Catching up in Christmas Festivities

I thought Hema was still too young for the talk...you know, the one about Santa's helpers. But when this Santa showed up for the ward Christmas party, I knew we were in trouble. After Hema sat on his lap he said to me,"Mom I don't think that was the real Santa." I asked him why not and he commented on the strings holding his beard on and the fact that he was brown. Yeah, it wasn't the best Santa suit I've seen.

So we quickly explained how the real Santa is busy helping the elves make presents and that he was just a helper. He seemed okay with that. Whew!!!! 

Cora didn't seem to care one way or the other. I was actually surprised how well she did. She just stared up and through her eyes let him know that she wanted milk and squash and peas! 

Vela wasn't fooled though. She wouldn't even go near him. Check out her face in this picture. She just said "I want kitchen - please don't touch me Santa." At least she said please, right? 

You never know what type of Santa will be at a ward Christmas party. Our budget was slim and this guy was free. :) The party was great though. Santa, an amazing dinner Tongan style, an incredible Book of Mormon musical put on by the youth with dancing and live singing of modern songs with altered lyrics. INCREDIBLE!! Then of course a family dance. It was so much fun! 

Our kids are dancing fools! Not sure what this move is Vela is doing, but she's having fun.

Hema and Chrissy spinning around on the dance floor. 

Here's how Cora enjoyed the dance - she was asleep in the stroller by 8:15. What a trooper! 

A few days back we went and watched a guy carve an ice sculpture at Thanksgiving Point. It was really cold, but really cool. I think maybe  I liked it more than the kids did. 

Started with 2 big blocks of ice. After 45 minutes it looked like this.

The kids weren't super impressed. They seemed to like the ice cream

and reindeer a lot more! 

Here are some other random pictures of stuff we've been doing:

Drove through the lights at Thanksgiving Point.

Hema on a camel at a creche display that had live nativity animals. 

Joey, Hema and Ava with a donkey.

Our family with Joey and Ava at the Festival of Trees. The trees were incredible this year as always and even though it was really busy on Saturday evening, all the kids did great and we had a great time. We've decided we wish we had 5 kids! 

A fun Activity Days night with the girls 8-11 in our ward.

 Cute Christmas present from Hema - can't get this picture to flip.

Hema's class Christmas party.

Hema's last day of school for the year with treats and little presents!

Visiting the ever beautiful Krychele!

Uziel's 17th birthday. We went out to eat. I don't know why this picture turned out so dark but love Cora's cute smile.

And her face n this one. Hope this year is a great one for you Uziel!!!

Cora is 6 moths old. At her Dr visit she was 17 lbs 9 oz and 27 in. long. She is crawling all around now. 

I'll try and get Hema to download the video I took today. So cute!

And best of all tomorrow morning we will finalize her adoption! Hooray and Merry Christmas to us!