Christmas Festivities

We have partaken (partook?) in some fun Christmas festivities over the last couple weeks, but it's been so busy I haven't blogged about it.  I thought I'd roll it all into one post, pretty much just because it's WAY past my bed time!

The first one was, of course, decorating the Christmas tree.  This year, Haley was the star decorator, continuing to add ornaments and adjust them long after everyone else was done.

We had a lot of fun going to a Christmas event that one of the local churches hosted, including a 50's diner, live Bethlehem village, a hay-ride, puppet show, bounce houses and a petting zoo.  The Bethlehem village was really neat and all three kids loved signing the census and making their own dreidels.  Seth immediately wanted to leave, though, once a group of Roman soldiers came through shouting "hail Ceaser"!

You can kind of see Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus behind the girls.

The hay ride was a big hit with the wee Webbers!

 I think one of our favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses.  Uncle Nate (my little brother) always makes some great houses for us to decorate, and this year was no exception.  In fact, this year, not only did he make house but he made dog houses, a church, a school house (complete with bell tower) and a manger.  We had such a great time decorating.  I don't have pictures but I actually managed to make a tether-ball in the school yard, and it's still standing, along with the flag that Laura made and the basketball hoop that Nate made!

This is the roof of the manger, which Haley decorated!

Abby spent a long time making a Santa to go on the roof of her house!

A new thing that we tried was making some Christmas gifts.  I found a recipe for birdseed ornaments, so last night Carey and I helped (hardly at all, actually) as the kids made a mess and some fun birdseed ornaments (of which I don't have pictures of the finished product)!

It's The Little Things!

Here in the Webber house we've had some wonderful things to celebrate.  To anyone else, they may seem like little things, but in my world they are a big deal and definitely blog worthy!

• We've now had two nights in a row of all three kiddos sleeping through the night (other than Seth coming into our bed at 4)
• Yesterday morning Seth slept until 6:30 (as opposed to his current normal, 4:45)
• Yesterday I took all three kids to Costco and we had a completely successful trip.  I was even getting looks from people that were like "oh, your kids are so darling and well-behaved" instead of the more common "I'm so sorry" or "I've been there too" or, the worst "just get out of Costco"!
• Two morning ago I was doing laundry and the kids played nicely together for a good 15 or 20 minutes.  It was a game they named "Throw things at Seth and he bat's them".  Haley and Abby were on the top bunk of the bunk bed throwing stuffed animals at Seth.  Seth was laying on the floor holding a bat, which he was using to "bat" the stuffed animals!
• When they were playing that game together, it didn't end in someone crying! 

Christmas Tree 2011

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we went to Johnson's farm to get our Christmas tree.  While we were there we ran into some friends, the Hughes, which was a fun surprise.  The kids loved feeding the chickens and the goats with their friends.  Once it was time to find a tree, Haley found a great one named "Gumdrop", but we decided it was a little too sappy.  Then, Laura found us a good one named "Buttermilk" and she was the winner!  So far, Buttermilk has been a great tree, although she is yet to be decorated!

We got yummy cookies and cider at the tree farm.

The kids with their friend, Aubrey.

Looking for the perfect tree!

The girls and "Gumdrop"

Here's our tree!

Taking the tree to the car

Happy 6th Birthday

Yesterday was Haley and Abby's 6th birthday.  I can't believe my sweet baby girls are 6 years old!  I'm going to let the pictures (and my captions) do the talking:)

They each individually told me they wanted to spend some of their own money to buy their sister a present.  They were so excited to exchange them:)

It was pj day at school, which they thought was a fun bonus to their birthday.

 

They LOVED their gifts!

Haley and Abby wanted a fairy, unicorn party, which Laura and I had SO much fun planning and putting together.  The girls got to decorate fairy wings, play fairy freeze dance, hunt for and then paint little fairy houses and run around and have lots of girly fun.  Each of the girls got to take home a cute little unicorn wand that Laura and I made and a little jar of "fairy dust" (aka glitter).

You can't tell how cute those streamers are, but they are real vines wrapped around tinsel garland.  Laura did an awesome job making them (and cute little tissue paper pom poms as well)!

Abby wanted a cake in the shape of a unicorn.

Haley wanted a cake with a unicorn on it!

