handsful

Christmas 2013 was a lot of things.  It flew by so quickly, really.  I realize now things that we “missed”…the Christmas earrings I forgot to wear, the movies we never watched, books we never read, treats we never made.

But, I refuse to live in regret for what wasn’t done.  Instead, I’ll remember this Christmas for what it was…a wonderful time with family, enjoying each other and remembering the reason for it all.

I’m playing around with how I post pics to the blog, trying to find a more efficient (quicker) way to do it.  So, the pics below tell the story of our Christmas starting at Christmas eve, when my parents spent the day with us.  Later that night, we were all dressed up for our Christmas eve service at church.  Of course, Christmas morning, our standard breakfast of canned cinnamon rolls (they won’t let me try homemade!), and the rest of our day spent together.

Enjoy our pictures :)

I may be a day late, but…

We hope that your Christmas was all you hoped it would be.  We pray that you acknowledged Christ as the true reason for this busy season.  And, we look forward with you now to 2014, and all the possibilities it holds.

Merry Christmas

It’s Saturday evening around here, and I’ve gotta get the littles showered, Dylan’s hair cut, we’ve got 2 chapters to read in our Advent book (missed last night!), and we want to watch a Christmas movie before it gets too late.

So.

Rather than do a lengthy post, describing every detail of every picture – ya’ll just enjoy the shots.

We sure did enjoy the time…

Gathered around our table, with more food than we truly need, enjoying a day together.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The bird, before…

And, during.

My girls.  I would have a “my boys” pic too, but one of them was extremely uncooperative.  I gave up.  I’ll keep the identity of the trouble maker a secret.  (Ethan)

After lunch, we rolled ourselves away from the table and headed downtown for what is becoming a tradition (as of last year, when we did it for the first time)…family pictures!

My parents with their grands…

“Squeeze in tight, kids, act like ya like each other!”

Photo credit, Daniel Kepple

Abbey and Daniel :)

Oh, Dylan…

Pretty girls

hoodlum boys

the parents

Remind you of a certain album cover?

Randy and I are thankful for many things in our lives….like those guys and gals above.

But, wasn’t it JUST October?

I mean, seriously, I’m not sure what’s going on lately.  My days, weeks, months are flying by at warp speed.  I need time to slllooowww down.  Not speed up, for crying out loud.

I’ll stop complaining now.

This month has been good…a few highlights.

As we’ve done every year since…well, forever…we have a Thankful Tree.  I tried to cut corners and I posted a “What I’m Thankful For” poster for everyone to write on.  I got SO much grief about that!  “MOM, where’s the TREE?!?!”  “We can’t just have a poster!!”

A tree it is.  Marley cut out the trunk, and we just used the leaves to make the top shape.  I like it much better than the poster.  There, I said it.

This is a picture of Abbey driving down the driveway.  WITHOUT me or Randy in the passenger seat.  Yes, she now has her license.  The other three are busy fighting over who’s going to drive every time we go anywhere.  They each have to log 60 hours (and turn 16) before they’re eligible to apply for their licenses.  And, we’re now also logging Abbey’s hours, so she can eventually get her “after 9” license.

Some of the kids went to see the premiere of Catching Fire last Thursday night.  Abbey went all out (are we surprised?) and decided to dress up as Katniss.  I took her to the thrift store and she found 2 dresses and a shirt.  Once home, she went right up to her room and started sewing.  She managed to use pieces of all three things to create her Mockingjay dress.  I was impressed!

While they were at the movie, I took Payton, Lainey, and Dylan to a Thanksgiving dinner and presentations, put on by the littles Classical Conversations group.  Payton graciously skipped the movie so he could be a teen helper with the kids games.  Sweet kid.

Lainey’s class presented a song about the planets.  She was Uranus, and told the crowd “Uranus is a pretty blue planet that spins funny”.

Dylan’s class sang their Timeline song, complete with all the hand motions.  Each child chose someone in the timeline to dress up as.  Dylan is Julius Caesar.

This is the end…”Jesus the Messiah!”

That pretty much wraps up November, with the exception of our yummy Thanksgiving dinner coming up next week.  I’ve got lots of cooking to do, and I’m so looking forward to it.  Not to mention having 4 whole days of zero school.  Woot, Woot!

