Hopefully a New Tradition....

I so enjoy serving others or volunteering in some way.  And I enjoy it even more when I can involve my girls too.  Last year my friend Somer organized a group that went and visited a local nursing home to bring Christmas cards and sing some songs for the members.  I was so bummed but we were unable to go.  I've been wanting to bring the girls to a home and bring some holiday cheers to those that were there.  I have such heart for that generation.  These are the people that raised our parents, who raised us and we have them to thank for our lives and the history that they have seen just intrigues me.  My heart has definitely grown for them also, since my grandpa moved closer to this direction last year.

I was so thankful when my friend decided to organize a group to visit the home again this year and we could go!  I brought the hubs and Mormor Domier along too so they could enjoy the moment with the girls and I.  We have been making and saving Christmas pictures for the last couple of weeks to bring to the grandmas and grandpas.  The girls were very good and sweet about handing out cards.  They were a bit shy at first but definitely warmed up.  A lot of the ladies just wanted to touch, shake their hand, and/or hug them.  It was just precious.  And Cookie put on a great show for all the grandmas and grandpas. :)

After the big card giveaway we sang some Christmas carols for them and closed with Happy Birthday Jesus.  Bella was quite hysterical and down right screamed some of the lyrics, she's definitely my performer! :)  We look forward to hopefully doing this every year!

Some pics and a video from a fun morning:

Can you find my little entertainer? :)

Christmas with the Usual Suspects....

So every year we do Christmas with the Usual Suspects.  They are one of the closest things we have to family around here and we love celebrating with them.  We use to spend every Friday together but with each addition of children this has become harder and harder.  But they are still very important to us.  This year (December 17th) was extra special because it may be our last for awhile, since one family may be moving away. :(  I won't post all of the pics but I wanted to post some that we tried to capture of the kiddos.  We have had 9 kids in a 4 1/2 year time span, so as you can imagine our photo session was insane, and throw in a wardrobe change and you've got pure chaos.  But it sure was fun. :)

For their gift I made the kids Christmas tree shirts (a tie for Anderson- yes the rest are girls!) and Christmas bows!

Wardrobe change to our fancy Christmas wear!

Unfortunately I didn't catch Stephanie in most of my pics from the angle I was at. :(

And we're starting to lose them!! :)

The Whole Crew

Anderson, Brooklyn, Brynn, Katie Grace, Bella, Stephanie, Avi, Ellie, and Mackenzie

Saving this one for their future wedding (fingers crossed)! :)

The kids opened their gifts from one another, we had delicious Chinese food- straight Christmas Story style- had the kids watch Veggie's Tales Little Drummer Boy, and Uncle Jake read T'was the Night Before Christmas.  A perfect evening, one I'll remember for years to come, and I hope the kids will too. :)

Elf on the Shelf...

So last year I introduced the Elf on the Shelf to the girls.

They love looking for him each morning.

Since my girls are super creative they named him Elfy. :)

I hardest thing about Elfy, is remembering to move him each morning.  I had a couple of mornings that I went racing down to move him before they got down there. :)

This year with the great invention of Pinterest, I upped my Elfy hiding with some creativity!

Here are some of the fun spots Elfy was found over the last couple of weeks.

 Bella came home from a party with a WHOLE cake that she had decorated, so the next morning only a sliver remained and Elfy was covered in frosting!

 One morning Elfy brought them a little early treat for being so good- Veggie Tales' Little Drummer Boy. 

(Brynnie got hurt and had been crying right before the pic :( )

 Elfy loves to read, thankfully the girls did not notice that his book was upside down. :)

 And to end the season Elfy "zipped" on back to the North Pole!

For Unto Us a Child is Born....

Merry Christmas

for our family to yours!!

Baking!!!

So I'm not a big baker, but at Christmas time I love making Christmas cookies. :)

Even though I end up getting SUPER frustrated at how crumbly my dough is every year, I love baking with my girls.

Every year we make cookies to give as gifts to church teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, etc.

The girls just love doing it and they work very hard to decorate each and every cookie. :)

For some reason I only had neon colored food coloring, so our Christmas cookies were definitely bright and cheerful!

Wish I had gotten a final pic of some of the decorated cookies, lets just say they were, umm, creatively done. ;)

 I also made frosting for Bella's class to make gingerbread houses and Little miss Brynn was by my side helping and of course to lick the beaters. :)

Soon big sister came to help....

I love the girls' reaction when daddy got in on the fun. :)

 And the decorating commences!

 9 plates of "lovingly" decorated cookies!

Love this time of year!!