Church Happenings

Our Gospel Club for kids age 5-12 is going very well this year. we average about 20 kids. A big group for us! Terry is an awesome storyteller for kids this age, and we also do games, crafts, and a snack. One day, we called all the parents and asked them to dress the kids for playing outdoors. Then we had a snowman building relay. So much fun that they wanted to do it again the next week.

All Work and No Play...

All work and no play makes Jen go insane. So, I was blessed to be able to attend a Ladies Retreat hosted by West Hampton Baptist Church. Isn't this a beautiful resort!? It was beautiful, and we had a great time of fellowship together as a blizzard blew outside.

Nate has been going skiing with the Jr. High this winter. I took Lanie and tried to teach her as well, and we had a great time on the slopes several times this year.

View from the top of Mt. Jefferson.

The Bunny Slope

Nathanael and Terry's Birthday

To celebrate Nate and Terry's birthday this year, I really wanted us all to be together. I was missing my girl. So, off we went for a weekend in New Hampshire. We went to church together, went out to eat at Applebees, and spent a day tubing at Granite Gorge. This was a little early in the month, so on Nate's actual birthday he was surprised to find a few more gifts when he got home from band that morning. A cake that he had been drowling over at Tim Horton's was a hit, too! And apparantly, at age 14, you are still not too big for legos.

Mikayla is going to hate me for posting this, but she would not stand and let me get a good pic, so her friend Jessany held her for me. haha. We had a good time! and Jess is a sweetie!

Lanie and Nathanael found that it was a faster ride when you go together....

...so, Papa enjoyed doing it that way, too.

They had this really cool conveyor belt to ride to the top on.

Christmas

Christmas at our house this year was a bit hectic, what with Mikayla's play, church folks having to be taken to the hospital, preparing for our specials for Christmas Sunday, and then running back down to NH to get Mikayla for vacation. Terry's folks came and brought our nephew Tyler with them. The kids had a great time getting to know him again. It's been years since we have seen him. I didn't get many good pictures of Christmas because someone, who shall remain nameless but knows who they are, flipped out everytime a camera was nearby. Mom came up and joined us for the opening of our presents and made us Swedish pancakes, our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. Alana absolutely loved her doll, and Mom got an ipad from my brother Jon. No fair! :)

Why do I take pictures of the kumkake? I don't know, but they are so good that after standing over the stove for forever, this plate was all that I had to show for it.

After church while we were all still in our Sunday best, we decided to try out the timer on my camera so we could have a family picture. This is the result. The kids had a good time ,as you can see, and were very cooperative. HA!

I love this one.