Christmas Morning

Ready to head down the hall!

Santa came!

a red bike for Graham

a blue bike for Pierce

a doll with real hair for learning cool hairstyles for Monroe

water bottles

Who remembers Cat's Cradle?  Monroe and I have had so much fun with this since Christmas.

PJ Mask capes and masks

Monroe made Zach and I bracelets

These two love puzzles!

She is just the best to give gifts to.  She is excited about everything single thing she receives.

Little Passports: a monthly subscription to help her learn about different states in the US

tackling the puzzles

I love Christmas morning with our family!

Christmas Eve

For Christmas, I wanted a working fireplace.  The owners before us had never had a fire, so Zach wasn't willing to use it until we had it cleaned/inspected.  We finally got someone over to look at it December 23.  We had our first fire on Christmas Eve.

Nana and Papa came over to decorate cookies with us.

This year for Advent, our church did something really neat.  They gave us a list of 25 things that shelters request as the most needed items.  We bought all of the items at the beginning of December and put them in a closet.  Each day, we had a scripture reading and prayer to read as a family.  Then, we would put that day's item under the tree.  On the 24th, we took two boxes of stuff to church and unloaded them into the designated boxes.

Ready for Santa

Mel's Diner 2

Each year, Zach's parents write and direct a dinner theater production that they also cater.  People loved last year's musical so much that Melinda wrote a sequel this year.  Zach and Monroe were both in it again, but this year Monroe's part was much bigger.  She LOVED it!

The kids

Solo #1

Solo #2

Zach and his quartet did Matilda again this year.  This video is from last year, but it's definitely worth another listen.

Everyone from Zach's family who was in it.

The cast