Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  I didn't take near as many pictures as I have in the past, but we still had just as much fun!  

We went to go see santa at the mall and the line was so so long.  In fact, Adeline fell asleep in my arms because she was so tired.  At first we just decided to not put her in the picture.  But then I decided that I could just put her in Santa's arms.  He was so sweet and was on board.  It was so sweet, Adeline slept through the whole thing.  We got the pictures and I took her back and she never woke up.  I could feel everyone in line watching us and there was an audible sigh of relief when I was able to pick her back up and she stayed asleep.

One of the fun family activities that we did was building gingerbread houses at Jake and Angie's house.   They were genius and superglued the houses together before we all got there.  Then each kid got their own frosting and bowl of candy and went to town.  It was so much fun!

We tried several times to get an awesome picture in from of the Christmas tree.  We eventually gave up, but this was a pretty close one.  We love our silly annual Christmas picture!

I didn't get any pictures on Christmas morning.  Actually, I know I did take pictures, but they are no where to be found.  Just imagine the joy on their faces when they each found a super soft sleeping bag/pillow pet thing, and hot wheels and babies and strollers.  It was magical and I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed it completely.

Service Elves

Meet Kinley and Bennington.  They came to stay with our family for the month of December to help us remember Jesus and serve others in his name.  Each day they have a special service challenge for our family.  We don't always remember to do it, but we have loved being able to have daily reminders to think of others.

Teagan  has loved the challenges and has worked to do them all.  Some were as simple as smiling at a stranger or inviting a new friend to play at school.  Others were bigger like delivering presents to a family in need or donating books to the library.  

I think the two favorite things were writing a thank you note and giving goodies to a teacher and taking in the neighbors garbages for Teagan.  

Eloise loved delivering presents to another family, it was really hard because she wanted the toys, but I could tell she really felt good and felt the spirit when she saw that they had a bare house and these might be the only toys they get.

Addy loved snuggling the elves and treating them like her babies.  

This morning Teagan was out waiting for the garbage man at 7:30 so he could make sure to take all the garbages in before the neighbors had a chance. He has such a giving heart.

The elves have really brought the true spirit of Christmas into our home and brought us closer together.