It's the most wonderful time of the year

I am a month behind but better late than never to write a little about our Christmas this year.  I love Christmas, and I think Katherine gets equally excited about the lights and decorations.  She loves to ride around and find Christmas trees in everyone's houses.  Christmas was a little crazy this year.  Jonathan was working Christmas week but was off for New Years week which made Christmas seem longer which was nice.  My parents came up Christmas Eve for a special Christmas lunch while watching Polar Express and then Jonathan's parents and sister met us at church.  The Cudniks spent Christmas day with us, and I was so grateful for the company.  Then after a few days we headed to Valdosta to celebrate with all the Moseleys.  Here are some pictures of the week:

Our elf Patsy left one last breakfast for this year

Abigail was a fan

I love these pictures of the girls playing with Doc

Heading to the Christmas Eve service

Feeding the reindeer

I love the excitement in Ellie's face

The Cudniks were here Christmas morning with us

I love how Katherine prefers to wear a headband

Abigail sat in her new booster seat the rest of the morning

Now Abigail has her own Bitty Baby

Katherine loves her Cinderella costume

Love

Special time with PaPa and Aunt Jessica

It's Time for Tea! Katherine is 3!!

We had the sweetest time celebrating Katherine's 3rd birthday.  She loves tea parties and everything that has to do with birthdays ,especially singing and cupcakes, so she was so excited about her tea party birthday.  We kept it small and had 3 of her dear friends and our sweet neighbors and babysitters over for the tea.  It was so sweet watching them drink from their real teacups and especially having Jonathan there to refill their cups from the teapot.  Here are some pictures:

Good Morning 3 year old Katherine!

Nana and Doc were out of town, but they sent a special guest to the party in their place

Ellie hard at work on her crown

Excited to have her friends over

The Leslein girls at work

Happy Birthday Katherine!

With half a dozen blows and some help from dad, the candles were out

Abigail loves a cupcake

So that was the extent of the party I had planned for Katherine.  So about a day before I start telling Jonathan the plan, and he would have nothing less than a bouncy house for Katherine.  I'm not saying the bouncy house trumped the entire tea party, cupcakes, craft and decorations I had planned, but it was definitely the hit of the party.

Sweet girls at the party

 After the party and a long nap, we celebrated as a family and opened gifts.  It was a wonderful day, and we are so thankful that God blessed us with Katherine 3 short years ago.  She is one of our 2 greatest blessings and has brought us so much joy.  Happy Birthday Katherine!

Cinderella!

Bitty Baby finally got a crib!

Tucking her in for the first time

Halloween

With the season of thankfulness upon us, I wanted to share how thankful I am for our church family and friends.  Halloween with two little ones is kinda crazy and stressful- staying up past bedtimes plus a sugar overload can lead to some unusually high maintenance little ones.  I found out Jonathan would be working on Halloween so I would be solo about a month in advance.  I knew it would be fine, but I was expecting it would not be one of our most fun evenings and that it would require a super extra dose of patience and perseverance from this mama.

How relieved I was when we were invited to a Halloween Party at one of our friends house, the Lees, with the rest of our small group and member from our Sunday School.  It ended up being a great night!  Although I had them solo, I was surrounded by several families more than willing to lend a hand, hold a child or pull our wagon while I wrangled our other one.  It will be a memory I cherish with the kids- my fish and octopus and the fun and fellowship we enjoyed this Halloween.  So, a big thank you to everyone who  helped me out- it means more than you know!! 

Thank you for being an example of 1 Thessalonians 5:11:
"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 

OK- so here are some pictures-

Girl loves animal crackers

We spent a lot of time the week of Halloween "practicing" trick-r-treat

More practice and instruction for Abigail

Checking each other out

My octopus

Sweet Elsie Leslein- or the Princess Fairy

She had a look of confusion most of the night- I think I would too- it is a bazaar night

In action

Abigail mostly just pushed the wagon around

My favorite of Katherine

Abigail in action

Just riding and eating suckers

My fish