December 2019!

December 2 - Christmas Tree Hunt at the Family Farm

December 3 - Christmas decorations and stories

December 5 - Berg's turn to put the star on the tree

December 6 - Co-op Christmas party and Eben's Choir Concert

December 7 - Christmas Brunch and Lego Competition

December 10 -  Christmas cookies and making nativities

December 15 - Christmas Pageant at LC3

December 20 - See Dada's Christmas decorations at work and bring them cookies

December 21 - Star Wars movie, Youth Group Christmas Party, making the gingerbread

December 22 - White Christmas Sushi party with the Norquists and Miss Lissette's birthday

December 23 - Gingerbread Party with the Schocks, Holmes and Poplins

December 24 - New Christmas Eve plan - the Jingle Bell 5K Run at Wright Park with the Nobles and Norquists

Mama and Dada won the costume prize - an apple pie

then out to Legendary Donuts

Christmas Eve service

Home for Advent - one advent for each kid: lighting the advent candle, the calendar, the love jar, lighting the tree, special drink, reading the scripture, peppermint wreath, candy box, and pick a stocking.

then we open our Christmas jammies and watch a Christmas movie while Dada works on smoking his brisket (which ended up taking all night - he didn't sleep!)

December 25 - Christmas Day!! We sing, "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blow out the candles on his cinnamon roll birthday cake, read Luke 2, open stockings, have breakfast and open presents while Mimi, Grandma and Grandpa, and Anny are there, then the rest of the mama family comes over and we do our scavenger hunt (a ski vacation!), play games, open more presents, play with toys and feast.

December 27-28 - At Whidbey Island with Dada's family we go on walks, have puzzle competitions, play games, watch TV and Miss Toni and Paul come to give them their massage presents.

December 30 - Rhein Haus with the Adams

December 31 - New Year's Eve Polar Bear Party

Opal made polar bear cookies, Eben, Kivi, Jasper, Berg and Pella polar beared

10:00 Crew                              Midnight Crew

Happy Hummingbird, Butterfly Ninth, Opal!

Opal decided on a Hummingbird, Butterfly party to celebrate her ninth year! We threw her a beautiful tea party with lots of sweet decorations and made many banners, coffee filter butterflies and hummingbirds. 

When the girls first arrived we also made some coffee filter crafts and cut-out bird and butterfly crafts.

Then we had our delicious birthday tea lunch. Scones, eclairs, cheesecakes, three types of tea sandwiches, fruit and of course a self service tea bar with plenty of cream and sugar.

Opal enjoying a cheesecake treat.

After the tea, Dada hid a butterfly in the yard and the winner got the largest candy hummingbird egg - (a Cadbury egg) it took them almost an hour to find it, of course some of them got side tracked and played out there, but they loved it and even wanted to do it a second time.

Then all of the families came and we celebrated with a caramel brownie as a cake and opened presents.

Then we attempted to let kids hit the butterfly piñata, but it only made it through two kids and Opal smashed it open. Fastest piñata ever.

Opal's Ninth Birthday Kissing Picture!

Opal Whitney Johnson. Our one and only O. You can be the sweetest little lollipop girl or the roughest toughest cowgirl this side of the Mississippi. You can give, love, lead and serve one day and and want a day all to yourself the next. You keep us guessing all the time. We never know. You love doll house, Kivi, your Coally, eating sweets, Studio C, tea for snack and make-up with Pella. You are doing 4th grade math with Jasper, T&T in Awana and read excellently. You surprise us, delight us, frustrate us and enlighten us. You grow us in so many ways. You teach us. You keep us close to God. If we didn't have you we might think we're doing all this parenting by our own power. But you help us know that we don't know everything. We will never be the reason that you kids are amazing. We are all God's children and we need Him everyday. He's the One who has this life stuff all under control, not us. Trust Him and you'll do great! We love you, Opie! Happy 9th Birthday!

Christmas Eve 2016!

This Christmas Eve, Peter had a great idea! We woke all the kids up early and headed to the Seattle Sheridan to see their display of amazing gingerbread houses. I can't believe he's never told me about this before. It was so great! The sculptures were beautiful, and to make it even better - the six "houses" (if you could call them that, they were actually pieces of edible art) were all Harry Potter themed this year! A sculpture for each book. So it kind of felt like they were created just for us, that, and the fact that we got there so early in the morning we were just about the only ones there to see them. Mama and the girls wore our last year jammie pants, knowing that tonight we would open our new ones.  Then Dodie and Uncle Cheese and Kookie and Buggy met us there.

After walking around the display a couple of times, (each time seeing something totally new because there was so much detail in each piece) we walked down to Pike Place Market for some yummy donuts and then Shmee took me to the Crumpet Shop and I had my first ever crumpet. Both were pretty wonderful! It was a sweet morning.

Our daily morning advent traditions for the month of December only changed a little this year, we just had to add two more advent activities because Tuffy was ready to join the fun and I took out the "wait" day. So now the activities are light the advent wreath, have a cup of tea that morning at devotions, put the character on the nativity, serving jar, pick a prize out of the big stocking, light the tree and pick 3 candies out of a sock and share with 2 siblings. Of course the candy ones are always their favorites.

Christmas evening we went to church for candlelight service and had to sit in the foyer because it was so crowded, so it wasn't very dark for the candlelight part - the overhead lights were on most of the time. Then we came home and opened the traditional white boxes...

Surprise! Matching Christmas jammies! Mama made them out of sheets from Mimi.