December, pre-Christmas :)

 Welcome, December! 
The kids and I put up our Christmas tree ornaments at the beginning of the month.  All I did was unpack ornaments as quick as I could while the kids furiously hung them. It was a fun race, I'll tell you! Whew!
They're all done! Time to step back and admire the work. :) hehe!

 
Eliza helped me cut out gingerbread cookies to give to some friends for Christmas.

Here is Ben playing two Christmas pieces at his Christmas Piano Recital at his teacher Anona Davis' house. (Anona is my good friend.) Jed took the video with his iPhone, so it's okay quality.


Sammy giving Charlotte a bottle before bed. Although I nurse her, she usually takes an extra bottle before bed so she'll last through the night. She sleeps 11+ hours every night - 7:30pm to 7am. It's a beautiful thing. 

 Lovely baby! She is 7 1/2 months old.

 Eliza and Sam playing together.

 Like I said in the last post, Sam loves to do anything with Eliza, even have a tea party!

For awhile, Ben was doing his hair like this every morning. He said he liked it because it looked like Joseph Smith's hair. He was particular about the lock of hair coming forward on his temple. And then he slicked the front across. He liked how it made him look like Joseph Smith. Pretty cute!

Jed and I flew to yet another interview from December 5-7 while his mom, Michel, took care of our kids. (Thank you, Michel!) This time we went to Quincy, Illinois. It is the only interview I have pictures of. That's because we took this teeny-tiny plane from Minneapolis to Quincy, and I just HAD to have a picture of it. It is the smallest commercial plane I've ever been in. (Jed and I have flown in a smaller personal airplane, but that is just different.) Anyway, this was like a flying minivan: 6 passenger seats. The pilot was sitting RIGHT there in front of us. I could have reached over and jiggled his controls and pushed a few buttons. They would have been in trouble if I was a Crazy. :) In fact, when I went to get in, the airport attendant told me to get into the co-pilot chair. I thought she was kidding, but in fact she was serious because they try to fill the front seats before the back ones, to keep the weight near the front. I asked the pilot if I HAD to, and he said I didn't, so I opted to sit next to Jed just behind the co-pilot chair. Although it would have been interesting to sit next to the pilot with all the controls right in front of me, I preferred the company of my husband; besides, it was even more squished in the co-pilot chair. :)  Anyway, it was a fun ride! Very loud inside, but we still chatted with the friendly Quincy residents the whole way there. On the way home, I took some pictures.

 (Jed sitting behind the pilot on the way home.)

 Our Quincy interview went great, and they offered us the job.  That made four offers on the table, and of all of them we felt like Quincy was where our family was supposed to go. We felt really good about it and accepted the position! So we will be moving to Quincy, Illinois, at the end of June for our first 'job'! Yay!  It's super exciting, although I will miss my beloved Michigan.

Well, that's my post for today! And I'll end with a cherry on top!