by the old barn

belated thanksgiving...

oh my...i am soooo behind in the realm of blogging...both the keeping up to date and the posting my own thoughts, etc. here is my attempt to get caught up on the past month or so....a very, very full month!

we spent thanksgiving at mike's parents...and we also do "Christmas" with them the day after Thanksgiving. it was a fun, full weekend...lots of pant-less jilly running around (and repeatedly washing her hands, as we were in the thick of *getting it* when it came to the potty).

this was a sight frequently seen...jilly, at the sink...so excited that she could turn the water on and off by herself...might i mention that i'm so thankful she hasn't mastered the faucet at our house ;)


decorating grandma and grandpa's tree...luke really liked the lights


jilly and luke hanging with aunt kim and uncle dave


luke and uncle dave having fun


aunt kim was kind enough to indulge the girls' obsession with the game SPLAT!


daddy and luke on Christmas morning...poor luke was fighting a cold and some wheezing, so he kind of looks glassy eyed in many of these pics...


uncle dennis presenting the girls with their Christmas present...he and kaitlyn gave them an atlas first and then dennis showed them peru on the atlas...as they had bought the presents in peru on their vacation


luke with a present....he was a quick learner when it came to unwrapping...although, he was much more interested in eating the paper than actually playing with the toys inside ;)


daddy helping his lubber-girl make a necklace

the past few weeks in pics :)

thanks to the trouble-shooting, advice seeking realm of facebook i figured out how to compress my photo files...and voila...we have pics! :)

pre tree decorating breakfast...french toast on homemade whole wheat artisan bread...yummy!

tree decorating...and hanging the outside lights :)


once the tree was up, we made some gingerbread cookies :)




the next morning was luke's dedication at church...the six of us are at the very end of the stage...you can't quite see jilly and elizabeth in the pic


grandmommy and poppy came down to be at the dedication and then spent the day with us. we had yummy pizza and lots of wii playing fun...


elizabeth testing out her bowling skills...now that she really gets it, she is pretty stinkin' good!



working on our ornaments for "truth in the tinsel"


these are the girls "mary" ornaments...the marble is baby Jesus...and, yes, i did help with the glitter glue...i let them do josephs glitter on their own...i'll show that pic later...ha!

one of our muffin advent activities was making snowman pancakes...tasty and fun!


another muffin tin advent activity was a trip to the children's museum...always a fun treat!




luke loved the crawling "maze" area...and playing with that cute little boy in the mirror!


some fun pics after we watched frosty :)


we spent all day tuesday out and about...my students did a reader's theater and story time at barnes and noble during the TMS bookfair...the girls loved it...jilly even climbed right up onto the stage. one of my seventh grade guys rolled with it, picked her right up, and sat her on his knee for the duration of the story. :) we had a break while i helped at the church and the girls hung out in the nursery for naps and playing...then we headed back as a family for the eighth graders monologue performances. a fun but LONG day! :)



luke smiles really big...and giggles really big too...but he also has a new skill...do you see it? yep...he loves pulling up on things and standing! :)