Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots

The title is the name of one of the books Ava got for Christmas from her Aunt Shelli. How fitting for a little girl in our family! Anyone that knows us very well knows that we enjoy hiking very much, but our little girl also likes her princesses!!! The girls got several books for Christmas and I think Nathanial and I are both enjoying the new reading material!!!

Aspen went ahead and turned one even though her mommy wasn't ready for it!!! Nelda took her birthday pictures (they are gonna be GREAT!) and we had a small party for her on the 20th. She devoured her cake, just like her sister she has a MAJOR sweet tooth! She got into opening her gifts a little more than I remember Ava doing. It is so fun to watch them rip into the wrapping paper and then squeal with delight when they see the new toy!!

Gabe enjoying a cupcake too!

Christmas this year was pretty relaxing. We spent the evening and night at my mom and dad's this year since we didn't put up a Christmas tree, so we could have a tree to put our gifts under in the morning. Ava went on "pretending" that Santa was real!! :) Nathanial rode his bicycle the whole 25miles to my mom and dad's!! It took him 3 hours! Christmas day we went to Nathanial's parents for the day. I think this was the least stressful Christmas ever. It was nice to just relax and enjoy time with our parents. The girls got tons of stuff of course. We watched a video that our friends in india had professionally done raising awareness of the work they are doing and it brought back memories, which made our Christmas seem a bit overkill. I hope to instill in my children that it is wonderful to give gifts, but to never lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas in all of it. And that there really are children all over the world who aren't loved by so many people and showered with gifts. But these children are loved by Jesus and when we love them we are loving Jesus. I hope that they go out and really love the unloved and don't hold them at arms length and just talk about the "poor little kids". Its so easy for me to do that.




On to the "project". Nathanial like me to update on the house. Things are progressing. The front porch is nearly done. The inside is ready for electrical, plumbing, and heating and cooling work. The addition has been started!!! And siding has been ordered and should be here soon!! Things are moving along!! Well, I hope everyone has a fun New Year's Eve.... we are hoping to!



One last thing! Congrats to Mandi and Andre on their new addition to their family. Ella is absolutely beautiful! I love her to pieces already!