Christmas

"For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"
Luke 2:11

Here are our Christmas Eve pictures:

I love Jadon's laugh in this picture.

Cookies, milk and a picture for Santa.

Well I think Santa finally came to our house around 2am. I had just gotten up (wink, wink) to go to the bathroom and Joshua walked into our room. I told him to go back to bed it was too early to get up. Well about 10min later he came back and said he thought I was calling him. ;) So I asked him if he wanted to go and peek and see if Santa came yet. So we walked part way down the stairs and saw that YES, Santa had come.

Then I sent him back to bed! ;)


Each year we video tape the kids coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. Christmas was a bit different this year with being on a Sunday. Jay is temporarily leading worship at a church so we woke up pretty early, opened gifts from Santa, had our traditional cinnamon rolls and then got ready for church. It was a wonderful morning of worship and then we came back home and opened gifts from one another and had a light lunch. We were waiting for a big dinner for when Papa, Grandma and Aunt Jutem all go to the house. They were driving from CA. They arrived around dinner time and we all ate dinner together and then time for more presents. The kids loved the extended day of opening gifts. It was another wonderful Christmas filled with love and family. I do cherish these days with all my babies under one roof I am more aware every year of just how quickly time goes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

This is the ornament that each of the kids got this year.

Christmas morning tornado! LOL

Grandkids with Papa and Grandma

Jutem got me a really cool Coffee cup. She put bling on it and it says my name and "Super mom of 6" I love it!

Time for marshmallow guns!

Her new MP3 player

Anastasia's Birthday

Anastasia is 14 and Fabulous!!! As a mom I could not ask for a better oldest daughter! I never cease to be amazed at the beautiful young woman Anastasia is becoming. I am in awe of her growth in her relationship and love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. If I only had that type of spiritual maturity at 14! She is amazing! She is such a blessing to our entire family and my heart swells with joy at what a great big sister she is!So how did we celebrate this special day? Well each year on the night of the 23rd when she is sleeping I decorate her room so when she wakes up in the morning she is greeted by balloons and streamers and well wishes. Well this year Savannah really wanted to help. So we told Anastasia she could sleep in in the morning so she put her headphones on and slept under her blankets while, Savannah, Alexa and I decorated. (Of course I forgot to take any pictures) :( We made her wait till after our her special dinner before she could open her gifts.

Part of her gift each year is her birthday dinner. When you hear the meal you will know why. ;) We had prime rib, shrimp, sauteed green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, sourdough bread and for dessert was German chocolate cake. YUMMY! After lunch/dinner it was finally time for presents. Well Anastasia has a very bad habit of shaking her gifts and guessing what they are....so I wrapped them very tricky this year.....

No, it is not a box of cereal but I put her gift in the cereal box so she couldn't guess! :)

It's a new pair of yoga/work out pants (little did she know that the next morning she would be getting an MP3 player and a really cool workout shirt that has a special holder for her MP3).

She has been wanting a new Bible cover and this one was perfect with lots of bling!

Later in the evening the Rogers' family came over for cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!! We Love you but never forget who loves you the most!!! ;)

Christmas with my extended family

Friday the 23rd we went over to my sister's house to celebrate Christmas with her family and my parents. (My camera was really acting up so I don't have many good pictures). When we first got there we were able to Skype with my brother for awhile and that was pretty neat. We all ate dinner together and then it was time to play some games. We played some cute "Minute to Win" it games. The kids loved the one where they had to dress the guys up as Santa:

After some games it was time to open presents... The kids were surprised that Pawpa and grandma made them the marshmallow guns. All 11 kids got one and decided to try them out right then and there! Luckily they were opened up last! LOL

Aunt Brandy made the girls tutu's. Aren't they cute!

There are 14 cousins all together and here are 11 of them. Hopefully someday my brother's boys can all come out together and we can get a picture of all of them!

Jesse Tree

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit." Isaiah 1:1

The Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus and tells the entire story of God's salvation plan, beginning with creation and making its way through the Old Testament, showing how it all points to the coming of the Messiah. Reviewing this plan reminds us of how the Israelites waited for the birth of Jesus, and how we wait for His second coming today.

We have had this tradition for a couple of years but this year I participated in an ornament swap and we got all new ornaments. Each ornament came wrapped and the kids took turns unwrapping one each day from December 1-25.

They were beautiful ornaments made by amazing ladies!! I love the Jesse Tree Advent book. You can find it on Amazon. Just some FYI on hosting an ornament swap. Ours worked this way: There were 13 of us participating so each person had to pick two ornaments to make. Then they made 13 of each of their two ornaments. (Since I was the organizer I just made one ornament 13 times) We set a date to meet and exchange the ornaments. This was so much fun. A friend hosted it at her house and we each brought an appetizer or dessert to share. Then we left one of our ornaments unwrapped so we could show everyone. So we took turns passing them out and oohing and awing. When I got home with all the wrapped gifts the kids could hardly wait to start!

Visiting Santa

What a fun day! This was the day to go see Santa and take the kids shopping for their gifts for one another. They drew names a few weeks ago and then they have been doing extra jobs to earn money to buy a gift for whose ever name they drew. We allowed each child the chance to earn $15.00. I wanted a decent amount for them to be able to shop with because one year we just had them pick dollar gifts but those ended up in the trash within two weeks. So everyone earned their money and it was time to go.
First stop....Bass Pro shop's Winter Wonderland and pictures with Santa:

We did get our free pic with Santa but I haven't scanned it in yet to post it. Jadon was good as long as Anastasia was holding him.

Papa Jack and Grandma Donna came with us and Grandma noticed this perfect spot for a picture. I love it! After pictures we went to out to eat to Panda Express. This was even a big deal for the kids as we hardly eat out. Next stop, WalMart. We divided the kids up and let them pick their gifts. I think they all did a really good job. They each even paid on their own.

We ended our evening with going to our favorite neighborhood to look at lights. The entire street is decorated and the last house in the cul-de-sac has an entire scene of Bethlehem and the story of Christ's birth, death and resurrection. This was a little bitter sweet since this was the first year we have not participated in a Walk Through Bethlehem (more on that in another post). I LOVE THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!!!