Preparing for Christmas

Believe it or not, but this blog gets me up-to-date!

The other day, Wally got mad at me...

As a family tradition, we like to chop down our Christmas tree. Or in Iowa, we like to watch some cold schmuck cut it down for us after we find the perfect tree among many perfect trees at a Christmas tree farm. It is still a fun way to kick off Christmas. Wally sure likes his Daddy and does whatever Daddy does. He's a good helper too! Our Christmas tree and little man. To help pass the time while we wait for our kids, I made baby blankets for Brother and Sister. Wally helped me chose the fabric. The blankets are just simple fleece tie blankets, but it was fun to do, and now Brother and Sister will have nice warm blankets when they come home, just like Wally. I realize now that I don't have a picture of the final blankets (Wally took this one for me.). In Sunday school Wally learned "Go Tell it on the Mountain" to sing at the Christmas program. He sure loves that song and really rocks out. After watching the video, I wish I had gotten a full-body shot!

The preschoolers and Kindergartners were dressed as angels. Here is our Angel playing marbles in front of his menorah. (The kids are learning about all sorts of different holiday traditions around the world at Kinderfarm.) Our Angel ready to sing at church.

This is a horrible church photo of Wally singing their first Advent song in the program. He ran right up when it was time to sing. However, when it was finally time to sing Go Tell it on the Mountain, the kid freaked and wouldn't go up. Bummer. I was wanting to see him rock out!
Wally and I were shopping and he saw this fairy Christmas tree in a store and really wanted me to take his picture. ????Ah, the black eye.Tough kid.I still feel bad that I didn't realize how bad he hit is eye during the night. At least he got a good nights sleep, which he wouldn't have gotten if I had turned lights on and iced it. It's now in the ugly yellow-green stage. Amazing how quickly he heals.I guess as karma, I slammed my finger in my closet door and truly thought I broke it. It immediately started turning colors and swelling. I had never seen anything expand so quickly! It is still tender, but functional, so I must not have broken it. Last time I try to put my shoes away! Joel's Aunt Tammy sends Wally a Christmas ornament each year. This year he got his "very own jingle bell ormament!
Joel loves his dogs and took this picture. So, to respect my husbands loves, I've posted it here.

We went to see the all-time very best Santa ever again this year. He is always at the mall near our house, so it is handy. Not sure if you can really see, but Wally dressed himself with one snow boot and one shoe. The kid is a nut!

Santa has the best Ho Ho Ho, is great with kids, and really does his research in the toy department. Wally couldn't believe how Santa remembered when his teachers at Kinderfarm were little girls!

Santa is good and Wally can't wait for Santa to come.

Like last year, Sander and Levi joined us in visiting Santa. Here, Santa was asking Sander if he knew the kid on his lap.

Wally and I have also been busy making Christmas treats. Wally helped me crush graham crackers with his screwdriver. Maybe I have a bit of my Grandma Wynja in me, but I think I went a bit over-board with how much stuff we made. Its Christmas though!

We received a package in the mail from our adoption agency, CWA, on Saturday. They sent us gifts from Ethiopia that staff had picked up on previous trips. Though not the referrals like Joel had thought the package was, the gifts are wonderful. I'm wearing a bracelet that makes me feel a little bit closer to Brother and Sister. In the picture, you can see Wally in a shawl/scarf holding a picture on black fabric made of bark or grasses or something natural. The other day Wally said, I hope Brother and Sister are home for Christmas. God has a plan, and they will be home at exactly the right time (we just wish that time were right now!).

Thanksgiving in Broadus

We made it to Broadus with fine roads (turned out the horrible blizzard never came). Thankfully, everyone else (Ryan and Eric and families) made it too.

Wally had been talking about playing marbles at Gramma Kathy's house, so during Gramma's lunch hour, his wish came true and he got to play with Gramma and the marbles! (Moose found some sparkles to watch, too!)
As I was looking at the pictures from Thanksgiving, it became very clear to me how special family is. It also became clear that it doesn't matter how a family is made. What makes a family is love, and that is what is shown in these pictures.

Jenna, Molly, and Wally found a fun way to use Gramma Kathy's new couches. I guess being in Broadus brings out the cowboy in all of us. Pretty sure Jenna is going to be a performer!

Wally, Jenna, and Molly all found some of Kathy's old dresses to try on.

Great Gramma Camilla. Isn't that color pretty on her?

Circling toys in toy catalogs (and playing with flashlights) sure is fun.

Whenever we get together with Great Gramma, Wally always finds a way spend some special time with her. He definitely knows special people when he sees them and how to include everyone.

Autumn and her Great Gramma.

Wally...

And, Wally being Wally...

Cousins, Autumn and Molly.

The chefs, Ryan and Kathy. (Thanks for doing all the cooking. The food was fabulous!)

Pre-Thanksgiving Feast story time with Autumn. Molly, Jill, Jenna, and Kailyn enjoyed some quite time while learning about the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

The whole gang together for the feast.

Eat your heart out Jason! SIX pies!

Magic tricks with Aunt Amy.

Since we aren't getting together for Christmas this year, we had a little early Christmas on Thanksgiving night. Three very excited kids.

A gramma + grandkids = lots of smiles!

Brothers. (Look at those eyes!)

Ah, throw in a little nutty one too!

What could it be? A pink bank for Wally from Molly! (With cars from Jenna to follow - no worries, one of the cars was pink too!) Thanks!

Wow Gramma! Just what I really wanted. Moon sand! Can we play now and turn your house into a sandbox?

Wow Gramma! Just what I really wanted! Marbles of my very own! This is how much I love you!

How does this think work?

A get together with Ryan and Amy wouldn't be the same without Catan.

Sadly, I always manage to forget my camera when we go to Steve and Cindy's house. We started, which we hope will continue, a tradition of getting together the day after the holiday for Spam casserole. It was great to see all of you!

We drove back to the Reder Ranch to make our drive home a little shorter. While there, we decided to bust out the marbles. Not sure who had more fun, Wally or Papa Randy!

Love is what makes a family, and we have been blessed with the best family ever! We love all of you!

The Pre-Thanksgiving Party in the Blackhills

Since driving from Iowa to South Dakota and Montana, well, sucks, especially during the winter, we decided to have a nice long Thanksgiving trip and visit both of our families, so that we could stay home at Christmas and miss one drive.

Wally loved to just sit in Papa's lap and do whatever (well, mostly he liked to play Daddy's ipod while in Papa's lap). Papa doesn't seem to mind.
Thankfully, Reder and Ruby (and Jason and Katie - apparently not pictured anywhere) made it safely the day after us.Wally and Ruby are two-peas-in-a-pod. Their personalities could make them siblings!It was cold, but we managed to get some sledding in. This was all the camera could handle before the battery froze, so this is what you get. Wally obviously had a great time coming down the hill with Grandma Mary!

Is that Wally? The kids had fun with a wig that Grandma Mary used to wear back in the day.The kiddos also had fun putting on a puppet show in me and Jason's old tepee.Because the kids love to play in "Reder's Room" (aka Grandma and Papa's closet), I got them glow-in-the-dark magic wands.It's like they've never done magic before!

If you want to know what goes on in "Reder's Room," you just need to be sneaky!

There's something special about cousins (and baby oranges).Our family.A nasty blizzard was predicted to hit the night before we were going to head to Broadus, so we made a quick decision to throw everything into the car and try to make it to Broadus before the big storm hit. Wally circled toys he wanted in a toy catalog and played ipod the whole way there. What a good traveller!

Though we didn't get to see the Bozeman Daughenbaughs for very long, it was a ton of fun. We always have a great time together. We miss you guys!