December ~ come and gone!

So, Christmas came... and went! It seems I've barely had time to catch my breath this month and when I did I couldn't always face sitting at the PC in the evenings. So, yet another long post awaits! I'll stick mostly to pictures because they tell the story, but suffice to say we had a lovely family Christmas. It was crazy-busy and we felt like we had about 5000 people through our door over the holidays, but we were glad to have everyone and spend time with friends and family.

Happy Birthday Chip
December 21st ~ my baby boy turned five! It hardly seems like yesterday we were eagerly awaiting his arrival and praying he would come before Christmas. He kept us on tenter-hooks and came with just 4 days to spare!

New ~ just hours old

  

One & Two

   

Three & Four

  

Hello Big FIVE!

  

He is a bright and intelligent little man, who loves nothing better than a snuggle and a 'chat' - with whoever is willing to engage with him. He is at that lovely 'sponge' stage where everything is exciting and interesting. He's quite the little thinker and my friend likes to call him 'little philosopher.' He has an answer for every problem - even if he has to take reality into the realms of fantasy to find it :D. He is my only child to have an imaginary friend. 'Steve' has been around a long time now and still features strongly in games and conversations. He is friendly and kind and, although he has a tendency toward shyness in groups, he is increasingly confident around all ages of people and will strangers into conversation if he can grab their attention! Slowly he is engaging more and more with children outside of his family, although it's taken a while to get to this point, and even has a little 'girlfriend' at church! He is a well behaved and happy child, with a strong sense of his own person. He may be the 'baby' of the family, and likes to play on that at times, but there's no pushing him around or manipulating him. God has blessed him with an iron will & determination ;D. On the whole this is a great asset, but it does present its challenges at times!  

And so, full speed ahead into Christmas;

Christmas Eve we prep'ed the house and made our gingerbread village

Christmas Day begins (always) with everyone piling into our room to share what they got in their stockings. 

The rest of our gifts are exchanged after church and dinner.


  



  

  

Boxing Day brings all of Paul's family calling ~ such mayhem and madness ~ and great fun!!

New Year we celebrate at church, with a service to celebrate the year past and to cover the coming year in prayer ~ then we eat together and party until the early hours! New Year's afternoon some family friends join us for games and food. This year we taught them Saboteur and Survive (our new games). Previous years they have taught us games ~ like Jungle Speed (which we also got this year) :D.

After New Year I spent a day reorganising the boys bedrooms (x2). Partly because I needed to loose the baby toys they have all outgrown to find room for new stuff, and partly because Chip had all but outgrown his toddler bed. Joel wanted a floor bed (instead of a loft bed) and so swaps needed to happen. 

After that I pretty much crashed and burned and it's taken me best part of 10 days to get back on my feet and up to speed. We took an extra week off Home Ed while we all recovered properly and now we are back at it...