The Wise Men Flew in from the East

We let That Grace put up all the figures in the Advent calendar this year. This is what it looked like when she finished with it. This was a huge highlight of the Christmas season for her. Bedtime has not been the same since we had to put it away.

Taking Down the Tree

This was a special type of cedar tree. It's supposed to "keep its needles beautifully throughout the whole season."


Well, I don't really have anything to add to that.

Lillian Grace enjoyed a little snack on the way home from the store.

Oh, look, her bruise matches her shirt. We've been going outside to play a lot since the weather has been so nice. That Grace fell and hit her face on a pole. It got much worse the next day but it's starting to clear up.

Here's the kitchen my babydaddy and I stayed up late finishing on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pictures but it was just a wooden refrigerator and sink I found at a local thrift store. They're pretty common in churches and daycares. It was missing the faucet and the sink. Rob took off the top of the sink and replaced it with another one. He cut out a spot for the sink (a bowl from Target's dollar bin) and turned half of it into a stove.
He made the faucet out of some kind of gray tubing -- electrical conduit, I think he said, that we painted with copper paint. I painted the counter with Flexstone and painted the rest of it cream and pink. She has really been having fun with it. Every morning she runs into the living room, flings open the cabinets and the food starts flying. Watch out, Rachael Ray!

Merry Christmas!

Ooh, look who consented to make a guest appearance in honor of Christmas! Of course, she insisted on total artist control over the use of her image -- this is a self-portrait!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a new year full of love and joy!

Family Christmas

We had a family Christmas party on the 20th. Instead of turkey or ham, we had Mexican food. That Grace helped mix the guacamole.


Aunt Donna and Papa.

Our beautiful niece.


Hanging out with Daddy. That Grace is wearing the traditional Christmas shift. I think it was about 70 degrees that day.

A new baby.
Two beautiful nieces and 2 babies! That Grace had a great time once she got used to everyone.

Christmas Trees and Bad Musicals

We went to the tree farm for our Christmas tree yesterday. It was getting dark when we got there, so these pictures aren't the greatest. That Grace really got into it this year. We just let her run wild.

She finally decided on a pretty but very prickly one. She helped Dad cut it down.

Dad was tired after cutting down the tree, so he let That Grace load it on the top of the car. Good thing she's stronger than she looks!

We had our Disciple class at church tonight and as we were leaving Caroline tells me that her friend, who went to the mountains with us last week, said our family was like a bad musical. I was not offended, because 1) I'm extremely hard to offend -- you really have to work at it and 2) I have heard myself sing. However, bad singing aside, we do sing a lot around here. We have the Good Morning song, the Good Night song, songs for cleaning up, songs for getting dressed, songs for doing chores, animal songs, food songs, weather songs, traveling songs, etc. In just about any situation, we are likely to break out in song. In the unlikely event that we find ourselves in a situation that does not lend itself to a song that we already know, we will make one up (i.e. I'm Sitting on the Potty but I'm Not Sure if I Need to Pee -- a rollicking number sure to win the hearts of the Grammy committee soon). That Grace loves music and fussing/whining can often be circumvented by an appropriate musical selection. She is always an appreciative audience. Caroline and I were butchering Baby, It's Cold Outside tonight and when we finished, That Grace begged for more. She definitely has her favorite CDs, though. Elizabeth Mitchell is the hero of long car trips.