Surprise! Nanah, Papa and Jordan came (December)

It was twin day at school.  William and Brooke were football twins. Happily, Spencer has enough jerseys and is willing to share. He also thinks twin day is stupid so he is not a twin.  Hailey got matching shirts with her friends.

We sang Christmas carols at the nursing home in town.  The kids love it especially since we already knew some of the people from our visits there.

Spencer was sick one day. Just an awful winter for sickness!  He stayed home and ended up coloring this whole map.  He was pretty proud of himself. He loves maps and America.

I was looking through my photo albums for something and came across this picture of Ryan and Ella.  I had to send it over to Monica.

My sweetie Brooke.

Hailey had a Christmas flute concert.

There are so many concerts during the holidays.  The boys stayed home with Blake because they had already seen this one.  The girls and I went out for ice cream after.  

Pajama day at preschool for William plus special helper day is pretty exciting!

I have no idea what this picture is about!  That's what happens when you get six months behind on your blogging.  Ahem.  But William is still super cute.

William's class got to go on the Polar Express in the school library.  He was very excited and still talks about it.  Hailey got to be a helper for the activity so that was a fun surprise.

Happy cleaning helpers.  Usually William is a great cleaner. I don't know why he was so grumpy here.

I was reading a book one night and Hailey fell asleep on me.  It was pretty sweet.  That hasn't happened in ten years I bet.

William loves snow and shoveling snow.  He helped Blake with some of our nastiest snowstorms!

Brooke and her mega fort.  She is the queen of forts.

I made fudge one day with my olive wood spoon from Spain.  I love using that spoon. It reminds me that we really did go there.

Brooke was having a great time in the snow. It was blowing like crazy and negative degrees.  She said she wasn't coming in till dinner.  She stayed out for hours until I made her come in by bribing her with cocoa.  She's a true Midwestern girl.

I could live without the snow but I do love how pretty our house looks in the snow.

Reading train one day.

Brooke helped organize the game closet.  It was a huge mess and usually twice a year, we have to start over and go through it again.

Winter temps are no joke.

We made Christmas treats for our neighbors and friends.  The kids loved delivering them and got to choose which treat they wanted to make.  The kids snuck the cinnamon roll popcorn downstairs and ate most of it. I can't blame them. It's so good.

This reminds me of me. I used to read and eat breakfast when I was young.  Still do sometimes.

Brooke has gotten into Ramona. I love it because she is alot like Ramona!

This sad plant had been neglected so I took a before and after picture.

William made a nail polish train.  This is what happens when you have boys and girls!

The sad plant a day later after some water.  Amazing how it just perks right up!

Blake and I kept the Grandparents visit a secret.  I was cleaning and getting everything ready and they showed up a few hours early.  The kids were so surprised! I tried to get a video but missed it because we had a naked kid getting out of the tub!  It was so fun to have them come. We haven't had any family for Christmas in Iowa.

Christmas morning movies.

Christmas jammies from Nanah.

Matching Bell boys.  Love this one!

Papa's legendary milk cake.  It was just as delicious as the first time he made it years ago!

Iowa being pretty.

William had a singing performance in preschool. It was the cutest thing ever and it was fun to have the Bells in town to see it. 

After the performance, they decorated gingerbread houses in the classroom.

William with his adorable ornament.

We were so proud of him!

We found a musical house nearby.  It counted as our Polar Express night this year because we ran out of time this year.

William playing chess at the library and kicking my butt.

Blake took his parents and Jordan to the John Deere museum and we went to the library.  Spencer could not go through the Christmas break without fresh books!

Cute reindeer ornament Hailey made at the library.

Of course, we had to take them to our favorite cupcake place.

Nanah and Spencer got the same flavor; Almond joy.

We made cinnamon rolls.  The first batch didn't work out and I was about to give up but we tried again and they were worth it!

Being cold and scraping the driveway.

Pretty Christmas Eve night.

We had our Jesus dinner again.  This year we made fish and it was a big hit.  It's my favorite part of Christmas.

The nativity.  We had more sheep than people this year!  Spencer was a wise man.

Grandpa reading the Christmas story.

Mary and Joseph

Hailey was shepherd.  Good thing because of all the sheep.

We played beanboozled.  The funniest and grossest game ever.

We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate his birthday cake.

Blake had planned a surprise for me.  I went out with Candy and he had bought new bedding and hung up the curtains I had had for a year.  I was so surprised!

Hailey got a special gift from a friend.

Hailey set up the treats for Santa and the reindeer.

Happy Christmas night.