Christmas Day '07

Christmas Day, right after Santa Claus came. We had a forest in the living room this year.
Ellie with all her cool gifts from her christmas sock!

Weston & Dad playing with Weston's new remote control helicopter!

Bekah with her new Littlest Pet Shop, a Fuzzy penguin!


Ray with his new Tranformer, Autobot Jazz!

Ray and Weston also got this new super fort builder, that you can build all sorts of forts with. I think Lyn and Klint had the most fun. Ray, also has his favorite gift, his new flashlight!

We had a great Christmas and the kids got spoiled, of course.

Christmas Eve '07

For Christmas Eve my family gets together and performs the Nativity.

All the children and some of the adults participate. My Dad reads the story from the Bible, and my sister, Annelisa plays the carols we sing. It is a fun tradition, and helps the kids remember the true meaning of Christmas.
My sister Camille, her husband Brad, and their baby Maylie as Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus!
"And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes..."..and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn." (Luke 2:7)
Angels- Bekah, Brieanna, and Ellie Jo.
"And an angel of the Lord came upon them, and said Fear not, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy..,for unto you is born this day, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Shepherds- Andalyn, Krys, and Ray, and Sophia the cow.
"The shepherds said one to another, Let us go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass.. and the found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manager"(Luke2:15-16)

Wise men- Weston, Mason, and Brian.
"And there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him." (Matt 2:1-2)

Silent Night, Holy Night!

"And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."(Luke 2:19)
Merry Christmas!

Secret Santa

For Christmas this year we had a wonderful opportunity to help a family that wasn't going to get much for Christmas. So we teamed up with the Arnolds, who feel that they have been so blessed these past months and wanted to give something back!
Anyway, we split up the family and we all went and did our own shopping, then we gathered at the Arnolds house to wrap the presents.
We had a lot of fun! This is Ray "helping" with the ribbons.
Alyssa even took the time to show Ellie how to make the perfect ribbon bows.
Everyone got it to the act!

This is the pile of presents for the family!
After the wrapping we all ate choc. cake and cinnamon rolls. Teresa is the best cook!

Bekah found out about Ipod music from Alyssa(now she wants one)


Lyn and Shayla had a air hockey death match! Lyn only won by one point!

After that we got all bundled up and went to deliver the presents. It was so neat to hide and see the children jumping for joy, and saying "It's from Santa!" and then to feel the true spirit of Christmas in our hearts. It was wonderful and I believe our children understood the true meaning of Christmas! We ended the evening by singing the First Noel and joining the Arnolds in family prayer. They have such a sweet spirit about them, especially Andrew. They need our prayers and we need their example!

Finally Old Enough

Weston has been anticipating the day he was Old Enough to help shovel the driveway with his Dad. So this morning he got up and ready for school and he finally got the chance to help.
He did a great job too, and Lyn even showed him how to spread the ice melt on after. He was beeming with pride when he came in to eat breakfast.
I was thankful Lyn took the time to show Weston how to properly shovel the driveway. Weston just loved helping his Dad.

On Sat. it snowed a lot and Lyn was off hunting and I had to go to the store and the driveway was full of snow. So Weston says "Mom we need to clear the snow off the driveway. Come on I'll help ya." So we head out to shovel and he shows me how to do it like Dad does it, I guess Dad's way is the only way. When we were done He says "Mom you can go in the house, Dad showed me how to put the ice stuff on and I'll do it!" He was so funny about it all, and I was so proud!

Heather's B-day 29 Again!

For my birthday dinner Lyn took me and the kids to this new place in town called The Cobbler House. The food was excellent and the prices were comparable to the Hub. The kids all had breakfast, which is served anytime, and Lyn had their signature BBQ beef brisket meal. My dinner was great too. Then our waiter had the staff sing Happy Birthday to me as the kids requested and they also presented me with their Birthday Cobbler, so good! Cobbler with a big scoop of Vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries and choc. sauce. Yummy! It was a fun night, and a great place to eat. You should try it!
These are a few of my presents, love the snowman stuff! Fav. is the black leather jacket that was a smokin' deal, and the candle Ellie bought with her babysitting money.
Thanks to everyone who called and left reditions of Happy Birthday on the answering machine! It made my day, some of you were so funny!

Gingerbread Houses

One of our family Christmas traditions is to make gingerbread houses for the Cottages For the Children, a silent auction/fund raiser for our local Children Justice Center. This year we made 18 family houses. Lyn's house won 2nd place in the Amateur Division this year. Way to go Lyn! We all had a lot of fun. The last few pictures on the slide show are of our favorite houses, and ideas for next year!