Fun with Friends

I'm so behind on my blog that I'm already ready for another visit to see our far away friends! Its getting harder to road trip with Grace being in school these days, but in December we were finally able to go meet up with Stephanie and her kiddos in Springfield, Illinois. We were surprised at the lack of kid friendly activities we were able to find, but in the end the completely deserted Chuck E. Cheese ended up working out great. It was so quiet they were actually opening up the machines and cleaning and testing them. So our kids got some free tickets. We were able to let the kids roam and play most of the time.

I'm so amazed at God's provision of friendship in Stephanie. Even though she lives hours away I feel like its just down the street. Our weekly chats as we clean, discipline, cook, and fold laundry is something I look forward to each week. I'm so glad we get to share this season of life together!
(and we totally missed the rest of "our girls" too!!!!)

Bethlehem Inn

This year our church did a Christmas dinner theater called, "Bethlehem Inn." It started in our fellowship hall. While you ate your food you got to watch the family who owned the Inn talk about the arrival of Joseph & Mary. It was very light hearted and funny.

Then at the end of the drama the cast led us to the stable, located in our Sanctuary, where our choir presented Jesus' birth through song. This year the kids choir Grace and Faith are in were a part of the music. They got to wear costumes, although Faith was very disappointed that she didn't get to be Mary.





A funny story about Grace and their Kids Choir music. We listened to their cd constantly in the car. One day Grace requested the "Crocodile Angels Sing." I was so confused. However, I figured out she was referring to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Her and Faith still refer to the crocodile angels.

December= Food Fun

If I didn't blog in December it was partially because I was too busy cooking/baking/candy making. We spent some quality time before Christmas making, sharing, & eating food. Probably the biggest project was an Exam Snacks night our small group hosted for one of the girl's dorms at our local college. I spent an entire week making goodies and dips for that. It was a fun way to encourage them and get some of those Christmas treats out of my house before I ate them!

We also made trains for preschool for "L" week with the book, "The Little Engine That Could."

For the Preschool Christmas Party we made mangers complete with a baby Jesus cookie. :)

Another one of our bigger cooking projects was to make homemade pizzas for all of the kids' Sunday School teachers. We had fun delivering them as a family. (Minus the fact we discovered the transmission was now going out on our "new" van...emergency fund here we came!)
I also made 19 dozen (228!) cupcakes in a period of 3 days for my Sweet 2 the Soul business. My oven definitely earned its keep in December.