Christmas Day in Pleasant View

Christmas morning:

It dumped BUCKETS of snow all day long. Brrrrr.....

For Emma the artist:

Sophie's new baby "Molly":

Jacob played it pretty cool all morning. Now that he's 10, he doesn't show the same excitement he used to... until...

The Wii Fit!!!!!! That's the reaction we were waiting for!

The prize for most unique gift definitely goes to mom with her "interesting" bracelet she got for me in Jamaica... (she thought it was a cute flower design)

Shocker! Joseph is sleeping!

Thanks Auntie Carole for the enormous Jug-o-Gumballs. (Can I send you the dentist bill?)

The evening ended with a ruthless game of Life. Sophie, Ryan and Suzy:

Jake, Bets & Steve:

Bets & Steve won with some outrageous amount like $3.2 million. Questionable considering Steve was banker.

This last photo cracks me up. If there was ever a question about who the pushover is that's always feeding the animals "people" food, here is your answer:

Our Christmas Vacation, Part 1

Our Christmas vacation started with a trip to the doctor. Emma couldn't hear out of one ear, so we took her in to check it out. She was very nervous...

...but in the end, her ear was just plugged with wax so she had to get it cleaned out. We also found out that she needed a booster shot for chicken pox, so she was lucky enough to get a shot too! She felt much better when it was all over.

The next day, we woke up to find a huge mountain of snow in our front yard. The snow plow dumped it all in front of our house! It was a little pre-christmas present for the kids.

On Christmas eve, we went to Grandma and Grandpa McRae's house for a fabulous dinner with Joseph's family. This year we were lucky to have Amy & Trace & their 4 kids, David & Melissa & their 3 kids, Tom & Rebecca & their 3 kids, and Tim & Beth all in attendance. If I've done the math correctly, I believe that makes a total of 27 people in all! Ann... you are amazing! The tables were beautiful and the food was delicious.

After dinner, Ann treated us all to a very sweet christmas story about a christmas orange. It was a story about the true spirit of giving. After the story, she passed out oranges to us all.

Tim & Beth:

Luke:

Grandpa Garry:

Grandma & Sophie:

Tom (nice sweater):

Grandma Ann, Joseph & Melissa:

It was a fun, family-filled evening we hated to see end. But when it did, we packed up our things and headed to PV (Pleasant View) for Christmas Eve, part 2!

When we arrived at about 9 p.m. we were all pretty tired, but sweet Emma still insisted we act out the nativity. So grandma quickly found some robes, wings, etc. and we acted it out. This year we performed the lesser known "Baby Jesus as Twins" version of the nativity.

Sophie & Allie as "Twin Baby Jesus'" & Emma as "Mary":

Jacob as "The Shepherd" (nice staff):

Grandpa Ernie as "The Narrator":

Grandma Sue as "The Angel":

Rosie as "The donkey":


Suzy, Ryan & Steve as "The Spectators":

Not pictured: Betsy & Jen as "Documentarians" and Lucy the cat as "Sheep".

Coming Soon: Christmas Day in Pleasant View!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas around our home

Every year I like to take pictures of how we decorate the house at Christmas. It's fun to see how things change over the years. This year I kept it pretty simple, only putting up a fraction of what we have. I'm really trying to simplify holiday decorating. I also love it when other people post pics of their holiday decorating (hint hint, Bets, Suz & mom). Here's what made the cut this year.

In the living room:

Our nativities:

From our Alaska trip this summer (the kids love it):




The Santa Collection:


Our advent calendars:

This one was a labor of love that I made at Super Saturday. I LOVE it! Each day, you turn a star over and by Christmas, you have night sky filled with golden stars.

Congrats Suz & Ryan!

Happy engagement! Welcome to the fam, Ryan!

The First Snow Day of the Season

The kids were thrilled on Tuesday that the snow actually STUCK. The second they walked into house from school, they threw on their snow garb and were out the door, not to be seen again until nightfall.