Merry Christmas 2014

Ushering in the Season

We had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus this year.  The kids participated in their Christmas program at church....

 

 We went to the local Christmas parade to support our friends.

 We went Christmas caroling...

  We decorated the tree...

And all before leaving for Oregon on the 19th.  It was a busy but fun couple of weeks.

Have a blessed Christmas everyone. 

Happy New Years

May 2012 find you so blessed that your cup runs over and you have to drink from your saucer.

Merry Christmas

I found this song through and friend and although I like Mercy Me very much, hadn't heard this song before. It's called "Joseph's Lullaby". I LOVE IT. Merry Christmas my friends.

Joseph's Lullaby

The Polar Express

We were delighted last May when Nana suggested that we go on the Polar Express this winter to see Santa before Christmas. It was a great idea for a Christmas gift. We got to look forward to the event all year and when the day finally arrived we were filled with anticipation...
Thank you Nana and Grandpa for the fun time and wonderful memories.

Playgroup Party

Last week we had our Christmas party for the playgroup where we live. We were supposed to wear pajamas but we were headed straight from there to the zoo for the zoo lights so we wore holiday outfits instead. Everyone brought a potluck dish, we decorated sugar cookies, sang carols, played games, did crafts and had a nice morning with our friends. Here's some highlights:

Christmas with Nana

At some point on Christmas morning we headed over to Nana's house to visit with her, Grandpa, Great-grandma Tanyon, Great-grandpa Tanyon, Uncle Brian, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Nancy, Cousins Kyle, Jessica & Catie. Although I didn't get any shots of gift-opening (those were all taken with Grandpa's camera) here's some highlights of the rest of our day:

Good Morning

We had a fun Christmas Morning and hope you all did as well. Here's some highlights from ours.

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Hope your stockings, hearts, and glasses are full~

Cookies for Santa

We had a very cute experience tonight, leaving cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and water for the reindeer. My sweetheart wrote out a little note for the big guy in red while her brother stood watch over the cookies so that Daddy didn't swoop in and snatch one. Although her letters aren't exactly perfect yet, she did the whole note without Mommy helping one bit (well, except to spell most of the words of course). Both kiddos signed their names, with the little one needing some help, and we left them on the coffee table by the fireplace. This is definitely one for the scrapbook.

Visiting family

We went up on the train to visit with our family this last Friday and had a very fun time riding with the kids on the train. We didn't have long to visit but enjoy seeing them when we can. The kids really love their Aunt & Uncle and got to open their Christmas presents early which always scores some good points. They got some great books read to them on digital copy and each got an occupational set. Our little girl is now practicing to be a doctor (seen here with her patient, Aunt Goldie) and our little guy has his own contractor tools and belt to hold them like his daddy. They both loved their gifts (as did we) and look forward to getting to see their Aunt & Uncle again soon.

Trimming the Tree

We spent the afternoon and evening last night decorating our Christmas tree. The kids were all excited about helping out. Our little ballerina kept dancing around it like she was putting on some kind of arbor serenade. The highlight for her though was getting to put the Jesus star on top. Sharing the tree trimming duties with the kids is one of my favorite traditions. What a wonderful way to celebrate the season.

Wrapping it Up

Daddy gave me some time to finish up a little client work last weekend when he showed the kiddos how to wrap Christmas presents. His little girl helped by getting the boxes and tags, her brother was in charge of bows and tissue,And daddy? Well, he was in charge of making the rest of the mess! So here's my disclaimer folks, Mommy didn't wrap those presents so cut the kids some slack.

Kids Christmas List

It's that time of year again, when I get multiple emails and phone calls asking what the kids (and we) would like for Christmas. It has been an ongoing effort to convince people that we prefer their company and time to presents. I completely understand that for many people, the time is much harder to part with though. So here's my idea for a Christmas gift for the kids that they will enjoy and keep forever:

You've got 30 days before Christmas. This shouldn't take you long at all. Go to your favorite book store, library or thrift shop and find your favorite children's book. Get a tape, CD or DVD and record yourself reading the book to the kids. You could do this with a video camera, tape recorder, computer, or whatever. I can convert any media you get the reading onto so that the kids will be able to have it forever. If you would like, you can include the book with the media as part of the gift but the media itself (audio and/or video) is the truly valuable part of the idea. I would like to make a compilation of as many various friends and family reading stories to them as possible. Ultimately I would like to put them all onto a single disc for the kids to keep. Perhaps someday you'll be reading it to their grandkids!

