Strength, Joy, Freedom, & Esther at Home: January 2009

Playmobile Christmas Scene & Jack

We went to Dayton, WA the day after Thanksgiving and got to enjoy the Christmas kick off celebration there! If I could choose a small town around here that I'd LOVE to live in, it would be Dayton. I love that place. It oozes quaintness! Anyhow, they also have claim to the oldest existing train depot in the whole state. It was at that very antiquated train depot that they had a Christmas bazaar. I found this fully intact & unused Playmobile set for only $3.00!!! I couldn't NOT buy it. The kids were excited to put it together and I wanted a photo of the complete set before any pieces were lost. I'm proud to say that I still have the complete set and there's not a single piece missing. We'll get to have fun with it again next year!

And THIS, well, this is a picture of Jack before the largest of the birch trees came down. Sadly, we now have no trees in our front yard. But, no trees are better than two dead birch trees. We'll replant a single tree after we get a stump grinder out here so we can reclaim the yard! Isn't Jack a cute kitty?! He's my black version of Buster (the big grey kitty I had for nearly 18 years!).

The kids put on a Christmas Play

I am always amazed at the infinite creativity of my children. Without any input or ideas from me they put on an entire play by themselves about the angel telling Mary she would give birth to Jesus (the son of God), Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, and the angel proclaiming the good news to the shepherds. They worked very hard at creating their set (atop Avi's bed) and Azriel played the angel telling Mary she would be with child, then Joseph, then the angel that appeared to the shepherds. They drew and colored the Star of Bethlehem, shepherds, and even wisemen. They used little sheep that they'd made MONTHS ago at a friends home as a craft. They put a lot of thought and effort into their production! Avi played Mary, of course, and she even "gave birth". This was a surprise to me and we all about died laughing after the birth scene, especially since they used Liberty's little plastic baby doll that had recently been in the tub. When Az pulled the baby up it had it's first potty, all over the bed. It was so hilarious and kind of ruined the spirit of the play but made it that much more memorable!
Hope no one finds the birth pictures offensive...

December Snow in the Desert!

We had a tremendous amount of snow in December of 2008 for the desert! I think that over several snowy days we accumulated 8-11 inches, depending on who you talk to. Though this was NOTHING compared to the 6+ feet of snow that they had in Spokane, which is a mere 2 hr. drive from us! The kids had lots of fun and Mark even managed to take them sledding a couple times at a local park with a great sledding hill. Unfortunately I didn't go along to take photos.

Az, somewhat innapropriately dressed for snow play! I told the kids to get INTO the car without getting snowy and wet but they couldn't resist.

At least Avi was DRESSED for the occasion!

PRESENTS!!!

Christmas was so much fun this year. We've had 3 Christmases in the desert, without family. It was so nice to get to go and spend Christmas with my parents. For Christmas we only get the children one big gift each and then their stockings. Avi got a sewing machine this year (it's what she asked for) even though her Mama does not know terribly much about sewing. I really want to learn so I guess I'll have to get on that. It's hard to teach something you don't know~! Thankfully Grandma Trudy gave Avi her first lessons in sewing and Avi had LOTS of fun creating little shirts for her Webkins with Grandma. Azriel got his Red Ryder BB gun. Mark always told him that he could have one when he was 6. He is thrilled beyond measure with it and gets to go out target practicing when Papa's home on Saturdays. He is very conscientious and is following all the safety rules and the parental rules. Grandpa Ron got Az a real SWISS ARMY pocket knife. He only gets to use that when he's being supervised and I keep it in my sewing box high atop my computer desk when it's not in use so that it won't get lost. I want him to have it as he grows older. Anyhow, it was a fun and eventful 3 days over at the Wheeler's. We had snow on Christmas which is really rare for the Seattle area. It was so beautiful and the flakes were HUGE! Nothing like Christmas with SNOW!!!

Avi opening up her gift from Grandma & Grandpa. It's a FURREAL parrot. She'd been wanting that for a LONG time! She's still thrilled with it today and is taking good care of it!