The Progressive Tree 2009

Ben took this job very seriously!

Everyone was most excited about their stockings!
Tage's favorite ornament. A Starwars Stormtrooper.

I have to tell you all about our sweet Simon. Every year we give the kids an ornament and write a little letter to them about why we picked the ornament and what it symbolizes. So far the kids have only been mildly interested in the notes, they usually want to get right to decorating the tree! This year all of them wanted a note or two read, except Simon...He waited to decorate until all his notes were read. I actually had a hard time not sobbing through as I read them. It had been awhile since I had reviewed what I wrote! It was so sweet!

Violet examining the little baby Jesus figures the boys had made in Kindergarten

7th Day of Advent!

ISAIAH 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We headed to the mountains with our friends the Holladays to cut down our Christmas tree! We went up high where there was lots of snow so the kiddos spent a lot of time on the ground making snow angles, sliding around, digging, and picking out our tree of course!

Our 4 kiddos with their buddy Jordan! I love how this picture turned out!
Brant, Tage, Simon and Violet dragging the tree to the Jeep. Notice how short Simon and Violets snow pants are! They grew a ton in the last year.
Gotta have one of these shots...everyone is looking in a different direction...very typical!

Brent, Kim, Jordan and Jacob Holladay.

The men had fun too! Both cars were in 4-wheel and there was quite a lot of tire spinning going on!

6th Day of Advent

HEBREWS 1:1-2
1God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Brant and I farmed the kiddos out to friends and family for the night and headed to Seattle (again) to pick up a friend at the airport and do some Christmas shopping! The kiddos had their Advent reading before we left and celebrated in various ways with the families where they were staying!

5th Day of Advent

COLOSSIANS 1:15-20 15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. For the 5th day of Advent we took the kids out to dinner and headed to the East Wenatchee Christmas tree lighting! It was fun and had a VERY small town feel to it! We ran into lots of friends and got to have cookies and hot cider to celebrate. The picture above is actually at the Westlake Center Christmas Village in Seattle. I liked the picture so I thought I'd share it with you all :)~!

4th Day of Advent

JOHN 1:18

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."Lets watch a Christmas movie after dinner!"

I adore this picture of Ben! I love his feet/toes, his dogie, his blanket, AND notice the Team In Training water bottle!!!!

Advent Unveiling!

So here it is!!! My Advent project that turned out pretty darn cute, but took way more time than I was anticipating...as most projects do! Today was the 1st of December which started our official tangible countdown. Ben was the youngest so he got to lift the 1st tree and hand out the oh so yummy chocolate mints while Brant read about our Christmas heritage, Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas. We had to take a little pause in the scripture readings since our guide is last years and we were a day off. We'll get back to the story tomorrow! Happy Advent!

Advent calendar 2009!

I do plan to put more winter/holiday appropriate foliage in my vase, I just haven't got that far yet...Just in case you were wondering :)!
A little close up.

Ben about to lift up tree number1!

1st and 2nd Days of Advent

1st Day of Advent November 29,2009
JOHN 1:1-5 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

We kicked off Advent and the Christmas season BIG this year! We got a hotel and took the kids into the city!!!!! Downtown Seattle has an amazing way of really getting you into the Christmas spirit! We rode the monorail into Westlake Center, went and saw Santa at Nordstroms, visited a rather spectacular gingerbread village created by Seattle architects and of course had hot chocolate and cookies at Starbucks! Their red holiday cups are just too festive to ignore!

2nd Day of Advent November 30,2009
JOHN 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Tonight was a quiet peaceful scripture reading by Tage, and peppermint suckers while we listened! Can't wait for tomorrow! We're unveiling the Advent calender and the 25 day count down....WOOOHOOO!