Christmas

Wow, I finally made it to Christmas!  December is always a very busy month with Jared’s work party, school and Church Christmas programs and many family gatherings! Jared and I also managed to sneak away for our anniversary about a week before Christmas and I’m VERY thankful the kids’ grandparents looked after them so that we could have that time together! At the Church Christmas program, Blake was an angel and Kiera was a shepherd. She was originally going to be a dancer but the Sunday School workers asked if she would switch because the shepherds had a singing part and they were a small group. The only picture I could get with Haley in her Christmas dress At the end, Haley dressed up as a sheep and joined the other kids on the stage. We accidentally missed her cue earlier in the program, so we stuck her up there at the end. Part of our community group at our Christmas party I had been eyeing the blue and white icicle lights on Target’s website since the Christmas a year before, so while we were in the States for our anniversary, we found some there!  We ended up going to 2 different Target stores in 2 different cities to buy enough sets and it was TOTALLY worth it!  We bought enough for the top part of the house, too, but it was too late in the year for Jared to tackle those, so hopefully next year he can get those up! We did our own little family Christmas on the evening of the 24th.  Every year I pull out 2 children’s books that I have put away on a shelf based on the story of Jesus and one is from the perspective of Mary that makes me tear up every time: “Tomorrow you will be king, but tonight you are my baby…” and Kiera read the stories this year. Opening up their stockings at home for the very first time, which was also one of my purchases in the States the week before She got exactly what she wanted. She has a whole bunch of those sticker books and LOVES doing them! More Lego…always brings a smile to his face! She enjoys listening to Christian kids music, so I bought her a Hillsong Kids c.d. The best stocking stuffer ever (it was Blake’s): a spider that stuck to the ceiling or wall…except that the sticky, rubbery stuff started breaking off within a few days and then it didn’t work anymore.  It was sure fun while it lasted! A special breakfast for Christmas morning Christmas at Jared’s Dad + Stepmom’s includes a small mountain of gifts every year My sister-in-law’s friend came for a visit in November and then came back again for Christmas, so it was great to have her there!  They met when they were both working in Africa, she’s from England and was going to school this past year in Texas. :) This was my niece and nephew’s first Christmas One of my favorite gifts A little tired after the gift opening marathon She’s got her typical 80’s look going on ;) Holding his little cousin Woohoo! I made it to the end of last year! Christmas was very special with the new members of our family and the fact that I had my health back…you can’t put a price on those! :D

Birthdays, a Little Trip and a Field Trip

I found some late fall, early winter pictures that I hadn’t posted. Eventually I will get to Christmas! Kiera went to a birthday party and it started at a local bakery/cafe where they got to decorate their own cupcakes. I think there was as much icing as there was cupcake! I made my first ever turkey for our Bible study group Thanksgiving potluck and it turned out!! This was Kiera’s Hello Kitty birthday party I found Jared and the kids playing Monopoly before church one morning This was Spiderman and Hello Kitty girl on Halloween Blake opening presents at his party one week after Kiera’s party I made him a Batman cake which he was quite happy with This was his favorite birthday gift…more Lego! Haley at the piano with the girl I baby-sit and it just so happened that they were wearing similar shirts (not planned) Self-soothing on a 3-hour drive The kids jungle-themed room at the hotel Some people use these for luggage, we use them to transport kids Blake taking in the water park Kiera enjoyed going on the tube slide many times Blake and Haley stuck more to this area The kids pancakes at IHOP were HUGE! You can see the effects of the sugar here They enjoyed the Christmas display in the mall I had the privilege of going on Blake’s field trip at the beginning of December. We went to a tree farm and learned about different kinds of Christmas trees. I had a group of 3 girls and 3 boys that I had to try to keep track of! There were some animals that they could see and pet There was also a hay bale structure for them to play on We got to go on a sleigh ride (Blake is on the left with a blue toque) They warmed up inside after with hot chocolate and cookies This is Blake’s class (Blake is hiding up on a bale behind the girl in the pink jacket left of his teacher) It was a cold but fun morning! More winter photos to come at some point!

Thanksgiving (It’s never too late to be thankful)

I was going to post pictures of Christmas, which I already thought was a bit pathetic since that was over 2 months ago, but then I realized I had pictures from Thanksgiving when Art, Jenene and Sophia came to visit and they haven’t even seen those pictures. I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up with this blog, but that’s ok. I post them for my own records and if they’re months late, c’est la vie. My 3 munchkins There was a house being built behind our’s last fall and the kids liked going to play on the big pile of dirt A beautiful sunrise The kids watching a movie with their cousin My most favorite picture with Art :) Jumping on the bed Sharing chips with cheese dip and being silly Trying out a sleep mask…it looks like I have a bra on my face…or I’m part alien. Art always ends up with all of the kids piled on him It was very hard to get a picture of the 2 of them…Sophia never wanted to look at the camera :) On their last day we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went to the park. Having fun on the spinning things Crazy wind hair He conquered his fear of climbing :) Looking back at these makes me smile and reminds me of happy times spent with family, so that alone is worth it to post them 5 months late. ;)