Christmas Day

We had the most wonderful, fabulous, relaxing day today.

Our traditional Christmas Day breakfast is sugary cereal that we normally don't buy.
One box for each kid.

Em was hoping for fluffy slippers

Am was hoping for an easel

she was nice enough to share

C wanted books (shocker I know)

This one wanted clothes and barbies

she wasn't disappointed

T got a phone with unlimited texting.....and so it begins.
We didn't leave the house once. We sat around and relaxed. We got to talk to our grandparents. We skyped (video phone over the Internet) with our cousins, which was a highlight for us.
What you see here is all the pictures I took. I videoed the morning (some, but not all) and just really enjoyed the day without the lens. I wish every day was like Christmas.

Christmas Eve

A few years ago our good friends the Jensen's invited us along on their annual Christmas Eve Caroling and it is now our annual tradition and we love it! We look forward to it every year. One of the first houses we go to is grandma Siebach. She is a fabulous wonderful woman. The kids love it because we carol inside and she always has treats and candy out for the kids to eat.

Chris really is having fun...I think.

Baby it's cold outside

This year our stake, along with the neighboring stake, raised money for Habitat for Humanity to build a house here in Rochester. The family had moved in just a few weeks before so we decided to go sing to them.

look how happy she was to see all 50 of us

our last house....by this time we are frozen to the core and dreaming of the hot apple cider and Chicken Chili waiting for us at the Jensen's house.

we get time to relax and visit with some of our favorite people

eat food with our friends

sit and talk as teenagers

really it's all about spending the evening with friends

Best friends who have become our family

people who make it so much easier to live so far away at Christmas time

We are all one big family

My favorite part of the night is when we all gather together in front of a big fire

waiting for a story

Cary read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Suzy read the story of Jesus Christ's birth in Luke 2.

After the story there is a bunch of things going on. Mostly the kids run around and the parents try to gather them so we can say good bye.
Here are a few of our favorite missionaries. We love them.

There is singing at the piano

reading in the library

and dancing in the living room. There is no other place I would like to be on Christmas Eve than with this group of people. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends who, like I said, really are our family. I don't know what we would do without them.

Happy 6th Birthday

Hanging on by a thread (or root)

I found this months ago and knew it would be perfect for her birthday! She immediately put it on and wore it to school.

please don't mind the laundry in the back ground.

love her face here

she loves clothes

her new doll's name is the same as hers. She loved it.

cake from Wegmans

She had a great day. She got to celebrate in school. We took her to dinner at a new place where she had her very own pizza. We walked through Justice (a clothing store for girls) and Michael's. We then went to Wegmans where she picked out a cookie from the patisserie and an ice cream cake. After cake she wanted to watch "The Grinch" which she did, until 11:30pm. That is a favorite part of the kids birthdays..staying up late doing whatever they want with mom and dad.

coming up

stay tuned for posts about...
-Thanksgiving

-A birthday

-Christmas

-grades

Joy to the World

"Let every heart, prepare him room, and Satan and angels sing, and Satan and angels sing, and Satan, and Satan, and angels sing."

as sung by our youngest.

Thoughts, feelings, and facts

-My baby is turning 6 this year. How can that be possible?

-It is freezing outside.
-I had 5 too many cookies yesterday.
-It is so cold out that I have to run on the treadmill.
-I hate the treadmill.
-I wouldn't run on the treadmill, except I love sugar. (see above cookie confession)
-We put up our tree last weekend.
-here is my favorite new ornament for this year.

-It is KILLING me that I can't hold these babies!
-I miss my family a lot at Christmas, but more so on the 4th of July. (weird I know)

-It has snowed for 3 days straight.
-I don't mind the snow so much with this baby sitting in my garage.-
-a moment of silence for my lifesaver (and back saver)
-I have used this baby 5 times in 3 days
-I LOVE MY SNOW BLOWER!

-I need new tires on my car.
-I have loved school, but December 17th can't come soon enough.
-We had soup for dinner tonight.
-I have a power point project due on Friday, but don't have power point on my laptop.
-I guess I will read and do my homework in the morning.
-We watched "The Sorcerers Apprentice" tonight.
-The kids are all in bed. Finally!
-My house is quiet.