The Nativity

"...The angel Gabriel[la] was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin... and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  

... And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS."

"...the angel of the Lord appeared unto [Joseph] in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem... to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child."

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid."

"And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?  For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.

"And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."

Christmas

Becca, Mom, Dad, and I were able to fly back to NC in time for Christmas.  Unfortunately, my mom got food poisoning the day she flew home and so she was unable to join us for our festivities on the 23rd and 24th.  But the rest of us had fun playing games all day, eating Christmas treats, and sharing hilarious stories.

Opening their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

This is what you get at our house when you ask your kids to pose.  This is normal, right?

Some of my favorite photos are of Colby photobombing.

"Ring around the rosies, catch a tiger's toesies..."

Christmas morning came and all the kiddos were so thrilled to see that they each got what they asked Santa for, even though he didn't bring tons.

Lily and Skyler got new bikes.

Ella got her Cinderella wand.

Lily was thrilled to get an owl beanie boo.

The girls both got mermaid tail blankets.

And when Colby woke up he got to see all of his fun surprises.

Ella took about 100 selfies with her new tablet.

After 8 AM church, we came home to breakfast casserole and presents!

"Ella pose with your new necklace."

"Like this, Mom?"

Then we played Pie Face as a family after Christmas dinner.

She ironically was not wearing the goggles she got from Santa when she got hit.

But Skyler clued in and decided to do that.  Not that it helped....

We had a wonderful Christmas as a family (even though some of us were sick), and were grateful to be able to spend it together.  We are thankful for our Savior and that we get a whole season dedicated to remembering Him.

Visiting Santa

When it was announced that Santa would be visiting our neighborhood clubhouse like he does each year, the kids were counting down the days until they could sit in his lap.  The day came and it was a crazy hectic day.  I was all over the place with schoolwork, errands, doctor appointments, and ballet.  When Lily and I got home from ballet we quickly ate dinner and then hurried out the door to get in line to see Santa.  Ben couldn't come because he had to go to scouts.  As soon as we got there I had to laugh because I hadn't noticed that Ella had drawn "Christmas decorations" all over her face and Thad was covered in mud from playing in the back yard.

I just laughed and laughed as I looked at my kids and then looked at all these perfect little children dressed in Christmas attire around us.  This is how my real life is.

Thad wanted a zebra beanie boo and Ella wanted a wand.

Lily wanted a beanie boo and a bike.

Skyler wanted a spy kit.

Thanksgiving in Maryland

One of my greatest blessings is that Becca, Preston, and Colby moved to the East coast this past summer.  They are only 6 hours away and I haven't been that close to a sibling since 2009.  So we went up to Maryland for Thanksgiving and had a blast!

If we're just going to be brutally honest here, Preston is probably the kids' all-time favorite person.  Sorry everyone else.  Preston's family has the tradition of making gingerbread men, putting them on a string, and jumping to get it in their mouths.

Colby is the most photogenic baby of all time.

There is a Cookout near Becca and Preston's house.  Every time we have a meal with them the kids fight over who they get to sit next to.  Poor Becca and Preston always seem to have 5 kids instead of one whenever they're with us.

And that meant that Nanni, Papa, Ben, and I all had a table to ourselves.  Poor, poor us -- kid free.  ;)

All of us struggled to get a cookie, EXCEPT my mom who was ridiculously good at this game.

Road trips are always the same in our family.  The oldest 3 nap while the youngest talks non-stop at a disrespectful volume.  Good times.

Other than the plethora of tears that were shed as we pulled out of the driveway, it was a great visit.