Post Christmas Trip North

We spent the four days after Christmas touring around the northern part of the state getting to visit with family we only see once a year!  It was a whirlwind trip and very busy, but great to be able to reconnect and spent time with everyone.  The lack of snow and safe ice followed by frigid temperatures limited our outdoor choices, but we made do and enjoyed ourselves anyway:) 

We built snowmen, explored the pond, played new games, met another dog named Millie, helped Uncle Jon with his barn chores, trekked to Presque Isle for a bounce house & hurricane experience with Uncle Jme, got to see an amazing high school basketball game, and finished the trip with Hibachi.  I am not sure we could have fit another thing in. Thank you so much to all of you who traveled to see us and spend time with our rambunctious crew!!

Christmas 2014

Christmas has arrived and so has Santa!  The kids were beyond excited for light sabers and kitchen play and legos.  We had a very relaxing day playing with all of the new toys and enjoying each others company on a cloudy chilly day outside.  Everyone got in on opening gifts this year and no one really cared who each present was earmarked for they all worked together to open and inspect all of the gifts.  Despite Audrey's face in these pictures, she was having a great time... I think that we have entered to stage where kids refuse to smile for the camera... at least she is the last one and everyone else is *mostly* cooperative.  Gabe was very excited for his chainsaw and I was thankful that Nannie and Grandpa got him fully outfitted in safety gear;) And, still at this age, the kids often find the boxes the most fun...

James took gift giving this Christmas extra seriously.  Almost daily he was building new lego creations or wrapping special toys of his for different people. This particular present was addressed to Gabe and I and I thought he might explode with excitement during the week between when he wrapped it and when Christmas came.  He had created two lego robots especially for us.  Every day he would check on the present, make sure it was still there and ask if we could open it yet.  Every person that came through our door also was shown the gift that he made and wrapped himself. Thanks you James, you were so thoughtful and we love the gifts!

Pageant Sunday 2014

Since moving to this area, among other things, we have found a church home that we love.  Old South Church is a active, vibrant and growing church in this area in a time when most churches are on the decline.  I think that it continues to thrive because of its message that, "no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here" It is a cool message that they actually practice and it is apparent just walking through the door.  For our family, our kids love it here, all of them.  So, when Christmas pageant time rolled around and James emphatically wanted to be Mary, they let him.  They acted as if it was the most normal thing in the world and were totally accepting and embraced the fact that he wanted to play Mary:)  Noah was Joseph and Ben was a sheep, but being the only animal he was also proficient at making any and all of the other animal sounds at the drop of a hat.  The pageant was so cute and all of the kids had a blast and took their roles very seriously.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Party 2014

We had a fantastic Christmas party yesterday! One of the coolest things about relocating to this area has been that it was already filled with people we knew from different stages of our lives whom we have been able to reconnect with as well as new friends from different circles.  We love them all and it was neat to have them all under one roof. They were all good sports despite not knowing one another... maybe name tags next year:) We decorated cookies, the kids ran wild and the adults got to visit.  Ben may have had the best time as we found him, more than once, dumping the sprinkles out of the containers directly into his mouth...  I forgot to take pictures until Santa arrived and even then they weren't great so thank you to our photo contributors!  A special thank you to Flint who kindly volunteered to be our wonderful Santa.  The kids were so excited... I think that the job is yours for a few more years!!  

Christmas Preparations

Christmas is coming and we are getting excited here at our house!!  We have gotten most of our decorations up and are ready to conquer the tree.  The top picture is of the boys playing outside before bed while Audrey watches from the window because I was too lazy to get her and myself dressed and go outside as well... this was the third time they had gone out to play that day... Thankfully, James seemed to enjoy "throwing" snow at Audrey and she equally liked taunting him through the window.

We ventured out to get our Christmas tree a few days ago before the snow/rainstorm.  Gabe gave in this year and let us get a big tree... 10 feet.  We jokingly refer to his as the Grinch around Christmastime, but the reality is that he is our much needed voice of reason;) We do love the tree though! We (meaning the kids and I) immediately found and agreed on a tree. The top picture of Gabe with the saw and the kids was just for show, because the kind man came out with the chainsaw before we even attempted to cut the tree by hand.... It was the same kind man who delivered the tree to our house after deciding that it would be way easier than trying to hoist it on top of the Suburban... I have promised to plan better next year;)  But, with a tall ladder and a new (bigger) tree base we are up and running with lights on our beautiful tree.