December

So here are a few pictures from December. We had lots of fun things to do and lots of places to be each week it seemed, but we survived and enjoyed the Christmas season. Enjoy the pictures.

Duncan getting ready to perform at the first of three programs for the month.
 Each year at Christmas time I take all my fiddle students to perform at the rest home & assisted living homes in the area. I also did a recital again this year. It is so fun to watch the kids work so hard to learn new songs each year and then perform them. It was especially fun because my own little man performed this year. He had only taken mandolin lessons for 6 weeks when we started performing. 

All my kids, almost :)  If you notice, Clayton is in the front row with his own fiddle.
He wanted to be included just like everyone else.

On to the annual Senior Ball.
Colby is a favorite at our house...

And then there is Barker... another favorite to say the least
These boys are pretty spoiled by all these cute girls, its hard to believe they are Seniors.

And then I had a birthday!!!  The boys gave me a new bracelet

My best little helper when it comes to unwrapping my presents...
This one was from my mom and dad

All my boys helping me blow out my candles...
I didn't mind the help:) 

Duncan insisted on making my cake. His dad is a pretty good sport and cook too!
They did a very good job.  It was delicious!
We had cake and ice cream with all of my family and Richard's parents. I had a great day.

A quick picture of the family
 It is kind of crazy that Richard has celebrated every birthday with me since my "sweet 16"
How time flys when you are still having fun, 16 years later :)

And the little man with grandpa and grandma

And then we had to stop and see Santa at Greenline

All the boys with Santa

I was "on-call" at work so I snuck in for a few minutes and even got a picture with him

This one just wanted to make sure Santa knew which tractors he wanted

His classic wave

We went to dinner at Tucanos in the Riverwoods with Richard's family and took a wagon ride before dinner.
The boys also saw Santa there and we had a fun night with lots and lots of good food. We like meat at our house so Tucanos is always a fun place to go eat.
We also had another fun party with my family eating dinner, exchanging gifts and face timing the Howarth's in Boston.
We had all sorts of fun leading up to Christmas, hope you did too!