More December Fun and a great start to January!

 

Andrew snowboarding at the cabin.

Jet tub time with Emma. She loved it. I thought she was going to drown she was so excited!

We took the 2 oldest skiing as part of their Christmas gift. Ken and I shared a pass and took turns.

Our 5 little blessings are growing up.

Grandpa's sled.

Emma's sled.

I was hauling around well over 100 pounds of kids and sleds. Great workout.

 Skating at the Birds of Prey with friends.

 My latest project. A crib from the thrift store for Emma.

 She sits in it more than her dolls but oh well.

 This lasted long enough to take the picture and then was devoured.

 Daddy and his girl!

Mama and her baby boy!

 New year's with friends.

 and our 15 kids.

 12 boys and 3 girls. All the girls were in bed at this point.

 Then the fireworks began.

 What a show!

 

A record we went to bed at 3am. Not bad for us old folks!

Family Joy over the holidays!

 The annual Leffers get together at the school. Sports and appetizers this year.

 Emma had a pretty big stick to handle.

 A pool full of us.

 Ken's brother Dwayne and Hailey and Brennan

 Cousin Bradley.

 Cousin Jason.

 Aunty Den.

 Games with Grandma at the cabin.

 Grandpa making olibollen.

Andrew sampling! 

 Cousin Curtis and Andrew

 The wonderful cabin!

 Kelsey showing us her latest crafting projects. Making bracelets.

Aunty Ang and Andrew and Sam going for a few runs.

Gifts and stockings!

So we as a family have made some of our own Christmas traditions. One of them is that we choose a different morning to open gifts then Christmas morning. On Christmas morning we go to church and after church sing some Christmas carols. Our aim is not to focus on gifts on Christmas day but to focus on our Saviours birth. We still do gifts but don't do the Santa Claus thing either. The kids are still really happy and excited to receive a few gifts but to also hang out with family and do special things together as a family.

 

 

In the kids stockings we buy a new pair of pj's for each of them, a Christmas tree ornament and sometimes socks and underwear.

Ken also makes a trip to the thrift store and picks out specific books for each of the kids.

We take turns opening our gifts and as you can see sometimes the kids help each other unwrap.

Lukey got a new puppy. His old one the stuffing was coming out of and when I tried to fix it I overstuffed it and it was pretty stiff and constantly was leaking stuffing.

Our poser got an awesome jersey from Nana and Papa.

Wow lots of pink this year. A Miss Kitty sleeping bag for Emma and  a pink car.

Andrew got a ski helmet and goggles.

Sam got some goggles too and a lego set.

 

December

We got a huge dump of snow at the beginning of the month. 2 snow days from school!

Emma found my eyeliner one morning and thought she would try it on.

Andrew and Samuel sang at the Gem of the west in a community concert with the children's choir.

Emma was handed down a beautiful princess dress.

Andrew and Samuel also sang at our church's concert.

 Emma digging thru the pantry and helping herself to some crackers.

Right before she hit the pantry she emptied all my laundry out of the basket. Busy girl causing trouble.

 Hoar frost one morning.

Andrew and Samuel heading to the bus stop for school.

 We picked up a tree last weekend, not much selection left but we did alright.

 All ready for Christmas.

Isaac's preschool was part of the Jenny Emery elementary school concert. He didn't sing a word but looked mighty cute up there.

 Now Luke's Kindergarten class at the school's Christmas assembly.

Andrew played some sort of xylophone. He was concentrating pretty hard.

 Daddy skating with Isaac. Shortly after he was skating without the aid. Just for his Daddy!

Emma and I just cruised around chatting with people and smiling. What a busy but wonderful December.