And, since Kelly helped me figure out how to do the video, here is one of Tobin from 2 months ago:)  Click the picture to hear him singing & playing guitar!

Tara and her family visited, we don’t get to see each other that much-they live 5 hours away, a bummer because the kids really play well together.  Well, they didn’t always-Kashton & Tobin were in a bit of a competition for the “youngest child” attention.  But, they get along great now!

We had a great visit, and I didn’t take hardly any pictures so sadly this is the best I can do:(

Marian is part of a youth choir-she really enjoys it.  They got to perform with a Bell’s Choir (very cool) that my Mom & Dad came to see.  And, their home concert was the following week, Kelly’s parents came to that.  And, we had Alyssa & Kashton for the afternoon so they came too.

Click on the picture to hear their final song:)

It proved to be a little too much for the kids, so they got excused to the vestibule area to draw

Marian & Issy with their Kindergarten teacher (who was sooo awesome to come!)

Soon after we arrived we met a new family (first time at camp) and we were all instant friends.

Their youngest within an hour of meeting Marian walks up to her and puts her arms up-Marian was holding her the rest of the weekend.  It was really sweet.

She’s wearing a Superman costume if you’re wondering;)

We made some ornaments, this is Ezra’s creation

Tobin was reunited with his best friend from the summer – Jamison

We made some gingerbread houses

Marian waiting for her turn on the indoor climbing wall

Intense work on a puzzle

More crafts:)

Doesn’t he look like Larry the Cucumber dressed up as rudolf!

Marian got to help lead the singing during the caroling

Oh, and if you’re wondering why I don’t have any pictures of Ezra-he was off playing “ball” games most of the time.

And, I tried to get a shot of all three kids together (with hopes of a picture for Christmas cards)

Seriously, should it be this hard to get three children to look in your general direction all at the same time?

And, after this one I gave up!

Our new friends

And, just before we left, a family picture in front of the tree-not bad I guess

 

Our church camp hosted a family weekend retreat at the beginning of December to correspond with a local city’s Sleighbell Weekend, we went last year and had such a great time we decided to try & make it a tradition.  We took the kids out of school on Friday to get an early start.  And, Kelly’s sister lives on the way so we called her at the last minute to join us at a museum-the kids were happy to see Aunt Kim and hang out with her for a couple hours:)

The museum had a very interesting collection of items (this is a whale suspended from the ceiling)

I’ve always wanted to try one of these!

Kim’s favorite exhibit-pond scum, it’s one drop blown up 200 times, very cool but makes you not want to swim in open water again!

And, a beautiful carousel

Camp pictures to come next