December with three...

Despite having a newborn and skipping some Christmas traditions (like Christmas Town and going to the Messiah), I feel like we were able to fit quite a few Christmasy things in during December!

Both girls were very into tree decorating this year. They were also very excited about all their Christmas dresses so we let them dress up for the decorating party. :) While it was quite fun having so much gel this year, it did lead to a record number of ornaments dropped and broken during the process. ;)

Once the ornament box was discovered and Nathan’s tiny Nutcracker, our helpers quickly dropped out. This little nutcracker was a highlight of the Christmas season for Evie! We all spend quite a bit of time reenacting parts of the Nutcracker with her using this Nutcracker. Her favorite: Herself as Marie, Nana and naughty Fritz/Drosslemyer - haha.

We finished off our Christmas tree party with some fresh gingerbread! (made by Nana with my Great-Grandma’s recipe!)

We attended two abridged Nutcracker performances this year. The first was free and at the library…….. Evie definitely enjoyed it, but lets just say I was glad it was free. ;)

We’ve always done Operation Christmas Child, but this year Evelyn LOVED helping with it. She woke me up early one Saturday morning saying “Mommy! Did you know that there are some little girls that have NO mommy and NO daddy??” Nathan had been explaining the purpose of OCC to her and she was very excited to pack a box of toys for a little girl like her who didn’t have parents. She proudly carried her box to church with us one Sunday. Gracie, on the other hand, just remembered the dolls we had put in the boxes and whenever we past the drop off table at church would point and say “baby! baby!” and try to open the boxes. :) Oh my. :)

Since we were spending more time at home this past December, we decided to make a gingerbread village with the girls - they thought it was great! Thankfully the kit we got had brightly colored but rather tasteless candy so it was easier to convince them not to eat it. ;)

We had a girls’ Christmas tea with our small group friends. Evie and her friends Kate and Amy all had golden shoes on - they had to get a picture. ;)

The Fourth Annual Youth Group Progressive Dinner...

And last but not least, an Evie and Mommy date to another Nutcracker performance with our ballet class friends. :)

The Snow Storm of 2014

Since we live in VA, I can call this week's 2-3 inches of snow The Snow Storm of 2014 because most likely it is all the snow we'll see this year. :) In our 6 years here, I don't think we've ever had more than one snow storm per winter. While you may think that this sounds nice, it means that our southern daughters are a bit wimpy when the lovely, beautiful, fun to play in snow does come. Here was Gracie's response this year - Oh. My.

 

Poor baby. She was mostly just scared of it I think and was fine as long as we were holding her. She just didn't want her feet touching it!! I't was actually pretty cold out so we were only out for half an hour or so. Our neighbors were out with their girls as well so we went over and played a bit before coming inside to warm up. Nathan didn't have to go in to work until 10 and we enjoyed our longer family morning in the snow! :)

   

Playing with Amelia and Daphne - making snowballs to throw at Mr. Malone ;)
  

Dan threw snow up in the air and the girls (except Gracie :p) were having a blast running through it pretending that it was still snowing. :)

  

Amelia, being the oldest and bravest, even made a snow angel with Dan!

  

I was so worried about Julia getting cold that she was *quite* bundled up and barely able to move - lol. Oh well, at least she wasn't cold when we came in! :)

 

Since it's been so cold, the snow is actually still here 3 days later (which means that some people haven't left their house in three days :)). We're still enjoying it as we probably won't see anymore until next year! :)

Friends

Our good friends, Kelly and Elliott, and their three children have been on the east coast (vs. Oregon) the past few years for law school. We’ve tried to get together with them along with our friends Aaron/Laura and Kathryn/Paul every Thanksgiving that we’ve all been on this side of the country. We loved visiting them in Boston last spring and were so excited to have them visit us this fall in Williamsburg! I was hoping little Julia would hold off her arrival so I could enjoy their visit and she obliged quite nicely. :) They left Monday morning and she arrived Monday afternoon!

Elliot, Aaron and Kathryn were good friends of Nathan’s in Alaska and then all of us (minus Aaron :( ;)) went to Hillsdale together and Kelly, Laura, Kathryn and I all became good friends then. :) These weekends when we can all get together with our children now are so fun. Evelyn and Grace love their friends Adelynn and Margaret!

There aren’t many pictures of our time together, but that’s what happens when there are 8 (almost) kids and 10 adults (counting Nathan’s parents - the hosts of most of our partying ;)).

Secret fort behind the chair :)

Adelynn reading to all the girls 

Each year all of us girls have gathered live greenery and made Christmas wreaths together. :) Here we are in process…

And with the final products!

One of our favorite family pictures was from this weekend as well… too bad it was outdated less than 24 hours later - ha!

We’re so thankful for such good friends even after so many years and miles between us! (Kjer and Nick! We missed you guys this year!!!)

Some catch up...

So life with three is wonderful and amazing and leaves little room for taking pictures, much less sorting them and blogging. :) There are a few older pictures that I want to share though, beginning with Evie’s actual birthday. :)

Our beautiful three year old LOVES to dance and can pretty much always be found dressed up as a ballerina, princess, fairy or tea party girl when we are home. :) When she does have to wear real clothes to go out, she prefers things that are pink, sparkly, dresses or skirts. :) Evelyn loves being with her friends and so ballet class, MOPS, BSF, Sunday School and especially small group are highlights of her week. Extremely imaginative, Nathan and I love listening to her play, having conversations with her and answering her questions. She’s distraught that Busch Gardens is closed and can’t wait for it to reopen in March. She calls all sports baseball (we’re working on that ;)) despite having never seen a baseball game in person or even on tv. Reading is still a highlight, particularly if it’s Madeline, some sort of ballet book, Little Bear, poetry, or a Little House book (the children’s versions). She has half of the Sound of Music songs memorized. Besides dolls and tea party things, duplos are her favorite toy and comes up with all sorts of creative things to build with Daddy and Gracie. Crafts, especially coloring, are a favorite daily activity.

We love our sweet Evelyn so much and are beyond thankful for the three wonderful years we’ve had with her so far!!

On her actual third birthday we had quite the fun morning opening presents, eating the specially requested breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and strawberries and then spent the rest of the day having tea parties with her new tea set, tea cakes, tea cookies, tea dress, tea cloth and napkins, etc. :)

  

Gracie figuring out how to work the party blowers :)

   

Daddy brought her home birthday flowers that night!

Grandma and Papa Mortier joined us that evening for dinner and cake to finish off the wonderful day celebrating the 3 years God has given us our beautiful Evelyn Ruth!