Stay Awake. Be Ready.

Mac, Hank and I brought Lola to school one morning and got to experience the Advent celebrations. Every morning of Advent, the whole school gathers by the front desk to light the Advent candles and sing. I love everything about it. It means so much to see our kids grow up in such a loving, close-knit community where they get to celebrate Christmas and share their faith.

"Stay awake. Be ready. You do not know the hour when the Lord is coming. Stay awake. Be ready. The Lord is coming soon."

Christmas Festivities

Molly. My best friend from high school. When she shows up, she always brings the fun. She brought everything to make homemade snow globes with the kids. It was a hit. She is always a hit. The kids adore her :)

Lola and I bought tickets to the Nutcracker for Nana's birthday. Hank got to tag along and he slept and nursed through the entire thing. Lola loved everything about it- the dancers and the musicians. She was completely mesmerized!

Among other things, we attended the St. Als Christmas program, went to see Santa with Lola's kindergarten class, and had a snowy sledding playdate with Lola's buddy, Patrick. Looks like a white Christmas!

"Dear Santa, I want tape gum for Christmas. Love Lola. P.S. Come to the back door."

St. Nicholas Day

A Country Christmas.

I love celebrating St. Nicholas Day with my family. Boots by the door, oranges and hot cocoa in the morning, new Christmas jammies to spend the day in, and new Christmas books to read in those jammies. This year, St. Nicholas Day fell on a Sunday, and we decided to head to the Christmas tree farm at Hutton Settlement...in our jammies, and pick out our tree. We watched the "real people" Grinch and decorated the tree before dinner. It was a good day!

Thankful

Right before Thanksgiving, we, along with my parents and thousands of others, lost power due to Windstorm 2015. The first night, we celebrated Mac's half birthday by sharing cake around the candlelight. After twenty four hours of no power and water, we decided to pack up and live the hotel life for a week until the power finally was turned back on. We spent a few days in Spokane, adventured to Coeur d'Alene for the weekend, and after all was said and done, ended up feeling VERY thankful for heat and lights this Thanksgiving! If nothing else, I believe the kids really got an understanding as to what it meads to truly be grateful for something!

Thanksgiving at Paul & Dawn's is so fun and relaxed. We love when Chenese shows up, makes her delicious cheesecake, and ventures around Spokane with us for the weekend. This year, we all went to see The Wizard of Oz play, ate delicious food, and had dance parties. Good food, family, sweet friends, and POWER. Much to be thankful for.