November Visit from Nana and Granddaddy

In November, my very generous parents came for a visit, the majority of which involved them watching our 5 kiddos so that we could take a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico (see more in the next post).  

Here are some of the pictures my parents had for me to look at when we arrived home from our trip...

Lots of reading together of course

And ridiculous dress-up 

And when our kids dress, you know they're going to plan a recital or show of some kind.  

More silliniess

While Chris and I were in warm Mexico, it snowed in Colorado. 

Sledding fun with the neighbor kids

In the process of building a snowman with Granddaddy

And there's the snowman complete.  I was told upon my return that his name was General Washington. 

And then the weather warmed up again, as it does so often in this great state and the snow started rapidly melting and my parents were able to take the kids to the playground 

Which of course they clearly hated (hahaha).  

And it wouldn't be a trip from Nana and Granddaddy without a plethora of games.  

The fan favorite for this trip was Sorry!

Nana and Granddaddy did a great job helping the kids out with some basic reading and math practice while we were gone as well as driving them to their charter school on Friday.  

And eventually we returned from our trip, a bit more tanned, and ready to play some fun games and have some great conversations before they headed back to Porterville.  

  

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for watching our crew so that we could enjoy an almost-week away for some sunshine and fun sans kids.  We are so blessed to have you guys in our lives, always so willing to help out (thanks for cleaning my house too, Mom!) and spend time with the grandkids.  We sure love parenting these kids, but it is a wonderful blessing to get a little break to relax and have some fun just the two of us again and focus on our marriage and each other.  Thank you for understanding and making that a priority.  We are blessed indeed by your love and generosity and care.  

Gosh I love these kids and that man and these SMILES!

Christmas season 2017--Annual Christmas Dance Party + Christmas Pageant

 For the second year in a row, the girls wanted to perform a play of the Christmas story.  

Kayla wrote the script and I helped cast the characters. 

The play was total mayhem, but as such, it was adorable.  

It began with Kayla as the angel Gabriel, asking Mary to be the mother of Jesus. 

        

Next Mary (Sophie) and Joseph (Kolbe) traveled to Bethlehem where they were told that there was "NO room!" at the inn by our lovely innkeeper, Ava.  

 

Buuuuut, 

they could stay in the stable. 

That night Mary had her baby.  

(Joseph ran for dear life.  Wait a minute....)

Angels appeared to shepherds (Ava and Elise) in the fields and sang "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of goodwill!"

Meanwhile, all is calm and bright in the stable.  

Three wisemen (Kayla, Elise, and Ava) from the east follow a star in search of the baby King.  

 

They kneel before him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  

(Joseph takes baby Jesus' swaddling clothes, and Mary fights back.  Wait a minute.....)

 

Where was I?

The wisemen worship the baby and give him precious gifts.  

 

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."

-Isaiah 9:6

That same night, we all dressed in our fancy garb for the annual Christmas dance party.  

I didn't really get any pictures of the dancing, but you can tell from the outfits alone that we had all kinds of fun whirling and twirling, spinning and shimmying to some Christmas tunes.  

And that wraps up my posts about Christmas season 2017.