Gingerbread Party!

We recently attended one of our favorite Christmas traditions, our dear friends' annual Gingerbread Party! We are so grateful to our sweet friends for hosting about 100 people every year for a big Gingerbread House competition.

The kids each make their own Gingerbread houses from graham crackers and icing. Each family brings a bag or two of candy, and helps clean up the ensuing mess. We have so much fun watching the kids (teenagers included) use their creativity.

Below are pictures of our houses. The pictures were taken on my cell phone, thus the poor quality.

Erin really loves candy. She took this home with her, she didn't actually eat it.

Angel ate hers, though:

Those of you who know her aren't at all surprised.

Adoption Shower Pics

These are some of my dear friends, who hosted an Adoption Shower for our family recently. The kids all had so much fun, we had an inflatable obstacle course and an inflatable bounce house for them, so the parents could enjoy their time together! This was a very special day for our family. Thank you, sweet friends!

Deflating the bounce house

Foosball & Air Hockey Champions

Thanks again, friends, for a wonderful memory!!!

I am blessed

By the best friends in the world. Thank you, my sweet friends, for last night's party. It was such a blessing to our family, as you are a blessing to me. I thank the Lord for bringing you into my life!

Fun with Friends

In the summers, we enjoy playing with our neighbors.  The weather has been warming up quickly here, and Mr. Dave and Mrs. Shelly invited us to bring our new sisters over to swim.  They can't yet swim well, so we kept them safe with life jackets.  Mrs. Shelly said we can give them swimming lessons in their pool this week.  I think they will learn quickly.

Here, Wendy is riding a Sea-Doo water rocket toy.  She is able to control its speed, and had so much fun with this!  We were very proud of her & Dora for trying it. 

Mr. Dave's pool doesn't have a slide, so Lil Yoda and our neighbor created their own!

Dads are way more fun in the pool than moms.  Daddy played Mr. Flipper for about an hour.

Dora, chillin' with her books and grape soda.   Ain't she cute?

The Daddy Ride again.  :)
And again.  We don't know why he has a bad back...
Dora & Angel, floating on their backs.  Nevermind that they are lying on a step.  They also impressed us by putting their faces underwater.  Angel is especially good at holding her breath underwater.

Here, we are playing at "our lake."  This huge float was a house-warming gift from a friend.  Half of it is a deck, and half has a net that the kids can sit in (or cannonball into), so that they are in the water but still safe in the tube.  And, we discovered, it can comfortably hold at least 8 kids and one adult.

I told Padme she looks as though she is stranded in a flood, except that this water is ankle deep.

Refreshing

This week were blessed to babysit for my lifelong friend's 3 & 5 yo children. We had such a wonderful day doing preschool activities, playing dress-up, playing cars & planes, working puzzles and cooking in the pretend kitchen.

This is such a fun age. Those of you with preschoolers, enjoy them! There will soon come a day when all problems can not be solved with a popsicle, and kissing it no longer makes it better. These are precious years and they pass so quickly.

What a refreshing day! Thank to my dear friend for sharing your sweet little blessings with us!