What did we do in December?

We built gingerbread houses,

ate lots of Christmas cookies,

visited Santa and enjoyed the Polar Express,

shared Christmas Eve dinner with friends (this is the only picture I have!),

delighted in celebrating Christ's birth with our Advent wreath each week,

joyfully opened presents Christmas morning,



sang Happy Birthday to Jesus,

stuffed a turkey,

made placecards for a big Christmas meal,

got worn out after the excitement of new toys,

read lots and

lots of

books,

visited the National Gingerbread Display (although there's not a picture of a gingerbread house here),



had many sing-a-longs including one with a quick visit from our sweet friends the Ruchs,





What a great month it's been! We are thankful for the many blessings God has given--time together, visits with friends and family, and a chance to give gifts to each other. We are most thankful for our reason for celebrating--the hope that we have in our Savior!

Thanksgiving Fun

The days are flying by, and I don't want to miss my chance to put up some photos from our great time in Charleston for Thanksgiving.

The Girls--

On the Awesome Playground--


Kissing cousins?

The First Gingerbread People of the Season--




The Cousins-

Thanksgiving Play

Last Wednesday, Sam was in his first school play. I use the term "play" loosely, but it was in our school's black box theater. There was a wonderful slide show, followed by the children slowly walking out onto the stage to take their places. They sang and signed a few songs and took turns saying a few words about Thanksgiving. Afterwards, all the families came to the classroom for pie. Sam did a great job singing the first few songs, then spotted us and turned into a very shy little boy. We were thoroughly entertained and extremely proud of our preschooler! It was a great way to start the Thanksgiving holidays. More pictures of Thanksgiving to come soon. . . .

A couple pictures of him before he spotted us:

Signing the song:

After spotting us in the crowd (His head stayed down the rest of the time.):

My two handsome men:

Halloween Pictures

We had a fantastic day on Halloween beginning with a Parade of Fiction at MG's school. She dressed as Fancy Nancy (along with many other kindergarten girls!), and I dressed as Eloise. It was a fun morning at school seeing everyone's costumes. G and Pops drove down from the mountains to trick-or-treat with us that evening. We are so thankful that they made the trip to hang out with us! Our trick-or-treating always begins with a Halloween march down Main Street. For this phase of trick-or-treating, Sam was a fire truck driver and MG was a cheerleader. It's always so fun watching the joy of the shopkeepers as they pass out candy to equally joyful kids. . . . it makes me so thankful for where we live. When we came home, Sam decided he was finished with the fire truck and pulled out MG's old cow costume from the closet. He excitedly wore his new costume for our neighborhood trick-or-treating and proceeded to tell each person who greeted him, "My name Sam, I have a tail." We had a great night together and managed not to overdo it on eating candy.

Faces of Sam

Every day provides a new adventure with Sam. His vocabulary is rapidly expanding, he loves to make people laugh, and he enjoys helping out around the house.

The other day he disappeared from my sight for a few minutes, and I quickly found him outside in his underwear carrying out a trash bag. Of his own accord, he was taking the trash to the outside can. I couldn't resist snapping a few shots.

On Friday, I was a little chilly, so I changed into a warm-up suit. Immediately Sam began demanding that I put his warm-up suit on him as well. I then found him with these additions to his outfit--rain boots and an old necklace from my Indian Princess days.
Saturday morning in a chicken suit. . .

Another funny face. . .

I'm not so sure what's going on in this one. . .

I'm thankful for a sweet, happy, and healthy boy who brightens up whatever room he is in.