Mid-December

We all have been having a great time enjoying the Christmas season. We put up our tree this past week. It is an Alpine fir, though a bit scrawny, it has an old-fashioned feel to it. There were some minor problems trying to keep it upright. I was 20 minutes late picking Michaela up from volleyball because the fully decorated tree decided it liked laying down better than standing up straight. It's all good now after a bit of jimmy-rigging. The tree this year got a fashion overhaul- it now sports white blinkers instead of colored. I am liking the tree but somehow the pictures I have taken don't seem to capture it's charm. Probably cause the cute kid is the charm stealer.
We decorated a gingerbread house, as well. I cheated. Royally! I bought a kit and shaved about three or more hours off the usual time it takes to make a gingerbread house from scratch. Although it is satisfying to make your own creation, it just didn't fit into the babies nap schedule. And it's less tiring. So far, the house has survived taking a header off the lamp table and is slowly becoming bare as Ronnie sneaks bites.
Jerry and kids came to visit us today. The kids had a great time sledding, playing computer, playing horses and watching movies. They brought Clove (check out past blog about kittens) back for a visit. She has grown up! The big boys fed the horses and we had lots of pizza, drank hot chocolate and cookies and opened some early gifts. It was great fun!
Yesterday we went to Michaela's Christmas concert. Isaac, Alexander and Ronnie attended. The music was great. Isaac endured the "long" concert well. It is sure weird to see my daughter up on the stage playing the flute. It seems like I was there yesterday. Hearing "Sleigh Ride" was absolutely trippy! Sadly, I was in a huge rush and couldn't grab the camera. . .
Alex and Daniel are eating solids very well now. They are in the 2nd stage of foods. Tessa fed both of the boys yesterday while I cleaned up Isaac's "chicken and noodle soup" floor decorations. It is much colder than a week ago when we built a huge snowman, had a snow ball fight and made snow angels at 8:30 PM. It is nice to go out and feed the horses their dinner and hear them whinny hello- or is it really: "finally, your here to give me my food!"But my favorite thing about the cold, dark winter is Stevens hot chocolate and a fire burning in its place, snuggling up to my honey and cuddling a little biscuit!I had to add this last photo of Gramps snuggling with Alex after he fell asleep.