Christmas Fun

Picking out a tree
 

... and also setting it up and decorating it. We found a really nice tree at Sam's Club for $30.

 

 

Decorating (and eating!) a gingerbread house

 

 Making thumbprint art

Looking at Christmas Lights

We actually did this on several different nights. If you live in the area, don't miss the lights on Upland Drive in Chandler. In addition to incredible lights displays, there are horsedrawn carriage rides, popcorn, hot cocoa, carolers, and more.

German Christmas Market in Downtown Phoenix

The whole family went, this was just a selfie with some of my dudes. We loved the food best of all, but it was all fun. 

A Christmas Concert with two of my boys

This was a free Christmas concert performed by a local string quartet. Absolutely outstanding! I love going places with just a couple of the kids for special outings.

Drinking Hot Cocoa

Naturally, we did this more than once, too. :)

Making folded paper window stars

This is a traditional German craft, though there are some places online that sell the "kite paper" used for these. (instruction books and paper here)

I would also like to thank everyone who has mailed our family a Christmas card this year, as well as those who have sent us and/or the children gifts. Thank you for being a blessing to our family. Our children are in this as much as we are, and I am always especially grateful when others bless them for the part they play. 

I am ***so*** excited for Christmas to start tomorrow! Our church is offering hot cocoa and cookies at 6 p.m. before the evening service. Traditionally, our family opens gifts on Christmas Eve in the evening, but with church, that would get much too late. Instead, just my husband and I are exchanging our gifts to each other tomorrow night after the kids are in bed, and they will all get their gifts on Christmas Day in the morning. I am just making frozen croissants for breakfast, so that should be easy enough even with all the craziness.

Then a big ham dinner in the early afternoon, and hopefully, with that much food cooked, I should be able to take the whole day on Friday off, to enjoy with the family at home. 

What are your Christmas plans?

Documentary - AIDS: The Judgment of God

This is a new documentary my husband made about "AIDS: The Judgment of God." Please watch, learn the truth, and share! Even if you do not believe the Bible, the official data and statistics speak loud and clear, that homosexuality is NOT a healthy, natural, "alternative lifestyle." If it were not for a concerted effort by TV and Hollywood to retrain our thinking, our society would never have come to accept this perversion.

The docu is intentionally made to be appropriate for all audiences - no offensive images or content, so you can show anyone from children to Grandma.

Anna's and John's birthdays

Anna and John both celebrated their birthdays this month. 

Anna, my baby girl, turned 4 years old. She is a real sweetheart, and has been such a blessing to our lives. She currently likes playing with her dollies, wearing her "cherry dress" on church days, playing with her friends at church, helping me cook, pretend play, playing with Stephen (we call those two "the little couple"), and other girly stuff.

As a fun activity on Anna's birthday, we visited the Arizona Science Center.

John turned the big, double-digits TEN this year. Wow, all my babies are growing up so fast! He currently loves ninjas, martial arts, learning about Japan, Legos, drawing, playing/talking with his brothers, apples, riding his bike, and other stuff typical for boys his age.

We had a joint birthday party for both of them at a trampoline park, and invited all the kids from church.

 

Thank You cards

Last month, on the anniversary of the complications with our most recent (twin) pregnancy, I sent out Thank You cards to all who had donated to our medical fund during that time.

While I made every effort to keep meticulous track of every single address from every donor as they came in, and then even went back to double check both Paypal and check images on our account for deposits,  I know some will not receive these cards. A couple of them were returned as undeliverable, some people sent money orders or cash anonymously, and yet others may have been accidentally missed in spite of my efforts.

If you did not receive a card in the mail, I apologize. Please know that your donation was and still is greatly appreciated, and that we are very thankful to have been able to pay off all medical bills, thanks in no small part to everyone's contributions. If you were one of the people who donated money and should have received a card, but didn't, and would like to get one, please leave your name and address in the comments below (I will not publish it), along with a brief note about your donation so I can find it and "connect the dots".

Thank you! 

Advent Calendars

My apologies for not blogging sooner. Time is just flying! Christmastime is busy around here. I am SO glad we planned to take off six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's this year. 

I am still continuing the family tradition of advent calendars each year. I don't have time to make a new one for every member of the family every year, so some are repeats from past years, but I was able to make a few new ones. 

For my husband

For Solomon

For Isaac

 

For John

 

For Miriam

 

For Becky

 

 For Anna 

(made by my friend)

For Stephen

(made by Solomon)

(we fill the same one each day, because he would otherwise try to get into them all at once)

 

 

In addition, the kids each have their own chocolate advent calendars, too.

And then, I made this scratch-off activity calendar, that has something for every single day during our six week Christmas break.

You can see why we have been so busy!