Christmas Fun

I am still working on Christmas pictures and not ready for the New Year! Here are a few pictures from a few parties we went to in December.

The girls and I went to a Christmas Tea for our Read With Me, Mommy book club. It was decorated so nicely, with tea cups and plates at each place. And I didn't take any pictures of it! But here is a picture of Padme looking at a book one of the moms read to the group. The book was Annika's Wish, and it was very sweet and made everyone teary eyed. Padme loves books, and was sitting so she could see all the pictures.

The hostess brought all kinds of hats for the girls to wear. Here is Padme with her hat.

And Leia with hers. I love these pictures of the girls!

Our entire family went to a Four Eves Before Christmas party. It was hosted by two teens and most of the home school families with teens were invited. It was lots of fun. There was a potluck with pictures and dancing afterward. I think our two youngest had the most fun dancing of everyone. I am not posting pictures of the oldest two, at their request, but they even got some dancing lessons and had fun. Padme and Yoda were so funny and I took lots of pictures of them, even though they didn't all turn out that great.

Yoda took a fancy to this little boy and spent a lot of time following him around.

Padme loved dancing. Not sure what they are exactly doing here, but here she is.

Padme and Yoda had fun dancing together.

It was a fun night, and when it was time to leave, the teens were ready to go, but the little people wanted to stay longer.

Gingerbread and Cookie Fun

We had some friends over to make gingerbread houses, out of graham crackers. The kids had lots of fun, ate lots of candy and frosting, and made good memories. Here are a few pictures of our day and the end results.

This is Obi's creation. He made a castle, but we didn't have enough candy for him to finish it completely.

Here is the king of the castle sitting on his throne.

Leia with her house

Luke with his house

Padme's creation

Yoda got to decorate cookies, also. Actually, he just ate the frosting. We thought this looked so funny with frosting dripping off his nose!

The girls cutting out the cookie dough.

Yoda loved the dough almost as much as the frosting. He loves to have some kind of tool to use to touch the dough.

He was so happy with himself

A little frosting, a little eating, a few sprinkles...

Luke is a good helper with the cookies

So are the girls!

A good time was had by all, and the cookies were delicious!

A Post for Nana

This post is for my mom to see the kids with the gifts she sent. So, read if you want, but this is directed at her!

Padme took the box you sent the gifts in, made herself a bed, and took her nap in it! It was so cute, and I didn't get the best pictures. Here she is all curled up. She is sitting on a pillow for cushioning.

Here is a top picture. You can't see if very well, but she has her angel ornament tucked into a small stocking and it is laying on her lap. Right where the glare from the window is. Sorry about that!

Here are the kids with their ornaments.

Leia opening the bracelet with her apron on her lap. She got cat ears and a tail that she is wearing, with a bow on her neck.

Padme wearing her apron and opening the bracelet.

Han has been practicing his knots. Fortunately the cords aren't long enough to tie up a sibling!

One more picture for Nana

Blogger is suddenly rather difficult to use when arranging pictures. I couldn't add this to the first post, so I am tagging it on. Here are the other two with thier gifts.

Christmas Tree Hunting

The day finally came for our Christmas tree hunting expedition. I call this an expedition, because that is what it feels like getting ready for it! We have coats, hats, mittens, snow pants, extra socks, boots, changes of clothing for all the little people, lunch, snacks, hot cocoa, and tree cutting supplies. Our Suburban looks like we are leaving for a week. And it is only for part of one day. It was snowing in town, and when we got up to the mountains, it continued to snow. It was also about 5 degrees. It was beautiful, and felt like Christmas.

Yoda DID NOT like his snowsuit, bought for this occasion, DID NOT like the snow boots, also bought for this occasion, and would not keep his mittens on. He got out for some pictures, but spent the rest of the time in the Suburban with me, drinking cocoa and listening to Christmas music.

This is the tree that they cut. There are so many people in front of it, you can't really see the tree! But it is the tree behind them without snow all over it! Apparently, there was some mountain climbing, tree climbing, saw stuck in another tree, and hatchet work involved in getting the tree. Obi had a blast, and I was glad that I wasn't there to witness it.

Here is the hot cocoa after the tree was found. Padme's favorite part of the day!

Leia also likes the cocoa a lot.

And so does Luke.

On the way home, the girls were exhausted, from all the cocoa drinking, I guess.

When we decorated it the next day, Yoda did us all a wonderful favor, and slept through it. I couldn't believe it. Here is a picture for proof. He woke up and saw the tree all decorated, and has pretty much left it alone. Surprise, surprise!

A few decorating pictures

We still aren't completely done with the tree, so no final pictures of that yet. We actually think this one of the nicest looking trees we have ever gotten. And we had lots of fun getting it. Much better than going to Walmart and getting one. We hope to never do that again!

Visit With Nana

My mom came to visit for a week. While she was here, both girls danced in a Worship Dance concert, Luke had a birthday and we celebrated Thanksgiving. She was here for a week, and the only days everyone was healthy were the three days of events. Hubby, my mom, four of the kids and myself all got a stomach bug while she was here. Talk about a bad trip for her! But at least she got to come and see our new city, our house, and a bit of our new lives here.

Here is a picture of Nana with all the kids. Yoda is a bit of a stinker when it comes to people. He likes to flirt from a distance, but doesn't like people outside our immediate family to touch him or hold him. When we were home this summer for two weeks, he would not let my mom hold him. So this trip, I really wanted my mom to be able to hold him, and I wanted a picture of it.

Here Nana is making progress by looking at books with Padme and Yoda. They both love to "Read" books.He was pretty interested in what she was doing here. He likes to be in the thick of whatever is going on.Blogger won't let me move the pictures around, so sorry for the strange order! Here they are reading books, again.

A quick hold- Not sure how he was going to react.

And finally, a good picture and a smile!

We had a nice visit, when we were healthy, and we did get to have a modified Thanksgiving dinner. I had plans for the kids to do a lot of crafts and baking crafts with Nana while she was here, but sickness changed all of that. We were all very disappointed by that, but glad that we at least got to see her. It was nice to have some family here to see where we live. We have been very lonely here without any family for the past year.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Come with me for a Walk Down Memory Lane! And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on
over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!


Today I am heading back to previous trips to get our Christmas tree. We started this tradition when our oldest was 2. We would load up with hot chocolate, a lunch, Christmas cookies, plenty of winter clothes, and go up in to the hills to find the perfect Christmas tree. As the kids have gotten older, they help cut the tree down and haul it back to our vehicle. And we have added kids, so we always seem to have a little one in a back pack. Different years we have taken our dogs with us.


This picture is from 2005. Padme is 16 months and Han is holding his dog Lucy.



This picture is from 2007. Padme is in the front in pink. She was sad because she didn't like her coat!

I don't have any pictures from last year because we had just moved and weren't sure where to go to cut our tree. Then Hubby hurt his back, and we ended up buying a tree at WalMart. The kids and I were so disappointed. And that tree was our least favorite, ever. We weren't even sad to take it down! We have our permit for a tree this year, so we have high hopes of a fun trip to find our perfect tree this year.