Merry Christmas

The stocking were hung on the staircase with care.... Its the calm before the craze!
Santa brought Julia her very own keyboard so she can play anytime she wants! We have enjoyed hearing her play more and gain confidence in her skills.

Matthias got all kinds a big boy toys like car ramps and trains. He loves figuring out how they all work.

Julia's most exciting present was the Wii we got them as a family gift. Even Ava is learning how to play a few games.

Ava's Santa gift was a Strawberry Shortcake doll with all kinds of hair things. The best part is that she smells like strawberries!!!

It was fun spending Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa Thanepohn's house. We also had the chance to visit with the Feinsteins while they were in Hisdale for the holidays. We didn't however remember to take any pictures while all the kids were together!

Christmas Eve

Reading "The Night Before Christmas" with Grandpa Thanepohn

Cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!"

Christmas in Quincy

Pictures in front of Grandpa and Grandma Troxel's tree

Matthias opening presents

Julia opening her musical gift box

Helping Grandma open presents

Ava decorating the kids tree with the silver bells. Donna and Larry have nearly every silver bell made in the series collection started in the 70's! Matthias thought they looked like something to throw!

Going Bonkers!!!

While we were in Quincy for Christmas Grandma Troxel took us to the indoor playland called Bonkers. It is Julia's favorite place in Quincy!!

Ava cheeses it up!





Playing games with Grandma

Julia is getting so brave and climbed very high.

These little ladies had such a great time! Thanks Grandma Troxel for taking us to Bonkers!!

All dressed up for Christmas

Everyone was all dressed up for Christmas service at Faith and I attempted a few pictures and Matthias tried to run out of all of them! Such a man on the move!
Seriously this girl!

Just when did she become such a young lady?!?

These three smiles make all the craziness of life well worth it!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Program at Trinity

Julia had a line to memorize and recite for the program: "And they opened the treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." And she had to put the mic back in the stand. It was a big job that she took very seriously!

The first graders and Kindergartener always play angels in the Christmas Program at Trinity...
"Glory to God in the highest...."

Chris was the adult Jesus in the program. He also accompanied a couple of songs with he guitar. It was a very fun program and the kids had a great time doing it. You can always tell when they enjoy the songs they are singing. It was a great start to the Christmas season!

All I Want for Christmas...

Lucy was spending the day with us when we visited Santa so she joined us for our family Santa picture. She really wants to be one of the cousins!! She is at so many of our family events and whenever my parents want to get a picture of all the cousins she sadly leaves the picture, wishing that she was a "cousin". We love you Lucy and Leah would love to have you join the family so that she isn't the only non-blonde!



Julia had a toothless Christmas and got very tired of people asking her if all she wanted for Christmas was she two front teeth! She actually asked Santa to bring her a keyboard so she can practice piano at home (currently she is practicing at church).

Ava surprised us the most by asking Santa for a puppy! It can out of nowhere and she didn't get one but it is one of many things that Ava says that leaves us wondering... "where does she come up with these things!?!"

Cherub Choir

Now that Julia is in 1st grade she is old enough to sing in the Cherub Choir. This is huge considering this is the girl that cried three years ago and wouldn't even sing with all the other kids in the Christmas Program.

This is from the first time they sang in church in October.

Our church does bell ringing for the Salvation Army at Christmas time and during our time blocks some of our musical groups share their talents! The Cherubs did several songs and Julia even sang her solo!

Stayed tuned for a video of their debut performance. It is taking a long time to upload!

Off to see the wizard...

We had a day off of school and went with the Koschmanns to the Henry Ford Museum to see a special hands-on children's exhibit of The Wizard of Oz.

"There's no place like home..."

Ava and Murray taking a break and cuddling up to watch part of the movie and have a snack. We are in so much trouble with these two in a few years!

Julia escaping the Wicked Witch by scaling the castle walls!

Ava riding Miss Gulch's bike

Ava playing music in munchkin land

Murray and Ava with a little help from Rachael built the "rainbow"



Matthias listening to the talking trees!

Julia and Lucy riding a cow on Uncle Henry and Aunt Em's farm

Matthias was so brave and had a lot of courage as he crawled through the spooky tunnel.
Later Ava and Murray were hiding in this tunnel giggling like crazy! (see earlier comment about those two!)

The count was 2 big girls, 2 preschoolers, 2 babies and 2 (crazy) mommies!

Thanks Koschmanns for taking us to see such a fun exhibit!

Family Photo Shoot

While Rachel was visiting for Halloween she had requested that we do a family photo shoot. She always take lots of pictures of our kids but it is rare for Chris and I to be in them because our kids are a lot cuter then we are! These are pictures from that afternoon. We had a lot of fun, Matthias was a fun challenge to get to look and not eat the dirt and leaves. Julia and Ava LOVED posing for the camera!

Julia strikes a pose!

So of course does Ava!

A couple of group shots!

Daddy and his girls

This last one was just a great "in action" shot of Julia screaming because she thought she might fall, Ava laughing at her, and Matthias screaming with her!