S L O W Going

Our progress on the house has not gotten very far. Due to rain and cold weather, two weeks have passed with the footings being poured, lots of dirt loads brought in, and rough plumbing done. The rebar is set and now we wait for a good day to pour the foundation. Fingers crossed for this week!

Our Last Christmas

We are all ready for Christmas here. The shopping is done, sweet treats are being enjoyed, and the children are ready for winter break from school. We all know that next year at this time we will be moved into our new home. That's exciting! But I'm a little anxious about what it will feel like. We've had eight wonderful Christmas seasons at this house. Will any of our traditions change because the space will be different? New decor in new rooms. More space for gift giving and sharing in a larger living room. Bigger kitchen for, hopefully, much more cooking and baking of our holiday favorites. This house has hindered us from doing some things as the space has gotten smaller and smaller. I hope we will still feel the coziness, though, in the next one.

Making Reindeer food by mixing oats and glitter together. Oats for the deer to eat and glitter to shine the way in the moonlight to welcome them to the yard!

Bags of Reindeer food, missing the antlers still. 

Lights hanging in the kids hallway using 3M Command Hooks

Our elf with a note to deliver to Santa. Boys were fighting and the older wrote "He Have Been Naughty" about the younger. We have a tattling problem currently :(

Our zip lining elf. Probably our most creative so far, done by the 11-year-old.

Our annual trip to Rhema to see their two million-lights display. We have done this for 14 years and is one of our traditions everyone looks forward to.

Great pic of the older girls, tween and teen.

We were able to take a trip on the Polar Express this year! The older girls had traveled a few years ago with my parents in Branson. This was a first for our area and could become something we do every Christmas. The train was beautiful and the cast members were very into their parts. We enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies while riding through the woods/town.

The train conductor came by and punched the kids tickets with their initial.

He asked them to catch the falling stars.....

And then throw them into the air!

Santa came by and spoke to the boys, by name! That was a surprise!! They each received a bell, just as in the book.

Three Birthdays

The little kids' birthdays are in the months of September, November, and December. We took the easy road (or lazy) this year and combined them into one day of celebration. Of course we had cake and presents on actual day, but no separate parties this time. The boys have asked to go to BounceU for two years so that was the designated spot. I knew the baby could jump and climb so it worked for everyone. 

We had little girl's 2nd birthday later in the afternoon at Papa & Grandmas, completely decked with Minnie Mouse.