Christmas

Christmas Eve we went to the service at church, which was great. Then, we let Abigail open the matching pj's from Aunt Ruth and took a few photos of the cuties. The girls actually slept in that next morning so we didn't roll out of bed until 7:30am or so. We had cinnamon rolls, turkey sausage, eggs, and grapefruit for breakfast and opened our gifts after reading the Christmas story. Abigail was VERY excited and we did have to take one break for Christmas discipline. Olivia took a nap and tried to chew on all of the wrapping paper. We got Abigail a play cash register and cupcakes since playing grocery store and putting on birthday parties is something that we do on a daily basis. Abigail has some fixation with the number 89 so whenever it's some one's birthday they are always turning 89. She also got a fun Bugsby reading system from her grandparents which she has really enjoyed doing.

Then, we cleaned up and got ready for our guests coming at 2pm (17 people in all plus two in utero). We had four other families over from church who don't have relatives nearby. It was a really fun day fellowshipping with other believers. The weather was nice and so the kids (10 in all) were able to play outside.


The adult table and the kid table - Jude was fixated with eating candy from the gingerbread house, which I bought last year on clearance. Yuck! Another fun character trait about Abigail is that she really enjoys playing host to her friends. She was very into decorating the kid table and making sure everything was all set for them.

Sarah holding Jude and Olivia.

The girls dressed up like angels, or princesses. Abigail's halo had some serious issues later on and looked more like a unicorn's horn but she played happily all day in it.

Olivia with a rice cereal induced hair-do. The guys playing Settlers of Cattan.

The big kid table. Some of the angels. One of the ladies brought over a box of dress up clothes that had nativity-themed outfits and a manger with baby Jesus. The kids all really enjoyed dressing up like various characters.

We are very thankful for good friends to celebrate this special day with!

Christmas Diamonds

Before my sisters left for Bangladesh and Kettle Falls, WA we opened some presents and ate the traditional sausage bread together. Abigail really enjoyed her sock puppets and book. Olivia looked very cute in her warm, fuzzy outfit. We also lit the advent wreath, which has been a special time together for our family. Abigail says prophesy in a really funny way but I was so impressed she could name all of the candles. She is really excited about celebrating Jesus' birthday.

The next day Mr. Adam surprised Ruth with coming in a little early for their big trip to Bangladesh. He really surprised her by proposing to her at Point Reyes. We are very excited for them!

The Zoo

My sisters came in for a few days before Christmas, which was a big treat because we hadn't seen Aunt Ruthie since June! Abigail immediately latched onto Ruth and copied anything she did. For example, she hates mustard. But, Aunt Ruth loves mustard and so after I made her sandwich without mustard she asked me to make it was a ton of mustard the next time I made one. I did and she was so happy afterwards.

One of our outings was to the Oakland Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around the zoo (but not so much Sparkles and Bubbles, the actual name of the supposed kid-friendly music group that was performing in the amphitheater. Sparkles outfit of choice was a Santa-themed mini-skirt with red sparkle platform shoes. It was very, very strange).

Here are a few photos.

Gail and Jeremy forgot to bring a frisbee - good thing they had an orange peel, which provided a good 20 minutes of fun for the two!

Pa Pa and Christmas Outfits

We had a surprise visit from Pa Pa the first couple weeks of December. He came to help move his folks up to Washington. The will be living there for the next few months with my Aunt. The first time Olivia saw my dad she burst into tears, which was pretty funny considering she's the happiest baby ever. She warmed right up to him after a bit. Abigail loved seeing her Pa Pa and here's a cute picture of the girls and him.

Here's a few photos of the girls in their cute Christmas outfits.

Birthdays

Abigail turned four this week. Yikes - where does the time go! We had a nice week long celebration of the event. Aunt Gail came Sunday bearing gifts, we celebrated the actual day with cinnamon rolls and homemade mac-n-cheese and applesauce (her requested meal), and then had her party on Thursday complete with bouncy houses (borrowed from our garage saleing friends the Philips) and crafts. She even got a Cinderella Barbie, which has accompanied us on many outings since then. Guess that's what I get for borrowing the princess bouncy house for her party!

It was funny to listen to her talking to our friends and family on Tuesday. Her conversation with Cousin Mae started with asking me if Mae could come for a sleep over. I said that if she flies out here (they are in Indiana) then I would love to have her over. The rest of the conversation was them figuring out what they should bring for the sleepover and Abigail repeatedly saying the she has lots of videos so Mae didn't have to bring any. Her conversation with her friend Vincent was a lot of silliness and unintelligible words repeated over and over and them laughing hilariously. God graciously kept Abigail well for her party and allowed enough of her friends to make it a fun time, although we missed a few.

Abigail loved getting $ from her Indiana Aunts! She wants to go to McDonald's to buy a Happy Meal. She's also sporting the rain gear from Nani/Pa Pa.

All was going well this week, until I got a hold of scissors and tried to trim Abigail's bangs quickly. I think I might pretend like she did the haircut herself. Just kidding. Like Jeremy says it will grow out.

We are currently battling sickness in the house - Olivia is fairly miserable with a cough/cold and Jeremy has the same - although his method of medicine is gambling in Reno :)

Also, Olivia apparently likes getting screamed at (and I love the way Abigail's ability to obey the first time is displayed here too). Olivia honestly thinks everything that Abigail does is hilarious.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at an awesome place in South Lake Tahoe with two other families from our church. Altogether, there were seven kids and six adults. We had a great time together, and the kids got along surprisingly well. We ate lots of food on Thursday, took a trip up to Emerald Bay on Friday (we forgot Abigail's coat and it was a windy, maybe 40 degrees so we didn't last long), and got some snow on Friday night and Saturday. The kids favorite activity was to walk down to the lake (two blocks away) and sled down a small hill. We didn't have any sleds so a cafeteria tray from the cabin sufficed. I can't believe five kids (Olivia and Johnny the one year old didn't do any sledding) were happy with that, but they gladly took turns. They also liked playing on the snowy playground.

We are very thankful for the means to be able to do something like this and good, believing friends to celebrate a special holiday with together! At Thanksgiving we all went around and said what we were thankful for, Jeremy said he's thankful he knows where God wants him for now (seeing how we own a house in a market that's tanked), I said the girls (and specifically the long awaited Olivia) and Abigail said 'nothing'. Great! She eventually said Olivia but just goes to show you never know what is going to come out of their mouths.