Christmas 2010

I realized that I have yet to blog about our recent Christmas celebrations, so here I am, a couple weeks late. The weekend before Christmas, we had our own little family Christmas morning here at our house, since we would be gone on Christmas morning. I made our traditional Christmas breakfast, biscuits and gravy. The kids received one gift from Jared and I - a children's table and chairs set that we thought would be too large to take over the mountains and back - and we all opened our gifts from my side of the family (they had sent them with us when we came home from Thanksgiving). The rest of our day was just a normal Saturday.

The night before Christmas Eve, we packed into our car and drove over the mountains to stay with Jared's family. Jared's sister and her family were staying there, too, and it was lots of fun for Ellie and Parker to play with their cousin, Kya. We were also able to see Jared's other sister every day while we were there. On Christmas Eve Jared went hunting then came back and joined the rest of us at the Christmas Eve service. Then was the living nativity - Ellie and I were angels this year. Then we went back to the house for a late dinner and the opening of most of the gifts. It was a great time, and the kids were all so excited and entertaining!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened stockings, and our family opened the rest of our presents. Then we got ready for a Christmas dinner up at Jared's grandma's house, with extended family. We were able to stay one more day after Christmas (Jared hunted again that day), and then we made the drive back home the next morning. It was such a fun Christmas! It was wonderful to see family, to play in the snow, to enjoy time spent together!

Ellie and me before the living nativity

Parker and Ellie in their new Christmas p.j.s on Christmas Eve

The kids looking for the "pickle" on Christmas morning

Ellie and Parker in their Christmas best!

The kids had a blast tubing down the snowy hill!

A Year Full of Blessings

As 2010 comes to an end, I am reminded of what a wonderful year this has been. It has been a year full of changes. And a year that I am so thankful for. I am thankful for the good health of my family and myself. I am thankful for the provisions and mercy of a loving God. I am thankful for extended family, for time spent and memories made. I am thankful for wonderful friends, both old and new. I am thankful for a loving church family. I am thankful for good neighbors. I am thankful for Jared's job. I am thankful for our house. I am thankful for time with my family. I am thankful that for another year that I was able to stay home and raise my children. I am thankful for the most amazing husband, who I can see becoming more like Christ with each passing year. I am thankful for two beautiful children, who challenge me and teach me, who make me laugh and sometimes make me cry, who bring so much joy to my life. Wow! I don't know what 2011 has in store, but I am excited to see the blessings to come. I hope you have had a wonderful year, and know that you are one of the blessings in my life!

My Little Lamb!

This past Sunday Ellie was in the Christmas program at church. She, with all the other preschoolers, was an animal in Bethlehem. She was a sheep, and was so cute! When she came into the sanctuary and saw Jared and me, she ran up to us and gave us a big hug. Then she ran up on stage. She sang and baa-ed, and even danced around the stage (not in the script, but she's GREAT at improv)! At first she seemed a little shy and nervous, but once she was up there for a few minutes I think she learned to really enjoy the spotlight! It was so much fun to watch her, and Jared and I were so proud of her!

Parker and Ellie, all dressed up for Christmas Sunday

Ellie is the little blue one with sheep ears!

This was her face when she saw us in the sanctuary! Such excitement!

The reason!

Christmas is my favorite holiday! I love the fun traditions that our family holds dear. I love baking cookies, making homemade candy, making crafts, giving gifts, eating yummy food, decorating our house, making gingerbread houses with the kids, and so much more. But the thing I love the most is remembering why we celebrate this day. And teaching that to my kids. I love reading them stories of Christ's birth, and teaching them why Jesus was born - to save us from our sins so that one day we can be with Him in Heaven. I love teaching them Bible verses about the birth of our Savior. I love quizzing them each day and seeing just how much they know about Christ, and then letting them open their advent door for the day. I love teaching them that although we are blessed with so many great gifts, our most wonderful gift is Jesus. I love that they have such giving hearts, and love to give gifts and make things for people. I love how thankful my kids are for all their many gifts and that they enjoy thanking God for all He's done for us and given us. I have so many wonderful memories of Christmases past, and I know that my children are building memories now that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. And the biggest thing I want them to remember is how very much their Savior loves them, that He would send His only son down to earth as a baby, to grow and then die on the cross as the sacrifice for a world of sin. And THAT'S a reason to celebrate this season!

The kids with our Christmas tree

The kids had a great time making gingerbread houses!

