Christmas Eve

We had another lovely Christmas Eve hosting the Stange side  of the family. We were able to have everyone here this year except Birtta and her family in Korea.

 The Kids table (will run out of room next year when the two babies become toddlers)

 The living room crew

 Jenny and A

 Lots of family and good food

 Jeremy snagged baby Q for awhile

 Santa arrived!

 

 Excitement was high!

 Keeloch maintained her dignity even in the face of Christmas bows.

Jim and Emily showing off their new beautiful holiday shirts.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cash's Ciristmas Eve visit

We continue to love living in our neighborhood. Christmas Eve brought around some merry elves bringing goodies and cheer.  Thank you neighbors!

E and Kate

 It is so fun having a cousin who is so close in age. Kate and E are 6 weeks apart and they have so much fun together. We enjoyed having Auntie Jenny, E and A come visit a day or two before Christmas Eve so we could spend some time together. Kate and E were playing one day and created this whole jousting, bad guys with swords game. They had a blast and it was so funny to watch. Soon after they decided to ditch the swords and make it a signing competition with both of them on their pedestals. So much fun.

The parent trap

 We watched Home Alone and the kids were inspired by the booby traps Kevin set out for the robbers. They then made our house into a parent trap - just wait until we show them that movie.

The Arrival - at our church

Our church has a huge special offering once a year called The Arrival. Kids and adults alike save money and bring it in to support 100s of causes throughout the year. Disaster relief, overseas projects (like school uniforms in Nairobi, and food for children in Haiti) and local partners like the boys and girls club, our local school district and more. It is a pretty wonderful celebration. Part of the event includes the children coming in and leading us in our offering and then singing a song. This year Brenna and Caedan joined in. The kids did a great job.

 
Good luck spotting the kids. There were a ton of them.

Christmas #1

We are very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. Auntie Wendy, Uncle Greg and cousins Brenna and Caedan (technically not family by blood but definitely by heart) came down for the weekend to visit, exchange gifts and share in some holiday festivities.

Opening presents

Can't wait to start reading number 2 (Jaydon has already started and is more than half way through the non-illustrated edition).

MLT Jingle Bell Run

My school had a first annual jingle bell run where the PE classes did a little fun run and tried to have some extra jingle bell spirit. They invited staff and I participated during my prep period. I had a lot of fun and did pretty darn well too!