Jeremy had the week between Christmas and New Year's off work! It's been so great having him around. I love for him to be with us every day. Maybe one day we can think of a way to keep him around us more often...but still able to make money and work. Monday is going to be so hard for me when he goes back to work. I'll share more on a different post what we have been doing during his time off.
However, the past two days, he has been working on a very special project. After several years of almost daily play, the kid's aluminum swing set fell apart (the swing broke with Nicole on it in mid air...then, a week later, the second swing broke the same way. She was not hurt). Good thing we already had a plan! With the money that we received from some of the grandparents and great-grandparents this year for Christmas, we bought the plans and wood to build them a brand new (very stable) swing set! After hours of sanding, staining, cutting and drilling...it was finally finished. The girls were so excited to have their swings back.
And, Nathan was excited too.
The slide is also bigger and even Nate is trying to climb it (remember that he is a climber! more on that at a later time).
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very busy for us. Here is a quick recap!
Christmas Eve Service.....we were late. This is never good on Christmas Eve at a large church. There weren't any seats left for our family to sit in the sanctuary. We did make it in time for the girls to go down to the front with Pastor Wicker and all of the other children for a retelling of the Christmas story. Then, we had to walk out and sit in the commons and watch the service on TV. At first I was upset and a bit annoyed. Everyone else who was out there just sat in their chairs with grumpy faces and didn't sing the songs. Then...I realized that it was probably better for our family because Nathan could crawl around and make some noise, and we could still listen to Pastor's message. It was a bit odd having the candle-lighting with the day light streaming in and only 20 or so people around us. Fred, a young man from the college group, found us and sat with us. After a few minutes of feeling grumpy, I was happy that we were there, together..as a family, remembering the reason we were celebrating Christmas and worshiping Jesus. btw...we did end up singing most of the songs because I just didn't care if no one else was.
After our unusual Christmas Eve service, we headed over to Jeremy's parent's house. His Granny and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gary were there visiting. We had a nice time visiting with them and later opening gifts.
Aunt Lisa playing something with the girls.
The girls were sharing the Nativity story with Aunt Lisa.
Aunt Lisa was flinging Hannah around :)
Nathan, catching his first real glimpse of Christmas presents.
I added this picture because I loved Hannah's eyes. She's so cute carrying this bag!
When she pulled out this feather boa (I think from Aunt Tiffy), Nicole exclaimed, "Ohhhhh...this is just what I've always wanted!" (I never knew this about her) As a side note, this boa has been nearly insperable with Nicole. She even wore it out to the pizza place last night. She was so stinkin cute!
Cars! Perfect for the little Nate Dawg.
Piggy Banks for the girls.
M&Ms for me! (my parents got me M&Ms too....I guess the secret is out...and Chris, this will help me reach the 1,000,000 mark, don't you think?)
She just looks so happy, doesn't she?
And, he looks pretty happy to!
I think Nathan had more fun crawling over and through all the gift wrap and boxes than anything else.
Jeremy got Nate!
Grammy and Nicole enjoying the cold ride in the back of the pick up truck.
Sweet picture...Hannah and Daddy also enjoying the ride (just after this, Hannah climbed into the front of the truck with gramps and the heat.
Nicole yelled out "Merry Christmas" and sang "Jingle Bells" to nearly every car she could. (notice the feather boa)
The whole crew
We played Twister for a little while.
After that, we spent a little time at my parent's house, opening gifts.
Papa, acting as gift distributor (notice that Nate has his head in there this time. I think he's figured out what is going on)
The girls opening a shared gift.
Goldie was also getting some Christmas present action.
Check out that doggie treat!
Tinker Toys for the girls
Yaya got a little dress chest with some dress up clothes for her house. Hannah immediately put on the Cinderella dress and asked her daddy to dance with her. He was the prince, and she was the princess. Can anyone hear that Steven Curtis Chapman song, Cinderella? It's all I can think about when I look at this picture.
Finally, we drove up to Pt. Charlotte to visit with Jeremy's family who was celebrating Christmas at Granny's house. I don't think I have any pictures of that. The girls ran around the yard (playing more with Aunt Lisa...she's good to have around! haha), and Nathan played with Granny's dog, Patches. Actually...I think I should say that Patches was playing with Nate. He kept trying to pull his pants down as Nathan crawled away:-)
We had a nice Christmas weekend with lots of family. Thank you for all the nice memories.
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