Christmas journeys - Part Two

I know I'm a little late on part two but I finally made it.....
So Christmas Eve we were ready to celebrate.

 Our journey took us to Aunt Cynthia's. And Mimi got some well needed cuddle time with her Gammie.

The traditional playing of cards was a fun time by all...except me. My time was coming though. I was able to play Christmas night.











Christmas Morning!!!! Santa left Mimi a rather large sized horse....this was definitely her favorite.

 Lauren got something to work on her drawing skills. She does so well with her drawing and loves all the how to books.













Next Christmas breakfast at Gamma and Papa's house....

Grapes are always on his menu!

Fun Felicity/American Girl stuff for our fun lover.

A few trucks for our truck lover.

A rabbit hutch for our animal lover.

Next stop....the Wilson Family lunch....

This year was cousin Jessie's turn to host.

Neat story about these ladies. They wore dresses that belonged to Jonathan's great grandmother's mom and her sister. They were beautiful!

Another antique dress.

My favorite part of the day. The kids were belting out hymns and Thomas sang his little heart out!

Christmas journeys - Part One

 So our annual Christmas adventure began this year with an early visit from one of Santa's helpers. The girls had asked for kittens for Christmas and these two cuties were sent to them a week before. Apparently they just couldn't wait until Christmas.

 The girls have been such good mommies to them. The white one is Pearl and the tan one is Peter Pan. We've been listening to Peter Pan in the car so of course Lauren jumped at the chance to use Peter's name. One of our close friends, Jamie,  has a cat named Pearl...and Emily is just in love with her Mrs. Jamie so .....Pearl it is!

 Mrs. Jamie and Mr. Steve also stopped by one day bringing Christmas gifts of books!! Thomas just loves the books they pick out for him.

 Our next stop was Saysa and Uncle Jim's house. Here the kids received their ornaments from Papa Mac and Mrs. Jacque. Every Christmas year the kids are excited to put up their keepsake ornaments from them.

You can see Emily has already attacked the cookies and cake.

 This year they also received water bottles with their names. They've been using them most days around the house.

 Thomas was excited about his ornament too!

 The girls oogled the cash for their new purses. I think Lauren was more focused on George Washington's picture.

 And of course, Thomas got some more vehicles for his collection. That boy and his obsession.

 It was a fun night with family and the kids had a great time.

 But the big finale was in the garage!!

 Bicycles for everyone!.. Well, I didn't get one...and Jonathan didn't either but all the little people did. And oh the love! The girls really needed replacements and these have been just perfect.

We did have a little trouble getting Thomas off of his. He sat on it for a good 20 minutes before finally coming inside.

It was a good time. I think about Dad a lot this time of year. He would have been so fun with them....more like obsessed with them. One day we'll be together again.

Our adventures continue...on to Christmas Eve!

oh Santa

Tonight the girls are having a sleep over with their Saysa and Uncle Jim. They have been taking them to Darwin Wright Park to see Santa at Christmas time. I need inside info on what Santa is going to bring so there are no duplicates ;)

Thankful

We've had so much to be thankful for this year. Our new home just to name one. But I will say the last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. I'm slowly getting on my feet cognitively and literally.

The thanksgiving weekend has been wonderful. I've had a bit of a chance to get some things in order. My mom and her sister have been here visiting and we have had a great time together. We've also been spending time with Jonathan's brother and he has been a great help around the little farm.

The last two days have been fun and tiring. The guys worked on clearing out the large trees from our future orchard and we all started working on clearing the fences. My brother-in-law has even gotten to practice blocking our driveway ;)

 

It has been great having him around and needless to say we have been living outside. The last couple days have been just beautiful...I love this place. We have a lot of work to do here but God has really blessed us with this land.

As far as school goes the educational experiences are endless! Relating what we are doing to what the first colonists to America went through...it really helps it to come alive. We've been taking a bit of a break from our structured lessons and moved to more, um, living school. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Next week Jonathan will be back at work and we'll start back to some of our more traditional learning. But the kids have really learned a lot lately and had a lot of fun doing it too.

How many two year olds do you know that know what a level is? My boy does...so what if he uses it to dig with he's just learning how to adapt...right? The girls have been attached to their Gran and loving this time to spend with her.

And we've all enjoyed sitting back in the golf cart watching the big guys work hard. Even Jeb, our dog, loves the entertainment.

We started the fence clearing today and I think it will be a winter long project. The way the vines have grown through the fences it will be a slow process. It was hard not to think of how this relates to our lives. Just how when we don't maintain the Godly boundaries in our lives things start to get woven in. And let me tell you it takes a lot to get them out.

God is everywhere in His creation. There is no better classroom!

God Bless America!

The girls have been learning songs this year and our first is "God Bless America". They belt it out proudly every time. It's been fun starting school during this time because there are so many American markers to celebrate...and the girls LOVE to celebrate anything!

We enjoyed a beautiful fireworks show from the parking lot of Blooms grocery store. New Spring Church puts on quite the show. We came here last year as well. This year though we were excited to see extra family tailgating with us.

Uncle Kenneth and his kids and grandkids showed up and made the event even more special. The girls loved playing with their cousins!









It was a wonderful evening. Bill and Carol were with us this year again. The kids enjoyed playing in Papa's truck. Thomas enjoyed the fireworks even though I think his interests were more in a Jeep that was driving through the parking lot. The girls picked their favorite fireworks although their pick seemed to change with each one.

Happy Birthday America and thank you to those who have given everything so we could live in this amazing Republic!