Hi!
I've gone back and added pictures throughout 2015. It's nice to have easy access to them to look back on. David and Mary especially enjoy looking through pictures on this here blog. So I thought I'd do some quick updating.
New old content:
January Stuff
February Stuff
Madison in March
April Stuff
May misc.
June misc.
July misc.
Stuff from August
Indianapolis Temple Open House
Other September happenings
Pajama Party!
October trip to Young's Jersey Dairy
Mary's 8th Birthday!
Wright Brothers Day
More October
Halloween
Music Hall
November happenings
Hopefully that fills in the gaps just a little bit!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
This Christmas Eve Family
David as Samuel the Lamanite
Sara as Lamb Dressed as Shepherd
Daddy as Joseph/Shepherd
Mary as Mary
Bitty Baby Katie as Jesus
and Mom as Angel . . .
. . . and that's our family Christmas Eve.
Happy holidays!
Christmas Day 2015
The big reveal. David was speechless. SPEECHLESS. He was frozen with shock and joy and awe. (I guess it's pretty exciting when Santa brings you what you had so little hope of getting that you didn't even put it on your list.) Mary was the opposite of speechless. She was bouncing around with delight and joy and narrating all of it. And Sara was like hey now what is going on? But she got down to the business of playing and eating candy pretty fast.
Mary immediately baked us muffins in her new oven while Daddy and David fooled around with electronics.
The muffins were delicious!
Sara agreed.
(Mary has baked us muffins every single day since she got her oven and baking supplies. Best Christmas gift ever!)
After checking out what Santa delivered, having breakfast, and getting dressed, this crew was ready to tackle the pile under the Christmas tree.
I made them pose for a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree.
No fuzzy jammies this year--though Mary and Sara have three pairs of matching footie pjs--because it was too warm. Warmish and humid and dreary and rainy. (Yuck!) But the joy of sharing Christmas with these kids more than made up for the gloomy weather.
They were more than ready to open presents. As youngest, Sara, went first. She naturally chose the biggest one first.
Christmas is so fun with kids! What a great day. David, Mary, and Sara were delighted by the fun, thoughtful, generous gifts they received.
I think my favorite moment of Christmas may have been when Sara opened her road, and....
...David spotted it, and...
immediately jumped in to join her, both of them vroooming and screeeching away. (Video here.)
Fun times...
Look at what Mary made for me and and Greg:
Yes, it was a lovely morning...
Later that afternoon we had a short visit from Grammy and Grandpa along with Uncle Daniel (Greg's brother), Aunt Brittany, and Little Cousin Nathan. Hooray!
David, Mary, and Sara with Grammy and Grandpa and Cousin Nathan.
We opened more gifts and enjoyed our annual Christmas Day Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer picnic. More fun times. My kids always love to see their Grammy and Grandpa. What a special Christmas afternoon treat.
After they left to drive back up to Dayton, there was still plenty of time for more dessert, more candles, more scriptures, more carols, and more play!
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| Mary opened Yum Yum's, her bakeshop. Business has exploded and she has since taken on Sara as an employee. |
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| Developing fine motor skills at the kitchen table! |
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| Legos! |
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| More Legos! |
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| Play-doh! My Little Ponies! Play-doh My Little Ponies! Dream worlds collide! |
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| Mom helps. Because Christmas doesn't really happen unless Mom helps...a lot. Am I right? |
Christmas Eve 2015
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| This little girl patiently waits for Christmas Eve dinner. |
After our morning at the museum, we rested and then began the preparations for our Christmas Eve celebration. I love Christmas Eve!
Mary was totally in charge of the table this year, and she did a fabulous job! She made fancy, festive place cards for each family member as well as place mats. Then she decorated the table with cozy houses and glittery shapes.
Didn't she do a wonderful job?! Mary loves to make celebrations special, and it is so fun to have her help.
Greg and I needed a few extra minutes to finish dinner preparations, so we put on the original The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. What a classic!
We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving this year (which was awesome!), so we had turkey for our Christmas Eve feast. And mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce and Jell-O and mac'n'cheese and rolls and broccoli. Yum! (I don't often make "traditional" food like this, so in our house it's special and a treat.)
After dinner we moved into the living room so the kids could exchange gifts. They are all so sweet and thoughtful about their gifts for each other. Mary also always adds a really special letter:
Mary's gift to David immediately became part of the Christmas tree display.
After the children exchanged gifts, we acted out the Nativity. We didn't necessarily plan it this way, but overall it turned out to be a little less traditional this year . . .
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| David as Samuel the Lamanite. It was David and Mary who suggested we include this Book of Mormon prophet at the beginning. David was an awesome Samuel the Lamanite--he knew exactly what to say! |
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| This is Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. They were joined by a lamb and her baby. |
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| Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus. |
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| Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus are soon joined by another Baby Jesus and a lamb. |
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| Lamb, Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, and Baby Jesus. |
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| Quick costume change! Mary Christine then changed from Mary the Mother of God into a Mary the Shepherd. |
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| Mary the shepherd and her little lamb. Mary had a little lamb... |
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| Daddy also doubled as a shepherd. So these are the shepherds and their lamb. I was the angel...in shiny 100% polyester. Awesome! |
We ate our traditional Christmas Eve dessert of chocolate balls (which Mary helped me make!) and a panettone, while singing Christmas carols. Some favorites this year were "Silent Night, "Good Kind Wenceslas," "With Wandering Awe," "Joy to the World," "Deck the Halls," and "Away in a Manger."
Before bed, the kids prepared treats for Santa and the reindeer. It was so warm this year that we had to skip the fuzzy footed pajamas. Definitely not a white Christmas this year...but still lots of Christmas spirit!
We read a few of our favorite Christmas books, and the then the kids were off to bed....where just a few minutes later they heard sleigh bells outside their window!
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