December is a busy month for everyone and it was no different for us at the Monsen house! In fact, our month took off running--
On December 2, Brian started out the morning with a half marathon, totally killing it and taking first place in his age division!
And that night we headed downtown for a fun run at Zilker Park through the trail of lights.
The Hatches organized it all and we did it with them, the Cochrans and Polsons and we had a really fun night!
We didn't all stay together for the whole race because there were SO MANY people, but the boys were great to stop halfway through so we could get some pictures with the lights.
Here's the whole group!
So glad we could have such a fun night with all these fun people!
The next day, Sunday, we finally made our way to Burnet, about 45 minutes from our house, to be taken back in time to Bethlehem when the Savior was born. We have heard about it ever since we moved here, but it just hasn't worked out and we haven't dared to stand in the 1-2 hour line to get in. We knew we had to do it before we move, so Todd and Kelsie met us there and after a 1.5 hour wait (well worth it), we made it in!
Just waiting patiently in line.
It was light when we got there and dark before we headed in.
When we finally got in, we had so much fun asking questions to the actors (who always stayed in character) and checking out cool things they did back then.
And all of those cool, historical things led to this-
A sweet babe lying in a manger under a bright star.
It was such a beautiful, special night that I am so glad we took the time and effort to do. I am so grateful for our Savior and am so glad we are blessed with the time of year to celebrate his birth, life and mission. I hope experiences like these and traditions we make in our family help our kids to love and appreciate this time of year every year!
Not totally sure when we put our Christmas decor up, it kind of happened in shifts, but we made it happen and it has felt all sorts of Christmassey and cozy around here since!
As per tradition, I didn't touch a single ornament to put on the tree. I don't particularly like or care to decorate it and Brian does the best job and is most patient with the kids, so it just works out! I love him. And clearly our kids do too.
We had a lot of Christmas fun with the Dukes! Kristen had a super fun Christmas party the first weekend of December. It's always a blast to get together with just girls and have fun. She also hosted the Book Club Christmas party and it was a total blast, too! A few of us stayed late and talked and it was a lot of fun! She is the best hostess.
She also hosted an amazing Christmas lunch for me, Nicole and Cherie one day while the kids were at school. Nicole and Peter Gustafson moved to Austin in August and we still hadn't seen them! What?! We were really good friends with them in Connecticut and we kept saying on social media that we wanted to get together, but it never happened. Well, Nicole's cousin, Cherie, and Kristen have been good friends for a while and it all connected and Kristen brought us together and we had such a fun afternoon at her house! I love that girl and how much she cares and does for others!
The next thing with the Dukes was heading to Pflugerville to check out a nativity display at a church there. Brian was out of town and Kristen's boys weren't too excited about going, so we headed together and had a really good time!
Kristen and I were in charge of the photo backdrop and activity for the ward Christmas party and had fun creating this (I mostly just did what she said, she is the creative genius!).
Thad totally clicked with Old St. Nick!
I asked him what he asked for and he said, "Mom, we didn't talk about that, it was Preston Miller." I got a good chuckle out of that.
Wes and Dad weren't able to make it to the ward party because Wes got pretty sick, but he did tag along with dad and Uncle Todd to their cousin Mac's wedding reception-
Brian gave him cough medicine before they left and didn't realize it was "nighttime" cough syrup.
He was a little out of it, but a good sport AS ALWAYS!
He actually started acting sick on the night of our awesome Star Wars day with the Hatch/Cochran/Polson clan. Audrey bought us all tickets back in September so we had been looking forward to December 15 for a while to go and see Episode 8: The Last Jedi. The boys were the most excited about getting out of school early, but we really did have an awesome time with everyone!
Thad and Houston had matching shirts and masks and they had fun sitting by each other!
Wes wasn't doing so hot at this point, but he insisted on staying and loved stealing this giant bottle of fruit punch from one of his friends!
Not totally sure what Eve ended up with, but she just loved opening presents!
The following week was a little rough with sick kids-
BUT we made it through and the biggest thing we accomplished that week was finishing 35 Weird Beards for Thad's economics fair at school.
There couldn't have been a worse time to do these fun little guys, but I was so proud of our team work to get it done! We got a late start because Thad didn't really know what he wanted to do so when he turned in his idea packet we decided he would make kinetic sand. Well, when his sample was due, we realized it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be and it didn't work like Pinterest said it would! Luckily he went to a workshop for Destination Imagination and learned to make these beards out of yarn!
This yellow one was his creation from the workshop, but he wore it ALL WEEKEND after he made it and I didn't think anything of it until Monday morning and said, "Thad, why don't we make these for the economics fair?!" He jumped right on board and that day he came home from school and we made a plan to get several made before the fair.
You can kind of see some painters tape on the table in the back, but there were several pieces stuck to the table for about 10 days so we could cut the lengths of the yarn easily. We brought in the picnic table and I hammered a couple nails into it so that Thad could hook the braided piece on the nails and tie on the hanging beard pieces. He was so diligent and tried to make five each day. I tried to have the braided pieces done so he could tie on and it worked like a charm. The only thing that would have been better was if we made more!! He sold out quick and everyone loved them!
He chose the faces and everything for the tag. Such a fun project during a busy time of year!
Eve and I went to show moral support and had lunch with Wes after checking out everything that was for sale. Wes showed his support by purchasing a beard and they both loved wearing them after school!
Unfortunately Thad came down with a fever after school that day and was down for quite a few days. He was super bummed that he had to miss his school party, and I was sad for him, but I was so glad he made the economics fair. I did get to go to the school and have some fun with Wes at his party-
Wes sat on my lap and gave me 100 hugs and I loved it. Kindergartners are much more affectionate than 3rd graders!
This is what our house looked like a lot the weekend before Christmas.
Eve never came down with it as bad as the boys, but she wasn't herself for a bit and we found that blankets, TV and sleep make just about anything better.
A couple nights before school got out for the break, Brian and I were able to meet up with Ben and Shannon downtown for a delicious, fancy dinner and then to see James McMurtry at the Continental Club.
I love that we made friends with these two awesome people during our five years here! They are definitely friends for life!
Another MAJOR thing that happened this month was that Brian went to accounting academic recruiting conference in Miami. It's kind of a big deal. He ended up with 6 or 7 interviews with really good schools (it was quite stressful getting to that point), and from that has 3 fly out interviews to Indiana University, University of Wisconsin and Ohio State University that will take place in January.
The whole application and recruiting process has been pretty intense, but I know it will all be worth it in the end! Brian has worked incredibly hard the past five years and I am so excited to see where his career path takes us again. So scary, but SO EXCITING!
And a couple random pictures to end this novel of a post:
The weather was amazing for most of the month! Sometimes too warm, but I love sending the boys to school in shorts and scooters as much as I can!
And Eve always has to join on her Elsa bike to say goodbye.
These boys love their daddy-
We headed to the "Elfvis" house in Walsh Ranch when Brian was in Miami and had a blast checking out the impressive light show. We did this after delivering a lot of Christmas cards and treats to neighbors and the boys loved ringing the doorbell and running so we actually got done in really good time!
And my favorite thing...
Brian got me a new phone for Christmas! Here are some funny shots of him trying it out, but I totally love it! He couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to me and I loved having it for several of things we had the week before Christmas. This guy gets me.
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