New Year's Eve is always a fun time at our house. This year we continued our yearly tradition with Charmaine's family for food, games and a lot of noise! Dutch Blitz and Catch Phrase were the evening favorites. We came home to snuggle up and read stories until midnight.
We're ready for 2010!
We scurried over to the local sledding hill to take advantage of the bit of snow on the ground. Sammy has shown a great delight in being out in snow, so he got to come along to the park. It is fun for Becky to try to capture Sammy in a photo, and it isn't easy!
The kids had fun meeting up with friends to sled, but we're really hoping for more snow to come!
We were blessed once again to be able to spend part of our Christmas break at Grammie's home. The weather cooperated in letting us make the trip, and we even got to see the sun a little while there. As you might expect, we were treated to wonderful meals and delicious treats during the visit.
Sarah & Ben received unique gifts from Grammie at the end of the gift opening time. They received Christmas 'Mittens', instead of the traditional stockings. Of course, they were still filled with lots of little surprises, as well as plenty of goodies. Smiles were in plentiful supply
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We scurried down to spend a chunk of our day with Clint's Grandma, Ruth. Clint's mom went with us for a pretty long day of driving. We caught up with Grandma for a late lunch at Hometown Buffet. She has been moved to a different room since we were there in the spring. It is ideal with a great view out her window, with loads of birds which she enjoys. She is also quite handy to the dining area. Grandma likes to show the kids the fantastic fish tanks in the building. They had fun watching for a shy eel in one tank. The time went too quickly, as always!
Another annual tradition at our church, is to enlist three very talented dads to travel through the children's Sabbath School rooms to share the good news about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. They alternate each year being wise men or shepherds, and always say "yes" when Becky calls to sign them up. Clint, Paul & Paddy are so wonderful, and all the classes look forward to their visit. The little kids just look at them with such wonder and delight, and the older ones will ask lots of questions. They come loaded with facinating facts about how things would have been in that time. The photo with the blue background is Ben's classroom.
Well, it happens every Christmas! We can't resist letting our true colors show! We're really sort of a goofy family under that mild-mannered exterior, but we manage to have a lot of fun despite a crazy-busy schedule. The kids love this tradition, and every year we have to come up with another silly pose for the holidays. Stay tuned for next year's photo!
Becky's work celebrated Christmas with a chilly trip to the Antarctic this year. We decided the best idea was to dress like the natives. :) Actually, it was a fun evening, loads of visiting with friends and coworkers, yummy food, and a chance to take penguin family photos.
Tonight was Ben's first official piano recital. The weather was not particularly cooperative, and we sort of slid our way to the downtown church. Luckily, we made it just as the recital was beginning! He played "Jingle Bells," as a duet with his teacher, and then also played "Go Tell it on the Mountain." This is his first year for lessons and he's doing such a great job!
Sarah's 5th/6th grade class put together a performance of the Christmas musical, "The 6th Grade Scrooge," tonight. The kids all did a great job! Of course, our eyes were on Sarah since she had a solo part. She was the expected nervous/excited. It was clear the kids and teachers had really been working on this to make it special. To top it all off, there was a spread of yummy treats! We made mini chocolate cupcakes with candy cane frosting. Strangely enough, there weren't any leftovers...
Sammy is really pretty lucky to have so many opportunities for walks outside! The last couple of days the weather has been nice, so Ben has walked Sam to Sarah's school, and then Sarah walks him home. He stirs up a lot of attention at school. Today someone asked if he was a mini-Golden Retriever! We really don't know what he is although several have suggest Corgi, Sheltie, Terrier, and Border Collie. Let us know what comes to mind when you see him.
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