Christmas Highlights

We've had a WONDERFUL time celebrating Christmas with our family this year. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

11 Months

Yep, she's 11 months old today. No, I have no idea how that happened, either! At 11 months Lucy is so much fun. She's entertained by just about anything and when she starts fussing about something you just distract her with a new toy and she's good to go. She's babbling like crazy and is really starting to get into books. She likes to look through them and jibber jabber about who knows what! Sleep is the same and she's really beginning to eat everything in sight. She's all done with baby food and wants to eat everything we're eating. I'm still nursing her in the mornings, and she gets a formula bottle the other three times a day. She still commando crawls everywhere and just started trying to pull up on things over the past week. She's not there yet, but I imagine it will happen soon enough. She loves to be tickled and I love to hear that laugh when someone's tickling her.

Love this girl!

Anna's Version of the Nativity

I didn't realize there were so many interesting characters present at the birth of Jesus. And apparently the stable looked a little more like a castle!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Advent Activities

In previous years, we get about halfway through the Advent season and I'm kicking myself for not getting organized enough to add daily activities to our advent calendar. Not this year, though! We finally have activities and the kids LOVE it! Some of our activities are silly, some are crafty, some are service oriented, and some are just fun. Every morning at breakfast, the kids take turns putting the "characters" in the manger (we have the Fisher Price Advent calendar) and then Jack reads our activity for the day. I haven't done a great job documenting our activities in photos, but I've taken a few here and there and want to share the ones I have.

So far, 11 days into December, we have:

Made Christmas ornaments for our tree

Enjoyed hot cocoa with LOTS of marshmallows

Made Christmas pancakes - I saw such a cute idea using cookie cutters, but it was a bust here. We ended up adding red and green sprinkles and making their initials instead of Christmas shapes, but they loved it anyway!

Written letters to Santa

Made hand print wreaths

Enjoyed candy canes as a special snack (the sweettart flavored candy canes)

Volunteered with at the Salvation Army wrapping gifts for the Boys & Girls Club Christmas party

Made Christmas cards for our teachers

Watched a Christmas movie with popcorn

Bundled up to see the Christmas lights at Hopelands Gardens

And today we watched the Christmas parade

Just Because

The Christmas Play

All three of our big kids got to participate in the Christmas play at church this year. It was absolutely adorable!! Marshall had already promised them doughnuts after church if they said their lines well (we are absolutely not above bribing our kids if that's what it takes!), and while helping them get dressed I had to remind Sam about his doughnut in order for him to keep his costume on! He finally agree to wear it, though, and declared to everyone that he was a "big star," not a little star like the program states. Jack was a shepherd and Anna was an angel and they both did a great job with their lines. At the end of the play, Sam was supposed to introduce the song "Joy to the World," but I have no idea what he said into the microphone - he was still pretty cute, though!

Backstage getting ready.

Mallory, Anna, and Paige - two angels and Mary.

Lining them up onstage.

Anna saying her first set of lines.

Jack's turn.

Throughout the play, Jack had an ongoing struggle with his costume. You can see here that his sash is starting to slide down and he didn't know what to do to keep it on.

The sash finally hit the floor!

Sam and AvaGrace, his fellow little star.

And now the headpiece is gone, too!

Here's Sam saying something into the mic - something that did not sound like "Joy to the World!"

The whole crew