Christmas and more :)

Has it really been over 2 weeks since I posted?! Time is flying!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! It was definitely one of our best ever (I actually think it was our BEST)! The kids ages just get funner each year at Christmas and not only seeing them anticipate Christmas morning, but more importantly really grasping God's greatest gift to us... His son Jesus :)! So much to be excited about this Christmas and God's blessings truly have been poured out on us! We are so excited to be where we are in life right now.

I added a bunch of pictures below about what we've been doing lately...

We have had a lot of snow here! Jacob has already had 3 snow days (there is nothing better then snow days!!) I absolutely love the treat of getting to jump back in my warm cozy bed and letting Jake sleep in (and short school weeks rock too!)

We have had lots of visitors in our back yard! It's quite a treat to get to watch the deer from our great room!

I didn't get any good pictures of the kids playing outside in the snow with Jim, but here Jake and Micah are sitting on the heater with a blanket after they came in :).

Jacob made our Christmas Day centerpiece (minus the candle in the middle which is Twisted Peppermint from Bath & Body Works... most definitely the best smelling candle I've ever had :). He made the glass tea candle jars and the placemat that they sit on at school. He was sooo excited to give them to me for Christmas and they are just beautiful!!

Above is a picture of the kids opening some Christmas presents on Christmas Eve night after church. We celebrated with my dad and step mom on Christmas Eve and it was a lovely evening!

Jacob with his new lego set. He immediately got to work once he opened it and finished by bedtime!
Micah loves his truck!
Abbey got squinkies and a fur real little pet that is super cute!

I didn't get ANY pictures on Christmas day! So unlike me to forget to do that, but we hosted our family so I was a busy hostess! Jim videotaped most of the morning though so we have the memories captured... just not in still pictures.

But for Christmas, Abbey got an Easy Bake Oven and she thinks it's the greatest thing ever! Here's some pictures of us baking :).

Jacob and Micah got crossbows! Micah is probably a little too young for his, considering he accidentally shot me above my lip on Christmas morning! He was so upset that he hurt me, that he cried for about 20 minutes. I just kept saying I was ok (as my lip was swelling :)! We're really glad it didn't get me in the eye! Needless to say, that is a toy that he can only play with when Jim is helping him!

And look who's walking.... well, almost walking!! He's taking steps, but only a few at a time. We know he's going to take off any day so we are enjoying these last few days of him not getting into everything!! We're excited for him to walk though! He's our latest walker and we think it's cause he has so much entertainment from the other kiddos that he's usually pretty content to just sit and watch them play and run around :).

Caleb and one of his new toys!

And this silly guy has been getting drinks of water while the bath fills up! We think it's pretty hilarious :)!! He is very comfortable in the water (a little scary since he seems to have no fear with it), but he willingly puts his whole face in and the while he catches his breath he laughs!

And I saved the best for last! Here is a picture of Abbey's chemo calendar (her nurse makes it out for us each month). We live by it day to day to know what to give her and how much. Well, look below!!!! You read it right! STOP CHEMO!!! Yep... it's almost here! 8 days and counting and she will be DONE!! There are no words to express the excitement that comes with that! Truly, we are excited beyond words, and thankful and amazed and the list goes on :)!!

So here we are, soon entering 2011 and sooo much to be thankful for and look forward to! We are entering another new normal soon and we are so looking forward to what this new year has to hold! God has been so good to us! I can't even wait to be able to say WE DID IT! We are almost there.... Just 8 days away!

Happy New Year! Much love to you all!!!