Our little missionary

So, we have talked to Blake about being a missionary someday and most of the time he says "No way" Lately he's getting more okay with the idea. He's such a wiggily kid that we often wonder if he gets anything at all out of church.

Well, last week we found out that he indeed is getting something out of church. His babysitter has a 3 year old daughter that Blake has grown to love and they often act like brother and sister. My sitter does not take her children to church or talk to them about God unless they ask her a question. It's a long story as to why this is but I digress.

My sitter Paula said that her aunt or someone had sent a Christmas Book to Victoria (the 3 year old) Blake saw the book and asked Victoria if she'd like him to read it to her. As he's reading the story of Christs birth to her she says "Blake, who is Jesus?" Blake says "Victoria, do you not know who Jesus is?" He starts to tell her about Jesus and the story of his birth. Of course this was in 7 year old terms. When he was done Victoria said "Blake, is this true" He said "Every word of it"

When we talked about this later, we pointed out that he was being a missionary. Maybe there is hope after all.

Christmas memories

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. The years seem to be really flying by as I get older. Christmas Eve marked 4 years since my mom passed away. I'm so thankful to know I will see her again someday. She left me with some very sweet memories until then.

We had a wonderful Christmas. Good food, great family, wonderful memories, I couldn't ask for more. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Santa stopped by to visit. Blake is on to the fact that it wasn't the real Santa. He said "Mom, I know that was just one of Santa's helpers" "Santa is busy delivering presents tonight" I think it's the beginning of the end of the magic of Santa. I hope we get a couple more years out of it.


My niece and nephew.

Blake's haul from Santa. This year we didn't buy presents for each other. We adopted a family instead. It was fun to shop for them together and then imagine their faces as they opened the presents yesterday. We don't know who they were and vise verse. We were hoping to teach Blake that it's more about giving then receiving.

His grandma got Blake a digital camera. He's ready to take some pictures. Well, once we get some AAA batteries.

The cousins.

Blake was in lego heaven. He has spent hours building his new sets. This is my favorite toy for him and I'm glad he likes them so much. It's much better than sitting in front of the TV playing a video game.

Blake in the aftermath. The slinky never goes out of style.

Life is good!

Oh Chirstmas Tree Part 2

It took a few days but the tree is finally decorated. Now I need to get my cards out and wrap presents and...and..and...lol I refuse to get stressed about what is left to do. I am determined to slow down this year and enjoy the spirit of the season.

Oh Christmas Tree

We have lived in Oregon for 16 1/2 years and we have never gone and cut down our Christmas tree. We've gone to the same lot all these years. But this week we changed that. We decided to find a tree farm and go for it. I'm so glad that we did. We had so much fun. We drove out past the golf course and just kept going until we found one that looked like it was open.

The property was beautiful. It was up high and had a fantastic view. The ground was frozen solid so no mud. It was freezing cold but that just added to the trip. We found the right one right away.

Here is it is......

Our friends came with us.

Erik, Blake and Laura. Can you hear Laura's teeth chattering.

Looks like we have a new tradition.