December

We started off the month with a visit to the Mesa temple to see their lights display. I always look forward to going each year. I love to see all the lights.

We also went with some friends to see Santa.

Abby did not want anything to do with that jolly old man. I was walking her up to him and she was resisting. Then all of a sudden, she stopped walking and sat down on the ground! So we ended up getting a family photo with Santa in order to keep everyone in the picture. Spencer did better than Abby though. He doesn't show it in the picture, but he was pretty interested in the whole idea of meeting St. Nick. He told him that he wanted blue presents and a candy cane. 

One of the aides at school took a few pictures of Abby playing in the sand one day. I think these pictures are adorable and I love that she is actually PLAYING in the sand, like she used to.

We've noticed that Abby's coordination is getting a little better. From the pictures you can see that she was able to scoop sand into the truck. At home she can easily turn single pages in books and place Connect Four checkers inside the game slots.

Spencer loved learning some Christmas songs this year. Here he is singing Jingle Bells.

And here is Abby singing Jingle Bells back in 2010. She was 2 years old. We LOVE watching this video. So do the kids.

Abby had her "Half and Half" day this month. That was the day that her life was evenly split - 2 years, 6 months, and 28 days as a normal child; and 2 years, 6 months, 28 days as a special needs child.

Because I am OCD about certain things, I figured out what this date would be a long time ago. It's just another milestone to get past. But now the scales have been tipped - Abby has officially spent the majority of her life in a broken body. I really wish someone could fix it for her. And I really, really hope that one day the scales will be tipped again so that she can spend the majority of her life in a mended body.

We all wore matching outfits to church the Sunday before Christmas.

On Christmas morning we made a big pancake breakfast and then opened presents. Abby did really well ripping off the wrapping paper. 

This was the best picture we got of 'Christmas Morning'. Neither of them look very excited, but I promise they were!

After we cleaned up, we headed down to Anthony's parents' house to spend a few days with his family. While we were there, Anthony got a call with a job offer. He was laid off back in October, so we are pretty relieved to soon have employment again.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!