Christmas in Wisconsin

After posting, and then accidentally deleting my post about Christmas, here I am again. We spent Christmas Day with my family in Wisconsin this year and had a blast, as always! The times we spend all together in one place are far and few between. I always look forward to the quality time that awaits our infrequent visits!

Christmas Service ..... I love worshiping with the congregation at this church!

Just because I can't get enough of this stud muffin and his adorable suit! (And Chloe trying to sneak into the picture!)

That Sunday evening the entire family gathered at my parents' house to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my niece Ella. 

Ian in one of his favorite positions....upside down!!

Ian and Grams

Ian and Gramps

Happy Birthday to you Ella Bella!

What a cutie! She posed like this for me the whole week...every time she saw me with my camera!

Chloe with her cousin Brynn, Just minutes after this Chloe lost her 3rd bottom tooth during a tickle fight. She's growing up so fast!

Coloring with Gramps. 

Since we were all together we had to get a family picture for the annual Christmas card. We only did three takes of this...not bad with so many little ones in the mix! 

And it's not family picture time without a goofy picture pose!

Three of my sisters chatting and snuggling with Ian.....precious times.

The rest of the week was spent playing around the house. Ella adored Chloe and followed her everywhere. They even matched on this day!

Ian snuggling with Grampy after the Christmas Eve service.

Three cuties! They played so well together all week. 

My sisters! One of God's greatest gifts to me! The older we get the more I appreciate them. And wish that we lived closer together! I'm so grateful for so many wonderful sisters!

My sister and her family on Christmas Eve. Little Jonathan arrived late January...healthy  and strong, we can't wait to meet him!!

And then it was Christmas morning already!

Thank you Uncle Aaron for teaching Ian this trick. He yells into every little tube he can find! Too cute!

Ian was also captivated by the tree ornaments.

Just a nostalgic view of the barn. I'm glad that I no longer have to milk those cows in all kinds of weather!

However, the girls had a blast visiting the barn every afternoon, despite the frigid temperatures!

Tradition! We always take a day and head to 'Thyme Worn Treasures' for girl time! Hot drinks, chatting and shopping.

Shopping with Aunt Bekah....see Chloe's missing tooth!?

A gingerbread barn made with help from mommy, Grammy and Aunt Clarissa. (The aprons were my splurge at Thyme Worn Treasures....adorable!)

Despite the negative temperatures for the majority of the week the girls still wanted to play outside! Ryan's mom sent them to Wisconsin with snow markers. They thought they were awesome!

And finally, another nostalgic picture for me. I used to climb on Gramps' lap and listen to story after story,  or a song. (I loved the Kookaburra Song!) Now it was my girls' turn!

Adoption

We got to sit in on the finalization of the adoption of some of our friends. It was a beautiful moment and I'm so thankful that we got to celebrate with them!

Our 2 girls with the V family. On this day the 3 youngest girls were officially adopted. So exciting!!!

A lot of people came out to celebrate with this special family. The judge even  opened the floor for family and friends to talk and there were many loving words and tears shared. Such an amazing picture of God's love and grace for us when he adopts us into His family forever! It was especially precious to witness this just days before we celebrated Christmas and the birth of Jesus, our Savior. That he came to earth as a humble babe, lived a perfect life, took our punishment for sin on the cross and rose again conquering sin and death all to show us His perfect love overwhelms me! I'm so thankful that by believing I can have life in His name (John 20:31) and be called His forever (Romans 8:15-16). Praise God!

Thank you Lord for pictures of your love and grace in this fallen world. 

Christmas in Ohio

We did Ohio family Christmas traditions early this year since we traveled to Wisconsin for the 25th. We always do a Christmas Eve appetizer dinner by candlelight on the floor. The girls love it that we get to eat with real candles while all the other lights are off! Then Wayne reads the Christmas story and we open a gift. This year we spent the night as well.

Candlelight Appetizer Meal

Ry reading a bedtime story to all the girls. 

This was something new and very fun! Ry's parents found these poppers that we pulled open outside and each found a whistle inside. Each whistle was one note in an octave and, with Wayne directing, we played several Christmas carols....even with the little tykes!! I hope we do this every year!

The next morning we woke up and opened gifts together. The kids were soooooo excited! Around 4am our niece, Eva, got up and ran around the house looking for her mommy (who was asleep on a bed in the same room). She ran to the living room first and stop to stare at Uncle Jordan for a few minutes, ran 3 laps around the kitchen, ran into G&G's room (waking Chloe and Olivia in the process since they were sleeping on the floor in that room) and asked, "Where's my mommy?" A little bit after that I ventured out into the hall thinking one of our girls was up and ran into Eva in the hall and helped her back to her room and tried to get our girls settled back down again. I thought I had succeeded and headed back to bed myself (I had already been awake from 10:30-12:30 with Ian). I found out later that they ended up crawling into bed with G&G and not sleeping until 6am. What an eventful night and fun memory! The girls still think it's a great story to tell and think Eva was hilarious for running around the house in the middle of the night. 

Uncle Jordan got all of the girls fake teeth.....they love them and store them in  their jewelry boxes!!

Snuggle time with Uncle Jordan. 

Opening gifts with Grammy. Ian became a pro at ripping off paper. He definitely enjoys smacking and crinkling the paper/boxes more than the gift and it was so fun to watch him enjoy his first Christmas. 

Christmas in Snowflake County

Over the weekend the girls helped pull off 3 performances of 'Christmas in Snowflake County", a Christmas musical at one of the local churches. Chloe and her cousin, Lila, were line dancing angels and Olivia was a tap dancing wise man. Soooooo cute!!!

Olivia got a bit tired and needed a break. She also had her tongue  hanging out in concentration. 

A big yawn from Olivia and exuberant dancing from Chloe.  

Chloe got to head to center stage with 3 other girls for the country song and danced her little heart out. She did a fabulous job!!

Then Olivia got to head to center stage with 2 other girls and tap danced.....so cute!!

Olivia, Lila, and Chloe finishing strong!

One more of Livy's tap dance......

and one more of their cute dance moves!

All of the girls after the show. They did a fabulous job! Eva participated by running down the isle with them after they  finished and lining up to shake hands with the audience as they left. 

A more appropriate picture.....silly faces!!!

And the boys in their matching outfits. Adorable!