Bonfire Season

What time of year isn't bonfire season? It's always a good time for a fire :) So we grabbed some timmys and headed to the river. ahhhhhhh

Before we even got the fire going, the kids were right in there with their sticks.

And of course, Andrew and I had to document the occasion with a self portrait!





It was a beautiful evening!


Even Santa was out on the water!

The kids decided to try their hands (feet?) at surfing!


Then we drove across the road to Fort Langley to check out the Christmas displays.

Of course we had to stop at Roxanns and try on some hats.



The toy store was a big hit.

Luckily the toy store is right next to my favorite store :)

The Land of Christmas

In the past few years, we'd heard a lot about the Land of Christmas. Then, when we had our neighbors over for dinner, they told us that they'd been there and spent 45 minutes wandering around. Sounds good, we thought and so we bundled up and went to check out the lights.

Upon arriving at the Land of Christmas, you're greeted by a ginormous Christmas book. See?

And they had the cutest tin soldiers.

Then we stood in line to meet Santa Claus. Elisabeth didn't want to meet him. Turns out it was because she was worried about how naughty she'd been all day. We sorted things out and she happily greeted him.



And wandered around a little more.

Another Christmas Concerty Day

We had three Christmas concerts this year. David's entire school participated in telling the story of the origins of the Christmas Carol, Silent Night. I was at both performances and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed them both! And we ended the night with a Christmas Carol Sing Along. It was great fun, made even better by the company we kept at both concerts.

Unfortunately though, the lighting wasn't great and we didn't have the best seats, so I don't have any good pictures.

The kids were also in a concert at church. Once again, we had terrible seats for taking pictures, but it was sooooo cute seeing our kids participate in their concerts. David is quite the bopper! And Elisabeth shocked us both by coming down with a terrible case of stage fright! In the end she did very well though she definitely sings louder at home :)

And then Elisabeth had a Christmas party/concert at her preschool. Daddy took the morning off and Braylon and I joined him for the first part of the party. Then Braylon and I left to help David's class with their Christmas crafts. Here are some pictures!

Andrew and Elisabeth made a Christmas Centrepiece.

And Elisabeth thought Ben looked so cute in his elf hat, she just couldn't resist hugging him!

When we got home, she decided it was high time she worked on her letter to Santa. As you can tell, she put a lot of effort into the letter.


Then, after the big kids came home, we decorated cookies. GREAT fun :)


Ashlie stole my camera for a little photo shoot.

Conversations with Elisabeth

So, it's been raining a lot here lately. Like, unless you actually live on the west coast, I don't think you can fathom the rain. And I've been going stir crazy. So yesterday Elisabeth and I had to get out of the house. And we weren't gonna go to the mall, so we went to Timmys.

As we were driving, Elisabeth says to me, "Mama, why does God love rain?"

I thought for a few moments, then explained about how rain waters the plants and the trees, and it fills up the lakes and oceans and concluded with, "And just think, if it didn't rain, we'd all live in the desert and that would be terrible."

There was a silence for a few minutes, then Elisabeth piped up with, "If we lived in the desert, we'd have to find Jesus. Cause he knows how to wash feet and we'd need him to wash our feet if we lived in the desert."

I kind of giggled, then said, "Well, that's true, but mama and dada know how to wash feet too you know."

And she countered with, "Yes, but the BIBLE says Jesus should do it."

David's field trip to the North Pole

David's class got a turn at the North Pole too.

I think his class was directing the reindeer in for their landing here...secret elvern skills!

They got to do a little ice fishing too! No candy canes this time around though :(

Then we heard some stories from Mrs. Claus. David got right into them!

And when we came home, we did a little painting.

Some of my favorite Christmas pictures (of our family) were taken at the Historic Stewart Farmhouse. This year I decided to try to recreate them. Here we are!

Then that evening we headed to Cloverdale to watch their Christmas parade. As usual, the highlight of the parade was the HUGE parade of trucks.

Langley Christmas Parade and Gingerbread House Competition

The Abelmans joined us for the Langley Christmas Parade this year. We started the night off with reindeer hats.

The parade was pretty good.

But the best part of the night was when we got to decorate our gingerbread houses.


Everyone got in on the action. Even the grown ups.

This is David's side of our house.

And this is Elisabeth's side. Different philosphies on house decorating!

Field Trip to the North Pole

Elisabeth's class went on a field trip to the North Pole. Here are four of the munchkins from her class waiting for our tour to begin.

We all thought Saydee looked like Cindy Lou Who in this picture!

And Ben was priceless in his AWESOME shirt!

Finally the tour began and we got to hear all about how the North Pole Mail system works.

We lined up to add some special magic to our letters to Santa.

And then we went ice fishing. A little catch and release and then a candy cane reward.

And finally the main event: Santa Claus!

Bike Riding in the yard.

One of our favorite things to do, when waiting for David to get out of school, is play on the swings. Even on a cold winter's day.

Elisabeth and her sidekick Griff. They both like to eat. Eat and chat.


And this was also the day we decorated our first Gingerbread house. Practice makes perfect, don't you know!