Happy Birthday To My Dad

On Saturday my dad had a birthday.  He turned 78!  That is hard to believe.  He is still pretty spry.  Dad is such a great man.  He is a wonderful father.  He and Mom have been a great example of what a marriage should be.  Dad, if you should get a chance to read this. . .We love you very much!  We miss you!  Happy birthday, Dad!  As a side note, Ashley turned 2 months old on Dad's birthday.

Other Christmas Pictures

We got something new this Christmas.  A train that goes around the tree (the track is attached to the tree).  Warren had seen them last year but the store was out of stock when he went to buy it.  This year he didn't wait but bought it as soon as he saw them.  It is really neat!  It has a whistle that blows when it starts up.

Here is a picture of the kids singing in our church Christmas program.  It was a simple but meaningful program.  Our pastor's wife did a great job putting it together!  For many years now I have been in charge of or helped with the Christmas programs in the different churches we have attended.  This year all I was responsible for was reading my part in the service.  It was nice to have a break.  I offered to help but Sis. Laura kindly told me I had enough to do!  :-) Guess she figured with 2 school kids, 2 toddlers and a baby I was plenty busy this year.  Though I was more than willing to help I really appreciated her thoughtfulness.   

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we spent at our house.  After the kids looked to see what they had in their socks we read the Christmas story from the Bible.  Then we opened presents.  We paced the kids so that they weren't done in 10 minutes.  Boy!  That about did the older boys in!  They thought they would surely burst if they couldn't rush on to the next gift!  Warren's parents came over for dinner.  We enjoyed spending the day with family.  The kids had a lot of fun.  The adults enjoyed the relaxation.  We all enjoyed playing games that evening.     

Checking out their Christmas socks--they 

all got Slinkys

Here's how Ashley spent her first Christmas morning! 

Proud owners of BB Guns

Our family

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Santa Claus did indeed pay a visit to our house this year.  Now just to set the record straight :-) our kids do know why we have Christmas.  They will all (with the exception of Ashley for obvious reasons) tell you that Christmas is about Jesus; however, we do like to have fun and we play the Santa Claus "game" if you will.  :-)   Normally, I like to wrap everything.  The other kids were a couple of months old and I had to wrap their gifts even though I already knew what was in them.  This year Christmas time has been a little hectic (as has been the last few months) so I cheated.  Ashley's gifts got put in one gift bag together and the big one sat under the tree--no tissue, no bows.  The older kids all got pillows, again no wrappings at all.  I even did the unthinkable--"Hetrick Wrap".  What is Hetrick Wrap?  Plastic bags.  Hey, it was very late Christmas Eve and I was very tired.  I did actually wrap one or two for each of the kids and the in-laws.  This is totally out of character for me when it comes to Christmas so I think that I can be excused this time.  :-) 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went to Papa and Ma's house.  We usually exchange gifts with them on Christmas day but this year they gave us our gifts on Christmas Eve.  Cameron and Clayton got art sets and they loved them.  Cameron is really into art.  Clayton is getting more into it now that he is in school.  It didn't take the boys long to open them up and get to work creating masterpieces!  The kids were all very excited the last few days before Christmas.  This day even more so and the added excitement of going to Ma's house was almost more than they can bear.  :-)    

Clayton

Cameron

Ma's and her girls

Our wonderful little tribe in their Christmas jammies

Christmas Projects

Every year Grandma (Ma's) Hill does gingerbread houses with the kids.  "Gingerbar" as Nicholas calls it.  Cameron did the house on the right.  Clayton did the train.  Nicholas and Amy did the house on the left.  This was their first time.  Cameron, Clayton and I did something new this year.  Warren had found some little leather ornaments to make so the boys and I sat down and made them.  They turned out really cute.  We had fun doing it.  I enjoyed spending some fun time with the boys.

Back To Blogging

Well, the rush of Christmas is over and I now have some time to blog again.  I will post some pictures of our Christmas and some others pictures to catch you up on our lives.  Warren had a long weekend off of work.  He desperately needed the days off.  The OR crew is being worked to death.  They are exhausted.  I think he is feeling a bit better now.  Hopefully this next week won't be too bad.  Below is a picture of Ashley in the shawl set (hat, shawl and shoes) that our pastor's daughter made for her.  It is so cute!  Denae is very talented young lady!  We hope you all had a very good Christmas and wish you all a happy new year too!  

Merry 

Christmas!

A snowy Alaskan night. . .

Christmas, 2 below zero weather, parades and fireworks!  Yep!  You read right!  We do fireworks at Christmas in Alaska.  Ashley went to her first parade ever.  No, she didn't go out in the below zero weather.  Ashley, Nick, Amy and I sat in the truck to watch the annual Christmas parade while Warren, Cameron and Clayton braved the cold to gather the candy.  There were some neat floats this year.  One was a hot tub that they had on a trailer and hooked up so that it worked.  Santa seemed to be enjoying it.  After going home to eat some supper we went back for the fireworks.  It's rather fun to watch fireworks in the snow and with Christmas carols playing. Every time a firework would go off Nick and Amy would say, "Splat!  Splat!"  It was fun listening to them.

Christmas Concert

Cameron had his first school Christmas concert on Friday.  He was so excited!  Warren was able to get off work so that he could go too.  Cameron's class sang 2 songs.  They did a good job! Here he is before school that morning.  

Mrs. Evan's Second Grade Class

Big Sister

Amy wanted to "read" to Ashley.  It didn't last too long and I'm not sure how much Ashley got out of it but Amy was happy with herself!

Aaaa! Do I have to wear the hat?

6 Weeks and Counting

Special Post

My sister, Janet, just posted a couple of special posts about Nick and Ashley.  Thanks, Janet!  You can visit her blog by clicking on her name on my side bar.  As a bonus, you'll be able to see pictures of my grand-nephew, Nolan.  

Nick's Adoption Party

This past weekend was packed full of activities.  On Saturday we had Nick's adoption party. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.  I'm not sure why.  I'm sorry we don't have any pictures of the event but we did have fun.  It is soooo nice to know that he is really ours now.  

Baby Shower

Our pastor's wife, Sis. Laura, was so kind and had a shower for me.  It was very nice.  The table was decorated so beautifully!  The centerpiece was a "diaper cake".   The plates had baby footprints on them.  Very cute!  Ashley received many nice things.  Denae, our pastor's daughter, crocheted a very cute snowman hat for her.  You can see it in the picture below.  Here are some of the pictures from our evening.   The bottom pictures are of Denae, Sis. Durr and Sis. Laura and then Barbara and Ashley.

Winter Wonderland

These pictures were taken Thanksgiving Day just outside Mom Hill's back door.  You can see the lake through the trees.  Yes, they live right by a small lake.  Yes, I'm jealous!  :-)   Anyway, it was all very pretty.  I love the snow! 

Thanksgiving Day

We spent the day at Warren's parent's house.  It was nice and we had a good Thanksgiving.  In the evening we went next door to Carters for dessert.  We had a nice time visiting with everyone over there.  Then we went back to Mom's house and played a game.  Cameron and Clayton got to spend the night at Grandma & Papa's house on Wednesday night.  That was the first time they have gotten to do that in a long time.  They were very excited about it!  There is a small hill out back of Grandma's house that is just right for little kids to sled down.  The four kids had a lot of fun sledding.