I thought Abigail looked really cute doing her school.

Caleb’s trumpet teacher recommended this breathing apparatus. As soon as Caleb got it unwrapped he plopped down in the chair and tried it out. Probably not the best posture for practicing breathing. HA!

In school we read “The Swiss Family Robinson”. When we finished they wrote reports. Zeke and Abbie drew pictures and I believe it was during that time when Zeke invented the “Franz Dance”. He’s such a goofball!

One night things were particularly crazy while preparing for dinner so I enlisted Nathan’s help. Don’t the gloves crack you up? He kept getting spattered by the grease.

This was just before Men’s Retreat. I was making crusts for peanut butter pie. Everything was going just fine until I got a phone call then my crust burned. Not too long afterward there was a stick-up in my kitchen. The little bandit demanded food…fortunately I happened to have a burnt pie crust and some chocolate pudding. It turned into a “tea party”.

These are the only two pictures I took during our men’s retreat girls’ weekend.
Zeke came down the stairs decked out in one of Aleah’s 50′s costumes. We all got a good laugh, but Caleb found it less-than-amusing. The perils of having a big sister.

Sam was playing a game on Haley’s phone. Lillie kept leaning closer and closer on Zeke. He finally said something about her squishing him. I just thought it was a cute picture.

More exciting things to come…

Remember a few months ago when I posted pictures of Abbie and Luke asleep on the couch holding hands? Well, we periodically have to revisit our newly-discovered method for putting an end to bickering (at least for a brief time). This time since it was Abbie and Caleb I thought I’d try something different. Since they couldn’t be nice to each other they had to comb each others hair. Abbie loved having hers combed and combing Caleb’s. Caleb on-the-other-hand, did not enjoy either one very much.

It mostly worked. I think Abbie got too much enjoyment out of it though!

The kids were nice and let us sleep until 7 AM. Then we heard a little knock at the door. When I asked who it was, Zeke said, “It’s me…when are you guys going to get up?”

Jon and I got ourselves together and headed out to the living room where the kids were giddy with excitement.

This is how we started the morning. It’s a little long, but hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do.

Then it was time to open presents. We tried something new this year…instead of the kids just tearing through all their presents at the same time, they took turns. It was SO nice! And they all did really well with it. They’d just play with whatever they’d already opened or help the smaller people get their toys out of the packaging.

Nathan got a “real” marbles game.

Zeke got a Finn McMissile car that has interchangeable parts. He LOVES IT!

Abbie with her new jumper.

Caleb with a lego set.

Luke with his lego set.

A new shirt for Abbie…she’s soooo happy!

Luke with his own flag football set.

He LOVES the Rubik’s cube…and yes, he can do it!

And…receiver gloves. This kid is all about the sports right now!

Look at the excitement on his face!

A cowboy set!

A motorcycle rider that he launches across the room.

And a bunch of his loot!

Abbie has been looking at this horse for months.

She says it’s Esther’s Christmas present.

Then they dumped out their stockings. They were happy with everything they got!

Nathan’s favorite was the Chick-Fil-A cow watch. HAHAHA!

Oh, I almost forgot this picture.

When I got home from shopping one afternoon last week, one of the boys asked me if I was the matriarch of the family. They said Jon wrapped a present and if I was, it was for me. Hahaha!!

We had cinnamon rolls, sausage links, bacon and hearthside cider or eggnog for breakfast. YUM!!!

The Thompson family came over around 1:30 and we enjoyed dinner together. We had spiral sliced ham and all the trimmings. It was really yummy!! Haley and I played a couple games and then it was time to go to church. There was some serious scrambling around to get out of here in time, but we made it.

With the rush to get out of the house, I forgot my camera. Turns out Haley forgot hers too so we shared duty…she took video and I took pictures. I didn’t have my computer with me so I’ll have to get the video from her later. But I’ll get it posted as soon as possible.

In the meantime, these pictures will have to do.
Sister Becky did a really good job with the kids. And the kids in turn did a really, really good job with the program!

Zeke and Anna were Mary and Joseph.

Here’s one of the adults watching intently.

We had a wonderful Christmas complete with snow…not falling, but lots on the ground! Hope you all had a great day too.