Pre-Christmas Festivities....

As the weather warms up, I had this thought....is my blog still way the heck back around Christmas??

Gotta get cracking.....

Here are pictures of our pre-Christmas festivities.  I went to a Christmas tea with my friends Pat and Amanda.  It was so nice to be around other women for a kid-free morning with amazing food and delicious tea.  I have found that while I prefer coffee, tea has its' place and can be quite nice.

Our sweet little girl turned O-N-E on December 14th!!  We chose to celebrate in January when friends came to visit, so those pictures will be along shortly.  But, we did celebrate with some butterfly cakes the day of...

The same day as Mel's birthday just so happened to be the night of Caleb's work's Christmas party.  If you follow me on Facebook, then you know I had a blast.  His company went all out and it was one of the best parties I have ever been to.  So looking forward to next year!

Lest you think our kids were home sad and not having any fun, here is a picture of them waiting for their new babysitter to arrive!!  They had a great night without us!!

Ben began Awana's the week before Christmas break.  He was a little shy and hesitant at first but the second time he went he was super pumped and loves it.  It is amazing how many Bible verses he (and by default, I) have learned/memorized.  Since he started mid-year, in order to complete his Cubbies book, he has to memorize two verses every week.  We have only one more week of double verses and then he will be all caught up.  So proud of my little Cubbie Bear.  I ought to take another picture since he has earned quite a few patches for his vest:

Ben also filled up his Sticker board right before Christmas...which kind of back-fired on us because we had to give him a toy/reward about a week before Christmas.  But, he was so proud and it was a lot of work for him to follow those rules.  

I got to spend some time with one of my girls from PNG.  She goes to school in Denver and we got to meet up one day.  It was so good to see Emily!! So sad that she is transferring next year...

Last but not least, we started a Jesse Tree.  Google it, if you don't know what one is....In short, though, it is a way for us to follow the Israelites journey through the Old Testament and to see how the entire Bible leads to Christ's birth....and what that means for us as believers....such a great hope and reminder...because it is so easy to talk more about Santa and reindeer and elves than to try and communicate the Bible to a 5 year old!

Love this tradition and it has become a family favorite that we will do over and over again...