Merry Christmas!

Alexia began her Christmas day by losing another tooth!

Stockings full of goodies were opened

Then Robert finished up the Jesse tree with the kids and we put baby Jesus and the star on the tree.

And then the fun of tearing into presents began in earnest...

And of course the best part of getting new stuff is using it and sharing with others right.... for awhile anyway! :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas preparations

To prepare for our annual Christmas movie night we made peanut butter kiss cookies and sugar cookie sticks rolled in crushed candy canes.

We try to have a night, every year, where we watch Christmas themed movies or other movies together and have snacks in the living room. Since we were finishing up our Jesse Tree devotional, it seemed appropriate to watch the Nativity Story first. Its such a realistic portrayal of what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph.

On Christmas Eve we finally got the laundry done and all put away from the trip. :-) We enjoyed the service at our church in the evening and then the kids opened the gifts from Robert's folks.

There were scooters for everyone, fancy outfits for the girl's dolls and a nice barn for Jadon. Of course there were more things but my fingers would wear out if I had to name all the nice things Grandparents have given us. :-)

And then it was the night before Christmas...

Where has the time gone????

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! It seems like December always goes by so quickly that we barely have time to realize its here before its gone again! To kick things off we start with Alexia's birthday. This year she turned 9 years old and requested a 'cat' cake that looks like 'Jake'. Other than the cake sinking in the middle it wasn't too difficult this time. :-) We had tons of fun with the kids at the science museum here in town and then had dinner at Alexia's favorite restaurant (Texas Roadhouse) with Grandma and Grandpa.

The next weekend we drove up to the northeast corner of Arizona to the Navajo reservation with a group from our church. Every year the church collects gifts and then takes them up for the Navajo parents to pick out for their children. We wrap them up for them, serve snacks outside, and do crafts with the kids. It was a bit snowy and dangerous on the drive but it was so beautiful out there. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow with the other kids that live there.

The next day we hosted our annual home group Christmas party. Unfortunately we also found out on this day that Robert's Grandma passed away. We decided to go ahead with the party but also started preparations to drive back to Michigan for the funeral. We had made our packing lists and travel plans etc. already so we made those reservations and packed up by that night. We left early on Monday and arrived in MI on Wednesday. The kids did really well although Jadon had a short bout of the flu we think.

No - they do not always look this happy or get along and smile, but we can't complain too much. :-)

It was a sweet time of remembering 'Granny' and the wonderful person that she was, even though it is sad she is no longer with us.

The kids were happy to see snow again and Jadon wondered if it ever was spring there (the last time we went was in December as well). They enjoyed playing at Grammy Sharon's house and even a bit of sledding.

We planned to be back home for Christmas so we left on Sunday. Thankfully we had safe travels although everyone was pretty tired and worn out. :-)

And then we got ready for Christmas!

to be continued...

October has come and gone

I can't believe its already time to start planning our Thanksgiving dinner and start pulling garlands out again!

In October we spent one weekend re-staining our concrete retaining walls in the backyard, one hiking around the alien looking landscapes of Bisti Wilderness, one having the flu and/or recovering from the flu, and one raking leaves and getting some firewood for the winter.

School is going great although we did have to take two weeks off for the flu. Its been exciting to see Jadon progressing in learning the alphabet, sounds and numbers. Sophia parrots him when I quiz him so I know she is picking up a lot as well. Alexia is learning a lot in the sign language class at the co-op we go to and she really enjoys it. She is also improving in her normal subjects and has about five different books going at any one time. I don't know how she can stand having so many different stories going on at the same time but to each his own I guess!

Here are some pictures from Bisti

And we finished up the month with an afternoon of snow! It was fun while it lasted but thank God it didn't last and we are back to 70 degree weather!

Pictures from the month of September

September always seems like a busy month for us. We celebrate both my parent's birthdays and my husband's birthday with a picnic in the forest. This year we also went to the state fair here in town, and had another picnic. Then we are also getting into the swing of school and the homeschool co-op starts up along with girl scouts. Lots of fun things and others that just take some getting used to after the carefree days of summer.

State Fair

Silliness on the trampoline

Picnicking and hiking

Starting fires with a magnifying glass (don't tell Smokey)

Some other things we did with the cousins

Browsing in 'Old Town' Albuquerque - would you believe this area of town is 300 years old?

Dining at one of the local establishments - Red or Green?

And of course no visit with Susy is complete with out ice cream :-)

Sophia and Jadon watching the Sandia Peak Tramway come in...

Riding the tram... a 15 minute ride up 4000 feet in elevation

Playing around at the top

View of Albuquerque from the top of Sandia

The Forest Ranger(ette) talking to Jadon and Alexia about their Junior Ranger badges they worked on.

more pictures from the grand canyon

I just have to share a few more pictures with you -

Awesome dead tree hanging out over the canyon...

My adorable husband taking yet more pictures...

One of what must be hundreds of little canyons...

Iconic forest hiking along the Widforss trail - complete with wildflowers...

Have I made you want to go yet?