These two little ones bring so much energy to our house. It takes my breath away when I think about how but for God’s abundant mercy we’d never have known these darling little ladies.
Running errands with Tab.
Of course we stopped for a picture.
It’s not really THAT cold in the house!
Katriel’s haircut
It was a busy Wednesday. She’d needed a cut for quite a while. It’s just so hard to fit that kind of thing in. After we dropped off Marie, Tabitha, and Johanna at their program and Stewart at choir we headed to our friend’s salon. Only we didn’t know our friend didn’t work there anymore. Oops. And I didn’t know Katriel would fall asleep in the van on the way there. Oops. But as I scooped her out and gently woke her, she was intrigued by the idea. She sat so still and silently took it all in. Then when we went to pay she was offered a lollipop. And she found her voice. And she chatted all the way home about the experience.
Hitting the ice
The girls had so much fun last year with skating lessons they wanted to do it again.
The boys got to do free skate on the girls’ last day last year and they asked to do it this year.
It makes busy Wednesday even busier; but with Nan’s help we are making it work.
Bedroom re-do. Nine years later.
When we first closed on the house, we expected that we’d get the bright blue carpet out of our bedroom right off the bat. They we learned it was High Quality carpet, and it was in excellent shape.
We almost changed it last year.
Things lined up for us to approach this project again this year.
It’s all about timing. Moving all that furniture out and storing it in our already full house is half the battle. Then there is the time to paint, and the living in limbo. But, it worked out this year. So here it is.
The before pictures. The folding table is where we do lots of school.
What it looks like when you move a trunk.
Nigel was a champ helping Daddy pull up the carpet.
This was our model from the old house.
![[lr441436-6%255B3%255D.jpg]](https://i0.wp.com/lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5pnK14XGJTY/VM6j7xqyXwI/AAAAAAAAV0g/Dt_Z2TpgMng/s1600/lr441436-6%25255B3%25255D.jpg)
Let the painting begin.
It went SO quickly. I would have been done in two days…
If I’d painted it the right color.
Really.
Then I found the right color.
And our WalMart’s paint machine broke.
We got our first snow of the season that night keeping me from checking out the next closest WalMart then and there.
But I was there early the next morning, only to find out they don’t DO Glidden at that WalMart.
So I went to the NEXT closest WalMart. And eventually got started with the right color.
Oh yeah – not much different.
Then they called and said the carpet was ready a full two weeks before we expected it. Woooo hooooo.
So we camped out on the floor.
And made a few marks on the subfloor.
And they brought the carpet. What a fabulous smell.
All put back together. Nigel put the bed back together.
Love it.
So worth the wait.
New Year’s Eve
Food. Family. Friends. Fellowship.
Looking forward to 2016
Christmas 2015
We did a few things differently this year.
First – we put the Christmas tree in the family room and rearranged accordingly.
The second was that everyone FINALLY agreed to DO LESS. There were so many fewer gifts this year and that was such a blessing in many ways. 
We still had princesses galore. Because that is how we roll…
The boys got the same shirts from my sister as I had put in their stockings. Okay. One of the same. 
Marie got a blanket from Nene.
How to decide which dress to wear??
Mama and Daddy gave each child one gift under the tree and one in their stockings. Katriel got her very own princesses. She’s in the big leagues, now.
Johanna got the sleeve of princess Barbies. (As I am just putting this blog together on 2/1, I can tell you she has only played with them twice.)
Tab was elated with her Lego set. She received 4 on Christmas and spent 7 hours assembling them on Christmas Day.
Marie was speechless with her iPod Nano.
Nigel got a Lego set, as well.
Stewart got a new engine for his motorbike. (Which, ahem, still didn’t solve the problem.)
Each girl had another dress with her stocking.
And Marie got a case for her iPod.
The boys each had a t-shirt rolled into his stocking.
John gave me a treasure map that led to this beautiful piece of wall art. 
Tab’s dinner.
Really.
The rest of us had prime rib.
Christmas Eve
The weather was crazy-good. Short-sleeves and bare legs were a treat.
I am so blessed. They rock.
With more food than necessary, we enjoyed our long-time tradition of Christmas Eve festivities with our friends, the Brookses. More like cousins than friends, it’s nice to see the girls, especially, get to catch up on holidays.
We were also honored to have our friends, the Hoyts, join us this year.
We had a difficult time getting a photo of all the kids. Anna was having none of it. (We are kind of scary…)
Later we grabbed a photo of the Brookses and Butler’s moms and kids. We forgot to put our wreath up this year, so we have that family portrait reflecting the hanging lamp to look at. Oy.
This was 2008.
We then went to church for a beautiful candlelight service, and then to the Hoyt’s for a smorgasbord of more food.
Yum.
Dayspring Disciples 