New Church Shoes!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love Christmastime! Not only do I get to decorate, bake, and enjoy the snow, but it's the season we celebrate the birth of the Savior! I love using Christmastime to remember the blessings that God has showered on us! Of course, this year we have the additional celebration of expecting a little one in the summer. And, today in particular, I can celebrate that God gave me a reprieve from the morning sickness I've been fighting!

Today we spent the day doing Christmas decorating and enjoying the few inches of snow we got early in the morning. David treated me this morning and got up with the kids to get them breakfast, letting me catch an extra hour of sleep. After that, I attended a Christmas Tea that the church was hosting and David and the kids got going on setting up the tree. When I got back, after some serious adventure driving in the snow and ice (I thought I remembered how to do it!), David took Carver sledding. As you can see, the amount of snow is just barely enough to make it down the hill, but Carver loved it anyway :)


The girls and I watched from the upstairs window.

When the guys came in, we had hot chocolate and snacks, and then got started decorating the tree. Laura quickly broke an ornament (fortunately, not one of the special ones) and was put on ornament probation. Hence the headband you see her chewing on.

After decorating, we went and visited some friends who have just had a baby. The kids were happy to come home and see our tree, all lit up and shiny!

David made us nachos for dinner, and then tucked the kids into bed. I don't think I'm too far behing them...

To Our Leiden Correspondents...

...you know who you are!

We wanted to let you know that you have got some legwork to do to keep up with us in the kid department! You'd better start hoping for sets of twins...

That's right, come mid-July, baby #4 will be on his (his, because Carver is prettymuch totally convinced that it's a boy) way.

So, now that you know, I'm waiting on pins and needles for some of your wonderful name suggestions...nothing Dutch, thank you.

Snug as a Bug...

They aren't really rolled up in the rug, though that has happened a time or two. They've taken all the cushions off the couch and are using them as blankets as they sing each other to sleep. Pretty funny.

Violin Lessons with Grandma Bray

Grandma Bray obligingly gave the kids string lessons whenver they asked for it. I think Carver liked the novelty of the violin, but Ellie was much better at it in general (sorry, Carver!). It was just the right size for her, and she like being able to manipulate the strings and bow with her little fingers. I think if Grandma lived next door, Ellie might get somewhere, but for now, we'll have to settle for twice-yearly (or so) lessons.

Appleacres

David took a few hours off this morning and went apple picking with us. We went to a place about 1/2 hour south of here, just outside a little town named Bedford. Here are the kids picking:




And here are the kids eating (and sleeping!) on the way home:


Unfortunately, it has thrown a wrench in the rest of our school day, but hey, it's only fall once a year, right?

Laura's Birthday With the Brays

Grandma and Grandpa Bray arrived at the cabin on Laura's birthday, and they brought with them presents and cake!

They had decided to do everybody's birthday at once, so everybody was a winner! Here are the girls, opening gifts:

And here is Carver, opening his presents:

Kid Portraits

In between the Talcotts leaving and the Brays arriving, we had a day to ourselves at the Cabin. We started by dressing up and taking the kids back up to the Lookout for some pictures. As you can see, I'm still learning how to take nice pictures, and how to deal with the light. Sorry some of them are so dark!

Laura's Birthday with the Talcotts

Back to Montana posts...

Our last night with the Talcotts, we celebrated Laura's birthday. She received some fun toys and hugs and kisses from everybody. Of course, Ellie couldn't let Laura have all the fun!

One of those days...

Apparently, two week old watermelon isn't edible.

I learned the hard way after feeding it to Laura and Ellie for lunch and having a few pieces myself. Both girls threw up within about 10 minutes. Ellie was considerate and stayed in the kitchen, making cleanup pretty easy. I had her mess about cleaned up when Carver announced that Laura had thrown up in the living room. I looked, just in time to watch her toddle over to the stairs and deposit the rest of it on the stairs. Awesome. I decided to ignore the problem in the living room and took all 3 kids upstairs and threw them in the tub. Afterwards, I cleaned the tub with comet and left the kids watching a movie so I could work on the carpet downstairs. About 2 minutes later, Ellie came down, informing me that Laura had makeup all over her face. Knowing that she couldnt've gotten into my makeup drawer, I rushed upstairs. She was covered, from head to toe, in comet.

I think this is only my second time calling poison control, and I've been very happy both times. They're very considerate, and there's no suggestion in their voice that you could possibly be a complete idiot for leaving comet out.

No worries, the picture is not any of our adventures today. It's a freeze-pop break a few days ago after playing outside.