Christmas 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

With two more extended family Christmas' over the next week, we celebrated our family Christmas this morning.  This year, we took the boys to the dollar store and they chose gifts for everyone else in the family AND paid for them with their own piggy bank money.  It was really fun to see them experience the joy of truly giving for the first time.  Caleb warmed our hearts by saying at least ten times "Thank you for the presents you and Dadda gave me.  I really, really like them.  How did you remember when we went to Costco and I said I liked them?"

Levi had a few Christmas snacks . . . 

 Josiah and his "helpers"

Tim looks super excited about his present.

You can almost feel the anticipation radiating from everyone.

A measuring tape!

Joel picked these out for me, hid them, and then wrapped them by himself. 

 I had no idea what he got me until today.  And yes . . . I will wear them.  :)

 Caleb got Dadda a flashlight and made him a special card

Joel lost his FIRST tooth eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

First pic without a tooth

Pirate Tim.  A good dad always demonstrates the presents first.

Josiah's gift from Joel

Worn out from eating all the wrapping paper and presents

Trying out new Leapster games

And to cap off the morning . . .relaxing and reading.  

And since you managed to make it all the way through these pics, you get to see the blooper!

An almost-dropped baby!  (And proof that we are not and will never be a perfect family :) )  

**Please note: No children were harmed during the production of this photo.**

The Warm Christmas Tree Hunt

We went out for our annual Christmas tree hunt yesterday . . . and it was the warmest weather we have ever had!  Usually, we are freezing cold, snow is on the ground, and it actually feels like Christmas should. It was another beautiful day today, and I am writing this blog with my windows open because the house is too warm.  Maybe God is saving up all the snow so we can have a White Christmas.  Enough about the weather.  Here are the pics from yesterday.

A hay ride!

 Tag-a-longs

 Phil tossed Orah into the hay pile

 We discovered that hay is nearly impossible to get out of Orah's hair. 

 Watch out - Caleb is about to attack!

Christmas 2012 Tree!

And after spending the afternoon decorating the tree with our little helpers, here is the final product.

(Please note:  we did have to alter the ornament arrangement once our helpers were not in the room so that the heavily weighted lower right side of the tree did not cause the whole tree to tip over)

Thanksgiving at Pine Cove

For Thanksgiving, we joined my family in Texas at Pine Cove for family camp.  This is our second time celebrating Thanksgiving there, and it is wonderful!  For a mom, the meal times are amazing.  How can you not love abundant food appearing before you, helpers to hold your babies, feed them, pour their drinks, cut up their food, and then walking away from the disaster that is left on and under the table?  We had worship times (aka date with husband. . . which is how I see all church services at this point in my life :) ), family devotional time, and a large variety of fun activities to keep us all busy.  The best part of spending our time there, though, is the uninterrupted family time.  Our basic needs are met, and there is no shopping or electronics to interrupt our time together.  We just enjoy each other!  

A mean game of Sorry!

Mom watching all the fun

Gingerbread house competition . . .there were some VERY competitive people (glue guns??), 

but we just made them and ate them. :)

The boys love following their big cousin around!

 Where's Caleb?  Oh, he is just sitting inside by himself demolishing

 the rock hard gingerbread house...

 Horse back riding.  With top-notch lice control (coffee filters) helmets.

 No idea what Caleb is doing.  But he looks cute and it makes me laugh.

 Zip-line!  Joel was super brave.

I need to note that Caleb and Josiah begged (and shed some tears) because they wanted to go too.  

Caleb's legs were too skinny for the harness (we will be putting him on a thigh-thickening diet),

 and Josiah was too young,  

My dad even went!

Minus the long drive, it was a wonderful week full of things to be thankful for! 

Two Little Indians

Joel and Caleb both had Thanksgiving celebrations at their schools last week.  They both made Indian feather hats, but I was unable to get a good pic of Caleb in his :(  We have much to be thankful for this year

 . . . including making it through both programs puke-free this year!  Ha!

Caleb's Homemade Place Mat

The preschoolers made their own feast - turkey roll-ups, jello, pumpkin mash, and muffins. 

Caleb was kind enough to share it with his "I'm hungry" brother.

 For some reason, I did not have any extra hands for pictures at Joel's actual school party, 

so we took some at home instead. :)

 3 of my many blessings.

On the Move

1st tumble down the stairs.  Check!  Don't worry, he stopped half-way and didn't even cry.  After several weeks of the belly flop crawl, Levi officially started crawling on all four last week.  He is fast!

Naughty baby

 Who needs a scarf when you can drape drool around your neck?

 Watch out for the Squinty Eye!  It comes with a fake fuss.