Christmas

We LOVE Christmas at our house! Trent and I both just really relish celebrating this holiday with our little family. I was too pregnant to do any flying across the country to Utah and so although we missed celebrating with Grandma's and Grandpa's and cousins, we had a lovely little holiday here in Kentucky. 

Christmas Eve we went to our friends, the Langdorf's, for dinner and games. It was festive and really fun. We headed home for Christmas Eve jammies, stories, and getting ready for Santa.

The magic was thick!

The little loves were so excited to see what was lying under the tree.

Off to check the stockings! Nathan was THRILLED to find that Santa had left him his own bottle of Hershey's syrup.

And yogurt covered breakfast bites were obviously popular too!

And Matthew wasn't quite sure what we were doing but thought his mini cereal boxes and book were pretty neat. 

A play kitchen!

We had a lot of fun working on some homemade gifts this year. I was so excited about the little doll bed Trent and I worked on. Trent and Nathan did the woodworking for the bed while I worked on the bedding. 

She had no idea we'd been working on it and was really excited.

Santa so kindly brought chore boots to keep these chore-doing feet dry.

I also had fun making this teepee for the kids and it's been a bit hit to play with in the basement through the cold winter days. 

Heidi and Nathan decided to make homemade gifts for Mom and Dad all on their own. 

Nathan made this very heartfelt note with sucker for Trent.

And Heidi made this sock doll for Mom. 

After gift opening we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast together and then a very relaxing day of playing with new toys, board games, and naps. Followed  by a yummy ham dinner together that night. It was a wonderful day!

December Festivities

Christmas preparations and festivities are so fun with kids around. We had a fun and full December with a lot to anticipate.

Heidi and Nathan were really helpful with setting up and decorating the tree this year.

Its kind of hard to see but I love this picture of Heidi and I cuddling by the tree!

A great school Christmas program...

Sugar cookie decorating (and eating!)

We usually don't do many computer games so it was lots of fun for the kids to play these Christmas games on the NORAD site. They loved it!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is our neighborhood family bunco night. We all bring lots of food and treats and play a pretty entertaining game of bunco.

Adults and kids alike. The winner of the current round gets to wear this funny elf hat.

And one of the best parts of Christmas this year was that Trent got 2 weeks off! Because he was in med school he got a student break and it was great.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving with the Claytons

We were so excited to spend Thanksgiving with the Claytons this year! We are so grateful  to have them within driving distance. The best part is that these cousins are getting to be good friends!

It was a chilly morning but that didn't stop some ball playing before dinner. The chickens obviously wanted to be involved, and would actually run back and forth with the everyone playing!

True to form and tradition Trent whipped out a bunch of delicious rolls. The kids were right in on the action as his assistants.

Lots of cousin playtime...

...and a very delicious feast!

The day after Thanksgiving found us heading to Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park. We all piled in the van and drove through the park looking at the festive displays. After we saw the lights we got out at the visitors center and did some of the activities they offered there. It was pretty chilly so we didn't last too long but I think the favorite highlight for the kids was this little train ride.

All piled into one very cozy car!

It was a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season and we were so glad to have family with us!

Starting 'em young.

Matthew has a serious obsession with the violin. He refers to it as his "shoo-shoo".

When I first started taking lessons back when I was five, my teacher made me this little tissue box violin to  practice with.

Somehow it has survived all these years later and he just loves it!

And then sometimes when he's really lucky he'll talk someone in to helping him with the real deal and we'll pull out our little violin for him to "play". 

Preparing for Winter

We enjoyed digging the last of the potatoes at the end of November.

Such a treasure hunt! We found plenty for Matthew to fill his dump truck. And for mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving day!

And I couldn't resist adding these pictures of Matthew, our official leaf raking assistant.