A picture of the cousins before going Christmas Caroling last week:

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to our new niece, Mabel Katharine Farley!

I think it's impossible to get a decent shot of all three kids...

I might as well join in on the fun:

Christmas Party Photo Montage

Caroling Party



Cookie Decorating

Ladies Ornament Party/Cookie Exchange at Gretchen's house





CBC Christmas Party

Checking In...

Some recent items of note:
-Joy laughed for the first time yesterday. Best sound ever!
-I found my first gray hair (my hairdresser found a few a couple months ago but this was the first time I saw one staring back at me in the mirror). For some reason this was really weird for me. Oh, well. Many more to come! :-)
-Had our first date night since Joy was born at Daniel's Broiler in Bellevue
-Had a nice dinner with out of town relatives. John's cousin was interviewing for a Residency at UW so he and his fam were up for a couple days.
-Tonight we host our CBC Christmas party. Should be fun!

Here are a pictures from the past week:

Sisters


Joy and Uncle Dave-O got on pretty well

Date night

Sweet baby Joy is almost 3 months young. Love those michelin rolls!
My Dad's ridiculous loaner car

Clara and Jane

First Ballet Recital

We had fun attending Jane and Clara's first ballet "recital" at a local elementary school last night. Clara got into it but Jane decided to plop down and watch the dance rather than participate. It was, of course, very cute. The actual dance routine the girls "performed" was about 2 minutes long, so we decided to extend the night a bit by heading back to our house afterwards for some dessert and a sleepover with the Myers cousins who were kind enough to make the trek over to our neck of the woods in support of Janie.

Leading up to Christmas

I've been trying to think of something to do with the kids during the season of Advent. Our current tradition is to do a mini-devotional (attention span is VERY limited at this age) and prayer together each night and then open up one of the dates on those little drugstore calendars with a chocolate hiding inside.

This year, as the kids are growing and understanding a bit more, I am wanting to do something more as a family to help them understand this season.

I don't ever want to stress works over faith, since God's gift of His Son, Jesus is nothing we can ever earn, but sometimes "doing" things is a good way to begin having conversations with the kids that will naturally point them towards God and who He is.

I have a friend who started making a list of things she plans to do with her daughter during the season of Advent and here are a few of hers plus some I added that I'd like to try and do with the kids:

-Pick a Christmas card out of the stack and pray for that family
-Memorize scripture together as a family
-Make cards to thank teachers
-Picnic next to the Christmas tree and read the Christmas story
-Bake a food treat for a friend
-Surprise Dad with something special after his long day at work
-Send a card or package to a serviceman
-Go to store and pick out a toy for a needy child and donate
-Go Christmas carolling at the nursing home
-Make hot cocoa from scratch and walk around the neighborhood looking at stars and Christmas lights
-Look around house for loose change and take to a bell ringer
-Walk around neighborhood and gather canned food to donate to people in need
-Visit a neighbor or friend who is lonely or in need
-Make candy cane reindeer and give them away
-Make a pinecone bird feeder to put outside
-Make a small stocking and drop it off on someone’s door as a surprise
-Make a list of 5 things you are thankful for and put it on the refrigerator
-Make a small gift for your friends
-Make and send out Christmas cards

I'd love to hear what others are doing with their families!