Early December

My dad's cousin Connie invited the Bull family to a Christmas party at their home in Harrisonburg the first Sunday in December. It's an annual event but the first year we've been able to make it. It was so nice visiting with everyone, and we had a great time doing the Thieves gift exchange.  Only managed one picture, and I'm not sure anyone else got any either. Too busy chatting (and eating) I suppose. 

Anabella with her namesake- my dad's aunt, Anna Belle (who we all call Aunt Bo). She was so loving with Anabella, sitting with her on the couch just rubbing her leg. It was so sweet.  

Mom and Granny went Christmas shopping with us one day during the week.
The kids checked out the arcade following lunch. Didn't even have to insert coins; they had fun just "pretending"....love 4 year olds! 

Santa was set up and they waved, but not about to sit on Santa's lap without Daddy. How cute! 

They love this trick mirror.

This little princess has been wanting to get her ears pierced since her Aunt Allie got her her first set of stick ons when she was 2 years old.  Ironically enough, at Connie's party just a few days before she mentioned it again after seeing that her cousin Callie (who is 18 months) had hers pierced. This time she mentioned it at the right time- at the mall as we were walking by Claires! I told her maybe after we ate. Sure enough, after we ate, she mentioned it again. Since I had Mom and Granny with me, I figured it was as good a time as any, so here she is.....getting her ears pierced! She cried a little, but was such a big girl. Her first pair of earrings- 14 carat gold birthstone- amethyst.  She LOVES them and is so proud. Hasn't complained once since those initial tears (there were two girls so they did it simultaneously). I suppose she was ready after all! About the time of her birthday (6-8 weeks) she can take out her birthstone earrings and try a new pair.  She loves wearing her hair behind her ears now. Always wanting a hair band so she can show them off.   

The kids building one day after school. (No, Anabella did not have ballet that day; that's just how she dresses when she's around the house- makes me cold looking at her, but that's what she likes.)

S on the "throne" he made.

The second Sunday in December we went to Mom & Dad's to do some baking.
I brought this gingerbread kit for the kids to decorate. Daniel wasn't much interested until everyone else was finished, but then he added a few finishing touches. Ryan, Alyssa, Hayden and Anabella also took turns, but we were so busy with the peanut butter balls we don't have any pictures of them.

Ryan Scott sampling the peanut butter balls before they were even dipped in chocolate!

Granny and I were the resident rollers. Anabella helped some too.

I forget what they were writing, but this was one morning at breakfast...looking cute in their Santa pjs from last year, a little snug but we can probably get a few more wears out of them. 

Anabella and I drove to Front Royal one night to see Sara perform in a Christmas program with the chorus at her school.

These turned out to be our Christmas card photos, but that's not what they started out as.....I was just taking pics of them one evening because they were so cute in their elf on the shelf jammies (which Michael brought one morning- more on Michael in a later post- yep, he's back!).

Getting their sillies out before bed....

I bought a Groupon from Target Photo Studio, which included 3 images on a CD- it was such a great deal I figured we'd get family pictures to give to the family as Christmas gifts.  Here we are just before we left. 

Solomon & Shilee didn't go to the studio with us, but we did get a few pictures of them later that night in their Christmas sweaters. 

Daniel loves string. This was one of his particularly good contraptions.

Has someone been watching too much Home Alone?

A house in our neighborhood with lights synchronized to music!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions- driving around looking at lights!

 Our studio pictures:

You know how I feel about studios.....but we had a great photographer and these turned out better than I expected. I think the parents (and grandparents) will be happy! 

One of my favorite to date! 

It was hard choosing between this and the vertical shot....can't beat Anabella's face in this one!
Good thing we got 3 images. There was also a good one of just me and Chip- got a sheet of that one, too.  

This is what happened when I sat down to do some wrapping one afternoon while the kids were playing in the basement.  Sol plopped in my lap, and Anabella ran over and asked how she could help. 

Shopping for our babysitter at Charming Charlie....we ended up with a gift card but sure did have fun in that store! 

Those first few weeks in December went super quick....