The path less traveled...

Jeff and Grace had sometime together today as they hiked part of the Appalachian Trail near our home.  

Christmas morning

This might be one of my very favorite times of the year.  The stress of Christmas prep is over.  We spend the morning together as a family.  We enjoy seeing each other open gifts that we've put a lot of effort and love into. And we're able to focus on the birth of Christ.  

Here are a few pictures from our morning....

Christmas Eve 2013

 Before the start of our Christmas Eve celebrations, I (tried) to take a picture of the kids in their Christmas clothing in front of the tree.  You can tell that Henry's not a great fan of sitting still for pictures right now.

This evening, we started at my mom's house for time with Liz's family.  

After supper, we went to our church's Christmas Eve service which every year is an excellent way to remind us of Christ, and his humble act of coming as man to earth for the salvation of our souls, in the midst of all the other busy and exciting events of the Christmas season.

Our four excited children went to bed wondering what all the morning held for them....

Kate's preschool Christmas program

My cute munchkins after Kate's preschool Christmas program....

Christmas cookies

Every December Mom and I (and occasionally Rachel) make Christmas cookies together.  It's a long day, but lots of fun.  It's long enough (even with an early start) that Dad runs to the school to pick Joost and Grace.  

Also, just for the record, all the pictures of Henry where his eyes appear to be shut are not ill-timed pictures.  That's just how he smiles right now.

a snowy day

My kiddos enjoying the snow...

a few vB pictures

Jeff's sisters, Carolyn and Beth

me, Carolyn, Jeff's mom, Beth, and Jonelle (Jeff's sister-in-law)

Sean (Jeff's brother), Jeff, and Jonelle--I'm pretty sure Sean is competing for height on his tippy-toes. :) 

Our Christmas tree 2013

We love our Christmas tree weekend!  It's our annual tradition to cut down our tree during the days following Thanksgiving.  We always go to the same tree farm, hike their grounds, and cut down the tree of our choice.

Then, on Sunday evening, we decorate the tree with the movie White Christmas playing in the background.  Christmas isn't Christmas unless we start it off with the tree traditions.

Happy Christmas season!  May Christ be exalted and praised in the weeks to come!

Thanksgiving 2013

So, I forgot to get a picture of the beautiful thanksgiving table that mom set and the mouth-watering turkey being carved by my dad, but I did snap a shot of the wily little boys who found the confectioners sugar meant for the pumpkin role.

Here are a few more pictures from the day....

...and, possibly, the best family picture we've had taken yet:

ps.  Dad, please forgive me.  I'm sorry you didn't end up in one of the pictures.  I'm not sure how that happened.  It's usually me that is nowhere to be seen.

Happy Henry

Henry the Great

Today's to-do list

• play with Kate
• watch Little Einsteins
• conquer the world

Halloween 2013

Another year of kinda-sorta costumes in the vB house...   I used to have time to put effort into costumes. (See Halloween 2009)  It's now become "hunt through the house and try to find a costume".

Kate's preschool class had a parade for Halloween. She decided to dress as Minnie Mouse.

 

Tonight, we all went trick-or-treating.

(the kids with their cousins)

(My brother and his family)

(My mom and dad with their grandchildren--even if all the kids don't want to be in the picture.)

Pheasant hunting?!?

Jeff just started working for Martin's Famous Pastry Shop. Every year they take a retreat and always hunt pheasants on the trip. Jeff has never hunted before, so it was a lot of fun seeing him get ready for the week long event. He bought hunting clothing and several other hunting necessities. We joke about the fact that at the firm he worked for he had to invest in a tuxedo for the annual events we attended. For Martins, he invested in hunting clothing.

Matthew's party

Some cute pictures of my kiddos at their cousin's party...

Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction

Jeff's in between jobs (leaving the law firm, and heading to an in-house position), so today we took a fun little family day trip to Lancaster.  At the Mennonite Information Center, there is a full reproduction of the tabernacle explained in Exodus.  It's great to see the passage we read about built in scale.