handsful

As is the new norm these days, we were a tad late in getting our tree this year because we had to find a time where ALL 8 of us would be able to go together.

Mission nearly impossible.

But, we squeezed it in between a big Testify concert and the littles Testify Too concert.  And, as you can see, we had a couple of helpers too….Daniel and Elaina :)

We found just the right one, dropped off the littles, Payton, and Elaina at the concert.  The others drove home, and Randy and I dropped the tree off at the house.

Run back to the concert.  Enjoy the concert (they did great!)…

Gather everyone up, and head back home to decorate.

Trying out the ladders.  If these were our first kids, we’d probably have a heart attack, thinking they might fall.

But, we don’t scare easily anymore.

Clark (Griswald), wrapping about a zillion lights all around AND inside the tree.  Cause, there has to be DEPTH of light.  It’s a must.

First ornament pictures.  Another must.

Given we started kinda late, it was late when we finished.  Or, shall I say early?  12:30am, I believe.

And, I don’t do late.  Yawn.

The kids were getting silly, too.

House decorated.  Tree up.  Lights in trees outside.  Presents (99.9%) bought.  Presents (67.5%) wrapped.

Merry Christmas :)

Almost forgot to post pics of Dylan’s 4th Gotcha Day with us!

As is our tradition, the special kid gets to choose where we eat out…he chose a nice Italian place that we’d not yet tried yet.

It was a very good decision!

We also choose a book to give each year, one that “fits” for the previous year.  And, this year, Dylan’s favorite movie was The Lego Movie.  I found a DK book that tells you everything-you’d-ever-wanna-know about it.  He loved it.

When I look back at pictures of when we first adopted Dylan, he looks SO small.  Lately, he’s been busy turning into a big kid, more specifically a big BOY.  Loves to wrestle with his older brothers, box with his dad…anything rough and tumble and he just asks for more.  However, he’s also my kid who can sit focused on a coloring sheet, staying completely in the lines, loves to build with our magnet pieces and blocks, and can also sit for hours watching TV.  Ahem, that last one we need to work on ;)

Dylan is a joy, no doubt.

Happy Forever Family day, big guy!

Where did it go?

We just finished the first week of December.  Eeek.

In the interest of just wanting to catch up, below you will find lots of photos.

We loved our day trip to Boone, where we hiked up Elk Knob in the snow.  Some of us in shoes that had no business trudging through deep snow and slush.  Ahem.  We had a great time, nonetheless.

There are also pictures of the Testify drama team at our house…with Randy writing and directing the plays, we held two practices for the drama alone, and had a blast doing it.

Pics of Testify Too (the Jr. age choir that Lainey and Dylan are in) in their first Christmas concert.  Too cute.

I wasn’t able to get photos of the first Testify concert, but I’ll get some at an upcoming concert for sure.  Stay tuned.

I’ve also got before and after shots of our house painting project.  I should say our friend Doug’s painting project, since he did all the work! And, did an amazing job, too.  We LOVE it.

Finally, pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner here (just us this year), and our traditional Thanksgiving afternoon trip to our quaint little downtown for family pics.  It was COLD, but we had to grin and bear it.  Heh.

Enjoy :)

Elk Knob trip…

The fabulous Testify drama cast, 2014

Lainey and Dylan are in Testify Too (1st-6th graders) and they had their first concert.  Lainey plays a townsperson, and Dylan plays King Herod!

Let’s see what else…oh yeah, our switch from drab beige to gray paint!

I know the bottom wall looks kinda blue, but it’s really not.  After sweating choosing the color, I’m THRILLED with how it looks.  The browns in our furniture, etc. really pop against the gray.

Lastly, we did Thanksgiving this year with just us.  We still got the big turkey, and I cooked all the usual sides that are totally expected.  We ate (too much) and then headed downtown for our picture session.  We started this a couple of years ago, and I just love it.  We have so much fun running around the almost empty streets, finding fun places to take pics.  It was a bummer that we couldn’t get a full family shot (no one else with us, and couldn’t find the tripod!), but we got some good shots, I think.

Now?  On to all the fun and blessings of Christmas…