Our Advent

A beautiful picture of our home decorated for Christmas.  I love the lights and the warmth.  Thanks Stan for the great lighting!

Our Jesse tree.  I cannot say enough about how wonderful this experience has been.  The boys are really into the ornaments, stories and even have asked for more of the story than the short excerpt included in our guide.  I have loved this idea for years and can truly say, it is so worth the money I spent on the ornaments from Etsy instead of making my own.  One of those things I had to give up and I am so glad I did.

I love how intently Landon is listening.  I love these boys. And I love that they are learning about the history behind Jesus and his birth from the Old and New Testament.

Geneva turned one! It was so special to celebrate my only little niece.  It was especially wonderful because while my brother has been overseas in the Navy, his wife, Tamara, has really gone out of her way to include us in Geneva's life.  A true blessing, indeed.

Mommom and Tamara's mom trying to figure out how to get this hat on her.  It didn't happen.

Tahti came too!

My sweet sister in law and baby Geneva.  She has quite the wonderful smile but doesn't like to show it off for cameras.  :)

Pop, getting any chance he can to tell Lewis stories.

Play time!

Peek a boo! I just love that little face.

Obviously, Connor and Zaiya had a blast!

Pensive Geneva in her new Radio Flyer from Pop and Mommom.

Sweet Geneva with Tamara's dad.

Geneva's other grandmother just adores this little one.  It is so sweet to see their bond and to see how Tamara's mom has really filled in with John being gone.  She is one awesome mom and grandma, I can tell you that!

And...then our annual trip to the Santa Train with the Smiths.  We had a blast.  It was such nice weather and the kids were just thrilled.

Obviously...

Lindsay Jane got to sit with her sweet daddy.

And wasn't quite sure about Santa...

Connor tried his Rudolph nose on for size...

And so did Janise!

The boys got hot chocolate...

Snowmen painted faces...

And a sweet special group of friends to share them with.  We have been going with the Smiths for about 4 years now, I think.  It is amazing how much these kids have grown.  The first year, we took just Landon and Sophia because Emelia and Connor were wee little ones.

Lindsay Jane loved her first trip...especially since we got to play peek a boo!

The snow exhibit was a new attraction this year.  All of the kids were enamored with this stuff (yep, the diaper stuff again!) Hey, I would rather see it as fake snow than scattered throughout my washer!

More fun in the "snow".

And Connor could not leave without making the reindeer food to sprinkle on our lawn on Christmas Eve.

And, one of the highlights for me...going to Landon's Winter Performance at both Woods and at our church. Well, at church, we can call it their Christmas performance.  :)  It was so sweet when I got to Landon's school.  He searched and searched the crowd and finally spotted me.  Our eyes met and he had this sense of peace, of a proud grin.  I was thrilled.  Even though he acted like I was embarrassing him when I ran up to hug him after the musical was over, that moment when our eyes met truly made all of the rushing and coordinating I had to do to make that happen, totally worth it.  Totally.

And, another favorite site of mine.  Lindsay Jane playing with her Little People Nativity.  She has the angel in her hands in this one.  What a perfect little shot of my little angel.

On to our seasonal sugar cookie baking!  I had promised our neighbor, Porter, that I would let him help this year.  It was so much fun making cookies one rainy Sunday afternoon with these two!

All smiles!

How did he get so grown?

Our Christmas and Hanukkah cookies!

Let the decorating begin! And, Connor came just in time!

So fun!

Next baking activity was our Gingerbread house.  I was amazed at how well the boys did with it this year!

Very carefully placing the candy...one in my mouth, one on the house...

Lindsay Jane and her little hot pants...this was actually taken during one of her little toddler fits.  Still cute as a bug.

Finishing touches!

My sweet little boys.  All sugared up and ready for some time outdoors!  At least they posed for the picture!

One way I have kept Lindsay Jane occupied during all of my baking.  She has loved putting legos into empty containers.  This kept her entertained for at least 45 minutes while I took on the task of making brownies in a jar!  I am crazy!

Lindsay Jane hamming it up, as usual.

We celebrated our Frey side of the family Christmas last weekend.  Mommom and Pop are making the famous sausage balls in this picture.

Kim stopped by with a lovely Christmas decoration for our home.  She is never too busy to have a sit town with the kids...  What an angel.

The kitty cats even love her.

We called John via Skype and left about a dozen messages.  :)

Lindsay Jane kept her headband on for at least an hour!

Marc's daughter also came to join the fun.

Colin, my first cousin, who is 13, came with my uncle and the boys just loved every minute of playing with him.  My uncle had to remind my cousin that the boys "do not have an off switch".  hahahaha!

Sort of posing for a picture.

Opening gifts!

Mr. Colin.  Too grown.

Stan and Pop.

We gave Pop some popsicle sticks for the boys' raft making competitions at the cabin.  He was thrilled and said that was his favorite gift.  :)

Mommom and Pop also got a beautiful canvas of all 5 grandchildren, thanks to my very talented sister and her skills!

Uncle Ramsey and the girls!

Landon in one of the kids' favorite gifts, another fuzzy blanket.  They boys love little throw blankets.  These have little animal heads on them.

Time for the famous Christmas tree cookie making...a tradition started by my grandmother, Minkie.  It is always so nostalgic to do, thinking about Minkie and the past...one of the wonderful things about this time of the year.

Happy times. :)

My dad doing legos with my boys at o'dark 30 in the morning!

Pausing to pose for a picture in their little animal throws.  Too cute.

Playing with their toys with Pop while waiting to go see the Cantata at church.

The boys, proudly displaying the finished product of Landon's Christmas gift from Aunt Tamara and Uncle John.

And...we just have to include this one...our boys, enjoying a southern delicacy...molasses, butter and biscuits!

With Christmas just around the corner, I would say we have had a wonderful time of preparation.  I also am so thankful for the quiet moments of reflection we have made time for that have really helped to focus our season on Christ.  We also had lots of good family snuggle time and Stan and I managed to get out to a social event at our dance studio last night.  We are so very blessed.  Merry Christmas ya'll!