Deck the Halls

It looks like Christmas at our house. We've put up our Christmas tree. The nativity is on the piano. The stuffed snowmen and reindeer are scattered on the floor. And the stockings are hung at the fireplace. Let the festivities begin!

I like that this year we are not having a huge battle to keep our tree decorated. Seth and Jason are both old enough not to touch and last Christmas made a big impression on them. Last year we took down the tree on Christmas day after they opened their presents. Caleb and I were relaxing on the couch...not really paying much attention to them as they were playing with their new toys. They undecorated nearly the whole tree! So we put them to bed and took the tree down telling them it was because they would not leave it alone. When we pulled out the tree last week Seth said they were not going to touch the tree so that it would not be taken down.

I'm glad they learned their lesson. It was kind of disappointing to take it down on Christmas day...very abrupt ending to our Christmas season. Paul is at the age for touching, but he is really good about that kind of stuff.

Now I just need some presents to wrap. I love wrapping presents! And some snow...Snow would be nice.

Photo Shoot

Our Christmas Picture
2007


Seth 4...Jason 3...Paul 20 months...Morgan 2 1/2 months

And here are a few of the attempts which are cute, but not good enough for the Christmas card. We tried a couple different poses. I like the one with them sitting in a row. They look like a Russian Matryoshka doll. Too bad they had had enough by that time and we had tears.

Christmas Card

For Ellen :)

Our Thanksgiving Day

It is a little strange celebrating an American holiday such as Thanksgiving in a different country. Seth and Jason still went to school and I still went to Welsh class, although I did leave for home an hour early. : ) It seemed like just an ordinary day...until I got home.

Caleb did all the cooking and did a wonderful job! He had nearly everything ready when I got home from class. I found a turkey to fit in our tiny oven. Our oven is only about 6 inches tall, but Caleb managed to get a 9lb turkey in there! lol!


We asked the boys what they were thankful for...

• Seth said he was thankful for Thanksgiving Day. But then after Caleb said he was thankful for his family, Seth also said he was thankful for Daddy, Mommy, Jason, Paul, Morgan a fi (and me).
• 1st time asking Jason he said...I don't want to talk I am eating. 2nd time asking Jason he said...I don't want to talk to you right now. I am still eating. 3rd time asking Jason he said he was thankful for his sweet potatoes, which was actually stuffing. : )
• Paul doesn't say much, but I know he is thankful for bananas. They are his favorite and daily breakfast.

And I am thankful for a wonderful husband...four healthy boys...a warm home...and light bulbs.

I am blessed!
: )

Seth

I love this boy!

Morgan

Who else, but Jason.

Why do you do the things you do?

Jason decided to cut his own hair a week before we are suppose to take our Christmas card picture.

Isn't it lovely!?!

The Mask

Jason and his Halloween Mask.

No, not really.

Rest, Relaxation and Running Around

I am getting plenty of the three R's during my mid-term holiday.

Monday and Tuesday were lazy days. Doing nothing more then what having four little boys requires. Oh, and trying to catch up on laundry. "Catching up on laundry" reminds me of a dog chasing his tail...an unachievable goal. lol!

Wednesday we did a thorough cleaning of the downstairs in preparation for company that night. We had the Treharnes over for dinner. Caleb made pancakes. Flaxseed pancakes, cornmeal pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes. Yum! Everybody loved them.

Thursday we had Alex and Adrianne over for dinner in our already cleaned house.

Friday I took Seth shopping to get a few things to put in his Christmas shoebox. He had fun picking out things for "the little boy in Africa". Teen night...besides six kids popping in for a few minutes nobody came. So Caleb and I played ping pong while the boys ran around eating cookies and chips.

Today I used my gift certificate and treated Adrianne and myself to pedicures in Llanfairfechan. We had a lovely time. The pedicure was wonderful...very relaxing. It was fun to have a girl's plus Morgan day out. Morgan was a good little boy and slept nearly the whole time. I made an appointment to go back next week for a hair cut.

I miss my sisters. I would have taken them for a girl's day out if I could have.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with a pastor and his wife from Washington. They are vacationing over here and would like to meet us. We are going to church together and then home for lunch.

So now, feeling refreshed, I am ready to start back to class bright and early Monday morning.