Christmas Day!

So I was going for the cute Christmas morning all the kids on the stair just waiting to see the tree picture my parents always got of us....but it was too cold in our unheated stairway...they all look in pain.

I couldn't possibly get pictures of all the gifts these people received so I tried to get sweet smiles of each as they revel in their surprises.  Usually I feel our Christmas' are a bit over the top but this year it seemed reasonable and hearts were happy.  We invited several people for afternoon dinner but at the last minute most were not able to come so it ended up being a nice quiet family dinner plus one.  perfect.

Christmas Eve we had enchiladas and two wonderful families over.  I am missing two boys in this pic that hadn't arrived yet....Nykolas was very relieved when they arrived....too many girls in this crew!  It was an evening filled with laughter....the best kind of evening!  It's been a long time since Chad and I have lived near couples we both enjoy....laughing at marital flaws and raising kids....makes us feel normal again.

One of my favorite things about December is our daily advent celebration.....every day we read a story following the lineage of Jesus through the old testament up until his birth. Here is the reading of the first day by Ann Voskamp:

'One bite of a fruit right there in the Garden and our tree of life fell.

Our hopes all crashed to the earth and the whole planet groaned and we've lived our whole lives like stumps.  Cut off from God.

And then out of our fallenness, out of our cut down tree, springs this singular fragile shoot.  It's the only hope we've got.

Out of a family line of obscurity, poverty and small account, comes a King. God is in the business of clothing the neglected and unexpected in royal robes.

And out of the last and forgotten son of Jesse, comes forth one tender branch that will grow into a crown of thorns.....a rugged....our ladder back to God.  Jesus will go to impossible lengths to rescue us.

It's out of the stump of that fallen tree, watered with the living waters that flow from his grace, that a twig sprouts that will be the sceptre that defeats sin.....and lets us grow again.

Today we begin Advent.  Today we begin the season of waiting....yearning.  Today we can feel it coming already - this new life stirring.'

The older I get and the more I comprehend the more thrill and anticipation I find in advent....the story continues even now and I get to play a small part in the story that is still being woven of redemption of the people God loves.......

The Ballerina

This little one was so excited about her performance.  We played it up to the fullest...getting dressed up, flowers, dinner out afterwards.....she glowed. A great way to spend the day before Christmas Eve.

how we keep the little one occupied

they wanted to be twins tonight!!

Nykolas is NINE!

the coaches

the cheerleaders

winning goal!

It cannot be that this gift of ours is already nine!  A bunch of friends, a fun game, and cake!  What more could a boy want?

Science Day

A friend teaches English at a science university and put together a day where her students demonstrate simple experiments to English speaking kids, obviously in English.  It was the rainiest coldest day so far this year and it was a bit of trouble getting there but it was worth it.  The kids had a blast!

pretty proud of her balancing skills

Kidzania

so much to see!

a job at an ice cream shop

vetinarian

a customer at Clinique

fireman

nurses training

soccer pro

hospital nusery

gas station attendant

Noa crashed...

car rental customer.....they had to take a test to obtain their license!

Ok, so I had heard of Kidzania as there is one in Osaka but had never been.  This place is so cool!  A kid sized world where children can obtain bank accounts, use ATMs, get jobs, shop, drive.....test out their future skills.  I thought it would be a place where we adults could sit back and watch the kid sized world go round but it's so big and all seven kids went in different directions so the four adults ended up running in multiple directions at one time! Whew!