Christmas Day And A Happy New Year

John loves silky things.  Grace made the pillow Johnny spends his days relaxing on.  

Anne made him a silky green pillowcase that he sleeps with every night.  

Our day was spent playing marble runs, reading books, eating treats.....

Lego creations....

Watching the new movies, and checking out all the features of the new hiking backpack.

Santa brought us some awesome water bottles.

Did I say we spent the day playing Legos?

James is a Beyblade champion.  This is the toy to beat all toys this year.

Grandma Jammies arrived and we had 2nd Christmas eve on the 27th.

Aunt Susan made the kids aprons and Grace has been wearing hers while using all the kitchen utensils she was given from Anne.  Our kitchen is full of treats and our home is full of happy kids.

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The girls went ice fishing with Edwin on New Year's Day.  They had lots of fun.  They brought home fish to fry.  They had the camera....and we will all have to imagine what the pictures look like.  No photos were brought home!  Oh, well.  Here's to a New Year! 

The Day Before Christmas

John helped himself to the fresh tomatoes and apples on the counter.  He ate them both while waiting for dinner to finish cooking!

The weather turned cold and snowy so the local crews started a big job at our house.  It took them two weeks to finish the project.

We planned our annual gingerbread house party.  Our invited guests cancelled last minute due to illness so we had the neighbors come over to decorate and eat food!

James decorated sugar cookies at the Christmas Eve party we attended.

Anne enjoyed decorating cookies too.

Here are our gingerbread houses before the kids started eating them.

John was a sheep for the Nativity program we had at our Christmas Eve party.

Here are the girls in their Angel dresses.

James is the shy shepherd.

We had a wonderful day full of friends and the spirit of Christmas.  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.

We Love Gymnastics!

James is learning to do cartwheels on the balance beam.

Anne has learned to do a back walk-over on her own.

Grace is learning to do a handstand on the vault.

The kids are enjoying gymnastics and we are glad to make friends and learn fantastic tricks.

A Little Bit Is Better Than Nothing

The weather reached a high of +4 at 2pm last weekend so Edwin and the girls put up a few strands of Christmas lights.  The girls had plans to make the entire yard and house glow, but I told them they have to wait until we have a house of our own.  Without any complaint they put up their lights that they are completely happy with them. After driving around the neighborhoods to enjoy the festive lights Grace said, "A little bit is better than nothing."

One night the kids got a bit unruly, so I turned them loose in the kitchen.  Anne made chocolate chip cookies all by herself.  They were delicious.

Grace made biscuits on her own.  

We learned mom uses half the salt the recipe calls for, so we will be revising that recipe for the kids this week and try again. It was a job well done nevertheless.

Sunday afternoon we had a small herd of deer in our backyard.  The kids enjoyed watching them from the sun room.  The deer have been back a few times, but I think the electrical company that is digging around our house this week scared them off.  

Edwin had a successful ice fishing trip this weekend.  A member of our ward invited him out for the day.  The weather was a perfect 34 degrees and according to Edwin the men he went with have lots of extras that made the experience delicious and enjoyable.  There were 5 kids to 6 adults and they must have been having a good time because they stayed all day.  John and one of the kids we watched that night were entertained by watching Edwin fillet his catch so we could enjoy a scrumptious dinner Sunday after church. 

When Anne grows up I'm afraid she's going to be the old lady with 500 cats roaming around!  All she wants for Christmas is a giant fish tank and real cat.  We told her no real cats. We'll wait and see what Christmas morning brings for a fish tank.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a happy Thanksgiving. We hope you did too.