Christmas Moments

I've been trying very hard to keep things simple for Christmas this year, but it's not really working.  Between school & work functions, there's barely been time to get the essentials done, let alone stop to catch our breath.  I'm still trying to mentally step back and enjoy those little moments.

You know, the ones like when your first grader (third from the left, bottom row) towers over all of the other kids at the school Christmas concert.  And then she follows her grandmother's singing advice to a tee and opens her mouth as wide as she can to bellow Frozen's "Let It Go" at the top of her lungs.

Or the moment you spy your five year old boy absentmindedly playing footsie with a cute Christmas elf.

Or the look on his face when he sports the Rudolph nose he picked up somewhere.

And capturing Annabel & Thane's first photo opp with Santa. 

Good Times!

Seventh Heaven

Annabel turned 7 earlier this week.  While we are still processing this startling fact, Annabel seems to be taking it all in stride.  Why, just this evening after she was asked to do the dishes, she very strongly retorted that she would only have to put up with this for 11 more years.  GULP - that's not very long at all!

In the meantime, we continue to live and play as usual.  We celebrated her birthday with a My Little Pony theme.  We made our own pizza's (didn't you know that horses love pizza?), made sparkly, bejeweled tiaras, and created our very own cutie marks.  Of course, opening presents was the highlight for all of the giggly girls present.

The girls played and a had a wonderful time.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!  It's going to be a great year!

The Pledge

For reasons that are still unknown to us, Thane was chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker at the kid's school a few weeks ago.  Annabel reported that he didn't mess up (high praise indeed), and that he even tagged on a cordial "Have a nice day!" at the end.  This is a big step for our shy little man.  He even picked out some dress clothes for the occasion. 

Great job, Thane!

Over the River and Through the Woods

The weather is getting cold fast.  A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of a brief warm spell to take a walk along the Machias River. There is a trail on the opposite side of the river, and people walk and jog their often.  The autumn landscape was so sparse and beautiful that I thought I'd share.

Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

Our Thanksgiving this year was busier than usual - and we were OK with that.  It was our first big meal in our new dining room, and we were able to fit 12 people around the tables with no trouble.

On Thanksgiving Day, friends Troy and Melissa came over for dinner.  We enjoyed all of the traditional foods of the day, but what we loved even more was getting a chance to know these dear friends and their family a little better.  It turns out that Melissa and I grew up in towns next to each other, and she graduated from high school with an old friend of mine.  It is truly a small world!

All of the kids especially enjoyed our Gratitude tree, in which we each wrote things for which we were thankful.  It made the perfect centerpiece.

Two days later, we hosted our neighbors, the Campbells, over for another feast, this time with ham and other fixings.  Seven kids make for a fun (if not loud) evening.  We even made turkeys out of cookies, frosting and candy (what's not to love?!)

Here's Luke with his happy turkey.  I was attempting to take a pic of each of the kids with their creations, but this is how I found Annabel:

Oh well - I'm pretty sure that she was thankful!