I'm pretty sure Laura and I were more into the whole theme than the girls.  They loved the party, of course, but we loved the planning and decorating.

My friend Nicole was our AWESOME facepainter ((check her out on facebook))

Haley and her buddy are holding the adorable unicorn wands that Laura and I crafted.  I forgot to take any pictures of the wands.

All ready for cake!

Getting ready for the pinata!

This pinata was huge (as you can tell from this picture) and before the party it kept startling us when we would walk into the room and see it!  Carey actually kept putting it places to purposely startle Laura and I!

Picking up all the goodies from the huge pink unicorn that was destroyed!

Ears Pierced!

Yesterday Haley and Abby turned 6 years old and for their birthday they got to get their ears pierced.  They both did SUCH a good job, hardly even flinching when the earrings went in.  No tears, just lots of smiles.  They did both feel like ice cream would probably make them feel better afterwards, so we all went to Yogurtland!

Haley got little blue butterfly earrings.

Abby picked little pink heart earrings.

Baptized

Last Sunday, the day before Halloween, Abby and Haley got baptized.  It was such a special day and we were all so excited about it.  They had been asking to be baptized for a few months.  The weekend before, they had a little baptism lesson with the children's director of our church, and on the day before, we went to the church building for a little run through.  Rob, our pastor, had given us the questions that he was going to ask to us, as their parents, to the girls, and to the congregation, so we were able to talk about those through the week.

The morning of the baptism they were so excited and Carey and I were pretty emotional about it.  Seth cried a little because he wasn't getting baptized, and Abby offered to baptize him in our kiddie pool after the worship gathering!  She said she would remember everything Rob said and she would say those things to Seth.  Adorable.

The baptism service was so special.  Carey and I promised that we would raise them in the way of the Lord.  The girls promised to turn away from Satan and the ways of this world and to love and trust and follow Jesus.  The church promised to support them and pray for them in their spiritual growth.  Then they were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It was so special.  I definitely got teary eyed!  After their baptism they got to go and change into new, white outfits and then got to be the first ones to have communion. 

Oh, and the next day was Abby's share day at school, and I totally forgot to remind her in the morning so that she could bring something to share.  That afternoon her teacher told me that Abby told the kids all about getting baptized and having communion.  How sweet is that?

Haley and her friend, Lyric (who also got baptized), comparing swim suits before the service

cake for the girlies to enjoy after the service:)

Abby, Haley and Lyric in their cute white outfits, enjoying some cake:)

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was our most fun one yet, with Snow White, a pirate, and "Ariel getting married".  It started with a Halloween party the day before "real Halloween" (as my kids would say) that was so much fun.  On "real Halloween" the kids all dressed up for the parade at school (of course Seth had to dress up since his sissies were)!  We normally walk to school on Mondays, because there is a "walking school bus" that day, but we just couldn't quite get it together to leave early enough to make it.  We caught up to them, though, and we pulled over to park and walk the rest of the way with them.  Abby hopped right out and ran over to join them, and Haley basically froze with anxiety.  She's been SUPER self-conscious with her peers and being in her costume just freaked her out.  So, Abby walked the rest of the way with the walking school bus and Haley and Seth and I parked at school.  I really didn't think Haley was going to go to school, she was just so, so worried about what people would think of her costume.  She did it, though, leaving the awesome veil (I had made for her) in the car.

Seth and I ended up staying at school for most of the morning, watching the parade and then helping with the party and some crafts in Abby's class.

That afternoon we were supposed to go to the Halloween party/potluck at Carey's work, but it was just going to be too much.  Instead we were mellow at home (yes, that means we watched a movie) for the afternoon. 

After dinner some of our neighbor friends came over to trick or treat with us and we all headed out for some candy!  We ran into a couple other families from the neighborhood, both of which have kindergarteners at the same school Haley and Abby are at, so we turned into quite a big pack.  After about 20 minutes Seth declared that his bag was full (it wasn't) and he was ready to go home.  He and I came home and he downed about 4 Pixie Stix!  We hadn't been home very long before Uncle Nate and Abby came back.  She had gotten too scared with all the decorations and was ready to come home.  I don't actually even know how far Haley and daddy went, but she has noticeably more candy than her brother and sister!

ready for the Halloween party

Haley in the Halloween parade at school

Abby in the Halloween parade

All ready to trick or treat!