Hey, teachers need breaks too.  :)

Cut shapes into pumpkins.

Eat too much candy.

And, this year…have a party.

That’s pretty much what halloween boiled down to for us.

First, we’ve got pumpkins to carve.

Her own design.

Dylan is a huge Avatar fan, so this is Aang the pumpkin.

As usual, Randy and the boys have their own creation.

Yes, that’s licorice hair.  And ghourd eyes…

Marley decided to paint her pumpkin, to match her black/white theme.

I wasn’t home when Abbey and Randy carved hers…surprise, surprise, it’s a Catching Fire theme.

Dress up time begins…

ladies and gentlemen, we present to you…Iron Man and Cat Woman.

I dropped them off at their friend, Paetyn’s house, for crafts and dinner.

Drove back to our house to take pics of the big kids and their friends, dropped them off at a neighborhood for trick or treating, and then headed back to where the littles were to walk that neighborhood with them.

Whew.

Marley, Payton, Ethan, Kailee, and Kylie…

Payton resurrected an old costume from years ago…

Payton, age 9

Marley cut this design in her black tee …very cool, I think.

Abbey, as an un-dead bride.  Her creation, made from thrift store purchases.  Plus, her talent as a special effects make-up artist.

Ethan and Kailee…she was a gothic barbie doll, and he was just gothic.  Another excuse to wear all black clothing for him.  Just another day, except for the makeup done by Kailee!  (thankfully)

Tradition is, the kids come home, spread out their loot, and trade away!

The next night?  Well, we threw a party for the kids and their friends, of course.

We decorated the Shop, and played games…we wrapped kids into toilet paper mummies, had a pumpkin carving contest, and a “who can hold 4 hot balls in their mouth the longest” game.

And, a costume contest.  Marley won.  :)

They played manhunt out in the woods, too.  Afterwards, Randy played a scary movie in the Shop, and a not-as-scary movie down in our basement.

Lots of memories made, lots of fun had.

By the way, WHERE did October go??

Summer is going quickly, it seems.  And, we’re busy…no surprise there.

Last week, Dylan did something he’s been DYING to do.  He went to soccer camp!

He had all the gear.  Shy of one shin guard that…well, didn’t need guarding.  Maybe the other kids should have toe guards?

It was really hot all week, and despite putting sunscreen on him everyday, he’s now sporting a mad tan.

Yes, I’m a little jealous.

I took some shots of his last day…

Her name’s Katie.  And, yes, he’s holding her hand.  He had three blond haired girls surrounding him, taking turns hugging him goodbye at the end.

The coach is the director of our area’s recreational soccer league…he said Dylan was (1) fearless and (2) had incredible balance, even compared to the “two-legged” kids.

We’re signing him up for soccer in the fall.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, and we were blessed to have Randy’s dad and my dad here with us.  The big kids had their last local Testify choir concert that same day, so they were able to attend with us.  What made it even better is that all the kids were scheduled to do their “parts” that day (all the acting parts and solos are double-casted so they take turns with performing in concerts).

Pictures first, of course.

Father of the Year…

“Hey, jump in and hug”….boys, that’s not what I meant.

I’m pretty sure some heads got clunked here.

The big kids were at rehearsal…

Randy and his dad.  My mom took a picture of me and my dad, but I didn’t get one with my camera.  Ugh!

Soon, it was time to head to the concert.

Payton plays Mason, a highschool junior struggling with his commitment to his faith.

Payton’s about to get tagged…

Abbey is Toni, a “groupie” to the highschool bully.

And, she dances.

Marley sings with her friend Kylie, they each have solo parts in the same song.

Ethan has a solo and…

plays a drum box.  I’m told it’s called a cajone.

Randy gives the invitational message each night…and, did I mention that he also wrote the script for the play?

At the end of the concert, all the dads of the students were invited up to sing along with their theme song “Testify to Love”.

The whole crew, after the concert…see, I was there that day!

As of this morning, Randy and the bigs are on tour in Tennessee for the next 6 days.  It’s just me and the littles, which is weird!  But, we’re taking advantage of our time together to do fun stuff and I’m tackling a few projects that I never seem to get around to.

Here’s to another fun, and busy week!