Christmas

The Christmas Eve service was as wonderful as anticipated-- I have never had more respect for our pastor as he managed to deliver a powerful message in the midst of pretty much non-stop child-wailing. I honestly think somebody or other's baby was crying all night. But it was still lovely. Afterwords we came home andddddddddd...

Made Christmas cookies! My wonderful Mother made me that apron- it was my 'open on Christmas Eve' gift.

Sisters.

Festive yumminess.

Daddy makin' breakfast, which was delicious!

Joseph and Michael looking at Mez's new coloring book.

Julia inherited LG's bike for Christmas, she was SO excited.

Five Stockings. (which had already been emptied by the time I took the picture).

I got this awesome candle lantern... and felt fierce in the morning snow with it... mwahaha.

As well as a sewing machine! I have been blessed this year by several women endeavoring to teach me how to sew (let me tell you, not an easy undertaking, precision is not really my thing), in particular the girl who I wrote about a couple posts ago. I am so excited to have my own machine! So far I've made a headband and a book mark...okay, don't jude, I'm learning!

Michael LOVES dinosaurs. And he LOVES coloring. This book made his Christmas.

Awkward angle- but on Christmas day the snow flakes that fell were so amazing. They weren't just normal balls of fluff-- I mean, we don't get much snow, but I've only seen it like this once or twice ever, every little flake was so intricate and deltailed. The perfect little crystals were orderly and unique, and tiiiiny! It was a beautiful reminder of the craftsmanship and love of the our Creator and definitely one of my favorite gifts of the day. It was also the first white Christmas I have ever seen!

Lela Grace age 11.

Cheesy smile.

You can kind of see the detail of the snowflakes more here. Seriously, it was breathtaking. (I am a teensy proud of this picture, I am NOT a photographer, but I like the way it turned out. 'Course, I had a pretty awesome subject to capture:)

Merry Christmas! Have a blessed Epiphany Season as Christmas draws to a close on the sixth.

"For God so loved the COSMOS that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

~John 3:16~

Final Exams

Studying for Final Exams have meant forgoing the following:

-A milkshake
-Archery practice with Lela Grace
-and Emperor's New Groove.
-snuggle time

...and thats just today. Summer, come quickly.

ps. how many families do you know with an archery range in their back yard? its a new addition. (new as in, this morning). Compliments of Joseph and Lela Grace who have both recently developed and interest in the sport, and thus bugged my parents sufficiently to build a target. I'm definitely the worst archer in the family, judging from the 10 minutes I took to go out and get a little taste. They whooped me.

"Hey Joseph?"

Tonight in the car:

Michael: "Hey Joseph?.....Joseph?.......Hey Joseph?.....Hey Joseph?"

Joseph (finally): yesss?

Michael: "Hey Joseph, do you like to kiss little tiny baby dinosaurs?"

haha

My brother and I had a conversation.

Joseph: "My friends and I are gonna start a band."

Me: "Can I name it?!?!?"

Joseph: "Psh, no. You'd probably call it the Happy Africans or something, but we're all white and grumpy."

He cracks me up. I love you, Joey.

Hero Monday: The Eskimos

How on earth

they ever did it
without the

wooden rafters

is beyond us. :)

I take it back!!!!!

For us, this is one SERIOUS snowday! Whoo Hoo!

Family Pictures!

Our family had photos done by an AMAZING photographer, Claire Wise. She was so nice and did such a fabulous job. We won a sitting from her at a silent auction fundraiser for some of our friends who are adopting two little boys from Ethiopia. Anyway, here are a few of them!

The five kids standing on our church front steps

Lela Grace, Julia and I

The Family :)

Happy Birthday Joseph

I can't believe that my little brother turned 13 today.

I also can't believe that of the 5 posts I've written, 2 of them have been about birthdays. Praise the Lord that Life is worth celebrating. And celebrate we did! After a family tradition of strawberry shortcake for breakfast, Lela Grace made cookies and brought them up to school for him at lunch time, and we had a delicious steak dinner and chocolate cake tonight, along with 13 presents for the birthday boy. I love food. :)

I am so happy for Joseph to be beginning the experience of life as a teenager.

I truly hope that this year will really grow our relationship. I love you Joey. Happy Birthday.

ps. Ok, so this picture was not taken even close to today, but none of the ones from this evening turned out very well, and I want to try to have at least one picture in every post. Mainly because I enjoy reading blogs more when they have a lot of pictures. Anyway, there are the five of us last spring. :)