Dad

Cousin Pile!

Getting a little out of order with photo posts....but oh well!
One of the great parts of our Wyoming trip was meeting two little ones in our family!  My cousins' kiddos--Adilee and Silas.  My two had a blast playing with them and they keep asking to go back and see them.  We spent Christmas Eve with my dad's family at Grandma Jan's--a tradition since before I was born.  It was so sweet to see a new batch of little ones doing the kid thing over there and enjoying the fun!  Christmas Eve at Grandma's was one of my favorite days of the whole year, and though it just isn't the same without my Grandpa and his antics there, it was lovely to get to be with everyone to celebrate Christmas.  We are gonna try our hardest to make it a yearly event!
Here are all the cousins!

Wyoming was good to us!

We are home from a wonderful week in Wyoming that was pretty much perfect!  Family, snow, a wedding.....just went by too quick!  Of course I have a gazillion photos to share once our laundry's dealt with and suitcases unpacked!  But in case you wonder what the view is like from my Grandaddy's back porch?  Yup.  This is it.  And yes, we are jealous fo' sure!

Beck's Christmas decorating.

These pictures came from Mimi.  Beck spent several days at her house recently.  One of her Christmas decorations was a cute little wicker sleigh filled with glass christmas balls.  Every time he was there he would immediately empty out the sleigh and refill it with his airplanes and cars.  :)

Buds.

Cattail Crazies!

There seems to be a bit of a pattern in our outdoor activities according to the season.  In the late fall/early winter we spend a lot of time around the little pond behind our house, walking, exploring, having footraces, and just enjoying some exercise and nature.  

In December the cattails were beginning to go to seed.  My kiddos noticed this and decided to pick them and unravel all the cattail fuzz.  For many days this was the highlight of our afternoon walk and they made a HUGE pile of cattail fuzz.  I am pretty sure the entire pond will be covered in cattails next spring when all those seeds they spread do their thing!  They also covered themselves, the dog.....

 Even a bit of seedy goldenrod got into the mix.

Merry Christmas from US!

Awesome Christmas read-aloud

This year I decided she was finally ready for this book!  I had been saving my copy (from my teaching days) for "the year."  This was it!  I read it aloud to her and she couldn't get enough of it!  I did edit a bit of the language and imagery--which is one great benefit of reading chapter books aloud!  So if you read it to a younger one, be ready for just a bit of mama-edits.  However, we both loved this book so very much and it sparked several deep theological discussions about Jesus' birth.  My girl loves to talk theology, so this was right up her alley.  And I will have to say that, though this is a children's book, the spiritual reminders in it did my soul well, too.  This is going to be a book we read aloud together each year.  If you have kiddos old enough and haven't yet read them this book, I strongly recommend it!  The language....the characterization.....so lovely!

A frog in his jams and some roadrash.

Christmas Partying!

Last Saturday night was Matt's work Christmas party.  We got all good and festive.  Matt's coworkers hardly recognized him so fancy!  I heard a comment, "Wow, that's a new look for you."  :)  He does look pretty sharp in his suit and 'spenders! 

 Since Mimi and Papa were babysitting for us (thanks, guys!) we decided to enjoy our evening out.  I requested dessert nachos.  Yummmmm.

Quinn's school Advent Spiral

Friday morn was Q's advent spiral.  The children had made their candles (hand-dipped in beeswax) earlier in the week, then the teachers put them in cored apples as holders.  Each child was walked to the center by a 3rd grader (in St.Lucia robes from their previous presentation), lit their candle from the main candle, and then placed their candles around the spiral.  From a Christian perspective, this illustrates the light that Christ is in the world, and the way that we shine His light is us and bring brightness to our world.
Quinn invited Beck to walk with her.  In the middle, Q took his candle and lit it.  They walked out of the spiral a bit, then Beck decided he wanted to light it himself, so he went back to redo it.  Quinn was horrified.  :) 

I am still amazed at the reverence and attention span that Waldorf kindergarteners are capable of.  The children sat for about 35 minutes as each child took their turn in the spiral.  Then there was some singing and then they dismissed to some rowdy outside running and playing--after all, kindergartners can only be reverent SO long!  

I actually got to do Quinn's hair because the girls had orders to put their hair up due to the fire.  And look at Beck rocking a size 3t shirt!  We've finally gotten to hand along his 18 and 24 month duds!

Quinn opened up her purse at church Wednesday night after dinner to a half-dozen Barbies. Luckily she had plenty to share with Beck and Daddy!

A picnic hike!

Yesterday was one of those days that just went really well.  Every so often we have one of those.  No fits, no meltdowns, just a fun day together.  We decided to pack picnics and take a hike.  Everyone packed their own little bento box, and a little help and not having to pack all the lunch stuff on my own was awesome!  

Quinn came out dressed for the hike.  

Me: You have your shirt on backward.

Q: I know.  But I really like this shirt and it has a mermaid on it and I don't feel like having a mermaid today, so I just put it to the back, then I won't remember it.  

Mmmmmkay.  This is the girl that can't deal with socks.  Or seams.  Or shoes.  But somehow can wear her shirt backwards all day because she isn't feeling "mermaidy."  

 SOMEONE has gotten to be a little miss sassy-britches lately.  Her favorite way to start a sentence is "Mooooother," said in a sarcastic voice, maybe with an eye-roll thrown in for emphasis.

 There, that's better.  We're having lots of "try that again with a kind voice" around here.

 And even though she's sassy, she's still awfully sweet.  She made all her pretzels into 3's for this little guy, because it delighted him.

 And I turned around at one point on the hike to this:

 She had packed her "scientific observation journal' and her fieldglasses for the trip.

 This is him on his "nighthouse."  Not to be confused with a lighthouse.  Believe me.

We walked a really long ways....I was rather impressed they hung in for that long of a hike!  It was a pretty fantastic adventure!  And I soaked in all the sweetness while I could, because next time they will likely be whacking one other with sticks or crying because the other one took the pinecone they wanted.  :)