Christmas in January

Somebody has GOT to tell those roses at Great-Grandma's house that it's JANUARY. It's just not natural I tell you. Other than that peculiar observation, the day with Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa turned out out very nice. Even though we couldn't make it for the huge gathering in December, there were still eleven people there. We had some snacks, a yummy dinner and got to open presents again (always a hit with the kids). Our little girl had a fun time being the one to hand out gifts and even managed to carry one to her uncle that was twice her size. These were my two favorite pictures from the day. The rest are in the smilebox photoalbum.
So it seems we've finally finished our Christmas celebration....just in time for planning our annual valentines day trip.

New Camera

Our little girl got a camera for Christmas from Nana & Grandpa. Although there's quite a learning curve, she's figuring out that the camera takes a minute to actually get the shot and you've got to hold your hands rather still or the shot is blurry. Still, of about 100 shots, 30 or so turned out so that's not a bad ratio for a beginner I figure. You have to take into account that family (cousins mostly) and friends helped her take some shots too. All the same, there's 30 pictures I wouldn't have otherwise had. It kind of gives you an inside look into her world when you look them over, which is neat.
PS~thanks to Daddy, I have a new camera too so even though my new one is waterproof and shock (translate-drop) proof, I'm extra happy my 2-year-old has her own now.

Not enough time in my day & 2 IOUs

There are several times that I wish I could freeze time so that several thing I want to do could all get done in time. Yesterday I wanted to go ATV riding with my hubby (he wanted to take the day off work) but since we just had a week off for Christmas, I convinced him that we really couldn't afford another day off. Then last night we were listening to music during dinner and heard Tim McGraw's new song (I didn't catch the name) that had some lyric about lots of people working graveyard that didn't have time to die...or something to that effect. Basically, from what we could tell, it was about choosing the right things in life to live for and work isn't one of them. We both liked the song and hubby looked at me and said "I bet HE would have gone 4-bying with me"....I was already sad for missing out on riding with my hubby and the little stinker just rubbed it in. Sweetheart, I owe you a day of just us, riding around together.

A few days ago it also happened. We were leaving at 2AM the next day to fly home. There were WAY too many packages to fit into our suitcases and I realized I would have to send something home instead of trying to get it on the airplane. I also needed to exchange a couple gifts for my nieces and try to find a package that had been held up arriving due to the storms. I couldn't do any of those things prior to that since the storms had made traveling for me virtually impossible. Unfortunately, I had already made plans to have lunch with a few friends and my brother at his favorite locally owned pizza place before he flew out that afternoon back to his house. So I was left with these two options:
1-exchange gifts for three nieces, get my package, send my other package, and reschedule for dinner with friends but miss out on lunch with my brother
OR
2-lunch with brother & friends but not get nieces gifts exchanged, lose my package and deal with paying for another $50 piece of luggage and toting it around the airport with all of our other stuff.

I chose to miss out on lunch with my brother and he was, to say the least, very bent out of shape about it. I did get everything else done, but wish there had been some way to get all things done that I had wanted to that day. Although I know he was mad when he left, I gave him a hug and told him I hoped he got home safely and he (I think reluctantly) hugged me back and said "see you later".

Little bro (okay "younger", not "littler"), I owe you lunch at your favorite locally owned pizza place next time we're there together. It'll be my priority. Sorry I missed out on it with you.
Love, your older, but not bigger sister

Christmas Day

We're finally back from our trip up north and although we had a really fun time, it's nice to be back home. We hope you all had as much fun as we did over the holidays.

Merry Christmas Everyone
from our family to yours