Videos of Ethan

Ethan had a big drama roll in this years One Voice Christmas production. The story is about a man, Barnabas, who owns a "Camel Lot" (similar to a used car dealership in Bible times). Barnabas finds his Camel Lot very busy in Bethlehem during the Census and many of his customers are trying to talk him into going to see the baby who was born in a manger down the road. Barnabas has a son named Jonathan. This is the part that Ethan played. Jonathan is a very eager young boy who wants to help his dad, but ends up saying many things that are probably not helpful in selling camels!

Ethan's part made the audience laugh every time. I am told that after getting a few laughs, Ethan walked backstage and saying "they love me". He did a super good job with his lines...four shows and he didn't miss any! I was a nervous mom..but in the end, super duper proud!! Ethan wasn't nervous one little bit...

The video was taken with my phone so unfortunately the quality is not great. The drama is only a portion of the show...lots of singing and dancing as well. Four shows packed with a packed house at the Inter-lakes auditorium!

Mr Lijah

I get to spend four days a week hangin' out with Elijah. He is a super sweet little guy who finds himself quite entertained by the daily shananagans of Luke and Owen. Normally, little Lij tends to be quite camera shy...turning his head away from the camera as soon as he see's it coming. Today, he seemed to be in a particularly good mood, so I figured I would try to get a few pictures of him. He was quite compliant today and I was happy to see some smiley pictures!

Some of these could clearly use some cropping (lots of space over his head), until then, these are straight out of the camera.
My personal favorite..

If only I could find their stockings!

I am so frustrated. I have searched high and low in what seems like every crevice of this entire house and that of my garage...and I canNOT seem to find the kids stockings. They aren't just 'any' stockings either. They were all hand-made...they all have their names embroidered on them (and I just so happen to LOVE their names..tee hee) and they are THEIR stockings. I don't know what happened. I'm not sure if maybe they were hanging around a little longer than the rest of the Christmas decor and then got put in a "safe place" after everything else was already put away...or if they are indeed out in the garage, hidden under who knows what. I am bound and determined to find them before Christmas morning...and hopefully a whole lot sooner than that!

Besides the stockings, I think I have finished the decorating in my house. I don't tend to go crazy with the decorating. I do enjoy it and enjoy what the house looks/feels like during the Christmas season, but I try not to let myself get overboard with 'stuff' everywhere!

Of course, there is the tree. The bottom half has been decorated by the kids. I only re-arranged a few items but in general, left things the way they put them on. I then finished the top half of the tree myself.


There are lots of hand-made ornaments on the tree from the kids and some others that we decided to hang near the tree!

I keep a few little things on the piano, but since our piano gets so much use, I hate to clutter it up, making it difficult to actually play.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is receiving cards in the mail. Since living in this house, this archway seems to be the home of the cards. There are only a few so far, but this doorway is usually covered by the time Christmas is here.


We have two Advent Calendar type activities that recount the story of the birth of Jesus...one having to do with hanging a new ornament on the tree each night and another that involves revealing a new significant person from one of these little boxes!

Just another view of the Christmas tree:)

..and a mistletoe! The kids like to "trick" me into standing under this with them...they think its hilarious when I "realize" what is going on and smother them with kisses! (I'm not even sure this is really a mistletoe...but we call it that!)

A sure sign of winter in my house..

Oh..and this year we put a few lights on the stairs, although, this with the constant use of the railing...it may have not been the greatest idea! It is showing its 'wear' pretty quickly!


(I had to edit this post because I forgot a couple of pictures!)

The dining room table with a pot of beautiful poinsettias given to us by a member of the youth group (and his family). I put a cute little sled next to the plant...that the kids want to play with constantly. And also, in the kitchen right now is a plate of cookies that we made today. We are making our "test" recipes..and eventually will fill the buckets/tins in the background to give away as gifts!


I feel so blessed!

Just to balance things out

Since I've been focusing (or not focusing?) on being out of focus (ha..that was a funny sentence)....I might as well balance things out and try to do the opposite for a little bit.

With the help of a tripod and the highest f stop, I was able to get some flare off of the lights on the tree. Its still not as significant as I would like it to be, but I haven't quite figured out how to make it better.



Now, I really need to stop taking pics of the tree and finish decorating it, as well as finish decorating the rest of my house!!

My husband doesn't get this.

I'm learning that maybe it is just photographers who think this is cool...but I just can't get enough of Christmas tree light bokeh. Josh is very encouraging about my photography in general...but when it comes to pictures like this

..he looks at me with this look of complete confusion. I'm all smiles thinking "isn't this great?!" and he just shrugs his shoulders wondering why I am so excited about all those little blurry dots.

This got me thinking...why am I so excited about the blurry dots?

I don't have an answer. So...maybe I am crazy?

Oh well:)