Merry Christmas!

OK I seriously doubt I will be posting anything else until after Christmas, so here's wishing you and yours a very merry holiday season! Take time to read the Christmas story in one of the gospels and be sure and tell your children all about the birth of Jesus Christ if you haven't done so already! It doesn't matter how little they are, tell them anyway!

Gingerbread Train

notice the finger above trying to get some "crosting"!

tongue out in concentration :)

Yay! Finally done!

I guess this was a year of starting lots of traditions and since our MOPS Night Out got cancelled due to weather (we were supposed to make gingerbread houses together), Avery and Mommy got to make it instead! I bought a gingerbread train kit instead of a house and Avery had so much fun sticking on all the candy! This was after she had eaten half of the "crosting" bag and licked every other piece of loose "crosting" she could get her fingers on! Yes, she still calls frosting "crosting" and I can't bear to correct her because there is hardly anything she doesn't say correctly. She talks so much like a grown-up... so I will savor "crosting and lello" as long as I can. In case you don't know, her favorite color is "Lello" and she will tell you all about it if you ask!

Decorating the Tree

OK I meant to get these posted way back when we did this and somehow it got overlooked. Here we are decorating our tree and Avery "helping." All of her ornaments seemed to be hung on the same two branches and by the end she had like 20 ornaments all bunched together! It was so funny. We decided to start a tradition of eating a fun (read: easy) dinner on the night of decorating for Christmas, so we had pancakes from scratch (they were hardly any more work than Bisquick, really!), sausage, and fruit salad. It was delicious! Avery had the great idea of eating on the floor by the tree (since it was already halfway up) so we did. She had a blast and cried when it was time to take a bath and go to bed!

The Christmas Train

About 5 years ago Craig and I went with some friends to see The Christmas Train in Dry Gulch, USA. It's a town about an hour away and we had a great time back then, but haven't been back since. This year some other friends invited us and we knew Avery would have a blast! She did! The Christmas Train is put on by a large church in the area. It's basically like an old western town with restaurants, gift-shop type stores, vendors selling hot chocolate and even funnel cakes! They have redone a ton of stuff since we were there last and now they have a huge playground area and even a carousel! Santa has his own house and he was there if you wanted to wait in the long line to take a picture with him. There's a western musical show, and the best part is a real train that runs around the town with pictures along the sides telling the story of the bible basically. It begins with creation, moving to the birth of Jesus and finally his death and resurrection. After the train ride, they have a theater that you go in and you hear the testimony of the pastor of the church telling his life story and how The Christmas Train got started. They even give you a CD to take home explaining "The Gift." Everyone that works here is dressed in old western clothing and they have carriage rides and everything. It's pretty incredible. Despite the temperature being in the 30s (granted, I was not cold at all with my own personal furnace in my belly!), we bundled up and braved it. Avery had the best time and it was worth getting home and getting her to bed at 11 pm that night!

Santa comes to Tulsa!

My friend Christy had Santa come to her house and she invited tons of kids from church. The kids had a great time as Santa passed out goody bags for all the kids and most of them were brave enough to sit on his lap for a picture. Avery has never been scared of Santa or people in big costumes and I am thankful!

Couture Blogs

OK to get a third entry into her contest, I had to make another post with her button, so here it is, Tyne! and again, a link to her contest: http://tynerbock.blogspot.com/2008/12/yeah-makeover-giveaway.html. But don't too many of you enter because I want to win this! :)

Blog Makeover Giveaway

I follow an awesome blog by a very hilarious mother of almost 4. I know her husband and his family from my hometown and church, but that is our only connection. However, her witty stories always keep me coming back for more! She is starting a new blog design business and is running a giveaway to get it started! You can enter by going to http://tynerbock.blogspot.com/2008/12/yeah-makeover-giveaway.html. Check it out!

Singing Debut (or Not!)

OK I am going back a little ways due to some camera issues. Last month the Sunday night before Thanksgiving, Avery's Sunday School class had an opportunity to sing two songs they had been working on in front of the congregation. Let's just say at least Avery looked cute! I videoed her the night before singing her songs just to have on record that she did know every word. I was afraid that when she got on stage, she would freeze and just stare at the crowd... which is exactly what happened! My only solace is at least she wasn't the only one! 4 out of 5 of the kids did just that and of course Chloe hammed it up and sang loud for all her friends! Maybe Avery will warm up to public performances in the future!

Funny Faces

While looking through the Thanksgiving pictures, I realized there were a LOT of people making funny faces! Aunt Staci was letting Avery take pictures with her camera, so some of these are her asking people to make a funny face, but some are all on their own! I thought it would be funny to do an "outtakes" slideshow of the weirdos in our family! :) (Don't worry--that includes all of us!)

Thanksgiving Pictures

OK I finally got some Thanksgiving pictures up! After the very first picture that I took, our camera died! So these are courtesy of Staci and Jenna's cameras. Thank goodness everyone had a camera! We had a really fun week staying at Nona and Pop's house from Monday night until Sunday afternoon. It was really still too fast, but we had a great time! It was busy and we ate a lot, but that's the holidays, right? It was our last time to go down for a visit until after Bailey is born because I will be too close to my due date at Christmas, so we are glad we got to stay for a long time and Avery got to spend a lot of time playing outside and doing all the things she loves to do at Nona and Pop's ranch!