CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WITH THE OLDLANDS

Last Monday we went out to the Oldland's house to do some Christmas celebrating together. It was just really, really nice. The Oldlands had decorated their house so festively and we put together a combination of finger foods to enjoy. I think we got there at 2 o'clock and sort of ate all through the afternoon and evening. Bill and Jocelyn make some pretty good chicken wings! The children did some cookie decorating (and of course, a lot of finger-licking!)

A great activity for them to do.

There was some theological talk.

The finished product.

Eating the finished product.

She enjoyed herself even though she couldn't taste the cookies or the wings.

Jocelyn read a Christmas story to all of the children.

Jocelyn and Katrina

We ended the evening by singing Christmas carols together out of the hymnbook. That may have actually ended up being my favorite part of the day. So nice. Peter has many times taught that we are doing battle when we praise. Psalm 8 says, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. "
(Psa 8:2)

This was one of those times that I could more tangibly sense the reality of the foe being slain through the praises of his saints and especially the voices of the children.

DECORATING THE TREE

For once, the tree stood up straight and sturdy on the very first try. That must be a record. So, we did get to decorate it the evening that we had hoped to. This is Amelia's first year to participate and that was fun. She caught on quick and loved to daintily handle all of the little ornaments.




Oh, my! I actually made it into a photo! I was distributing the boys' ornaments to them.

I buy them each a new ornament every year. Cal got a sled.

Ben got a hedgehog. It really suits him.

Will really liked his deer.

And Sam got a lantern.

STRINGING CRANBERRIES

I have a few posts of some things we did before Christmas to put on before I get up to date and post our Christmas Day pictures. The kids (especially Samuel) just really wanted to string cranberries this year. I had done it with them at some point in the past and they didn't forget. After several times of asking, we finally carved out some time to do it. They strung up the berries while Peter did their evening reading from Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation. The berries are very pretty once they are hung up.

FIRST SMILE ON CAMERA

It's always hard to get a picture of a baby's first smiles. This was as close as we could get. This sweet dress was knitted for Amelia by my friend, Jennie Nolan and really looked cute on Cecily for this Sunday afternoon as she sat in on my conversation with Peter about baptism.

Not sure she likes to stand.

You must admire the cheeks. :-)

They must be kissed.

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS

Here's Ben with his candy all "arranged."

Bathtime

"What is that kissing me?"

Sunday afternoon

It's hard being so cute.

NEW CARPET

I thought I'd put in a few pictures of the new carpet making it's way into our basement. This is Peter helping the carpet-laying men haul it down. This is our basement with nothing in it! The carpet is coming soon!

Voila! This is the new carpet after the first day of labor (You can see that the stairs are still not done). We were able to begin putting our things away in the basement and so Peter is rearranging the books on the bookshelf. It was a big project.

MULTI-TASKING

I liked this picture because Peter is trying to get some work done on the computer, which is displaced into our living room because of the new carpet being laid in the basement, and at the same time helping Sam and Will with their schoolwork and holding Millie who just wants to be held. We do a lot of multi-tasking around here. Having many children makes you very good at it.

DAY 8 (LAST DAY)

Whew! I finally got through all these pictures of our trip! This last day was spent trying to find a cave to tour in Kentucky and then driving the remaining distance home. Every time we travel south we pass through Kentucky and go right by all of the caves they have there. We determined to try to stop this time and see what these caves were like. Unlike the area where I grew up, where the caves were air bubbles in lava flows, these caves were formed in limestone. There are a great deal of them in central Kentucky that offer public tours. We drove to several of them before we finally found one that had a tour that was at a good time for us and wasn't too hard for the kids. The cave we ended up going into was called Mammoth Cave and it is in Mammoth Cave National Park. As we drove through the park we saw quite a lot of deer, some very close to our car. We had to take a short bus ride to the cave entrance. I got the feeling that the bus driver wasn't very happy to see us. He's standing here taking our tickets. Maybe it was the fact that I was taking pictures of him. :-)

"We're really in a cave!"

This is the kind of cave that has paved pathways and electric lights that our ranger-guide turned on as we went. You can see a part of the hand-railing. We went into the part of Mammoth Cave that has the most formations. They were truly amazing. Though I've posted some pictures that I took of them, you can't really get the full effect from a photograph.

In this picture I am looking down. These stalactites were actually very long, reaching way below us. My camera strap made it's way into this picture and caught the majority of my flash, as you see. I had to take the pictures very quickly so that I wouldn't delay the tour.

One of the few living things that inhabits the cave are these cave crickets. (Sorry, we're interested in bugs.)

The boys were thrilled to actually have been in a real cave and we learned a lot from the information that the ranger gave on the tour. Very worthwhile. We got home pretty late that night because of it, but we were glad that we stopped.

ECONO LODGE

We thought it was a little humorous getting us all into one motel room to sleep. It worked out just fine though. We're all pretty used to being together. :-)