Christmas Traditions

While last year we had at least three different "cookie decorating" parties, this year we didn't have a single one, although we had plenty of treats to eat! We ended up making our cookies for Santa two days before Christmas, just for tradition sake!

Somehow we always manage to pull together our Christmas outfits, and this year was really last minute! A friend even had to pick Leah up a dress at the mall for us when the one I ordered didn't fit. It was close! We pulled it together and managed to take some great Christmas Eve photos by our tree.

This particular 4-year-old was extremely excited about Christmas and was very wiggly. I don't know how this picture ended up not blurry, but it may be the only one!

Abi and Leah both had a stomach virus on Christmas Eve and the day before. They were still feeling a bit queasy for the Christmas Eve service at church, so the smiles may be a bit forced. It's no fun being sick when there's so many good treats to eat and fun things to do, but thankfully they were both feeling okay on Christmas Day.

 I sang with the choir at the Christmas Eve service again this year, but managed to steal a few photos
of the kids singing. Even Jacob got to participate this year-- he may not have sung (at least not on the stage-- he sang the songs at home!) but he stood there and looked cute with his hands down his pants. :)

Christmas Time is Near...

This year it seems like we cut back on a lot of our usual Christmas "busy" ness in order to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Both Andrew and Leah have discovered the truth about Santa and that makes it easier to spend less time doing secular Christmas traditions and more time focusing on Christ. We still had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.

We love going to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. We have been to the same tree farm for years now. Funny story: this year we got there about an hour before they opened. When we pulled up we saw a bunch of cars, including a news truck. They let us still look at the trees, but later we found out that the governor of Vermont was there at that time picking out a tree for the State House (yes, the farm is 3 hours south of the capital-- it must be that good!). We didn't see him, but it was still exciting that we were in the same place.

We got our tree home and had our snack lunch with pizza dip and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas while we decorated.

Jacob was excited he found a stocking with his name on it. He has really gotten in to the Christmas spirit this year!

And the finished product!

Everyone got new Christmas jammies and we put them on to watch The Polar Express with hot chocolate. (Why does it seem like many of our traditions are centered around movies? :)

Not Christmas-related, but the reason we didn't go see Santa come in to town on the 1st Saturday of December like we usually do: Andrew got his high red belt in taekwando. This is the last belt color before black, which he is on track to get this year in June!

We went with the kids from AWANA at church to go caroling at a few area nursing homes. The kids love it and I think the residents enjoy it, although we usually only stay a few minutes. At least the staff always seem very appreciative and we get lots of smiles.

We were given, as a gift, some tickets to go see the movie Frozen 2 when it came to Middlebury. Leah, especially was so excited, but everyone else was too. We even got free popcorn. It is a rare treat, since movies are so expensive! We happened to go when Santa was there, so we got a quick photo. No one was crying! They didn't really sit with him, either, but at least we saw him.

After Jacob finished his two giant bowls of popcorn, he declared, "I'm bored" and proceeded to get up and play with his toy cars. There were a few other people in the theater, but he was quiet enough and we were in the front row, so he didn't seem to bother anyone. Everyone else loved the movie-- including mom & dad!

This year we found a gingerbread kit that made an entire town. It had four smaller houses, so each of the kids could make their own. We always build them ahead of time so all they have to do is choose what candy they want to put on it. Their goal is usually to put as much candy on as they can, and then eat the rest!

Snowy November

We had an especially cold & blustery November this year. I think schools were closed at least twice and we missed a couple activities due to snowy road conditions. Of course the kids are always excited to get out in it, at least the first few times. This year even Jacob enjoys it! And he'll go out without me there! He might even enjoy it the most out of all the kids.

Besides snow, we also celebrated Brett's birthday in November. He wanted a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. I took the challenge and it was amazing!

 And of course, our annual Thanksgiving dinner at home around our own table. Brett cooked a delicious turkey again as we watched the parade and played games. We like to keep it low key!

Abigail's 7th Birthday

Always marching to the beat of her own drum, always doing things on her own timing, determined, sensitive, silly, and sometimes sassy-- these are all words to describe the newly 7-year-old Abigail. Abi is sometimes strong-willed but is learning how to use that to become more independent and do things that need to get done. She loves to help out around the house and often does chores without me asking. She often has a hard time getting along with her brothers & sisters because she knows exactly what she wants and they don't always want to do things her way! She gets along great with her friends, though, because she has such a big heart and wants to please them.

She hates doing schoolwork most of the time, though, and struggles with reading. It doesn't come easily for her and its the one thing she really wants to do but can't stand to keep trying. She is extremely talented athletically though and can do a headstand like no kid I've ever seen! She out-runs any of her siblings and could do a string of 50 cartwheels if asked! She loves her daddy and wants him to be her "hunny bun." She loves to play games and play outside, even when no one else wants to play with her!

She loves fashion and putting together her own outfits. She loves baby dolls and getting them dressed, and she loves her LOL dolls (small little dolls that you can collect). She's still into princesses and asked for a mermaid cake for her birthday this year, specifically Ariel. She had her two favorite friends, Becca and Mackenzie over for a sleepover and they did actually sleep!