merry

It's the Christmas season and we are enjoying it!  I have been partaking in Christmas music for quite a while already, but we put up the tree about a week ago, and I just love having it up.  Mike helped me get the little trees on the porch set up, and I just got candles for a few of the windows - it's all so pretty.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend.  Thanksgiving Dinner was at VanBeek's, and almost all of Mike's family was able to be there.  On Friday we ended up going up to the cottage overnight and had such a nice time!  Harold and Kara were up there with their kids, and Friday night we just hung out, then Saturday we took a drive to look at some land for hunting.

Monday evening we celebrated Caleb and Logan's birthday with grandparents.  And then Tuesday was their SEVENTH birthday!!  I can hardly believe it.  My little babies are big boys now!  It is so much fun watching them become their own persons with different interests, talents, and personalities.
Thursday evening was the school Christmas concert.  Caleb, Logan, and Levi were all a part of it, and they did great!  They were all three up front at the same time (with the rest of the elementary), standing in different spots, and it was hard to keep an eye on all three at the same time.  :)  I didn't want to miss what one person did just because I was watching another...

Friday night we were able to get a piano from some friends.  We brought over pizza and hung out a bit, then moved the piano from their place to ours.  We put it in Jackson's room as we don't really have another good spot, and everyone's enjoying it so far.

Saturday afternoon was our first family Christmas party of the season.  With my mom's side at my parent's house.  Nice to see some of the family that we don't see very often.

Yesterday afternoon was our first real, accumulating snow of the year.  The boys had fun playing outside!  We even took Jackson outside for a bit and he seemed to enjoy it.

Jackson is ALMOST walking.  Definitely going to happen soon!  He has taken 1 or 2 small steps, and is much more steady standing on his own.  He says bye-bye and waves, and a couple times has said nigh-nigh.  So fun to see him picking up on different things: he'll hold one of his toy phones up to his head and 'talk', the other day he grabbed one of his shoes and held it by his foot, when I go in the bathroom with him he puts his finger by his ear knowing I'm going to clean his ears, and a little while back when he had a runny nose, not long after I had wiped it, he took his hankie out of the backpack and kinda wiped his nose.  He has been doing a little climbing, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Levi is still pretty focused on farming and combining.  And, he's often looking for ways to work and be a helper!  Love the initiative I see in that guy.  The other day he did say something about missing me some when at school ("When Silas gets sad and misses his mom, I miss my mom, too").  Sweetheart!

Loving Mike's off-season!  We just eat up all the family time.  Every day it's a pleasant surprise when he gets home from work at such a reasonable hour.  And, of course, Friday's off are AWESOME.