November has passed? What?! It's the middle of December?!?!,

Wow! Time is flying. November/Half-of-December highlights:

MUSIC
Temple Hill Inter-faith Choir.
I was in the Messiah this year. Our performances were December 13,14,15. I had a fantastic time singing with all those great singers! Clint came the first night, which was a sing-along. What fun!

Youth Bell Choir.
Clint is the Assistant Director for the Stake Youth Singing andBell Choir. It is great entertainment every year. The performance is at the Stake Center December 21 at 7pm. You are all invited! :0)

Ward Choir.
We are also involved in the ward choir, which has performed for Thanksgiving and will perform next week for Christmas.

Group Singing.
I was in a duet and a trio for different events the last three weeks. Looooovvvve it!

Organ Playing.
Clint is still playing the organ for Sacrament Meeting, but is only playing once a month now since more people have been called to play. He does a fantastic job up there!

THE EXCITING AND NOT-SO EXCITING
The annual Ward Building Clean-up.
Clint disinfected one of the nurseries and cleaned the gutters; I threw out old toys and organized a nursery.

Annual Primary Program.
The is always one of the highlights of the year for me. Cam sang really well. Park sang and twirled around really well. And it isn't a primary program without that one kid who makes a funny noise in the microphone after saying his part. This year, that one kid was Parker. Several people talked to us about it afterward, and told us they were glad Parker didn't disappoint their expectations of his performance. He's a silly guy and we love him!

Broken Glasses.
After several semi-successful attempts, Jace finally ripped the arm off of Parker's glasses. This is actually the second pair he's successfully destroyed in 6 months time. We've got our eye on a pair of memory, bendable-in-almost-every-direction titanium glasses. Hopefully we can get a solid 6 months out of them before The Destroyer attacks again.

Little League Sign-ups.
Cam starts his baseball season in March. He's so excited!

Three field trips for Cam's school. Two plays and one trip to tour Safeway and buy food for the Thanksgiving feast.

Cam's annual portraits are done. They look great--even with one tooth hanging by half a root and a flap of skin.

We put up the Christmas Tree!!!

Got a new niece/cousin! Congrats, Amy and Arthur on your premature, big-eyed, not-quite-4-pound beauty.

THANKSGIVING BREAK (ONE WEEK)
Built a gate for our patio.
Ahh. Nice. We have access to the world from our patio. Now we don't have to wheel our bicycles and jogger through the living room anymore.

Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA--unexplainable magnetic field causes trees to grow slanted and balls to roll upward. Very strange. Although it was pouring rain that day, we had a great time seeing the phenomenon. And thanks to Grandma Onky (two-year-old Cameron's name for Nancy) for going with us.

Feast at Grandma and Grandpa's. Mmm. That's about all I can say about that. Except maybe...Mmm.

Family Pictures. Thanks, Lisa. They are AWESOME!

FIRSTS
Jace had several "FIRSTS" the past month and a half.
1. He bows his head and squints his eyes closed for prayers.
2. He converts the faucet from a steady stream to a sprayer. This means every time we hold him up to wash his hands, he pushes the button and water bounces off his hands in all directions.
3. He climbs up on the barstool. (But that's ok, I tell myself, I'll just keep the barstools away from the counter.)
4. Ten seconds later he learns how to move the barstool anywhere he wants. So much for my plan.
5. Pretends he's a cat. He crawls around mewing and trying to crawl up on people's laps.
6. Pretends he's asleep when we tell him he looks tired.
7. He kneels for family prayer.
8. He raises his hand when I ask everyone who wants to do/eat/drink something.
9. Can take his pants and his diaper off. Sigh.
10. Can successfully crawl up on the bathroom sink and get a drink out of the faucet all by himself. This would be a good thing if the "FIRST" stopped there. It didn't. Now when he drinks then plays; then I sop up water from the counter, the rug, and the floor and then change his clothes.
11. Said, "Wuv." (Love). Ahh, sweet.
12. Said, "Uh wah moe." Obviously means he wants more food.

Parker
1.Reading is taking off. He has several books memorized word-for-word. He even reads a couple of the farm books with a cute cowboy drawl.
2. Spelled "PARK JASEN" (his almost-name). Spelled "BOT" (boat). Spelled "DOG." Go, Park!

Cam
1. Lost his other front tooth.