Children's Christmas musical

This morning was the kids' Christmas musical at church. Lillian got to make her big debut as an angel! The kids did a great job and it was wonderful watching them all share the story of Jesus' birth with the congregation.

Snow!

This morning we woke up to discover that the ground was (finally!) covered in snow! Other than the dusting we had back in November, we haven't seen any snow, which is pretty unusual for Holland in December. The kids were thrilled and just had to get outside to play!

Decorating the ugly tree

We have a traditional tree on the main floor of our house that we like to keep "pretty" with matching ornaments, ribbon, and traditional white lights. But, we also have the "ugly" tree in the basement that is a wonderful mess of colored lights, crazy ornaments, and handmade treasures. As our kids get older and make more handmade decorations, the upstairs tree may be filled with them. But, for now the "ugly" tree stands gloriously in the basement. Today we set up the ugly tree and had a grand time doing so.
By the way, I changed out of my pants into pajama pants so I could wash them and, as a result, Lillian declared the rest of the afternoon "pajama day!"

Christmas musical

This year will be Lillian's first year participating in the kids' Christmas musical at church! Dan is directing the music for it, so we have all been quite involved! Today the kids had rehearsal for it and even Caleb tried to be a part of the action!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we hosted a Thanksgiving celebration for Dan's family - his parents, brother, sister, and each of their families. Everybody pitched in to make some delicious food and we all enjoyed spending time together. Lillian even helped me prepare for the all-night Black Friday shopping excursion (no, I didn't drag her along!).
Later on my grandpa came over to say hello. He was in town from Wisconsin and we were very happy to be able to spend a bit of time with him.

Gymnast Lillian

Today I brought Lillian to Gymco for her friend Anna's birthday party. Lillian had a blast exploring all of the fun activities!

20-week ultrasound!!

Today is the day! We were originally planning to be surprised with this pregnancy and not "peek" at the gender. But, Dan and Lillian have been getting a bit impatient so today we decided to go ahead and find out the news. Our little baby was moving around quite a bit during the ultrasound but he did cooperate very well in the end! That's right, it's a boy!! We are very thankful that he looks healthy and right on track with his development for a March 29 due date.
We celebrated by going out to dinner at Eighth Street Grille and calling our families to share the big news!

Daddy's turn!

Today was Dan's turn to visit Lillian's classroom for her special star helper day. They had a great time together!

Snow!

We received our first official snow fall today and the kids were quite excited to investigate!

If you give a moose a muffin...

Lillian gets to be the star helper for preschool again on Friday! Last time that meant she received a special visit from Clara Bell the cow. This time she has been visited by a moose instead. In honor of the special visitor we had muffins and eggs for breakfast/dinner tonight. Tomorrow Lillian will bring Daddy to preschool to be a special helper!Caleb wanted some attention too!

Visit from Jason

Our friend Jason is in town this weekend for a wedding and got to do a little manly bonding with Caleb.

Welcome baby Jet!

We have a new nephew in the family! Dan's sister Mindy and her husband Elwin have a new baby boy - Elwin Terry Holmes, whose nickname is Jet. He was born yesterday and is a cutie! We drove to the other side of the state today to visit them and got to spend some time with Dan's family as well.

Welcome baby Micah!

Our friends Liz and Andrew just had their first baby, a boy named Micah! Dan had rehearsal tonight but I brought the kids to the hospital to visit them. Surprisingly, the kids did very well at the hospital and Caleb was even very interested in baby Micah! He's a real cutie!

Lillian's latest artwork

Dan and I thought this one was pretty impressive!

Evening bike ride