Christmas Card Photos 2014

It's that time of year, and thankfully, my family is used to me saying it's family picture day. It wasn't quite December, but we had a free afternoon and I know that doesn't come along often, so I took advantage of it. We headed out to the beautiful wine country here and got a few shots in before the sun went down.

This girl is growing up so quickly!

 This one is never too happy about taking pictures, but he will always do it...just for me!

Gotta fool around a little...

At least we got a few shots before the holiday frenzy begins!

Break fun...

Well, we enjoyed our week off of school and work, but it still managed to be busy! I wish we could've fit in a little more fun all together, but the kids got to spend lots of time with friends and family, and it was nice not to be on a set schedule everyday!
Zoe had fun hanging out with her friends, having several sleepovers, getting lots of sweet treats, seeing Mockingjay, and of course having Nutcracker rehearsals.

I worked on a new photo gallery wall upstairs...

 

We did LOTS of baking and meal prep and Coop helped me roll out the dough for our Thanksgiving rolls...

 These cuties lounged in the kitchen while we did all the work!

 Jax stayed with us for a couple of days, so we did some running around with them, getting more treats, and spending some time at the trampoline park.

The boys had fun tarp surfing, one of their many fun hobbies...

 We dove into this delicious and huge chocolate turkey Mimi got for us!

We did our house decorating for Christmas...

 We picked out our tree... I love how our house smells now!

We spent some time in Newport helping Mimi and Gramps start packing up their old house, unpacking at their new house, painting (and of course, take a lunch break!)...

 We ended our week-long break with church, and an evening to finish our tree decorating with some yummy hot chocolate...

The Christmas season has officially begun!

Giving thanks...

Although this day is always a lot of work, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love having our family gathered together! Each year is a little different, with different family members here or there, but I love spending time together, being grateful, and of course, eating good food. :)

 So thankful to have my aunt and uncle here, who we don't get to see very often.

The boys were ready to eat!

I couldn't have done it without this girl's help!

Time to load up the plates...

and pour some more sparkling cider into our martini glasses!

Full bellies and lots of smiles!

Can't forget dessert...my favorite part!!

Such a nice day, and I continue to be grateful for every blessing the Lord has given me. My family, friends, our health, our home, and much more!

Acting debut...

Cooper was put in drama this semester for his 7th grade elective class. He wasn't sure he would like it, but it's turned out to be pretty good for him. He has quite a few friends in his class, so they make it fun! They've been working on a play all semester, and tonight was their mandatory performance. The show was called Tongue Twister, and Coop played the part of Chuckie, the school jock.

 He had a few minor speaking parts, and one longer one.

 He did great up there!

 It was so fun to watch him up there with all of his friends, acting as characters, and trying not to laugh as they played their parts with each other. Some of these kids are incredibly talented.

It was a great show, and I was proud of all of them for the hard work they put in. Cooper sure doesn't want to pursue acting in his future, but it was a fun activity to participate in for the semester!

Long, but fun day!

What a busy Saturday. Zoe had an extremely long day yesterday, leaving school a bit early for a full day of rehearsals, ending at 10pm at the mall with a run through for tonight's performance. Coop had been at a sleepover but came home in the morning to help us start assembling. This season we are really trying to focus on giving and serving. We decided to participate in Operation Christmas Child and put together some boxes of gifts for kids in need. Through church, we were also able to put together a large box of Thanksgiving food items to donate to families for meals this season, which we will deliver tomorrow.  We had a good time putting these boxes together, which will hopefully put some smiles on some faces. :)

In the afternoon, we headed out with some dancers from Dunamix to meet with a group of kids and families for an outreach program of Project Touch, an organization which helps transition homeless families with finding jobs, schooling, and housing.

 The dancers played with the kids, did some exercises and warm-ups with them, shared with them, and prayed with them.

 They ended by doing a few of their dances from the Nutcracker for the kids. It was so sweet to see the reactions of these little ones watching them dance. Afterwards, they ran up to the dancers to give them big hugs.

Next up was the mall. Dunamix was performing, along with several other community programs (theater and choir) for the annual tree lighting and Santa arrival. We had to get there early, this place was PACKED!!

 They had a great time backstage, and couldn't resist some Starbucks to keep warm.

 They even had some fun with the Grinch!

 There were several thousand people crammed into this area. Thankfully, we had a VIP spot up front during their part.

 They performed Snow Waltz...

 Santa arrived and made the official announcement to light the tree and let the snow fall.

 They even shot off fireworks from the top of the parking garage.

As if the day wasn't long enough, we had to go out for some shave ice & ice cream!

 It was fun to have all these Clara's (past and present) together! I sure love these gals!

(Hannah, Zoe, Brittany, Oliva)

 It was a long day, but wonderful in so many ways!