Friday, December 23, 2022

December Activities

December was a busy holiday season with a lot of fun times with family. At the beginning of the month we headed to Lehi for James' baptism. We went to his baptism and had a great time supporting him. After the baptism, we went to Jen's house for food and family time. Once things slowed down and everyone's bellies were full, we went to Kari's Christmas dance recital. 
She did a great job with her little group of girls. Grandma Farnsworth and Maxwell wanted a picture of all of the grandkids while we were together.  The only ones missing from the picture are Traci's three kids. 

 Brooklyn is a very funny girl. She is obsessed with her binkies. She cannot go with out them. She made a statement one day by putting both of them in her mouth. We all laughed at her, and she thought she was so funny.

Charlotte is becoming quite a reader. She loves to read and finish the Reading For All Learners books because she gets her own book and a certificate after she reads all of the books.  She just finished level 2 the orange books.  Now she is onto the third level and the yellow books. 

Remember we entered our Red Ribbon Photo into the Red Ribbon Photo Contest?  Well we were one of the finalists and then had to get a bunch of votes to win the contest.  We sent out a bunch of emails and Facebook posts to the whole school and encouraged everyone to vote everyday of the contest voting period.  When the results came in on December 3, WE WON! 
I was so surprised when I got the email from the Red Ribbon Campaign saying we had won.  We are just a little podunk school from Utah going against schools from California and other bigger cities so I didn't think we had a chance.  We are so excited to be the winners. For winning the contest, the school won $1,000 dollars and an iPad. The PTA told us if we won, Russell could get a McGruff the Crime Dog suit to wear for Red Ribbon Week. We'll see what we actually get.

Colby participated in the school spelling bee again this year.  He worked really hard to be the top speller in his class bee which then got him a spot in the school spelling bee.  

There were 24 kids in the school spelling bee.  Colby was randomly placed as participant number 10.  This spelling bee was better for Colby than last year.  He studied really hard memorizing a ton of words.  By the end he was getting really burned out and didn't know if he really wanted to do the spelling bee anymore.  Then the day of the Bee came and he was excited and nervous again.  

Colby was happy with how he did in the spelling bee this year and was able to go four rounds or so before he missed a word.  He will always remember how to spell the word "gauge."  He was able to end in the top ten though so that is great.

This is Colby and Darma they were the two participants from his class.  Their teacher was really proud of them and made them feel like celebrities in their class.  Nice Job Colby!!

Logan had another choir concert this month.  This was his Christmas concert and he did so well.

During the concert, Logan had a cool bell part in the song "Silver Bells."  He had to play two different notes and he said it was hard but fun.  It sounded really good to me.  The choir sang a bunch of classic Christmas songs.  Logan loves being in choir especially because he is there with all of his friends.  I tried to talk him out of being in choir because I'm a great parent but he said he wanted to do it because all of his friends were there.  He loves choir.

Emily is also enjoying being on the Student Council at the middle school.  During December, they coordinated a food drive for the Cache Food Pantry and was featured in the Cache County School District news.

They did a competition in each first period class to see which class could donate the most food.  The were able to collect a lot of food for the Food Pantry.

The kids have been doing really well in their piano lessons.  Their Christmas recital allowed them to show off their talents.
The recital was held at the Blacksmith Fork Assisted Living center.  This is a fun place to perform because the residents love it but at the same time, it is really crowded and no seats.  The kids did a great job.  Each of them performed one Christmas song and a duet as well.  Emily and Logan did a duet together and Colby and I performed a duet together.  

Here are a couple funny pictures of Emily:

Emily is in the FACS (family and consumer science) club and loves it.  In this club she is learning to cook yummy treats.  This month they did Christmas sugar cookies.  The second picture is of Emily in Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth's tree.  She loves climbing this tree and bringing her book up there to read in peace.
Next Emily had her Christmas Band concert.  This concert was combine with the choir and orchestra at her school.  Emily played the bells and chimes in this concert and did a great job.  She always wonders why the band teacher always gives her the bell parts but after listening to her play in this concert, we know why he gives her these parts, she is amazing at them!  She played the parts perfectly and you could clearly hear them as well.  She still wishes she could get a drum part though.

Grandma Maxwell had a great idea of doing something for the Light the World campaign.  She encouraged all of us to collect change or money throughout the year so that we could buy a goat for someone in a third world country.
Everyone on the Maxwell side sent Grandma their money and she was able to exceed her goal and bought 2 goats!  I don't really know where the goats will be donated but I'm sure they will go to someone in need.  Grandma was so happy about this donation.

Finally Russell took the kids to the American West Heritage Center to participate in their sleigh rides and meet Santa.

I was working there this day so they were able to come see me as well. Logan and Charlotte loved seeing Santa.  Colby and Emily didn't really care, and Brooklyn wanted nothing to do with it.  When they were standing in line, they asked Brooklyn if she wanted to see Santa and she just said "No."  She was okay looking at Santa as long as Emily held her.

This has been a busy month and the holidays are getting closer.

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