Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We've got lots of pictures and wanted to share them with everyone. Karen made a gingerbread house at preschool.

On Christmas morning we had a lot of fun. Karen woke up first and Daddy told her she could go look in her stocking. She was so excited that she looked in Michael's too, though thankfully she didn't open his. She got a slinky which is what she asked Santa for. She was very excited. Michael finally woke up and we had to do a lot of persuading to get daddy out of bed. The kids had a lot of fun opening each gift and we had a lot of fun seeing their expressions as they opened them. Michael got stickers and used them all right there and then, though he shared them with everyone too.Michael also got a slinky and this is what he did with his.

We all had a lot of fun and the kids especially had fun playing with each toy they opened so it took a while to get through everything. They especially loved playing together with each other's toys. Hopefully they will keep sharing and enjoying their new toys together.

Moving Forward

We are so excited! We have had our bid on the home officially accepted! Now comes all the fun things we have to do before closing like the inspection, the loan, title company, insurance, etc. etc. It's all moving forward and we have to close by Jan 15th or sooner! We're working toward sooner. I still can't believe it's real, the nearly perfect home for a price we can afford! What a wonderful Christmas present and an awesome blessing from the Lord. If anyone knows of an interior house painter that's good and reasonably priced, please let us know.

Playing in the Snow

A couple days ago when it had snowed all day, in the late afternoon after naps and a whole day of kids begging to go play in the snow and build a snowman, I finally gave in and bundled us all up and we went and played in the freshly fallen snow. It was light and fluffy and we could not make snowballs let alone a snowman, but it was perfect for snow angels and running around in. Karen and Michael would pick it up and throw it in the air and laugh as it fell on them. They had a blast. Karen ran all over and Michael stayed in one place and wouldn't move. It was fun. We stayed out long enough for Neils to come home finding us all covered in snow and he decided to join in. Such a fun memory to have family snow day. Here's some cute pictures. Here's Michael trying to make a snowball.








Karen's beautiful snow angel,
and Daddy getting hit with snow by both kids.

THE House

It's amazing! An offer we placed on a home has been accepted! We are so excited!!!!! It's not completely official until we sign some paperwork on Monday, but it is the perfect home for us and has nearly everything we have wanted. It will be quite an adjustment for us, we'll be moving from West Valley all the way to Riverton, but we believe that God led us to this home and made everything fall into place for us so that we could be there. There must be a reason. We're very excited and hope that everything will continue to fall into place for this home. Thanks everyone for your help and support during this time of change in our lives. Hopefully in about a month we'll be needing more help moving into our new home. Here's the MLS# if you want to check it out. MLS#840428

Christmas Tag

I got this as an email and thought it would be fun to post here.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Change all the answers so that they apply to you and post it on your blog. Tag "you" are it.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? Around the new year
5. Do you like egg nog ? Winder Farms eggnog is the best!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My favorite cereal
7. Hardest person to buy for? In-laws
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Several
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Usually mail, but haven't been able to this year
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Any gift is good
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street (the original version)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In September or October
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Try not to
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate
16. Lights on the tree? Of course
17. Favorite Christmas song? Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart and Joy to the World
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? There's no place like home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, if I sing the song
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Changes each year
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Mean shoppers
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homemade this year
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey, potatoes, veggies and homemade rolls
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To find a home

Christmas Party Fun & House Hunting

See Neils blog www.neilsstarkrants.blogspot.com for the latest happenings in our family. Jen doesn't have access to the internet very often and hasn't had much time to update our blog.

Christmas is Coming

Well, we have decorated for Christmas. Well, sort of. We brought our Christmas tree with us, but forgot to bring any other decorations, so the kids and I have started making our own homemade ornaments for the tree. Here a few examples.

It's been fun to do a few holiday preparations, it helps us to get in the spirit of the season.

On other subjects, our home searching has been quite frustrating. It's been three weeks since we bid on a home and we haven't been accepted or rejected or anything, so this week we went looking for other homes. I've seen probably 20-30 homes and we've only found a few that might even be possible, and we are still searching. We'd love to find something sooner than later since our rent is more than our mortgage was, but we may have to wait. Pray for us.