Gift's from Italy

We were all so excited and totally surprised by all the gifts and the yummy goodies we received from Silvio and his family!

Cynzia sent all of our favorite cookies and some delicious chocolates.  They also send each and everyone of us a Christmas present.  Our hearts are full of appreciation!  We feel so touched that Silvio and his parents would be so generous with our family.

Ella is loving on the chocolate teddy bears!  Just wait till she finds out she can eat them!  She seriously carried them around all day, taking care of them!  It was so cute!

Thank you so much!  Part of our heart lives in Italy for sure!

First Ever Cluff Family Nativity

This was the first year we tried doing a nativity.  Kaely, Kiersten and Cambry all helps choreograph it.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

It was so touching, I cried through it.  The kids were all so reverent.  It was a Christmas miracle!

The kids all walked in following Mary and Joseph.  We had angels, wisemen, shepherds, sheep and even a donkey.  The angels performed a little dance.  It was all so perfect!

I am pretty sure this will be a tradition we continue.

I sure love this family!

Christmas Dance Recital

Oh how it doesn't quite feel like Christmas until we go to the kids dance recitals.

All the kids, except Ella, were in the recitals.  They all did an amazing job!  I smiled from ear to ear watching the kids perform on stage.  Ella loved watching the kids as well.  She made it through one recital but I got a babysitter for the senior show because I didn't want to push our luck with Ella.

Mona was really impressed with all the dancing and how well the kids did.  Mona loves dance as well.  She even took a dance class at the high school and loved it!

So proud of all these kids!  They are amazing!

Missionary Lessons with Mona

We asked Mona if she would be interested in having the missionary discussions to learn more about our church and she was thrilled!

We had some great lessons with the Elders.  It was a neat experience for our other kids to be a part of as well.  I know that Mona loved all the attention she got and that one night a week was all about her. She is a wonderful daughter of God and it was fun to be a short part of her journey.

This particular lesson on Heavenly Father's plan of salvation was one of our favorites.  

We hope Mona takes home with her a better understanding of Heavenly Father's plan and love for her.  

German Tradition

On the night of December 5th Mona had all the kids clean their shoes off and leave them by the front door.

The next day December 6th is St. Nicholas Day.  The kids were all super excited to see what they'd find in their shoes the following morning.

We all woke to our shoes being filled with candy.  Some was even authentic candy from Germany.

Ella is pretty fond of this tradition.

It was fun to learn something about Germany and Mona's traditions.  

Tree Decorating

I love our tradition of the kids decorating their own Christmas trees how ever they want.

I hope they never out grow this tradition!

Grant's shirt tells the truth.... Don't grow up it's a trap!

I love that Kiersten still enjoys this tradition.  

Mona really enjoyed decorating her own tree in her room.  She had two cute little "helpers."

Logan loves looking at the ornaments he has collected and made over the years.

I love seeing the fun side of Mona as Christmas is approaching.  When she is able to chill out and let loose, she is a ton of fun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around this place....

And I LOVE IT!

Minute to Win It Birthday Party

Logan decided he wanted to have a Minute to Win it birthday party.  It ended up being the perfect party for a group of 10 year old boys!

Game supplies were easy enough...

The prizes were easy too.

Jace, Grant, Ryker, Logan Skinner, Colton, Rhett and Logan

The boys all loved that they got to make their own pizza.  I had planned to let them roll out their own dough.  But after I pictured how that could go with this group of boys I decided premade pizza crusts would be best.

They did have fun making their own pizzas even more then I had imagined.

Rhett and Logan Skinner battling against each other.

Logan killed it at this game.  Blow up a ballon and then use the air to blow off the solo cups.  I loved watching the other boys cheer for each other!

Marshmellow toss...

It was a fun yet simple birthday party!

Logan enjoyed it and that is all that matters!  This was a fun group of boys so that made the party even better!

Happy birthday Logan!