Leah's Christmas Party at School

Ana, Ms. Kim, Grant, Brody, Kyla, Santa, Kathleen, and Leah

Leah's little party was on Tuesday. The kids in her class decorated a bell, sang some Christmas songs, and got a surprise visit from Santa (Kyla's grandpa). Leah was shy with him at first but by the end of class she kept giving him high fives. He passed out gifts (from Ms.Kim) and the kids exchanged presents with each other. They finished up with a treat. Leah was desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of his sleigh on the roof as we left, but it could not be seen from the parking lot.

Snow Day!

Church is cancelled this morning so we're all enjoying our snow day at home. I've neglected my blog for a couple weeks while working heavily on Christmas projects, but now I'm all caught up. I hope you're enjoying the Christmas season and look forward to seeing many of you over the holidays. Love, Abby

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Julie hosted this year's U.C.S.P. This year everyone brought their A game, but Sarah took home the trophy, even though Julie put on the heat with her Poncho get-up. Watching Julie stroke her mustache and catching her unexpectedly out of the corner of your eye from time to time was quite entertaining. We had good food and conversation, and really enjoyed the game Telephone Pictionary. I always laugh so hard with this group and enjoyed our day together.

Jadon and Leah had fun on Julie's trampoline.

Feliz Navidad!
Brian brown-bagged it in keeping with the look of his sweatshirt.

Charity and I found sister sweaters, beaded sweaters with detachable fur collars.

Christmas Party Playdate

We had another Gingerbread themed Christmas party for the kids this year. We sang carols, read "Gingerbread Friends", decorated and ate Gingerbread People Cookies, and played. An indoor snowball fight was a big hit this year. Lori made "snowballs" by stuffing white pantyhose with batting.

Snow Fun

This was Jadon's first written sentence, which I found on the Magna Doodle after his quiet time. Of course the top line says "Jadon". The bottom line says, "Brecken (heart) I love you". My son is not only smart, but a total sweetheart! (Brecken is his best buddy.)

We sorely neglected our camera last weekend, but on Friday night, Brian and I got all dressed up and went to Josh and Jayme's wedding reception (a couple from Harvest Time). We visited and danced the night away. On Saturday morning, the kids woke up to a Winter Wonderland. We went to the Kitson Tree Farm and cut down our own tree this year. The kids had a blast in the new fallen snow, stopping along the way to make snow angels and throw snowballs. That afternoon we went sledding over at Sinnissippi Park. Over the course of the next few days we went sledding several more times- now that's a good workout!

Cookie Making Day

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we made Christmas cookies at Brant and Amie's house. We had fun and made lots of pretty cookies. That night we went to Larry and Cindy's house for dinner and took pictures. It was a busy week with all the family get-togethers, but we enjoyed family bonding time, especially with our siblings that were home for the holidays.

Pins Thanksgiving

The kids and I spent Wednesday through Saturday at my parents' house. My mom bought the kids role playing outfits. The chef costume for Claire and the Veterinarian costume for Rachel were totally in line with their passions. Rachel wore hers a lot and took care of all the stuffed animals and even the other kids pretending to be injured animals. The kids played with toys, cards, and colored, but they really got a kick out of the new Wii game. My parents also treated us all to the movie Tangled (about Rapunzel) in 3D. We loved it. The highlight, though, was early Christmas presents. My parents gave a very generous sum of money to each of the couples. We are so thankful and their support is a huge blessing in our lives!

While playing "Sleeping Queens" all the kids decided they wanted to be on "Grandma's Team". leaving me and Steph to fend for ourselves. It was a cute moment.