Celebrating Babies

We celebrated Baby Jesus on Christmas Day!  Lots of excitement in the air!

The cats got a couple of gifts too and didn't disappoint us with their playful reaction! 

Christmas Picture with Grandpa & Grammy!

Kate and Natalie were so excited when they opened another American Girl Doll at their other grandparents house!  WOW!   Julie Albright times two!:) 

The day after Christmas, Jon & I had a little overnight getaway to see our friends, Tim & Molly, and to celebrate their new baby!

Baby Anna was oh so cuddly and adorable!  I could post 10 more pictures of this precious girl, but instead encouraged Molly to start up her blog again!:)  

Such a sweet blessing and a good way to wrap up 2017!

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas early with my family.  The cousins always enjoy seeing one another! 

The girls got their first American Girl dolls and were thrilled!  I love Mazie's face in the picture below, and I don't think Natalie's smile could have been any bigger! 

Happy girl!

Naughty...

 & Nice...

The boys both got BIG stuffed dogs.  Scott was hoping for the real deal this Christmas, but he's going to have to settle for this.

 We laughed as the cats cautiously approached the new toy.  They weren't sure what to think!

We tried to do the December tradition of hiding the Wisemen again, but I wasn't as good at remembering to do it each night.  One morning, Natalie woke me up to tell me that the Wisemen were in the same spot as the day before so I groggily told her to hide them.  This was what she came up with...

Scott loves the snow- no matter how much or how little we get!

Christmas to be continued...

Program, Parties, Piles, Pictures, & Piper

 School Christmas Program night- they look thrilled. 

Here was my vantage point for the program.  I think I spotted my kids.  Next year I'm bringing binoculars.  :)

 When Jon grows up, he wants to be a lumberjack. 

Jon's Junior Lumberjacks

You'd think we had a wood burning stove or something!

Natalie's classroom party was something!  The mom in charge did an incredible job and put me to shame on any classroom parties I've ever attempted. 

Scott's classroom party was the following day.  It was fun to see him get so tickled while throwing marshmallows at his classmate!

Kate's class performed the song that they've been working on for the parents.  She was so excited to show us her dance!

I was swapping out the kids' photos and always love seeing how they've changed.  I need to come up with some way to display these in the basement or preserve these through the years.  Pinterest maybe?  If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Piper thought that she couldn't be seen!

Colossal Catch Up!

So I've had some technical difficulties, but I'm determined to get caught up before Christmas!  Time for some random pictures and stories from the past month. 

Back in November, Scott played "Arabesque" in his piano recital.  We were proud of him!  He was so relieved when it was OVER!  He kept referring to his shirt and tie get up as his costume.  :)

We also visited the dentist last month.  While in the waiting room, Kate got a little anxious.  She kept smoothing her hair repeatedly and nervously asked, "How does my hair look?" at least six times. 

Before she went back, she asked a hypothetical question..."I know this probably won't happen, but is the girl dentist (dental hygienist) or the boy dentist the one that pulls your teeth out?" 

Thankfully it went better than she expected, and she left with all of her teeth.  Whew!:)

Leave Kate at home for an afternoon with Jon and this is what you get!  Jon said she was an enthusiastic helper!

Just when we thought Rural King couldn't get any better, they go and add a rooster.  He even gave us some good cockadoodledoos!

Since the recital, Scott has been teaching the girls to play more songs.  I think they were inspired by all of the performances and want to play too.  After what seemed like nonstop piano playing for a few days, I told Jon that I didn't think I could handle three young pianists in the family!  Especially not all at once as I captured below...AHHHH!

Grammy had the kids play a fun Thanksgiving trivia game that she created!  Prizes & all!

Kate made me laugh by saying, "Mommy, my sleeves are up, the hair is out of my face, and I am ready to lick!"  What a pro!:)

The girls were pretending to make jewelry the other night.  Natalie asked Kate if she wanted a bracelet, necklace, earring, nose ring...

I said, "Nose ring?  Who has a nose ring?"

Natalie quickly replied, "The people at Walmart."

That's quite a face, Kate!

They were SO eager to play in the snow!  They took what little we got and played outside until I finally made them come in.  They're sure hoping for more in the coming weeks!

Kate's been asking several questions lately about death and baptism...not always at the same time.  One day she randomly said, "What if you were in the water ready to be baptized and then Jesus came back?"  (I think this is what she is hoping will happen..."check" for being obedient to the call of baptism and "check" for Jesus taking her home before she had to put her head under the water.)  Her questions have been sweet (and sometimes sad)...all the things her young mind is processing.

On a similar note, one day the kids were asking us about heaven over lunch.  They were asking what language God speaks since there are believers all over the world.  Jon was trying to explain it when Kate got wide eyed and very seriously asked, "What if I get to heaven and God says, 'Hola!'?"   We all couldn't help but laugh at her sweet question.

Five year old well check...three immunizations...this girl is ready for kindergarten to start and is so excited for August already!

Go, Natalie, Go!

The cats were feeling the Christmas love and were holding hands.  Have I mentioned how much I like these kitties?? :)  It took much restraint to hold it to one picture for the blog!

These kiddos are favorites of mine, as well!:)