their show.

This is Hailey's AWESOME teacher!!!! (Same one Nick had last year.) I am convinced he is one of the best 6th grade teachers in the country!!!!! He holds his students accountable and he also makes each and every student feel like they are the most important thing in his life. He truly loves teaching and it shows. He doesn't let any one of his students sell themselves short or not live up to their potential and beyond. His students want to excel to make him proud. He also attends as many of his students events as possible. He even came to Hailey's piano recital tonight where 2 of his students (Hailey and Brinn) were performing.

Hailey's puppets. Usually when Hailey is speaking in front of people she speaks very softly and almost mumbles because she hates to speak in public. But when she was doing this puppet show she spoke loudly and clearly and had a lot of voice inflection. I commented on that to her and her response was, "It's because I was hidden." :) She is much more animated when no one can see her. :)

That same day they had the Jingle Jam at school. When I was sitting there watching it struck me that this is the very last elementary school Jingle Jam I will attend with one of my kids

participating. It's so weird to me that Hailey will be in junior high next year. I don't feel like either one of us is old enough for that!!! :) This is Nick looking very thrilled to be all dressed up in his scout uniform. The awesome thing about this day though was he was heading to his Eagle Scout Board of Review!!! They don't let the parents into the board of review, but after they asked him questions for 10 or 15 minutes they send him out of the room to discuss everything amongst the board members. Then they called us all back in and let us know that they unanimously voted to award him his eagle and that date would be the day on record for him receiving it even though we won't be able to have his Eagle Court of Honor until everything is recorded at the national office...so probably about 6 to 8 weeks from now. He is very excited to be done with scouting but he is also happy he accomplished his goal of receiving his Eagle at age 13 like his Grandpa Walker and Uncle Dave did.

We got together with my side of the family yesterday for our Christmas Party and this is Nick modeling the apron grandma got him. He loves to cook but he never wears an apron because it's not manly but I think he'll wear this one. :)

Nick's haircut that I wish he had before his board of review but we didn't make time to go. :)

Hailey got to play on the grand piano at the church for her recital tonight. She was so nervous but she did really well!!!

After the recital we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. I must say Brian was very patient amongst the thousands of other cars there as well and that's not usually what I say about him when he's driving. :)