Christmas is coming

We have had such a productive year getting ready for Christmas! I can't believe our tree is up, our house is decorated, and all with weeks to spare. I will admit that I wasn't in the best mood when we actually decorated the tree and didn't get pictures of the actual process, but the kids still had a great time playing our traditional "looking high, looking low" game with the ornaments. That way the whole tree got decorated! Mason even participated more than usual and had the honor of putting the star on the top this year. We are thrilled to celebrate this time of year and remember the importance of Christ's birth and his living for us. The kids have been singing Christmas songs about 3 kings, Bethlehem, and the manger for days practicing for the school performance, and I am thrilled they get to talk and perform songs that actually reflect the true meaning of Christmas in school. When we played Chutes and Ladders the other day after school we had to find new little people to move around the board, because our little guys hadn't survived through the years. Carter brought in his three wise men from his mini nativity set, and then the game turned into us making it to Bethlehem, and which wise men could find baby Jesus first. It was very fun and cute!

Thanksgiving

We had a small and wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We had a few friends over and enjoyed the day cooking and eating. I actually enjoy making the Thanksgiving feast and take a lot of pleasure out of the tradition of spending time with my family and our dear friends who are like family to us. We buffet styled it this year and that seemed to work for the lack of space and big enough table problems. :) Carter and Taylor were excited that they got a day off of school to help us celebrate. Mason ate more stuffing than should be allowed for one 10 year old boy, and Brennan mostly enjoyed when dessert came around. Who doesn't love pie combined with little oreo turkey's? It was another great Thanksgiving to add to our memory books!

German Pancakes(that aren't really German)

Mason thought he would help out with dinner while I ran upstairs to help with one of the other kids. I was making German Pancakes--which we found out are not actually German when we made them for a German missionary that was in our area. We didn't think we were being cool by making something German, they asked for breakfast for dinner.
When I got this recipe from my dad you might note some of his advice he gave me...like the 6 eggs without shells bit on the recipe card. So when I came down and found Mason throwing eggs in the blender I asked him why he didn't read the recipe better. Gpa Mason specifically said NO shells. Mason just kept laughing and pointing to the recipe card, thinking of course that he was being incredibly helpful!! Love this kid and his go to attitude!