Forever Young: January 2008

Snow Day!

Well, we finally got a little bit of snow....maybe an inch or so. But it was enough for the kids to enjoy playing in! It was a very wet snow and stuck together well to make snowballs and snowmen. The trucks that scrape the roads are always slow getting to our neighborhood, so the packed down snow where cars had driven on the road made for good sledding. Then when the scraping truck came the kids were not happy about it! We got the kids the round blue sleds about 3 years ago and this is the first time they have been able to use them.

Bekah was scared to sled down the road, but was "coerced" into riding with Mr. Chris. Then she decided it was fun! Although she wouldn't go by herself she enjoyed riding with Mr. Chris and several times with Mommy too!

Snowball fights!

Now it's time to make a snowman.

Bekah calls the snowman Frosty Girl!

Snow angels!

This is way more fun than doing school! (Although we actually got in a half day of school after we came in and got warmed up!

By mid afternoon, most of the snow was melted. When Bekah noticed this she said "I need to go outside and see if Frosty Girl is dead yet."

Grinch Ice

When we went to visit my parents for Christmas, they took us to Nashville to see Grinch Ice. Basically it is the story of The Grinch Stole Christmas portayed in ice sculptures. The highlight is a room with 2 ice slides you can enjoy as many times as you want (or as many times as you want to stand in line for!). They give you these blue ponchos to wear in there because it is really, really cold. I never heard what the actual temperature is, but imagine walking around in your freezer and that is what it is like.

We didn't realize this would be included, but at the end of the Grinch, there is an also an ice sculpture of the nativity. It was all done in clear ice with accent lights and was very beautiful.

After experiencing Grinch Ice, we needed to warm up with some hot chocolate!

This was a very fun day and something I would recommend seeing if you ever have the opportunity!

Christmas gift

For Christmas this year, Todd and I decided that we wanted a recliner. So, we asked our families to just give us money for this purchase instead of other gifts. We were blessed enough to be able to go to La-Z-Boy and take advantage of a sale after Christmas! This is our new chair:

Me and the kids have enjoyed sitting in it, and Todd has already enjoyed some snoozing in the new recliner!!

An Overview of Christmas!

We began our Christmas celebrations the weekend before Christmas with a trip to see Todd's family in Tennessee. Here are the grandkids under Grandmom's tree!

And my kids posing with Aunt Tessa and Uncle Justin.

Here comes Santa Claus...

A rousing game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos!

We had to leave on Saturday night late to drive back home so that we could be at church the following Sunday morning to celebrate the baptisms of 2 new sisters in Christ! Sunday evenening was our church's special Christmas service. It was a beautiful candlelight service with music, readings, and scripture. Todd and I sang O Come, All Ye Faithful in a small ensemble. The kids sang Silent Night, Holy Night in a small children's ensemble.

Bekah got to be Mary for the program! Here she is with baby Jesus!

Christmas Eve was a day spent at home with just the 4 of us. That evening the kids opened their new pajamas from their grandparents and posed by the tree!

When we got up on Christmas morning, the first thing we did was read the Christmas story and pray. Then on to the gifts....

After the gifts, Todd always cooks french toast for breakfast.

We had some friends over to have Christmas dinner with us.

Here is everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Then we got to eat the yummy birthday cake! We set baby Jesus on top of the cake while we were singing to Him!