A Family of Jesus Jewels: December 2012

Christmas!!

Our morning started with lots of excitement! Abby was so excited and Grace was caught up in it too. I told Abby that she had to wait until 7am to wake me up for stockings. She asked for 6:50am. So this morning at 6:50am on the dot, she jumped on me yelling "Merry Christmas!" Grace wasn't even awake yet, but Abby was ready. We coaxed Grace out of bed and headed straight for the stockings.

I love her smile here. She was thrilled with her new water bottle, and all because it had a monkey on it.

This is the smile I get when I interrupt Grace while she's opening her presents. And I love it!

After stockings we got dressed and made breakfast. Papa, Nana and Great-Grandma Folkert joined us for breakfast. We had breakfast casserole, warm maple pancakes, and frozen fruit cups. We thought we might have a lazy morning enjoying our breakfast, but the girls had other ideas. They wanted to eat fast and get back to the presents.

It was a big Barbie year for Abby. She played with them all afternoon.

Abby bought me this "awesome mom" mug at the secret santa shop at school. She was so excited and it was hard for her to keep a secret, but she did it! And I love my mug!

Grace also made a secret gift at school for me. It was an ornament of her hand and it had lots and lots and lots of glitter on it. It's hanging on our tree and looks great!

It was a big year for Minnie Mouse too!

Both girls got new slippers this year.

Abby got her first Bible this year. She's been loving GEMS and is getting really good at finding things in her Bible, so it was time for her to have her own. I was so happy to share this with her. May she grow more and more in love with Jesus every day.

The #1 thing on Abby's list was a Lego Friends set....and she got it! Pure delight!

As was our tradition, everyone searched for the pickle ornament and this year Abby found it! Congratulations!!

Christmas songs

The girls were singing some Christmas songs in the morning service and I was so excited to see both of them up there. Abby did a great job. She knew the motions and sang along with both songs. Grace, however, was another story. She didn't even stand up with the rest of the kids. She sat for the whole thing, and for most of it she turned around and stared at the back up band. She was the only one sitting down. Oh well, there's always next year...

She's here!!!

Claire Marian Straley is here!!!! She was born on Wednesday, but I couldn't go down until Saturday to hold her and kiss her and love on her. She's beautiful!

I grabbed her first and didn't want to let go, but finally shared her with others. Abby was smitten instantly. She hasn't been around any newborn babies and was thrilled to finally meet Claire.

Just look at her! She's only 3 days old. She's beautiful!

All the girls helped Beth change her diaper and get her dressed. It was so fun to see them all so enthralled with her. Everyone was ready to lend a helping hand.

Seriously, are you allowed to look this good after just giving birth? Most women don't, but then again, Beth isn't most women. She looked great! She's an amazing momma!

My heart is stolen again. It belongs to all those Straley girls!

We went down for the day and loved on Claire, but the girls did find some time to play Polly Pockets and Barbies. They love playing these every time they get together.

Aww....

Grandchild #9!

Here are Sophie and Julia performing at their Bethlehem play. They were great! It's a big production their church puts on for one weekend and we were able to go. Lauren was a water girl, Jeff was a Roman soldier, and the girls were dancers. We walked through and it felt as though we were walking through the streets of Bethlehem. It was so cool.

Festival of Lights

We headed downtown for the Festival of Lights. It was a cold night, but we bundled up and stayed cozy together. It was a great night! The girls loved collecting the candy and got a ton more to add to our candy collection.

A Dinosaur Win!

On Black Friday we had all these boxes waiting for us on the front porch. Abby had won 2nd place in her dinosaur video and won $200 worth of switch and go dinosaurs. There were so many!

Wow! The funny part was that we got another shipment of dinosaurs about three weeks later. They had shipped it to us twice. I emailed and asked what had happened, but they said it was their mistake and we could keep the toys. So we donated several, brought some over to our neighbors, and are saving several for friends. Abby and Grace love to race their dino cars all over the kitchen. What a fun win!

Happy Halloween!

This year the girls wanted to be princesses again. Grace was Cinderella and Abby was Jasmine. They didn't even need to dress up, because they're already princesses in real life!

My two adorable beauties!

Abby was excited because she's about the candy. Grace wasn't sure what to do so she just followed after Abby. She yelled "trick or treat" at every single door.

As soon as she got some candy, she sat down on the front steps to put it in her bag. She wouldn't let anyone drop the candy into her bag. She had to put it in herself. She had down after every single house. It was so funny to watch.