Winter Memories

December started out with the birth of my new nephew :). My sister Stacey and brother-in-law Joey welcomed their 4th child, Andrew James into the world on December 2nd at 3:20p.m., weighing in at 7lbs. 9ozs. I had the privilege of being in the room when he was born and it was an amazing experience! They didn't know the sex of the baby, so it was so exciting to be there the second they found out if they would have another daughter or son. My sister and I both have 3 boys and 1 girl!! We think it's pretty cool!!

Nothing like a brand new baby to hold and smell to give you the baby itch :)!!

Lake Farm Park is a yearly tradition that we have done the past few years with Jim's FOP. Some of the activities that we do there are a horse drawn carriage ride to see Christmas lights, pictures with santa and making wooden toys. Below are the kids with the "elves" making and painting their toys.

I just love this picture of Abbey and Caleb. The kids are always coming up with new ways to play and keep busy around the house. Abbey is like a second mommy to Caleb. Just like me, she kisses his cheeks as much as he'll let her :).

We made lots of cut out Christmas cookies this year! It's pretty cool how as the kids get older they are a huge help and not just mess makers!!

We had 2 Christmas parties this year. One was with kids from Jacob and Abbey's school and the other was with women from our church. Both were a blast! Above the kids are doing freeze dance to Christmas music :). The night also included crafts for the kids to take home, snacks and free play.

The women's party was a great time for all. We had tons of food, played some fun games, and talked and laughed into the wee hours of the night (the last couple ladies left at 2:30am!)

And a couple pics of the kids opening up their presents on Christmas morning. Jacob got a bb gun this year. I know Jim and him will be very careful as they use it, but you can be sure I will be keeping myself busy with something else inside the house :/!

We haven't had too much snow yet this winter, but we've gotten out to play in it as much as possible.

Micah is 4!! We celebrated his birthday with family at Chuck E Cheese in early January. We ate pizza, played games and did cake and presents. His police costume was his favorite gift :).

We went up a few nights ago and visited daddy at work. Micah was thrilled to be his "partner" for a bit!