Momma's Helper

Abby loves to stand on the stepstool to help in the kitchen.  A soapy sink full of dishes is her favorite job, and she ensures that the bubbles and water do their work on everything surrounding the sink!

Cardinal Neighbors

I love the cardinals that live around our house and eat and drink outside our living room window.  I always wonder if the ones I see are one of the babies I rescued a couple years ago when their nest fell out of the rosebush.  This one is getting a drink from the beautiful, broken bowl that has found a new life as a birdbath. 

By the Christmas Tree

Family pictures by Zion's Christmas tree... They went much more smoothly than last year's attempt!

Christmas Day

We had a sweet, relaxing Christmas day.  Opening stockings...

Brunch with Ms. Bobbie...

We had Grandma and Grandpa with us via Skype while the kids opened gifts from them.

And the kids stayed in their cute Christmas pjs all day... a favorite family tradition!

We wrapped up the day with Beef Wellington (Yummmm!) and chocolate pie.  

Christmas Eve Musical

 

This year was Ezra's first time to take part in the Christmas Eve musical, and he did a great job singing and being a little donkey!  Naomi and Johnathan had parts reciting the Christmas story.  Unfortunately, Johnathan came down with a fever in the afternoon, so he and I stayed home for the service.  

Fondue and Family Feud

A little Christmas party fun with the elder board and staff - dessert fondue and a highly competitive Christmas version of "Family Feud"!

Christmas at the Creek

We decided to check out Christmas at the Creek this year.  We got there a little late, we discovered, but we still had time to meet various costumed Christmasy animals and chow down on kettle corn.

The highlight for the kids was the "snow field" - where artificial "snow" was scattered on the ground.  They had a great time throwing it at each other.  It hurt my heart a little bit that my kids so rarely get to see real snow that they got so excited about playing with shredded plastic stuff!  But I'll try to focus on the positives, such as the fact that it was not too cold to be outside this evening.

Gingerbread Houses

Decking the Halls

Putting up the tree... with Grandma and Grandpa!

Sharing

The Sunday after we got back, the team shared about our trip at church.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, we were especially thankful that Grandma and Grandpa Stata could come to stay with these two squeakers while we traveled to the DR.  We got back early in the morning the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, just in time to start cooking for Thanksgiving dinner.