Christmas program

The kids had their annual Christmas program at church this weekend. They all did a great job!

Audrey and Liam were both angels. They memorized all their lines and sang beautifully on the songs.

Ethan's preschool class came up and sang "This Little Light of Mine." He, too, loves being on stage. Seems to run in this famly!

new ornaments

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,
Thank you very much for our new ornaments! We picked out our very favorites.
Love - Audrey, Liam and Ethan

christmas tree

It was a great weekend. The perfect combination of rest and productivity. And the Christmas tree is up!

'tis the season!

Outside lights are up. Christmas music plays almost all the time. And we visited Santa this morning. We're off to a great start!

Oh - and looked what arrived at my door today! Such a sweet surprise from the nicest neighbors in the world. Thank you Thompsons.

stress

This is absolutely the best thing I've ever read about stress:
http://www.incourage.me/2011/11/because-thanksgiving-is-more-than-a-holiday.html

It was written by Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts. It's honest, and beautiful, and the desire of my heart. Thankfully, the creator of this heart of mine knows. And cares. And will not give up on making me more like Him. For that I am thankful.

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I somehow deleted my entire list of favorite blogs. I now have to re-enter them one.at.a.time. If you notice any that I'm missing, would you please let me know? Thanks!

Disneyland pictures

Brace yourselves - for more pictures than you probably care to see!

The four of us at the airport waiting for our plane to board. We've been up since 4:00am but so excited no one is feeling tired!
On the shuttle from the airport to our hotel. Getting a little bit goofy!

Waiting to enter! You do lots of waiting in line at Disneyland. Probably a good experience for these homeschooled kids!

The kids watched several vacation-planning dvd's before we left and knew that they wanted Splash Mountain to be their very first ride. I tried to warn them that it's pretty scary and maybe we should work our way up to it. No one listened to me. It ended up being our very first ride - and our very last. With many, many in between! A family favorite, for sure. These pictures are taken during the 50 foot straight-down drop.

Singing "Jingle Bells" with Farley.

Disneyland is even more amazing than usual this time of year. Every night the park is transformed into a winter wonderland - complete with snow falling! It's beautiful.

The vacation package we bought included one character meal. I had heard that the food at "Ariel's Grotto" is great so that's where we went. It also includes a parade of princesses and photo opportunities. Our little "princess," however, is not interested in those princesses so we just did a family photo instead.

We had a ball exploring Tom Sawyer Island.

On our short walk from our hotel to the park.

The only character photo my kids cared about was this one with a Storm Trooper!California Screamin' is a very scary roller coaster. Our kids loved it!

The highlight of the trip was Jedi Training Academy. I had been warned ahead of time that not all kids in the audience get to participate. So we were delighted when both kids got picked! So much fun!

When Patrick and I were last at Disneyland (we think about 11 years ago) we fell in love with a show called Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. It's a bluegrass show with a Christmas flare this time of year. So much fun!Some friends of ours moved down to Huntington Beach a couple of years ago and we got to see them! So great to see familiar faces there!

Yummy food, of course!

The biggest Christmas tree you've ever seen.

More family photos. Maybe we can photoshop Ethan in and use them for Christmas cards. Except for my horrible Splash Mountain hair, of course!

So, so much fun. The week before we left I had been praying for God's favor over this trip. And He gave it - in abundance. We are so grateful.