December Days

We have had a joyous Christmas season so far.  What a beautiful, wonderful time of the year.  As the kids get older, the time just seems to go even faster, and we try to treasure every minute.

Cole has found great enjoyment in playing with my Christmas cards...I don't know why, but it has provided for some good hours of fun.

We found special happiness in providing the 12 Days of Christmas for a dear friend from church.  The gifts were simple but from the heart and the kids loved participating.  I knew we couldn't keep up with the daily deliveries, so we wrapped it all in one big box with instructions to open one gift each day.  I hope to be able to do more next year.

 I am so glad to have a few treasured Christmas decorations from loved ones around my house.  This was Grandma Thelma's Santa.

 And this Santa belonged to Grandma Betty.

It was my first Christmas in years that I did not have a Christmas piano recital (since I am no longer teaching piano).  I am still teaching the girls and they were lucky enough to play in one of my friend's recitals.

 

I am beginning to "show" more and more as this baby grows and grows!  So very exciting!!!!

 Cole had his first preschool program.  He wasn't all that excited about it.  Most of the kids had lots of extended family watching...for us, it was just me and my little buddy.  I love this kid.  I bribed him by promising him a kid's meal from Wendy's.  It worked!

We had our Activity Day Girls Christmas party complete with a gift exhange and gingerbread houses.  I am so glad to be able to work with these gals.  I sure love them and they are a lot of fun!

 Regan got to "sneak in" and be a big girl for the evening.

In an effort to get Cole to stay with Tod, I told him that I would help him make a house the next day.  Well, that boy does not forget and the next day he was all ready to have his turn.  He really enjoyed it and really stuck with it!  I loved seeing his concentration.

Our Christmas break started a couple of days early due to an Iowa blizzard so we made some gingerbread cookies and enjoyed playing in the snow (the kids were so anxious to get out there since we didn't get much snow last year!)

I thought this gift from a beloved friend was such a cute representation of our family right now!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 Ashton (age 10)

 Jordan (almost 9 in a couple of weeks)

 Regan (6)

Cole, with a Cheetoh! (3)

 



Thanksgiving Tidbits

Just a few quick things to remember about our Thanksgiving this year:  (Since Christmas is rapidly approaching!!!)

1.  We took a short trip down to Missouri- we only stayed for 3 days since we wanted to be back for the girls' basketball games.  Of course, the kids loved every moment of our time there!

2.  One of the biggest hits was Grandpa's go-cart!  It was fun for kids of all ages...including pregnant ladies.

3.  Playing with cousins is always so much fun!

4.  The weather was spectacular.  It was so nice on Thanksgiving that we actually got to eat outside!

5.  We resumed our traditional "Black Friday" shopping with Megan, but actually went on Thanksgiving night.  We scored some awesome deals and had a lot of fun!!!

6.  For Ashton, spending time with Oreo is always a special treat.

7.  We loved seeing everyone and felt very thankful for all of our blessings.  This year, our "Thankful Tree" helped us keep track of some of our specific blessings that we sometimes take for granted.

8.  A couple of days after Thanksgiving, we got to celebrate Tod's 36th birthday.  It was nice to be in town and actually have some time to enjoy the day...some years with all the travelling, his birthday gets overlooked a little bit.  We made him a special "soda" cake and invited some friends over for birthday treats.  What a great guy he is!  He has a lot on his plate with church and work and family but he finds a way to balance everything and always keeps us laughing!

Bits of November

Last Friday, I finally had my ultrasound and we were THRILLED to learn that we are having another baby boy!!!  When we picked Cole up from a friend's, I told him that the baby was a boy and he pumped his fist and said, "YES!!!"  The girls were at school but were anxiously awaiting the news so I wanted to give them an easy signal that they could see while walking home:

Ashton and Jordan were excited.  Regan was a little disappointed at first as she had her heart set on a little sister...but then Tod and I reassured her that she would always have a favored spot as the "spoiled" youngest girl...she seemed to get over it.  And just a few days ago, she told me that she was fine with it being a boy!

Ashton had her first violin concert of the school year and did so well.  Her 5th grade group is really good and they have progressed so much since last year.  She was thrilled to have some special friends from church show up (thanks Justin and Alissa and Macy and Ron!)

Basketball season is in full swing and these two are keeping us on our toes!

I had already committed to coaching Ashton's team before I found out about the pregnancy, so it has been an interesting season so far.  No demonstrations by me this year!!!  Jordan's 3rd grade team has mostly Sunday games, so she has been joining our 5th grade team...what a learning experience for her...that is called learning by being thrown right into the heat of it...she has done well and has a great attitude.

Go Wildcats!!!!
The Cole Man keeps his backpack packed and ready with supplies for all the sporting events he has to sit through.

And Regan.....just happy to be spinning off to ballet class and dancing her way through life!

We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving this week.  I leave you with a fun Turkey craft we made with Regan's Girl Scout troop last week.  Gobble!  Gobble!