Wild Thing's Bathtime

From James' phone - the little wild thing after her bath.

Don't you just want to squeeze her? :)

Playing with daddy before getting all bundled up in night clothes.

Such a honey - they both are. :)

Our Christmas Program

That time of year again - Christmas program. :)

I took a couple shots (below and above) of the quick and last rehearsal we did before the evening started. They're watching some of the older ones say their poem.

It's starting to be fun to curl Katie's hair - we have a way's to go, before it hangs right, but she was pretty thrilled to get it curled. And she looked so sweet.

The real deal.

Singing "Christ is Born" with James leading them and me on the piano. They sang nice and loud which is always a plus. The other song all the Sunday School children sang was "Immanuel"

Then the younger ones, sang "Jesus Came" - to the tune of "Deep and Wide". Yes, that's me in the red hat. :)

Some of the other evening performances: William and his and Ben & Deanna's Adventure Club kids - "The Wise Men Dream and Herod's Schemes."

Another neat thing, was some of the children (directed by Shelly) was doing "Who Am I", with black lights and gloves - "acting" it out - not sure what the right technical name for it was. :)

Then after, we all had some great food downstairs, and visited together. :)

 

Cookies & Snow

The night before, we were supposed to join all the kid's at our church for a Gingerbread Decorating Party, but since we had to wait for James to pick us up after his work, we didn't quite make it in time. But we brought the house and candy back to do the next morning.

And the children were excited.

That was the first thing Katelyn said to me the next morning when walking out of her room in her pajamas. :) After letting daddy sleep in a bit, and doing a few things, they finally were able to tackle the cookie house.

Working hard on it together.

James is so good with letting them be creative on their own.

Deciding where all the candy should go.

Then Laura joined them, and added her charm to the photo.

Good grief - she is sooo cute

Watching intently. :)

Then after they finished the house, Karel (from next door) joined in the chaos, and help create a bit more, as they cut out sugar cookies for us to decorate next week. :)

 

Then during naptime, James and Karel made more gingersnaps, as I had just over-baked 6 out of 8 dozen...it was one of those baking days. :) Thankfully James came to the rescue. :)

After naptime, it was time to tackle the snow on our driveway, but just as we got the kid's suited up, we heard a motor outside. It was Dave, our neighbor, who kindly snow-blowed it off for us. :)

But James and the kids still went outside, and shoveled off the sides. :)

The little darling making her first snow trek.

Katie running to help...someone.

Erik, taking his shoveling job quite seriously. :) Love it! (and Timothy - he is wearing his Calgary Flames snow hat all the time now!)

Katie working hard too.

Then before supper, James and all three little ones, went around to our neighbors with the sled, carrying some Christmas baking we had done for them. It was a pretty sweet sight. :)

(From James' phone)

Katie puling the sled. :) So neat to watch them grow up and help, and get excited and ready to things for others.

Freezing Date Night

Diane watched the kiddo's for us so we could go on a date night. So nice. :)

Us with our "glasses". We watched "Frozen" in an almost empty theater...

interesting, but I definitely don't like Disney musicals....in fact, I personally don't like musicals, unless they make sense - which pretty much leaves "the Sound of Music."

Or my life.

Real life is a musical. :)  

 We went to Swiss Chalet after the movie, which was nice - despite the draft beside the door...

Handsome guy I have.

Just love spending time with him...there never is enough time to just talk...

That's a good thing I believe. :)

Little Changes That Make My Heart Happy

I added some Christmas flair to our room, and love it!

A wreath from the Windmill with a red-ish pillow to tie it together.

And jars filled with fresh cranberries and tea lights on our dresser -more on the other side.

And I finally, re-covered the top of the hair-stuff jars (from Epicure- as I love the angled sides) to make the drawer look pretty. :) One of those silly things, that make my heart lighter when I open the bathroom drawer.

Letters and Books

Both Katelyn AND Erik got mail from Grandma and Grandpa Fehr on the same day!

They were excited!! This was Erik's first letter, and it was from Grandpa Fehr...so precious.

Laura wanted in on the pose too...isn't she the cutest?

Erik opened up his letter, found a car, winter stickers...AND a tractor page from one of Dad's magazines. Dad had circled the oldest John Deere tractor, explaining to Erik that the older ones are the best, cause you can fix them. :) Erik was quite happy about his treasures.

Thankful for mom and dad who continue to impact our kid's lives with creative ways...

Pretending to talk on the phone.

And this would be on a different day...reading before supper.

Giving me her cuteness...

By the tree...reminds me of how we girls, back at the farm, would love to read by the lights of the Christmas tree after we had decorated it...so cozy.

My sweet son.

A Girl Date and Sleepy Head

Super fuzzy shot of Krista and I, (cause I don't "do" phone pictures), but it was a fun memory of the evening we had together. Krista sweetly took me out for dinner to Montana's, and then we had some girl time, shopping at the mall, and Walmart. It was lovely to eat a whole meal without having to get up, and just chat about all those things that we think about...appreciate her. 

 Another evening, but here's our sleepy head who is out of the naptime loop (but not out of quiet time) and by supper, is often done for a bit...

Meanwhile, Erik goes strong - especially when food is involved. :)

Christmas Tree Decorating

Exciting Saturday to put up the tree. Katelyn and Erik were pretty thrilled.

(above: from James' phone...getting into the totes)

But first...

We had to snip all the old lights off the tree (one of those pre-lit ones, but it has had it's day), before re-stringing it. It was kinda fun, at least to do it with James. :)

Then to decorate. :)

Setting up the nativity scene.

Laura was sleeping during the decorating time, but when she came out, she was in awe.

Lots of giggles, and almost overwhelmed to go near it.

But that quickly changed, as she dared to touch the ornaments...but she is quickly learning that it's not a good idea to do that. :)

Katie loving the tree.

Katie decided to play "Mary with baby Jesus". It was pretty sweet.

The doll who played baby Jesus.

Our little munchkin during breakfast...she is so cute when she scrunches up her nose. :)