Christmas Recap #2

Christmas morning we woke up at our usual time. I guess that’s nice that the kids are at the age where they aren’t waking us up early yet! We opened our stockings then had breakfast while Dad read the Christmas story.

Then it was time for presents! We passed out the gifts and we each made our own little (well the kids’ were big) piles.

 

Kalen got tired quickly so we had to work fast!

Tyler got excited over a lot of his gifts, even the clothes. This year was definitely the best with Tyler so far. No tantrums in the middle of opening presents, and he was excited about it! Kalen LOVED the paper! She would help Daddy open her presents and then just shake and shake the paper! It was cute, but she got upset when we had to throw it away.

Then we put Kalen down for a quick nap while Tyler played with a couple of his new toys.

Here he is checking “his own email.” I’m hoping he will stop checking mine after receiving this toy!

Then he played with his “crash” race cars.

Then we had to get ready to go to Grandpa Bob and Grandma Angie’s for Christmas dinner.

Christmas Recap #1

I’m sure this is going to take a couple of posts so here is part 1.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church and it was wonderful! So much more than we expected. It was a short service with a couple songs and then the pastor invited the kids on stage to read the Christmas Story.

And then the kids sang a couple of carols for us.

And that was it. Short, but sweet! We said Merry Christmas to a few of our friends

and headed home.

I had a few snacks prepared for us to eat. Mushroom caps, Chicken Nacho dip, and Cocktail Shrimp. YUM!

Kalen had to show off her Christmas Eve outfit! Good thing I got these pictures, she spit up and we had to change her later.

Then keeping with tradition we let the kids open one present before bed.

Christmas PJ’s!

Then it was off to get some rest before the big day!

Christmas Carols

Tyler has been going around singing Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas for a few days now so I thought I would show you! I don’t know what happened to the quality…it looked fine before I uploaded it.

It has been so fun this year with Tyler getting to know more and more about Christmas. He knows that it is Jesus' birthday and that that is why we celebrate. We read a Christmas book the other day and it was was called Jingle Bells and after I was done reading it he said, “Where’s Jesus?” He knows that Christmas is all about Jesus and was confused why this Christmas book didn’t have Jesus in it. Too cute!

I’m still working on my cookies. I made the batch of Spritz cookies this morning and got the new/old cookie press out and IT DOESN’T WORK! I guess that’s what I get for getting it at a garage sale and not trying it out till 2 days before Christmas! So I am going to try to have Mike fix it when he gets home. If he can’t fix it are there any ideas on what to do with the dough? Can I roll it out and cut shapes? I don’t even know if I have cookie cutters…oh well!

It’s Starting To Feel A Lot Like Christmas…

Here are the kids in their Christmas outfits on Sunday.

We are pretty much all set for Christmas around here. I’m waiting on a few online orders for Mike and the kids, once I have those wrapped up I’ll be done! On today’s agenda is baking Christmas cookies and doing laundry. I figure I can fold while the cookies are in the oven. This year I’m making Peanut Butter Blossoms, Incredibles, Nut Cups, and Spritz cookies. What are you making? Let me know…I always love a new cookie recipe!

Last night we had our Annual Winterlude at Church. It was a wonderful concert and really put me in the Christmas spirit!

Here are some more pictures of Kalen.

I’m still trying to figure out the settings on my camera. I took these at night and in the basement and they came out way to yellow and half of them were blurry. I’ll get it one of these days!

Busy, busy, busy

We are still here, just busy with holiday things.  We are doing lots of decorating, wrapping, baking, crafting, and shopping! My head is spinning with everything that I want to get done before Christmas…which is only ONE WEEK away!

Christmas Caroling

Last week our Life Group took the kids caroling. It was so cute to watch the kids run up to the front door and “try” to be quiet before ringing the door bell.

It was a cold night, so we had Kalen all bundled up!

We also went to visit one of the children’s
Great Grandmother in a retirement community.

Then we went into their community area and they were having a tree lighting ceremony so the kids were able to sing a couple songs for them.

Tyler is really getting into the holiday spirit this year! He likes to drive around and find all the Christmas lights at night. And he has been making some Christmas crafts in Sunday School! Next week we get to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus after the Children’s Program at church, and I know he will like that too!

Kalen’s Dedication

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had Kalen’s baby dedication at church. We made a commitment to God to “bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” Eph 6:4, and to do our best to be the parents God has called us to be.

Here we are before the service.

Then Kalen got her name on the big screen!

She was more interested in the flowers behind us…such a girl!

Tyler was a handful during the ceremony, but a least he stayed quiet.

  

Here is the group of all the families that dedicated their babies.

 

Then we had to get Kalen’s picture with the fall pumpkins…too cute!

Afterwards we had lunch with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Angie.

Grandpa and Tyler were being a little silly!

We had a great day celebrating Kalen, and thanking the Lord for bringing her into our lives!

Thanksgiving

Alright, I know this is late…but we have been busy around here.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my Mom, Meagan, Meagan’s friend Shawna, and SueAnne. Thank goodness we had some good cooks in the house I didn’t have to do it all myself. Tyler even helped with the pies and he did very well cleaning the dishes.

Kalen even had some Turkey and Sweet Potatoes…baby food that is! And the closest thing to Pumpkin Pie…Pumpkin with Pears. YUM!

We woke up early on Friday to do some shopping and we ended up shopping ALL DAY!! But I have a lot of my Christmas shopping done, and we didn’t have to wait in any crazy lines!

Then later that weekend we went to the park to feed the ducks and take some pictures.

And I don’t want to show you all the pictures because I think my Mom may use some for Christmas cards. But here is one of SueAnne and the kids.

And a couple of my little model…

What do you think? Color or Black & White?

 

I have so much more to share from the past couple weeks, so be on the lookout!

Jamie Scraps November Kit

Fall is my favorite time of year and I just loved working with the fall colors in this kit!

Here are the layouts:

And here are the cards I made:

So if your looking for something to scrap all your fall pictures you can get the November Jamie Scraps kit here! Have fun!