{Merry Christmas}

I just realized I didn't take many pictures this Christmas. I mostly took video.

We had a great Christmas yesterday. We enjoyed the morning together and then headed over to Granny & Poppy W's house for a brunch with our Aunts, Uncle and cousins.

L isn't missing her front teeth, although this picture makes it look that way.Playing with all the goodies Santa brought. E's favorite present..Indiana Jones Wii game!!

Papa & Granny S canceled our annual Christmas Eve get together due to the snow & ice. We are getting together tomorrow with them and all our Aunts, Uncles and cousins and very much looking forward to the family time. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

{Christmas Love}

Christmas Eve our good friends Doug & Mindy stopped by with a basket full of presents for the kids. Every year they give us something very sweet & thoughtful, but this year they went above and beyond. The kids got games, movies, popcorn & candy.

I have been so touched this last month, not only by the generosity shown to our family, but to see how it's affecting our children. They truly are grateful. I wish you could hear their prayers each night. Thanks G Family!!

(Side note: Notice the fireplace in the background? We had to take down our decorative wood surround because our insurance company sent us a letter last month stating they were canceling our policy due to wood being within 3 ft of the stove. Nice! We did manage to leave a wood stud (over the 3 ft distance) so I could hang our stockings this year...thankfully. How can you not have stockings hung by the chimney with care? Anyone know where we can get some cheap stone?)

{Christmas Miracles}

We had some fun, little things happen this Christmas that J and I are dubbing our "Christmas Miracles". One trivial, the second economical & the third simply fabulous.

1. J was exercising one of his many talents, flipping channels, on Christmas night when he discovered we had extra channels. These extra channels just happen to include ESPN, Disney & HGTV. A favorite for each of us! (I guess flipping can be a good thing.)

2. I sat down to pay bills this morning and discovered by us turning our heat down a little we saved $74 on our gas bill!!!

3. K looked at me & said, "potty" while she pointed to her diaper. I've never tried to train her, being she is only 18 months old, so I was a little shocked. I decided to follow her to see if she'd head to her room to have a diaper change, or to the bathroom. Sure enough my little genius headed for the bathroom and pointed to the toilet and said "potty" again. I quickly got her undressed and ready for the throne. She tried to no avail, but that's okay. Could I possibly be this close to being diaper free?

{Baby Jesus}

Christmas morning baby Jesus arrived for our Nativity scene. The kids were so excited.

Thank you "secret family" for helping make our Christmas special. It was lots of fun receiving a new nativity person each day. And now we have a great Nativity we can set out each year.

{Happy Birthday}

Today we made cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday tomorrow. The kids enjoyed decorating them and eating all the frosting they could whenever I turned my back.

We decorated one for Santa to snack on when he stops by tonight too.

E decorated this one for Santa. It's a picture of Santa with blue "Ho-Ho-Ho".

K started off content in the chair beside the kids watching...then she saw L sampling the goods and had to get in on that.

This is one of E's cupcakes. He was so worried about getting it "perfect".And this is the cupcake my sugar happy child created.

I'm a little nervous she may get sick from all the sugar she consumed in a matter of minutes. I sure hope not.

{K + Pudding = Mess}

{Snow}

The kids are LOVING all the snow we have been getting this month. E was such a great big brother yesterday and pulled his sister's around the neighborhood.
K did not enjoy the snow. She refused to smile or take one step on her own.

{New Additions}

We received the camel yesterday and our third wise man this morning. Aren't they cute?

If our secret giver's are reading this....we left you some yummy treats last night, but you didn't take them. The tupperware container with the HUGE note on it is for YOU :)

We'd love you to take them and enjoy some yummies with your family.

{Thank you}

Some of you know J was laid off from work a few days before Thanksgiving. We thought we were safe because we survived a few rounds of lay offs after the merger with Chase. But alas, we were not. This trial brings us much uncertainty... and a new budget.

These past few weeks we have seen an outpour of love and support from our family and friends, and it's been wonderful. Many times I have been brought to tears by the love that is being shown to us. And it has come in all forms.

It truly is overwhelming, in the best way possible, to feel the love of our friends and family and Savior. I want to thank all of you who have called, emailed, stopped by, prayed for us, and offered such generous and thoughtful gifts. I don't have the words to express my gratitude.

{Who do I thank?}

Two Sunday's ago we discovered a bag on our front doorstep. Inside was the cutest, homemade nativity-Joseph I've ever seen....and it's made out of a toilet paper roll! (Talk about creative skills.) My kids were really excited to have a present dropped off and thought it was really cool someone was being sneaky and not telling us who it was from. They love to be little detectives and have been trying to guess who it is ever since. They think I know who it is, but I don't...although I have my suspicions :)

It's been 9 days now, and each day we have a bag on our front step...snowy days and all (and we've had LOTS of snow and ice this past week...this family is dedicated). Each day my kids are surprised to have another gift and excited to see a new member of our growing nativity scene.

I know everyone says it's better to give than to receive, but we are really enjoying receiving.

Each day I marvel at this person/family's creative abilities. I can actually see the love put into all the detail of these little manger people. Did I mention they are made from a toilet paper roll?! Who would think a toilet paper roll could be turned into something so cute? This person/family is the McGyver of crafts!

I have been trying to figure out who our secret-nativity-scene-Santa is since the first day. Partly because I always try to figure out surprises, which is a major pet-peeve to my husband, but mostly because I want to thank them. I want them to know we are thankful for their love and kindness, for sharing the Christmas Spirit with our family, for taking time out of their busy schedules every day to do something so thoughtful for us, and for making us feel so loved.

Here are some pictures of the nativity scene so far. Isn't it cute? Who do you think it is?

Joseph & Mary Angel (L is in love and won't put her down)

Drummer boy and Shepherd
wise men
(notice the black plaid fabric...a family in our ward came to church last Christmas with adorable hand sewn skirts and ties with this same fabric . Is this a clue? donkey & sheep...so adorable!

{After Dinner}

The other day L had a birthday party to attend. After her party, as her Daddy drove her home, she looked through her party favor bag to check out all the goodies she received. She wanted to eat her candy and her Daddy said, "You need to wait until after dinner, Sweetheart." She was quiet the rest of the short way home. As Daddy was helping her out of the truck he said, "Can Daddy have a smoocher?" She replied, "You'll have to wait until after dinner, Daddy."