It Came! It Finally Came!

This is the only picture I took on Christmas day. This is after all the gifts were opened and they were checking out what they got.
And Sunday morning before we head off to church. They each got new church clothes from Grandma and looked so nice.

Christmas is Coming!

Here is the tree all decorated and lit up. It is a monster! From the outside looking in you just see a big green blob. We thought the friends we went chopping with were crazy for picking out smaller trees. Next year we'll get a little bit smaller one. It is pretty though. Only tipped over once and when we turned it a little, we could hardly notice that it is crooked. Silly Elli. Can't wait for Christmas Day. They like to poke around and arrange their own gifts into piles then I come behind and redistribute.

It Got Cold!

We've had 2 snows that stuck around a while. Not a ton of it, but enough to make it pretty and to play in. Riley shovels and I stay inside and watch. The kids are getting snow clothes and boots for Christmas so they can stay out in it longer than 10 minutes without being soaked thru. I told a few of you I got arm warmers and here's the proof. I do feel like dancing whenever I put them on, but they don't keep me as warm as I thought they would when I bought them.

Isn't that Nice

When they think I'm not looking, they can be very nice to each other. That is why they squeaked onto Santa's Good List, barely.

Weight Loss Challenge

My friend, Christina from church, is starting a weight loss challenge. It's a competition that starts January 2nd and goes until April. Each contestant puts in $10 and the person with the biggest percentage of weight loss at the end gets all the money. She created a blog where the contestants have to post their weight each week. I am totally doing it! I don't have a huge amount of weight to lose, but I think the accountability each week will be just the motivation I need to get back on track. Looks like I need to buy a scale. If you want to join, let me know and I'll give you Christina's info to get started.

Chopping Down the Christmas Tree

So we had a real tree last year and loved how big and sturdy the branches were. Riley has some pretty large ornaments from his childhood that just about tipped over our little fake one. So of course we were going to get another for this year. I thought we'd go to a stand and pick one out, but our adventurous friends, the Willardson's, were going to chop down their own. We thought that sounded fun and tagged along. First we had to look for the perfect one. Everyone had an opinion. Then Riley had to saw and saw. It took longer than I thought.

Getting It Down the Hill

Adam got to bring the cart all the way up, so Elli wanted a turn to bring it down. Here are Adam and Amy standing back, thoughtfully giving Elli her turn.
Then upon seeing that it was too heavy for Elli alone, and after getting permission from Dad, they ran to her aid.
Heave Ho! With Adam behind and Amy on one side, the cart started to lurch forward.
Riley had to help steer and Elli, realizing that everyone was ruining her moment of glory, looks to the ground in despair.

Appalachian Trail

Another part of Riley's plan was to take us to part of the Appalachian Trail. Shortly after we started, we came upon a half shelter for hikers along the trail. The trail goes from Georgia to Maine, so they have these every 15 miles or so. They also have a notebook there to leave a little note to other passers by. Riley stopped for several minutes making the kids listen to entry after entry.Adam listening intently.
The girls breaking out the snacks. It was a 3-4 mile loop and we were excited to see the view from the top.

Climbing the Rocks

We knew the end of the trail was near because of all the rocks. Riley kept promising it was just over this climb.
No, just over this climb. Maybe not, but close.

At the Top

After all the rocks, we finally made it. Amy didn't want to get too close to the edge.Riley likes to point out all the landmarks he knows, but when I asked him where they were one more time to get a picture, he stopped.
All of them checking it out.