Friday, December 16, 2016

The most wonderful time of the year.


Brrr!! Hope you all are staying warm on these very cold days! We have been snuggled up at our house. The boys don't mind staying home, as long as they can watch an extra episode of their beloved Veggie Tales. This morning, we have some friends coming over for a fika (coffee time) and playdate, so the house is clean and the oven smells amazing. . . just the way we like it :)


One day, Nolan and I went to Tractor Supply to buy dog food, and he was super excited to see Christmas trees!


A couple days later, we headed out to the mountain to chop down our own tree at Denny & Sue's house.


This is our second year of having a real tree, and it's a pretty blue spruce that Denny planted years ago. It looks like a reasonable size growing outside, and then in our living room, it is large and in charge! I love it!


Counting the rings, I figure it's around 12-15 years old.




It was a chilly day, and Ephraim wanted to be in Denny's garage on his tractor.



Such a fun experience to choose our own tree and carry it home on top of our car!



E is such a little artist! At this age for Nolan, when he went to Sunday School or MOPS, he would come home with one big red scribble on his papers. Ephraim takes his time and uses a lot of color!


We built little wooden ornaments at Lowe's Build & Grow workshop on a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago.

And afterwards, we took a trip to the donut shoppe with MorMor and Papa Don. Always a highlight for us :)


I went back out to Denny & Sue's to make wreaths with the gals in my Bible study. We had such a nice time!


I covered my wreath with winter berries, and I love the pops of red.



I made a second little wreath with rhododendron leaves and a piece of driftwood.


Some of my favorite ladies!


Sue promised me that if I'm still pregnant on New Year's Eve, she'll take me for a bumpy Jeep ride to get the baby out. That way, he can be the first 2017 baby at the hospital :)


The boys and I took a day trip to Target and Trader Joe's for a little holiday shopping. They are so wild at stores that this is the only photo I got of that experience :)


My 36.5 week photo. I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow, and I can't believe it! Baby is really growing and moving around in there. I need to write a post to document the last few weeks of this pregnancy.


We found Nolan Road! It was actually a terrible experience involving my van almost getting stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere. I will be staying on paved roads from now until forever!


A cute little Bed and Breakfast on the edge of town, all ready for Christmas!


My friend Heidi had a cookie-decorating party at her house last Friday. The kids got to wear their Christmas jammies and eat their weight in sprinkles. So fun!



We made some blueberry muffins from frozen blueberries we picked in August. Yum! We are baking up plenty of Christmas cookies and pastries in these next few days! Our kitchen countertop is supposed to arrive today, which is really exciting. Pretty soon, we'll have the sink installed and a full working kitchen again after two months!


Nolan was the cutest in our church's Christmas program on Sunday! He was both a Shepherd and a Wise Man, and he did such a great job! At one point, he lost his crown and couldn't quite get it to stay on for the rest of the show. It was adorable :)


 Christmas tree donuts, for the win!


I posted about the boys in their Christmas jammies yesterday, if you missed that.

And guess what??!? Steve GRADUATES tomorrow!! We are so very excited to see him walk across that stage and get that PhD!

Hope you have a great weekend! Stay cozy!



4 comments:

  1. I love that picture of Ephraim coloring! My boys are on the opposite spectrum for artistic ability/interest as well, and it's so fun to see how it develops uniquely in each of them. That sweet look of concentration and intensity of holding that crayon is great.

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  2. We didn't have time this year to go as a family and cut down a tree (Max had lots of travel inculding international) and I was SO BUMMED! Looks like your experience was perfect! Instead, Parker and I went to Target by ourselves and purchased our very first faux tree!! Hoping next year we can get back on the real-tree bandwagon and put the faux one in the playroom :) Also - I totally want to do a wreath making class!

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  3. Love that homemade wreath! The boys are adorable.

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