Holiday fun with family!

On Friday, Julie, Ellis and Zane Berend came over to help us make gingerbread cookies! We had fun rolling the dough and cutting the shapes. Amos wanted to be involved, too, and snacked on the dough while copying us with a cookie cutter. The shapes were beautiful and the cookies smelled so good! We didn't have time to decorate that day, so I decided to save mine to do later with Mom and Abby.

On Thursday morning, my mom called and mentioned that she had just done her December birth. I realized that this meant that she was "off call" and free to travel! "You should come visit," I screamed! I was so excited to show them our new house and for my mom to come visit (which is very hard to coordinate, with her usual schedule of birthing babies!). My dad had also returned from being in Africa for a few weeks (read about it here) and my mom was thinking he was all traveled out. Too, I thought it had been a bad time with all of the construction going on, but decided that since this would probably be her only shot til summer, that she should come on! So Thursday and Friday we spent readying the house for guests, and food shopping in preparation for the snowstorm that was due to hit us early Saturday morning. Thankfully, my family arrived safe and sound Friday night, complete with a little sister named Abigail! What an awesome surprise!
My parents found a cool little playhouse on craigslist and got it for Amos to have something to climb on this winter. He loved it and at first, tried to climb up the slide! We got him going on the ladder and using what he learned about going down the stairs feet first, slid down the slide with a big smile on his face! We all went to bed very late and looked forward to seeing everything covered with snow!

Saturday morning we woke up to a cheering mom who was so excited about the snow! It was the perfect time for her to visit! We made a big breakfast, enjoyed hanging out in our pj's and watched the big fluffy snowflakes fall from the sky. After breakfast, Nathan and Dad went out to find a tree stand. Nathan got us a Christmas tree at Lowe's the night before, because they were all half off. The problem was that we couldn't find our tree stand!


Amos watches the snow from his new playhouse.

Playing with Aunt Abby

Biiiiiiig breakfast!

We girls became project women, as they say, and got to work on hemming curtains for the short windows in the dining room. We three women tried to do the equation and conversions to allow for shrinkage but we just couldn't do it and threw the curtains into the wash to pre-shrink. We had a good laugh at how politically incorrect that was and later were proved right when the boys quickly figured it out! My mom spent all afternoon measuring and ironing (she is such a trooper!) and after she had done a few panels, we put them on the rod. They were two different sizes. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And then decided to do something else and finish the rest tomorrow!

Our beautiful new light curtains! Thanks Mom!

During Amos' late second nap, we snuck out to play in the snow and had fun, building snowmen and going for a walk in the neighborhood.

Time to play in the snow!

After a yummy pasta chicken alfredo dinner, we were ready to decorate the tree! I wasn't sure how Amos would do with it or what he would do with it. But soon after he saw his Grandmarmie put an ornament on, he wanted to do it too, and had fun helping to put them on the tree! He did drop and break one glass ornament; actually, he threw it! But after a quick cleanup, we were back to decorating! After the decorating was complete, we sat around, sipping eggnog and enjoying the holiday atmosphere!

Sunday morning was beautiful, as it had snowed a few more inches. We prepared for church and my Dad drove us through the snowy drifts the mile and a half to go to worship. The crowd that morning was smaller, but the music was beautiful, the lanterns shining and the word preached was appropriate and touching. After church we mingled with our new friends, introducing our family to our new church family. My mom got to meet Julie Berend and the rest of the family, which was great. They had heard many stories about each other, and were glad to put the name with a face! Before leaving, we showed Mom and Abby around the church building, ending in the gallery with all of the winter-themed art! After a left-overs lunch and a nap for Amos, we all got bundled up to play in the snow, for a few minutes! It was really cold out and although I wanted Amos to experience it, we had to make it short! Getting him dressed was like a scene out of "A Christmas Story" with Amos totally bundled up and not very happy about it! After we got him playing in the snow, he started to get into it and I think, really enjoyed it. After a few minutes, though, it was time to go in!

Sunday night, we made a brave trek up north to a pub called the Claddaugh. They have the best atmosphere there and the very best Fish 'n' Chips I've ever had. The north location allows little people in so we were excited to take Amos and Abby there! Just as we were about to leave, an Elvis Presley Christmas song, which my mom promptly jumped up and danced to. Abby and I put our coat hoods over our heads to display our embarrassment, but luckily, we were the only people there!

Monday morning came early, with the arrival of the workers! We had a nice breakfast together and then while Dad napped, we decorated cookies. We used spoons and Amos' medicine syringes (they were clean!). We had a great time laughing and being creative. And Amos loved eating the cookies--he got to eat the broken ones!

A fun time was had by us all, and we are thankful for being so close to our family now, for spontaneous visits!