And since it's been entirely too long since I've posted anything here on the blog...which may or may not have something to do with the busy-ness of the season or the fact that I've not picked up my camera too much in recent weeks...here's a post to wrap-up the year!
November:
- We hosted our third annual Thanks-Singing Pie Social on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving. We invite the whole church and usually end up having about 60-70 people here. Everybody brings a pie, sweet or savory, and we all enjoy trying lots of kinds of pie. We round out the evening singing together. Previously we've crowded into the living and dining rooms to sing with the piano. But this year we were able to gather in the basement and sing with a guitar accompaniment. Fun!! However, I was wearing a sick baby in the Ergo most of the evening, so there are no pictures.
- We also headed to Pennsylvania and visited with my family for a few days over Thanksgiving. The cousins had a fun time playing together, even the littlest ones. Good food, good fun all around! But I forgot my camera.
December:
- Elsa turned 5! We celebrated her birthday with Grammie and Grandpa here a few weekends ago. Elsa chose to go to Panera Bread for her birthday lunch, and then we all came home and had birthday cake. Grammie made Elsa a beautiful doll cake (just like she made for me when I was young). We also celebrated Christmas with my parents since we didn't plan to travel to PA over Christmas. Elsa enjoyed the paper dolls that Grammie gave her and helped her cut out.
- Months ago I had promised to take Elsa to the ballet for her birthday, so last Saturday we went and saw The Nutcracker. I had never been to the ballet before either, so it was new for both of us. The costumes were beautiful, and the dancing was really enjoyable to watch. Of course, the orchestra's music was inspiring, and we're still humming the tunes! But I was surprised and a little bemused to learn that her favorite part of the show was...DAH DAH DAH DAH...the rats. Yes, really. The rats. She couldn't wait for the King Rat to come onstage. And after that scene was over, she really wasn't as interested in the rest of it. Obviously, she has some older brothers...
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| All dressed up for our date! |
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| Waiting for the show to begin |
- Advent. We've been observing Advent this year with some readings from The Advent Book as well as Jotham's Journey. We've used The Advent Book for the last several years, but Jotham's Journey was a new one. The kids loved the adventure and often begged to read ahead. We're looking forward to checking out the other books in the series next year (and there's one for Lent, too).
- Typically we attend our church's Christmas Eve service, but this year the kids were sick. So we stayed home. We dined on homemade stromboli, a Straub family tradition, and then we watched The Polar Express.
- And finally Christmas arrived! Most of the wrapping was for Christmas, of course. Celebrating Jesus' birthday is a big deal! Even Caroline was excited. As I put her to bed on Christmas Eve, I told her that tomorrow would be Jesus' birthday, and she squealed, "Jesus! Birthday!" and clapped. (Melt my heart!) We celebrated at home this year. We had planned to have dinner with some friends from church, but, while we enjoy giving gifts at Christmas, we thought it better if we kept our children from giving their sick, coughing germs to the other kiddos. We try to encourage giving and sharing most of the time, but not when it comes to germs. So it was a quiet day at home. Here are a few shots...
Christmas breakfast
Luke is excited about a new Lego figure 
Caroline liked taking the wrapping paper off everybody's gifts
Yep, more Legos!
She's a rock star! 
Our resident Hobbit expert
The girls enjoying some new kitchen toys
We hope you've had a memorable season of celebrating Christ's birth with your loved ones.
Stephen, hard at work in the kitchen
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
