Carolina Christmas

This year we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Grammie and Baba. Before we left, the kids and I made a few treats, including Snowman Cupcakes:

Lauryn was the first one to get to open a present! Kaity and I assembled her bouncer/activity thingy and she loved it!

Selah loved it, too ...

Presents!

Joe and Baba had fun assembling toys.

Grammie and Selah both love their popcorn!

Kaity and Joe wearing their Christmas Eve pajamas and playing with their new tablets ...

Play-doh!

And on another note, today is Grammie's birthday! I am so very thankful for my amazing mom. She is the strongest, most beautiful, amazing woman I know. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Lauryn ~ 5 Months!

And here is how this sweet baby goes to sleep ...

She has to be snuggled closely, blanket wrapped around her, and her hand curled up in my shirt - or my hair if I don't get it out of reach in time!

Our Little Dancer!

On Thursday, Selah's ballet class met at a local nursing home to dance for the residents. The girls were so sweet and took their dance very seriously. I was impressed at how well they did! For some of them, including Selah, it was their first time performing in front of an audience.

"Do you hear what I hear?"

Little sister and big brother, watching the older girls dance.

This was the best "pose" I could get!

And here's an adorable baby!

The Hills Are Alive ...

Lauryn's bassinet normally stays in our bedroom, but one day last week Jeff was practicing flute in there. Since Lauryn was ready for a nap, I had him move her bed out into the living room. Sweet Selah decided to sing her sister a song!

She's holding Joe's old handwriting paper, pretending it's sheet music.

"Jesus loves me this I know ..."

Learning early!

Sunday night, the children's choir performed their musical for us. Joe had a narration part! He was nervous even though he had memorized it weeks before, but you couldn't tell that from his performance. He did a terrific job!

"Aw, Sugar, Sugar ..."

On Friday, after we finished grocery shopping, the kids and I decorated sugar cookies! I made the dough before we left so it would be chilled and ready when we arrived home. For the frosting I just whipped up a straight buttercream. We used several different kinds of candies for decorations.

Kaity taught Selah how to cross her eyes.

Joe dumped some powdered sugar on this guy and said, "He got in a snowball fight!"

You've Got A Friend In Me

My friends Kim and Amber came over one Friday night. We ate too much and laughed and played cards and stayed up too late discussing politics.

It's a blessing to have such wonderful friends who love our kids, too!

Miss Amber and Lauryn

Miss Amber, Miss Kim and Lauryn!

Playing Skip-Bo together.

Let Me Sum Up

Apparently we were crazy-busy in November because IT'S DECEMBER ALREADY and I have no idea what happened to the last few weeks.Well, I do, it's just that they flew by way too quickly!

Kaity and Jeff and I have been waiting (im)patiently all year for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special. And it was worth the wait - we absolutely loved it! I grew up watching The Doctor on PBS with my dad - Tom Baker was my first - and I began watching the reboot with those fond memories on my mind. To celebrate this special episode, I borrowed a snack from the current Doctor: Fish fingers and custard. (Blondies cut into sticks served with homemade maple-vanilla custard.)

Our little girls wore more matching dresses!

Selah LOVES matching Lauryn.

My little turkeys made thankfulness turkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving:

We spent the holiday with Jeff's family in the town where he was born and raised. We haven't been to their get-together in several years, so it was nice to renew relationships and see how everyone has changed, not to mention the comforts of what is wonderfully just the same (especially Aunt Jan's Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake!).

Over the long holiday weekend we played lots of Catan, one of our favorite games!

We also got lots of stuff done around the house. In addition to the usual housecleaning, we conquered several projects and repairs and things that have needed to be done. We  managed to fit in a nice date in which we ate Japanese food, drank good coffee and did some Christmas shopping.

Lauryn loves for big sister Kaity to bounce her on her knee.

Playing on the floor! She is really pushing up on those elbows.

This last picture is an odd perspective, but I took it myself while I was holding Lauryn. She was puckering her lips and cooing. It was so funny and adorable that I had to try to capture the moment.