Jolly Old St. Nicholas

On Christmas Eve, we had a visitor!

This is Kailey's third year as Santa and she's becoming quite a pro!

And then, with the stockings hung by the chimney with care and the children nestled all snug in their beds, the real Santa paid us a visit!

It's always fun to see the tree on Christmas morning! And for some reason I only captured a few moments this Christmas... probably because everything was going so fast! The kids have definitely perfected their tearing technique :>

 

My brother Nelson has always wanted a Santa suit and this year, Santa delivered!

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve, Eve

Because of scheduling conflicts, we had our extended family Christmas Eve on the 23rd.  That just means double the parties!!!! First we feasted and then were  treated to a visit from Santa.

And what's a visit with Santa without a screaming toddler...

Then we acted out the Nativity with an all-star cast this year!

Brayden and Jada were Joseph and Mary

Kailey was a shepherd

with her sheep

And here is a picture of the whole crew!

Here we go a caroling

Music is very important in our family and so one of the traditions we have is to go Christmas caroling each year, rain or shine! We even went in -5 degrees in Michigan (we sang through people's doors because they didn't want to open them)! This year the temperature wasn't too bad so we had lots of smiles. 

The McKeons came out for Christmas and Audrey and Jonny are the only cousins my children's age, so my kids were pretty happy to have companions!

The best way to travel!

Jada's not so lucky...

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Note by Note recital

This is Kailey's third year playing the piano and Jada's first, and they both do so well! Here are their backs while they were playing beautifully!

Kailey played Joy to the World and Jingle Bells (Ethan's favorite song, so he sang while she played)

Jada played Silent Night and Oh, Come All Ye Faithful. Thank you DD for being their fabulous teacher!



Our annual Hajj

Every year, rain or shine, we go hunting for the perfect u-cut Christmas tree to bring home. This year we had rain. It seems like it has been raining all year! This year the pickings were pretty slim, so Shawn asked the owner if we could cut one that wasn't tagged and after some negotiations, he agreed. Everyone gets a chance sawing with the saw.  This is Ethan's first year!

Shawn introduced white chocolate covered Oreos into this tradition in 2004 and the kids absolutely love that part!

Kailey finishing off the job

Heading over to the barn for hot apple cider~ yum!

Another successful day in Candy Cane Lane!

Six

Brayden turned the big 6! He was pretty excited to be only one year away from Jada who is 7 :> I went in to his classroom in the morning because his teacher makes a big deal about birthdays. She has us send in pictures and then they sit in a circle to look at the them, then each child tells what they like about the birthday person. Here is Brayden, basking in all his glory!

Then they sing "Happy Birthday" in  their special way

And then for the rest of the day he was the VIP

That night we celebrated with ice cream cake because that is what you need in the middle of winter to cool you down :> BTW,  like the muscle shirt?  Another middle of winter necessity!

New things Brayden did this year:

-started Kindergarten and is a great student

-started playing t-ball and soccer (indoor and outdoor)

-lost his first two teeth

-learned how to snow ski

- climbed Tiger Mountain, PuPu point and Bear's Hump

-watched Star Wars and loves it!

Happy Birthday Brayden!

Don't feed the wild animals!

On Memorial Day, it was still raining. It has rained the entire spring and it doesn't show signs of stopping! So, we packed up and headed to the zoo because there was no way I was spending another day in the house. The nice thing, was that the zoo was empty!

And it even cleared up for us at the end! That made me a happy woman!