Holiday Fun. . .So Far

We had a good holiday week. Last night we spent the evening with the Springer family at their family Christmas party. They are a great family and are always so welcoming to us "adopted" folk. Ray is the missionary who baptized Mel's parents, and Mel lived with the Springers when he went to high school here in Utah.
The Springers always read the Christmas story and create the nativity with the grandkids. Anna wanted to participate, so she dressed in shepherd attire. Thys wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. When Anna got up and sat down, Sophie looked around, went and picked up a shepherd cloth and brought it to me. She cracks us up. She has been so shy, but yet if there is a performance going on, she wants to be part of it. So here are our two little shepherds, and the whole Springer nativity, minus the four-year olds. (Ours was not the only one who refused to participate.)


The early part of the week was fairly warm , and Mel is working the early shift, so we decided we should take advantage of the warmer weather and visit one of the Christmas light spots. The kids wanted to go to Thanksgiving Point and ride the wagon through all the lights, so here we are, all bundled up. Sophie was hilarious. I think she was a little scared, but also fascinated. She wanted to be touching me but also see everything. She sat is the funniest neck-craning position the entire ride. (See below) She never moved. After the wagon ride we got to go see real reindeer, but I left the camera in the car. Darn.

Sinter Klaas Weekend

Our Sinter Klaas weekend has become a very exciting tradition. This year Sinter Klaas was on Sunday. On Saturday we got our tree, decorated it, and slept under the tree. On Sunday Mel cooked a "lekker" Indonesian dinner and we ate with Grandma and Grandpa (you may wonder why we are eating Indo food on a Dutch holiday--Dutchies eat Indo food like those of us in the West eat Mexican food; Indonesia was a Dutch colony), then right as we were finishing dinner, Sinter Klaas came and left a giant bag full of gifts on our porch. Oh, oh, oh! Were we excited. Sinter Klaas is so practical. He brought our Christmas PJ's, our Christmas books, and our Christmas T-shirts. He even managed to get a hold of Anna's old Christmas shirt for Sophie. What a resourceful guy. Then each child got a small toy. It was a fabulous weekend full of fun family traditions.


Picking out our "fat" Christmas tree

Waiting so anxiously to decorate the tree.
We couldn't wait, so we put the star on a few times first.

All done and ready to go to bed.
I forgot to take pictures while we were getting ready for bed and reading a Christmas story, but I had to get up after everyone was asleep and work on a lesson and do midterms, so I took a picture of the kids really asleep under the tree.
Indonesian dinner on Sinter Klaas
Emptying the bag from Sinter Klaas
New PJ's

Thanksgiving

Around here, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season. The kids get so excited, and we do too. We spent Thanksgiving with the Jorgensen's, as usual. Thanksgiving isn't really popular in Holland. Mel always makes the joke that the pilgrims were celebrating their departure from Holland (if I remember correctly, the pilgrims made a brief stop in Holland before leaving for America). The Dutch-Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier, so we Americans have a pretty easy choice for where to spend Thanksgiving.

Anna as a pilgrim.

I got to go help with the Thanksgiving Feast in Anna's first grade class. It was so fun! I love being at school with Anna. I don't get to go very often because I am at work in the mornings, and I have a napping baby in the afternoons. I also got to help with the Halloween party, and that was a blast. I think Anna likes having me come as well, so it works for all of us!
Half way through the feast, Anna switched to the Native America hat. Have to be politically correct, right?

Here are out yearly turkey pictures. The kids have grown. If you care to see how much, flip back to November 2009 blog entries, and you can compare. I am too far behind on my blogging to spend time uploading pics that are already on here.

Big year for Sophie--sitting to standing--baby to toddler. Sad, but she is soooo cute!
Mr. T
My not-so-little-anymore little Anna.
It's always a fight over the turkey leg. T won.
Anna went with the next best thing: the wing ( it looked like a leg, so she was happy).
Soph is just happy to not be asleep. I tried to give her a nap, but Pops took mercy on her after one minute of crying and brought her out. I put her down again, and she kept hollering, "Papa, Papa." I wouldn't let him get her, so then she started hollering, "Gama, Gama." My mom doesn't have to listen to me, so Grandma rescued Sophie from the nap. My mom said she had to be pretty desperate to be hollering for Grandma, so she was going to get her.

Lots of Snow

We had a lot of snow early this year. The kids have had a blast. If you think Sophie was going to miss out on the fun outside, think again. Fortunately, we had just gotten some boots our cousin had outgrown (and who needs snowboots in Louisiana?!?!), so Sophie was equipped. The snow was really too deep for her to walk in, but she had fun being out with the other two.
Anna actually had strep this day and was home from school, but we seem to be developing a resistance to strep. We've had it 7 or 8 times in the last year. The kids hardly get sick. They just have a sore throat. And as you can see here, after a dose of antibiotics, they're good to go. Anna couldn't figure out why she couldn't go to school.


This picture is a bit blurry, but so funny with the big coats and the pose. Had to share.