This was Parker's first year making one, and of course he ate LOTS of the candy!

The finished product!

"Yay, Mom! I did it!"

Wow! She's 4 years old!

This past week we celebrated Ellie's 4th birthday. On Wednesday (her actual birthday) we went to Olive Garden for dinner (Ellie's favorite restaurant). Then we had her birthday party on Sunday. Ellie's really into Hello Kitty right now, and that's the theme she wanted for her party. It was a lot of fun! It was our first birthday party in our new house. I made and decorated her cake on Saturday. Then we decorated the house. It turned out really cute! At her party the kids made Hello Kitty Christmas ornaments, ate cake and ice cream, opened goody bags, did a pinata, and then Ellie opened her presents. She was super blessed with great friends and lots of fun gifts!

We've had a fun and busy past few days, and I plan on writing all about them in the next couple days. For now, I'm going to go snuggle with my handsome hubby and watch a movie!

Ellie and her good friend, Ciara.

Thanksgiving

This past Tuesday night we travelled down to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We had a good drive, with minimal traffic, and arrived around midnight at my mom's house. We had a great few days with my family. Thanksgiving is usually at my mom's house, and this year we gathered at my brother and sister-in-law's new house, right next door to my mom's house. It was really fun seeing so many family members (I think there were around 30-35). The food was delicious,of course. We even had home-raised turkey, which my brother and sister-in-law had raised this year. We all stuffed ourselves, and then returned to my mom's house to look at the ads and form a game-plan for Black Friday.

My niece, Sara, and I decided to take a short nap on Thursday night, and then we got up at 12:30 to begin our shopping. We went to Walmart, Target (although we didn't actually go in Target because after waiting outside for an hour I found out that all the tickets for the tv I wanted were already gone), Shopko, Fred Meyer, Kmart, and JC Penney. Sara and I went to Walmart and Target, then met some of our family at Shopko, and later we met with the rest of the family for breakfast, before doing the rest of our shopping. Jared and I got almost all our Christmas shopping done, and all of our shopping done for Ellie's birthday. And we found some awesome deals! I don't usually like crowds very much, but I love Black Friday shopping! It's one of my favorite days of the year!

We rested on Friday afternoon, and enjoyed the rest of our weekend, before driving back home on Sunday. It was a great weekend, and already I miss my family!

The kids love spending time with their Uncle Scott (who is famous in our family for his delicious pancakes that Ellie always looks forward to)!

We got to see my sweet great-nephew, baby Connor. The kids just LOVE him (so do I). He is one of the sweetest babies ever:)

I think I will just end by listing some of the things that I'm so very thankful for this year:

• My wonderful husband, who I fall more in love with every day.
• My two sweet kids, who are blessings from the Lord.
• Our new home.
• My extended family, on both sides.
• That I can stay at home with my kids, and homeschool Ellie this year.
• Good friends, both old and new.
• My wonderful Jesus, who came to earth as a baby and died on a cross so that I could one day live forever with Him in heaven.
• Our car, that (so far) runs so well and gets us where we need to be.
• Our new laptop.
• Jared's new job.
• SO much more!
  
  
  

Beautiful weather! And more...

Well, I am a week late in writing this. Our computer has been on the fritz, and it officially dead. However, I now type from our brand new laptop:) I am thrilled that we were able to get it, and we love it!

Our last couple weeks have been pretty busy. I had a weekend all to myself, when my hubby went to a boardgame retreat and took our kids to their grandparents' house. I did a lot of painting, and then spend some time just relaxing. It was wonderful! I missed my family like crazy by the end of the weekend, but it was so nice to have that break. I have the world's greatest husband, to think of the idea and then drive the kids over the mountains and back!

The next weekend my family from Oregon drove up to visit us and see our new house. It was so much fun, and I was wishing they could have stayed a lot longer!

I've been making Christmas gifts, and preparing our Christmas card and letter. And with homeschooling and just daily life, things have been busy!

In the past couple of weeks our weather has changed from a beautiful fall, with brightly colored leaved everywhere, to a gorgeous winter, with snow covering everything! Of course, we know that the snow won't last long here on the Western side of Washington, but we're enjoying it while we can:)

And tonight we leave for Oregon, to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. We have so much to be thankful for!

Ellie and Parker in the beautiful leaves in our yard.

Our first snow in our new home:)

The kids love the snow!