Christmas Eve

Mark's family (owing to their German heritage) traditionally open most of their gifts on Christmas Eve, and we have followed in this tradition. Grandmother came to celebrate and spend the night with us (Granddad is working this week).  In the afternoon, we snacked on edamame, one of our favorite things:

Then we made our Christmas Eve buffet:

And had a picnic in the living room!

After dinner we opened gifts. Adam received a toy train (which he immediately went to "fixing") :

And Hannah a magnetic dress-up doll:

After the kids played with their new things and got in jammies, Mark read us the Christmas story.  It was a joyous celebration!

Hannah bakes

Hannah and I had so much fun making and decorating Christmas cookies this week. I love that she's old enough this year to participate in Christmas traditions and engage on a whole new level.

The finished product:

Pictured here in one of her favorite playtime outfits: a home-made crown, swim suit (pronounced "fish-fruit") and ballet slippers. 

It's Christmas!

It's been a little while, so I'll post a series of entries to let you know what we've been up to this month and how we're celebrating Jesus today. Love and blessings to you all this Christmas!

Baking with Grandmother and Granddad

We don't get to see Granddad Wuerslin as much as Grandmother because he is often flying the friendly skies as a pilot. What a treat to have both Granddad and Grandmother come spend a morning with us earlier this month!  We made Ginger Snap Cookies for Christmas. They didn't turn out so much snappy as chewy, but I can give a hearty recommendation for this recipe if you like less sweet Christmas treats and they adapted well to using whole wheat and butter rather than shortening. I set aside most of them to bring down to the Wuerslin-side Christmas celebration next week.

Babies do not pose

My two-year-old can be quite the ham, but getting the one-year-old to sit still AND smile has proved to be quite a challenge. As long as he's on the move, Adam is full of smiles and laughter. However in most of our attempts at a family Christmas picture it looks like we are poking Adam with a sharp object or somehow otherwise torturing him.  This is one of the better ones - the other good ones are on our Christmas card (I have several extra cards - just comment with your address and I'd love to send it to you!)

Thanks to Brittany and the Desnoyers for their help with this!

Hannah performs for CBS

That would be Community Bible Study - our weekly time when I get a break to have real adult conversation and in-depth Bible study and the kids get loved on and taught by the most amazing team of volunteers.  Here Hannah's class is reciting their memory verses and singing their songs. They did fantastic! I'm not sure if Hannah's lips ever moved, but she did smile and wave, do some of the motions and dance around quite a bit (still inspired by the Nutcracker, no doubt!)

Adam plays

I created a little play nook in our sunroom by clearing out a desk that was just taking up space (thanks to Mark for charitably allowing me to get rid of it!) and some other random odds and ends. I'm happy that we now have an area to contain the toys and books out of the way of foot traffic, Hannah loves curling up in the corner with her books and dolls, and Adam enjoys crashing whatever Hannah is doing there and looking outside the window. Here he is checking out a blustery winter day from the warmth of our apartment.

Dinner Party with our Playgroup Friends

The families in our playgroup got together for dinner to celebrate Heidi and David's new house (I can't bring myself to call it a good-bye party - I am hoping we will still get to see them frequently since their new home is only a few miles away!) 

Hannah and Charlotte walk arm in arm

The boys play tackle (Adam and Gavin)

Mr. David reads to Hannah

Nutcracker Ballet

Hannah and I had the treat of seeing a real production of the Nutcracker Ballet with Grandma Myers.  Hannah was completely enamored with the entire thing - I couldn't believe anything could hold her attention for two hours!  She has been listening to the score, practicing her ballet moves and calling herself Clara ever since. 

Grandma bought Hannah the little pink ballerina ornament that you can see above my head in this picture. No surprise, it's one of her favorite ornaments to admire on the tree. (And we keep it well above Adam's level!)

Pregnancy Update - Halfway there!

We had our first appointment with a new doctor, whom we absolutely love, at the beginning of the month. It was an exciting appointment because they did the big ultrasound to check out all the anatomy (baby looks great!) and gender (BOY!).

Here I was at the appointment, then 19 weeks and still sporting a pretty small bump (it's getting bigger!):