Happy Birthday, Grammie!
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We spent a lovely few days with our friends and family in Pennsylvania over New Year’s. We hadn’t been there in an entire year, which was far too long! We stayed with our friends Ron and Tiffany, who had little Wyatt last summer. We were all very excited to meet the newest adorable addition to their family!
Our big kids were over the moon to be able to play with Ron and Tiff’s big kids (and their toys!): On New Year’s Eve, we went to Jim’s aunt and uncle’s house for their yearly party (you can see pictures from last year’s party here) . To say the girls were looking forward to this party would be an understatement. They were positively GIDDY. And their energy served them well – we all made it to midnight (even though the boys were definitely rough around the edges by then)! As this year draws to a close, I can’t help but stop and thank the Lord for my children. I am so blessed – even if they are going in four different directions! When the girls are home all day, I still have them play (hopefully quietly) in their room in the afternoon while the boys are napping. When I go to retrieve the girls, I’m often greeted by excited smiles as they show me the pictures and paper projects they’ve made, usually involving large amounts of tape. Here’s Becky showing me a card she made for Grammie (she’s holding onto it until she can give it to you in person, Mom!):
This picture reminded me how Becky used to make “letters” for people with lots of tape and paper, but then never give them away (I blogged about it here). I’m so glad she now graces others with her creations! Sometimes life moves a little too fast to capture in pictures – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Here are the girls “flying” in their superhero capes: Wouldn’t you love to just spin the day away with your best friend? We were blessed that many of our friends and family were able to take time during this busy holiday season to join us last weekend for a little get-together. It’s one of the highlights of my year to have so many loved ones in our home at Christmastime. As usual, our guests were extraordinarily generous and came bearing delicious food. Just look at this dessert spread!
The girls received their first fish from our friends and they’re still SO excited to feed them and check on them every day! (We had to switch to version 2.0 of both fish within a few days, but the girls handled that very well! So Sarah, if you’re reading this, we were right that the fish afforded us some great educational opportunities!)
And I just adore these new dresses they were given (thank you, Maria!):
Jimmy loves his new PlayDoh set, especially since our kind friends played with it with him:
I had fun trying out some new recipes and ideas, like this appetizer “tree” and party favor “sleigh”:
Our friend Dave blessed us by leading us in Christmas carols and giving a little message. He reminded us that we, as a society, spend so much time thinking about how magical it is to dream that a big man can fit down a little chimney that we forget how amazing it is that the Creator of the World came down to dwell among us as a man. Then, on Christmas Eve, we joined Jim’s aunt and uncle at my in-laws’ for a wonderful steak dinner. Nothing says Christmas like sharing some good red meat with the ones you love! We’ve had such a great time the last few weeks with the holidays that the kids are already looking forward to the next one. The day after Christmas, Susie bounced into our room babbling about Easter and demanding to start dyeing Easter eggs! I informed her we weren’t quite ready for that yet, but she was pacified when she learned we’ve got New Year’s Eve coming up. Our kids sure love a party! We all really enjoyed our Christmas at home this year with my in-laws. From start to finish, it was a very merry holiday! I love my four little elves!
We ate great food, like our favorite French Toast casserole and egg casseroles for breakfast, with sparkling cider and fresh fruit: Oh, and I can’t forget the yummy candy later on! The kids got to Facetime with their cousins in Arizona: The girls received the Rapunzel doll set they’ve been dreaming of for months: Danny was thrilled to play with all of his siblings’ new toys: And he loved his own new toys too!
Jim and I loved the snowmen that the girls made for us at school: Jim got a kick out of our new binoculars, courtesy of my parents: The kids gave their stamp of approval to the bean bag chair we got for Jim: The girls worked hard on their new crafts they received: Jim played hard with his new helicopter (or was it actually Jimmy’s? We’ll never know!): It was the perfect day with family! It doesn’t get much better than helping your dad and Pappy assemble a new race track! Hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas day as we did!
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