Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! We were thankful that everyone was well for Christmas and that the cold Ryan is fighting has stayed mild. Here are the kids on Christmas morning opening up their stockings.

Painting ornaments

Last Christmas, Jorie and I decided it would be fun to make our own ornaments. So, we brought home some really pretty clear, glass ornaments and painted them all different colors. This year, we decided to continue the tradition and we bought some different styles to paint. Joshua painted a little wooden sled and Jorie painted a snowflake and a gingerbread man. We used jewels to decorate the snowflake and gingerbread man. :) Jorie also painted a little dog house for her stuffed dog. Christmas crafts are so fun!

Gingerbread house

A very fun tradition in our family each year is putting together/decorating gingerbread houses. Ryan felt he was too old to participate this year. But, Jorie and Joshua really enjoyed putting their house together and of course, tasting some of the decorations too. I usually give each child a side. So, Jorie worked on one side and Joshua took the other with a little help from mommy. I think they did a pretty good job. :)

Christmas pictures

We took several pictures of the kids yesterday for our Christmas cards. Although we didn't end up putting this one on the card, it was one of my favorites for sure. :-)

winter wonderland

The kids have really been enjoying the snow! I just loved these pictures of Jorie and Joshua with their daddy.

Spirit week at school

Last week was spirit week at Ryan's school. He participated fully in "crazy hair" day and "college" day. Here he is with his wild hair style right before school.


And here he is all decked out in his favorite college football team's clothing. He also had some Oregon Duck magnets stuck to the back of his chair and used the wrist bands to go around his side head supports. I thought that was pretty clever. :)

The Nutcracker

We enjoyed a special time with our only daughter last weekend. We took Jorie to see the Nutcracker ballet performance. Central Oregon School of Ballet puts it on each year. Had Jorie remained in ballet, she actually would have gotten to be in it too! But, with all of the illness we experienced the first part of fall, she had to miss too many rehearsals. She may still pick up ballet again someday. For now, we are taking it easy with just school!