Welcome, December

Our first FHE in December was dedicated to decorating the family room and tree for Christmas. We pulled out all the lights, stockings, nativities and pictures and lovingly placed them around the room.  We were lacking in snow outside (for another day or two) so we cut out beautiful paper snowflakes to put in the window.  Erika, Nathan and Hyrum also drew and cut out snowmen.
 

We had our annual popcorn stringing contest which always, always ends up in a popcorn fight.

The popcorn mess usually becomes a vacuum party.  It's the only time of year that they fight over the vacuum.

Oliver thought we had decorated just for him.  His favorite napping spot was under the tree where he could play with ornaments and lights.  After a couple of days we realized he was eating all the popcorn off of the bottom strand of our popcorn string.

By mid December both cats were banned from the house due to their refusal to go outside to do their business.  The first few weeks were torture for the cats (who meowed at the door and snuck in at every possible chance), for the kids (who thought the poor cats were going to die living outside) and for me (because I had to deny those fluffy little faces and console my concerned kids).

* February update: We are still a cat free home with our feline guardians settled into a nice outdoor routine.  It is wonderful having a cat hair free home again and the bathroom sinks are once again used for washing hands instead of a watering trough for our spoiled, picky pets. The biggest difference is that Sierra no longer has to take allergy meds just to hang out at our house.  We've vacuumed, dusted and washed pillows and throw blankets enough that her cat allergies no longer flare up while she is here.

Once the snow showed up the boys (little and big) began bundling for outdoor play.  Nathan, Hryum and Brock (next door neighbor friend) spent many hours playing in snow.

A nice advantage to having acre lots that run together without fences is being able to sled behind the four wheeler.
 
Derek, Chris and Jacob decided to build a snow fort with the wet pack snow.  They began by using the snow blade on the four wheeler to push the snow all together in the center of the yard.

Then they started hollowing out the center while also spraying the outside with water so that it would freeze over.  They intended to eventually spend the night in their fort but within a matter of days the sun had ruined that idea.  By the time the weekend came their fort was already caving in.