Christmas in February

So for those of you who would like a Christmas update...here you go! Only a few months behind schedule, right? Not too bad. ;)

Jenna painting some popsicle sticks to make a Christmas tree ornament

The finished product

Jenna was making lunch for us that day. Who wouldn't love some yummy cookie cutters to dine on?!? And yes, Grant climbed on the table by himself. Trust me, it's an ongoing battle...he's all BOY and he is definitely a CLIMBER!!

Jenna helping me make Tea Ring. It's a Borton Christmas tradition...and it's DELICIOUS! In fact, Drew had me make two so he could snack on one throughout the following week.

We made a birthday cake for Jesus this year. Jenna slyly added the sprinkles without Mommy noticing, hence the huge pile in the middle. It makes me smile....she was so proud of it! And after we sang, "Happy Birthday to Jesus" she wanted to go up to heaven to take Jesus his cake. :) Love her!

This one's out of order - Happy New Year! Grant was already in bed and Jenna was headed there. I think we took this picture around 9pm...so it was an early Happy New Year!

On Christmas Eve they get to open 1 present each...and it's always a new pair of pajamas. Jenna hasn't figured that out yet and still gets excited to open a present a day early.

All dressed up for church on Christmas

Aunt Kelley snuggling with Jenna on Christmas Eve

On Christmas morning the kids got to open their stockings before breakfast.

A new cell phone!

Jenna opening her princess puzzles - she LOVES puzzles and has gotten very good at them.

Grant's "bouncy" toy

Mega-blocks = so much fun!!

Jenna's new princess couch and Belle doll

Grant, the climber

Merry Christmas!! Now on to January...hopefully I'll get that updated before summertime. ;)

Luke 2:11

We're having trouble uploading videos on our blog, so we uploaded a video to Youtube, but listed it as private. We figured this would be the easiest way for family to see some cute videos of the kids.

This video is of Jenna reciting Luke 2:11. Just click the link to view it on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoOfi5Fqf0


Merry Christmas (Eve)!!

So I figured I'd update the blog with December pictures before I'm overloaded with Christmas pics! :)

December has been a really fun month for us. I made an advent calendar last year, but Jenna was still too young to understand it. She's enjoyed it this year, but still doesn't have any concept of time (or days) so even though we tell her, "Only 2 more days until Christmas", it doesn't quite register. There are tins on the calendar for each day leading up to Christmas and inside the tins I printed off activities for us to do that day. I've really enjoyed having a planned activity to do with her each day and Jenna loves coming downstairs in the morning and learning what the activity will be for the day. Some of the activities included baking or cooking something Christmas related (snowman-shaped pizzas, Christmas cookies, Santa pancakes, a birthday cake for Jesus, etc), doing a craft project, reading the Christmas story about Jesus's birth, and more.

Jenna ready to open the 1st tin on the advent calendar. (Look at her posing...such a change from a year ago!)

One of our activities was to go see Santa. We invited my parents and Grandma to join us, but first we stopped at McDonald's for dinner.

When we got to Santa's area, he apparently was on a break, so we waited a few minutes for him to return. While waiting we figured we'd get a family picture by the fence. Afterward the mall security guard came over and informed us that we're not supposed to take any pictures in the mall. Interesting...

Jenna and Grant looking at a Christmas book

One night I found Grant laying on the stairs hugging his Teddy. Jenna thought it looked like fun and joined him.

Love this little guy!!

She looks so grown up!

Jenna's helping Daddy make the Santa pancake. I love the way she's looking at him.

The final product! I thought it turned out pretty good. Jenna (of course) ate all the whipped cream, chocolate chips (on the eyes), and the strawberries, but didn't want to eat the actual pancake because it had "stuff on it". She's an interesting one...she eats her pancakes without any butter or syrup and spaghetti without any sauce.

Bailey's actually letting Jenna get closer to him now that she's older and more gentle. I grabbed the camera too late because just before this shot he was sitting on her lap, which is UNHEARD of.

On two separate days we baked cookies and took them to Jenna's great-grandparents. In this picture, we were delivering them to Grandpa and Grandma Shafer.

Here's the snowman pizza. I won't show you the finished product. It definitely did not turn out the way it looks below.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of Grant sleeping. He LOVES his teddy bear and snuggles with him all the time. Unfortunately for Teddy, Grant also likes to pull his fuzz, so he's starting to look a little worn. But he is loved!

This day's activity was to drive around looking at Christmas lights. We weren't sure if Jenna would enjoy it, but we were pleasantly surprised. She loved it and didn't want to go back home. Even now when we drive around town, she points out all the beautiful lights on the houses.

This day's activity was to have an indoor picnic by the Christmas tree. I promise we were sitting next to the Christmas tree...it just didn't make it in the shot. :)

This Christmas we've had the opportunity to start talking with Jenna about the birth of baby Jesus. It has been so neat to see her interest in it and her desire to see Jesus in Heaven. Obviously she doesn't understand what it all means, why He's in heaven, or how we get to heaven, but we LOVE seeing her interest in it and we pray that she continues to learn more. Each Sunday she brings home a card from her Sunday School class with a Bible story and memory verse on it. This week I started working with her on memorizing the verse. I was amazed at how quickly she learned it and that she was still able to say it from memory a few days later! The verse she learned is Luke 2:11 "Unto you is born this day...a Savior." Very special...

Deck the Halls

The past few years we've gone to a local Christmas tree farm and cut down our own Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We both like that tradition of having a live tree and of going at the end of November. By the time Christmas if over, I'm typically ready to take down our tree, so I'd rather have it up at least a month to get some use out of it. Plus it really gets us in the Christmas spirit!

The kid's holding hands on our way to the Christmas tree farm

Jenna actually found our tree right away. We weren't there more than 3 minutes after she pointed it out. Of course she also pointed out the Charlie Brown trees, so I think this one was just luck.

Drew remembers from his childhood going Christmas tree hunting and then having hot chocolate and a snack. So we brought along the hot chocolate and some brownies. The kids definitely enjoyed that part of our trip!

This was the first year Jenna really enjoyed helping decorate the tree. She liked putting the star on the top...

...and putting ornaments on the tree. I though she'd put a few on and then get bored with it and move on to something else, but she actually stayed almost the entire time. She did a good job - we just had to do a little moving around once we were finished, otherwise one section of our tree would have been overloaded with ornaments while the rest sat empty. :)

At the end of November we had our first snowfall. Jenna was anxious to get out in it. She even tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue without my encouraging her. I'm guessing she must have remembered this from last year...which surprised me!

I tried to get a picture of our house all lit up.

Enjoying the snow together!

The next day I brought some snow up for their nightly bath time. Jenna mostly enjoyed eating it, although she did play with it some while Grant loved getting a handful and dropping it in the tub. Each time he did that he'd let out a little giggle. :)