Christmas Eve - 2010

We had a wonderful time together as a family on Christmas Eve! Except for a couple of quick errands in the morning, we spent the whole day playing games and celebrating Jesus' birth in a variety of ways. I loved it.

In the afternoon we played pictionary.


Son L drew the word "share". Isn't this a great illustration for that word?


We had an early dinner at 5:00 and then went to the Christmas Eve service at church. This is us in front of the tree in the sanctuary.


We came home, plugged in all the Christmas lights, and listened to the Christmas story read by my husband and our daughter. Contemplative and beautiful.




Then it was time to dig into our gifts to one another!

Could this possibly be.....?

The thing at the top of my wish list......????


Yes!



Oh joy!


(rock tumbler for his rock collection)



Four happy boys with their Hero Factory figures.


I gave our daughter her first cookbook, with recipes handwritten by me, and an apron.


Art kits for the artist!



G wove me this scarf in shades of pink, green, and blue. I LOVE it and it goes with virtually everything. It's beautiful!


At the top of *my* wish list..... a digital photo frame for the kitchen counter!


And the grand finale..... after much sacrifice on the part of my husband the last two years, it thrilled me no end to be able to do this for him! (when the camera jiggles, that would be me laughing with glee!)

Lost Day

A stomach bug attacked our family the day after Christmas. It hit Little Man first (and hardest) on Sunday evening, me in the wee hours of Monday morning, and son C later that morning as well. Daughter G was hit with it in the night last night. So far my husband and sons L and G are unscathed.

Yesterday was a completely lost day. Us three (at the time) sickies slept off and on all day. By evening we were able to hold down toast and water. I am SO thankful that my husband was well and could care for C, because I was virtually comatose all day. Little Man didn't want to leave my side, so he slept beside me or laid beside me, or sat beside me all day. And my presence was about all I had to offer him! The well children watched hours and hours of PBS.

Today I feel well enough to eat more than toast and to start in on the laundry. And for that I am truly grateful!

Happy 6th Birthday Little Man!

Our sweet, stubborn, independent, adored-by-all, makes-us-smile Little Man is now SIX!! We had a birthday breakfast together as a family, and.....(drum roll please)..... notice he is sitting directly on the chair and no longer in his booster seat? FINALLY! :-) We made a big deal of him being "big enough" (read that: mature enough) to sit at the table without his booster.


After breakfast we let him open one gift.


The working drill was very popular. With all the boys. haha



In the evening we had a birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. He requested a whole roasted chicken! I was expecting hotdogs or macaroni and cheese. ;-)


We got him an "I Spy" playmat, since he loves his schoolroom playmat so much and also loves the I Spy books. It was a winner!


With presents from his WA grandparents. Thank you mom and dad! He is quite awed to have little cars and trucks that belonged to his great-grandpa! (we all are) And we LOVE the "E is for Evergreen" book.


Gifts from his other grandparents who live near us.


Afterward, we watched home movies of when he was a baby and toddler. What joy he has brought to our family since the day he was born! We love you Little Man!

Winter Fun

Is there anything better than curling up with a good book and a warm blanket on a cold day?



First snow child of the season ~ when we had only about an inch of snow!


Second snow child of the season.




Puppy chow and hot chocolate!

Co-op Christmas Fun!

Our co-op met yesterday for the last time this year. We did not have our regular classes but did Christmas baking and crafting instead. A fun time together! In between baking and crafting we had time to play and just hang out. Here's my little buddy (who just turned 4!)



Every student got to make a tray of sugar cookies.






And every student also made an ornament. Most chose to make a painted ornament, but a few made the beaded ornament hanging at the top of the photo below.


To make the painted ornaments we just poured some acrylic paint into the neck of the ornament and swirled it around inside. Super easy and they looked fantastic!





In preparation for this day I was concerned about where our tree was located, right in the doorway between the kitchen and family room, and I had a feeling it would get knocked around quite a bit. So my sweet husband MOVED the tree for me early that morning, with the ornaments on it and everything, and now it's more safely tucked away in the far corner of our family room. Yes, I know he loves me a lot! (and I love him a lot too!) We put our tree stand on a piece of plywood to keep it completely level on the carpet, and this is "relatively" easy to slide. You'll have to ask my husband for his interpretation of "relatively". :-)




Our third activity was decorating a gift bag to use this Christmas. These also turned out very cute!






Me and my buddy. :-)


How thankful we are for friends!