A Wonderful Christmas

We began our Christmas celebration a bit early. Kaitlyn and Chris came up for a visit and we opened our gifts with them on the 18th. It was wonderful to have them home and have the family all together again. Our family had not been together since July, at the time of the wedding. We had a wonderful visit. Here are pictures from the 18th.

Jadyn received a Barbie car from Bryan, and she loved it.

Chris and Kaitlyn

Lauryn and Aaron

How special.

Our wonderful 6. Lauryn & Aaron, Bryan with Jadyn, Chris & Kaitlyn

Their silly picture. See what we have to deal with? :)

Here is Jadyn, by the tree on Sunday the 20th.

Here is Alan on Christmas Eve, clearing snow from the driveway. The snow storm came in waves, and I am not totally sure what the total snowfall may be. It's at least 12", and it was still coming down tonight, even though it was supposed to be done. Very MinneSNOWta!

Here is Jadyn, enjoying the snow on Christmas Eve. She's been out there for a bit of play on most days. She loves it!

We had such a wonderful Christmas and wonderful celebrations with family and friends. What a joyful time. We are very blessed.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Look who got a haircut yesterday!

Merry Christmas Eve! We have tons of snow coming down, and more on the way. There's a fire in the fireplace and Christmas carols are playing. Very nice!

Wow, where has the time gone? December seems to have flown by. I suppose it always does.

I wanted to update with some pictures. I've been needing to do that, plus Jadyn's big sister in Missouri wants to see some pics. - Hi, Kaitlyn!

Guess who had a birthday earlier this month? Jadyn had her 5th birthday on Dec. 7th! We celebrated at home, with family. Here are a couple of pics.

Here is our kitty, Lexi. She always enjoys the tree. :)

I'm off to make enchiladas now. That's what I've come up with for Christmas Eve dinner.

My Talented Girl

She makes me smile, yes she does. Jadyn asked me for paper and a pen to draw a picture. A few minutes later, she handed me the pen, which was clutched between her toes. :)

She handed me her picture and I noticed it had wiggly letters. I said, "Oh, I see you made wiggly letters." She said, "It's because I wrote it with my foot." Ha ha. What a funny girl. Talent, pure talent.

I'm pretty sure I've never written my name with my toes.

What a girl. I never know what she'll come up with next.

This Cracks Me Up

Jadyn's preschool teacher told our group of parents what was said in the classroom today. Here's the story.

It was snack time and they were having the Goldfish Crackers that are multi-colored. They were sorting them into colors, counting them, etc.

Then they talked about how old they were, some were 4 and some were 5. One child asked the teacher how old she was. She told them she is 49. Another child said, "Wow, you're just about ready to go to heaven, aren't you?"

The parents just roared when she told us the story. Pretty funny!

I hope the teacher is writing these things down. I do believe a preschool teacher could probably fill a book with the funny things kids say.

Jadyn's Christmas Card

Things here are busy, busy. Shopping, preparing for this and that. I bet it's the same way where you are.

There are a number of things I'd like to share or post about, but I almost feel I don't have time. I feel behind on the blog, here, there and everywhere. I have pictures from our Texas trip, pictures from Jadyn's birthday, etc.

Hopefully I'll be back to blogging more before long.

Jadyn made this card for me this morning. I thought it was cute. :) Notice the snow falling, and the snow around the house. That is her by the Christmas tree.

By the way, 4 years ago on this date, we received the call that a baby girl was waiting for us in China. What a special day that was!

Safely Home

We are home. The kids and I returned from Texas on Sunday night, arriving home at 1:00 A.M. Alan came home on Monday. I was so glad to have him home.

It has taken several days for me to feel that I have my feet back on the ground. I was exhausted and felt almost disoriented for a couple of days. I'm finally feeling more focused now.

Alan returned with a cold, poor guy. It's too bad that he has a cold on top of everything else he's dealing with right now.

Our trip went well. It was a sad time, but things went well. We were pleased with the funeral. The pastor who gave the message during the service did such a good job. He was a good friend of Alan's dad.

It was a very sad goodbye, and he will certainly be missed.

Sometimes it is still so hard to believe. I wonder how long this feeling lasts? Knowing...yet wishing it wasn't true.

How wonderfully supportive our family and friends have been. This is so appreciated!

We were blessed to see almost everyone in our families during Thanksgiving. This was wonderful.

We put our tree up tonight. It's up, yet undecorated. Jadyn and I will work on that tomorrow.