Jingle, jingle, jingle...

Christmas is such a happy time. Especially if you have cute little kids to dress up in goofy outfits. Doesn't Santa's Little Helper look cute though? And how about Grampa Claus and his reindeer? Hopefully by the time Christmas roles around Genevieve will be a little more excited about it. Though I have a feeling this is going to be Wyatt's year. Courtney, Hayden and Cam do their share of spoiling as do the other Auntys. Can't wait for Uncle Rylan to be back home to be able to sit back and observe the antics of this busy, busy boy.

Oh Christmas Tree!

It was a beautiful drive to cut our trees. No rain. Sunshine. Happy smiling faces in the back seat. The kids even got to haul the family tree out of the field to the van. Alyssa and Harlan tied them down. They are both in stands with water and ready for their trimmins. The guy at the gas station made some wise crack about not waiting long before getting on with the next holiday. He OBVIOUSLY hadn't driven by the Webberley's house BEFORE Thanksgiving. We celebrate the SEASON not the day. So there.

It's time for CHRISTmas!
Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our boys, Hayden and Cameron have been having fun with a class called Home Life. They have various projects to do such as: cooking, baking, sewing, home maintenance, wood craft, and lots more. So far they have made pizza from scratch, changed the filters on the furnace, and just last night made pumpkin pie from scratch (store bought crust though).

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. Just our kids in residence, Jess, Joylynn and their kids, & Bob and Lita. Smallest group here in years. Now that dinner has been eateh everyone is either downstairs watching football on HDTV or in the den watching Madagascar. I just put the first batch of dishes through the dishwasher. Time to tackle the hand wash and get all the cooled leftovers in the fridge. Tomorrow starts the Christmas shopping and decorating. I think more than sugar plums have been dancing in heads here for some time now. Christmas music has been tuned in on our van radio since Halloween. Somehow seems more appropriate to listen to it this afternoon.

Hope you all found a quiet moment today to reflect on how blessed you all are in so many ways. Happy Holidays to you all!

Granny, Pa, & Aunty Alyssa love Genevieve

When Wyatt was this size he lived far away in Montana. We are so fortunate to have the grandbabies close by. The other Montana grandparents were able to come and see Genevieve last week. It was good to see them again. They have 3 grandchildren in Bozeman and 4 here. Jess' brother Luke's boys live in North Portland. I imagine Rich and Jane (Pa and Granny to the younguns) will be making multiple trips per year to see these kids. The great-grandparents back in Michigan and New Jersey sure look forward to pictures. Many have been e-mailed back East already. Isn't technology wonderful? Just think how long the Oregon Trail pioneers families back East had to wait for word from them. Many families didn't hear anything at all. So few photos were taken back then too. We have so much to be thankful for.

Cousins' and other relations

We had a quick trip to Goldendale yesterday. Came home today. On the way up we had dinner at a restaurant in The Dalles called Cousins'. We had breakfast there on the way home today. It's a fun homestyle restaurant with a funky country theme. Lots of "critters" on hand for photo ops. See Cam and Hayden with a sheep. The other picture is Harlan with his 94 year old father, Ray Hilman. He just flew home from Canada (unfortunately he was up there for his brothers funeral) but he has been to Hawaii and California also in the past month. He still lives in his own place and when he was home briefly between trips he drove the tractor and turned over the field next to his house to prepare it for winter. Har looks alot like him don't you think?

Christmas Nut

In case you didn't know Wyatt and Genevieve, your Gramma is a Christmas NUT! Hence the purchase of pictured snowman and dog musical cute thing. Actually Wyatt loves this thing. He has learned to squeeze the hand to make the snowman sing "Jingle Bells" The dog barks along in time to the music. Wyatt will dance to just about any tune. So he was dancing around the living room yesterday hugging his new musical buddies.

The Webberleys plus one

Here is a picture of our friends Chris and Robin and their adorable son Ethen. (Sorry Lil Guy I don't have the red eye fix on this computer) Also in the picture is our precious grand-daughter. Robin practically melted when she first took Genevieve into her arms. They look quite natural with two don't you think? Even Chris got to hold the baby. He wasn't quite as affected. Maybe it's a man thing :)

Hallelujah Party

October 31st has been such a fun time for us in the past 6 years or so. Since that crazy, wacko, party-animal of a Children's Pastor happened to land at New Song. Hallelujah Party 2005 didn't disappoint. It was busy with hundreds of little costumed urchins and their parents weaving their way to various rooms to play games and win CANDY! What more do you need? Even many of the adults were thrilled as their game of choice to win that candy was BINGO. Most kids make out much better there than they would walking door to door in the rain. Mother Nature didn't disappoint either. Though the torrential rains eased up for the party we have had a ton of it before and since.

I'm happy to be in November. Yay for pumpkin pie and cozy warm fireplaces and wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen. Only 55 days until Christmas. Can't wait.