New Years Eve 2011

We enjoyed ringing in the new year with my family...well, almost. We all actually headed home before midnight this year because it's a Saturday night and we need to get up for church in the morning; but we had a ton of fun together for most of the hours before midnight.

Newborn Brandon was very cute as he slept under the dining room table.

Christmas Day 2011

Christmas day has arrived! After all the planning and decorating and shopping and parties, the day of Christ's birth is upon us. Celebrating Christmas on a Sunday can be tricky, but it is wonderful to be able to worship at church on such a day. After a slightly quicker Christmas morning than usual (and a Christmas morning that was extra special since it was Henry's first), we went to church. From church we drove to Doylestown and spent the afternoon and evening celebrating with Jeff's entire family. 
Here are a few pictures from the day.....

The kids love the agonizing wait at the top of the stairs while Jeff and I take pictures and turn on the Christmas lights downstairs.

I'm so happy that Henry decided to learn how to sit up prior to Christmas morning.  It was fun to see him "open" his gifts.

Kate loves tutus.  She even wears them to bed...and Christmas morning.

Only Grace can pull off, so well, a hat and mitten set that includes bunny ears.

Joost was especially happy to receive the Star Wars trilogy.

Even as an adult, it's great to be with your parents on Christmas day.

Christmas Eve 2011

We have a busy Christmas schedule ahead of us. Tonight we'll be having a Christmas celebration with my side of the family at Uncle Alan's house. After that we head to church for the Christmas Eve service. The kids are dressed in their Christmas best to help celebrate the coming of our Savior to earth.

Tomorrow morning, the six of us will celebrate Christmas in our own home before heading to church. After church, we will drive to Doylestown to finish our Christmas holiday with Jeff's family.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night....

Christmas at the Capitol

Christmas break is upon us. There's several days before Christmas and the kids are crazy for something festive to do.   We've already done everything Christmasy in Hershey--now to the state capitol (which just so happens to be where we live.)

We enjoyed the morning as we looked at the Christmas tree in the Capitol Building, explored the building and had lunch at Strawberry Square.

The kids' agonizing count down to Christmas will soon be over....

Bosworth Christmas a few days early

Since we're spending Christmas in Doylestown this year with Jeff's family, we had our Christmas celebration today with my family. It's nice to spread out Christmas over a week--so much time and effort goes into preparing for Christmas and it's good to drag it out.

We opened gifts....

...and ate a yummy dinner.

After dinner, we opened our Christmas crackers.  They seem to be becoming a tradition.  I guess that's only appropriate since we have a good deal of British blood in our family histories.

It was a merry start to the holiday!

35 weeks old

Today we had the treat of seeing one of my dear friends from childhood. Erin stopped by to drop off a Christmas gift (which included loose leaf tea--always a great gift!) and was able to meet Henry for the first time.

34 weeks old

We're slow pokes in this family. All of the kids have reached the baby milestones many weeks and months after the "average" kid. With Joost, I was worried. By Henry, I know that's just how my babies are. So, here's sweet Henry, just shy of 8 months old, finally deciding to try and sit.

33 weeks old

One of Henry's newer accomplishments, as of late, is feeding himself. He enjoys the cheerios when they actually make it into his mouth.

The Christmas tree

Every Thanksgiving is followed by the Christmas tree cutting and decorating.  We had fun, as a family of six, going out to cut down our tree on Friday and decorating it today. 

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a wonderful day celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. We have so much to thank God for--one of those things is definitely family. God has blessed Jeff and I so greatly with godly and supportive parents, good and encouraging siblings and wonderful children. How kind He is!

31 weeks old

Henry always enjoys time with his sister and grandma.

30 weeks old

Today, Henry is 30 weeks old.

Each Wednesday, the kids and I go to church for Kids Club. I teach the 3rd through 5th grade class and Joost, Grace and Kate all participate in their own classes. I thought it would be fun to show some of the people Henry sees at church each Wednesday.

My good friend, Pam, and I teach the 3rd through 5th graders and she's one of Henry's biggest fans....

We have some wonderful girls at the church who are willing to give up their Wednesday evenings to watch Henry and the other children of the Kids Club teachers. Courtney and Danielle are the faces he sees most Wednesday nights. They're great with him--they know exactly how to care for him. They even dress him for bed each night so he's as ready as he can be to hit the sack when he gets home.

29 weeks old

Henry's doing a good job pulling off a happy face, but the past few days have been trying for him.  On Sunday, tooth #1 punched through and since then the second tooth has been causing him a lot of grief.

Snow in October?!

We were all very surprised to have five or six inches of snow fall today.  I'm not sure I remember ever having snow in October.

The kids loved playing in the snow....

...it wasn't all fun, though.  The heavy snow caused many trees to lose limbs.  I saw this one as it was falling--seconds before it hit the ground, a car drove underneath the branch.  I felt like I was watching a car insurance commercial where they show best and worst case scenarios.  That car was very fortunate!

Halloween 2011

...I know, I know.  It's not the 31st--but remember, in these parts, we trick-or-treat on the Thursday prior.  It almost didn't happen this year because of predicted rain and cold temperatures, but our borough held out and it ended up being a chilly, but dry, night of candy gathering.  It was a great family night together, as well.  Here are some of our favorite pictures from the evening....

This year Luke Skywalker, 2 princesses and a pea pod gathered candy.

Henry and Owen enjoyed their first Halloween in full costume.  Joost was the first to wear the pea pod and it has shown up many Halloweens since the first one in 2003.

 

Our other nephew, Liam, went as a skunk--I wouldn't turn him down for candy!  Who wants to bathe in tomato juice when they could be eating leftover Halloween treats?