Christmas at Grandma's Take 3 ~Presents!~

 We were overly spoiled at Grandpa and Grandma's house, as usual.  We are so very blessed to have family that supports us in so many ways, even with the little things like what we have on our wish lists! :)

 

 We got Cherith a purse that is loaded with credit cards, jewelry, phones, etc.  She LOVED it!

 Morgan was a bit overwhelmed with her presents! The big one in front of her is hers...it was a suitcase with her name on it that she could fit in quite comfortably! :)

 

 Her hair....crazy head!

 

 "I got paper!!!!  My FAVORITE!"

 She loved opening presents and would have been happy to sit there with the paper and bows all day.  Well, maybe not all day.  But she definitely enjoyed playing eating it. :)

 I wanted to post a picture of my parents new kitchen table.  With 2 high chairs added and one infant without a seat, we were able to sit down with everyone together at the same time.  It was so nice! 12 regular chairs, 2 high chairs, and you can get a TON more leaves to add to the table if we continue to grow as a family and need more. Amish made, of course.  They always make good stuff.

As I said, we are very blessed to have family, on both sides, that love, support, and encourage us in our lives.  They are there for us to call, even for no reason.  They understand when you aren't perfect and things don't go according to plan. They are always willing to drop everything to meet a need, should it arise.  They are there to laugh in the happy times, cry in the sad times...I could go on.  Christmas is a time of year that we are supposed to remember the greatest Gift of all, Jesus Christ.  He came to earth, humbled himself as a baby, and became the necessary sacrifice that we all needed  to cover our sins. It is on December 25th that we celebrate his birth.  We celebrate that He made a way in a manager to make a way to the cross. What a truly giving Savior He is...the perfect Gift, for sure.  Though nothing that my parents or Tim's parents can give me can even come close to comparing to this Gift that I have received in Christ, their generosity, selfless attitudes, and giving spirits are something I crave and desire for my family.  I hope and pray that Tim and I can raise our children to know truly, what the real meaning of Christmas is.  We don't celebrate Santa or reindeer or anything like that.  But let me tell you, we are making Jesus' birthday exciting in this house!  I pray we can give HIM the greatest gift of all, and that is simply, ourselves.  It is our prayer as a family that we will simply give up ourselves to whatever God has planned for us.  We are excited about what this new year holds for us and how He is going to mold us into the family He desires us to be to serve Him.

Christmas at Grandma's Take 2 ~Snow Fun~

 The day we were traveling to my parents house, the weather was actually kind of iffy.  About an hour before we started driving, it must have been bad because we saw a TON of people in the median and multiple accidents that all appeared to have happened about the same time.  Thankfully, we made it without any problems!  It was BARELY enough snow but was indeed enough for the kids to enjoy sledding the next day.  It quickly became a big muddy mess but as you can see, the kids didn't mind and had a blast.

The only video I got of the kids sledding

 Poor Megan spent half of her time just trying to get up the hill to go down it!

 Daniel and Andrew

 Megan made it and had a blast riding with Tyler on the same sled that me and my sisters used to ride on as kids.

 Cherith had a blast... sarcasm intended... :)  She hated all things snow!

 Megan's turn to drive!  I think that she only made it down the hill twice because she spent some much effort just getting up it!

When all the kids were done sledding, Zach had finished his duties as being the one at the top of the hill sending the kids down and decided to come down in a more exciting way than just walking. :)

If you are like me, you were probably disappointed that the ending wasn't more exciting :)

 

 

 Andrew making snow angels

 

 There is mischief in those eyes!

 and definitely in that smile!

 Thankfully, he saw my camera and knew better than to throw that at me! :)

 My tough baby girl (as is evidenced by the two fading bruises you see on her head)

 I told her to eat it

  She wasn't a fan :) Not surprising from the girl who doesn't like ice cream

 See what I mean about Cherith hating snow?  She wouldn't even put her feet down!  Though, the poor girl wasn't feeling good and was actually diagnosed with the flu later that day.

 

  Daniel posin' for a pic :)

 Who says you can't jump on the trampoline in the snow!?

 They really just did more of wrestling on the trampoline, not really jumping 

More Christmas pics to come!

Christmas at Grandma's Take 1 ~Stockings~

I have quite a few pictures from our Christmas weekend at Grandpa and Grandma's house including stockings, snow fun, and actual present opening so I am going to post them in a few posts.

First things first, stockings!!

I love how intent she is on getting every last treasure out of her stocking

 

This little spinning car thing is one of Tyler's new favorite things for sure.

 

 Morgan's first Christmas stocking!!!

 

 

 She was thrilled :)

Tyler's First Christmas Program

Tyler was in his first ever Christmas program at our church.  He played the huge roll of being a sheep. ;)

It was so fun hearing him sing the songs at home...practicing them with Megan's microphone or a bowling pin or whatever else he could find.  He would sing at the top of his lungs, singing every word perfectly....at home...at church or in front of anyone else, however, he clammed up.  I actually have a video of him singing during the opening song of the program and he is swallowing like every 4 seconds...poor guy must have been nervous!!  He also looked exhausted during the whole thing even though he was feeling great and had a great night sleep the night before.  Oh well.  It was still so fun entering into this new little part of being parents.

Here is a video of him singing, yes, actually singing a few words, during the opening song.

He also hated his sheep hat

Yeah...a big yawn picture. :)

Here is a video of another kid owning the show on the cupcake song and you can see how Tyler didn't do like ANYTHING until the very end and then he got all enthusiastic with the "hey!" Silly boy.

Next year, both Tyler and Megan will be a part of the program, if the church decides to do it.  It was a lot of work for those poor volunteer program directors!

Megan Counting

Megan, 9 times out of 10, counts like this, "one, eight, nine, ten, eweben, eight, nine, ten, eweben..." Its so cute.  Finally got a video of it one morning. 

She is constantly making me smile with all the cute things she says.  For instance, when we tell her we love her, she says "Much, Mom" instead of "I love you very much." She started doing it when she wasn't talking as well and it has stuck. Sometimes when she is throwing a little fit if she doesn't want to do something I told her to do, she says "not eber!" Meaning, she is not doing it ever.  Its really hard to keep a straight face when disciplining her sometimes. :)

Baby Hairstyles?

 What to do with a 6, now 7 month old's hair that still maintains their baby look??  That has been my question lately and I personally don't like either looks below yet on her.  I feel like they are too toddlerish and make her look older than she is.  I have no idea what to do with it so we stick with headbands for now.  That just keeps her looking little and sweet instead of rotten and ornery. :)

First pig tails for Megan, 18 months.  First pig tails for Morgan, 6 months...