'Tis the Season for...

Running inside:  It's been awfully cold out lately but the kids still need their exercise so I force them to run on the treadmill. 

Actually I have to force them to get off of it :P They would run on there all day long if I let them, and the thing isn't even turned on!  I found this treadmill on craiglist about 4 weeks ago and am so happy to have it.  I was given the "OK" to start working out slowly again a few weeks ago and so have been working my way back up to running.  I'm up to 35 minutes of run/walking and some light weightlifting.  It feels so good to be able to get back into it.  The treadmill is a lifesaver, I'm sure I would not be able to get out half as much if I had to pack everyone up and take them somewhere so I could run.  I usually fold it up when I'm not using it but every once in a while I'll let the kids run on it. 

'Tis the season for gingerbread house making:

I believe this is the 4th year in a row that we've made one.  Joanna actually helped this year instead of just eating all the candy.  This was last Friday night.

Chase wanted to save it until Christmas for decoration and not eat it but someone [me] was not patient enough to let it set for 15 minutes to dry and the whole thing collapsed right after we made it so we "had to" just eat the whole thing.

'Tis the season for hunting deer:

it is deer season after all.  Ricky went out Saturday morning with one of his friends and got a big doe.  hopefully we will have enough venison to last us till next deer season now.  We do go through it though!

it's been so cold but my kids have been boycotting clothes lately, apparently they are overrated.  So Ricky just wrapped Jo up in my ski jacket to take her out to see it.

Dominic was at our house most of the day on Saturday and loves to see the deer when Ricky gets them.

Touching the eyeball- gross.

'Tis the season for walk through Living Nativities:

Sunday after church and nap times we drove down to New Jersey again (hmm, feels like we were just there.) to go through the Mt. Laurel Living Nativity at my home church.  It seems like it gets bigger and better every year.  Chase remembered it from last year and was excited to see it again.  It was a very cold night so we had to make sure the kids were bundled up really well.  Katy couldn't move in her bear suit it was so cute.

I put her in the Ergo and tucked her hands in and she was nice and toasty the whole time.  She actually slept through most of it, she woke up once when we were walking through Bethlehem and the wind was in her face. 

 I don't know how much this silly girl paid attention to but she said she liked the boat scene.  My sister, Christy crocheted the hat for her a couple years ago and it still fits her!  I wish Katy had such a nice hat- hint hint ;)

 Chase's favorite part was seeing the empty tomb and watching the angel come down and scare the soldiers. 

 We also met my sister Dawn and Tom and baby Kira and got to walk around with them in the same group.  Kira was so funny and would wave and say, "hi" to all the actors in every scene.

 I think she looks like a little Gerber baby here.

The kids loved the sheep all over.

and the flying angels

 my favorite scene, away in a manger:

It takes about 45 minutes to walk through the whole thing so we were all pretty cold by the end and went inside the church for cookies and hot chocolate to warm up.  We got home around 9:00pm with 3 very sleepy children but it was fun and its always nice to have a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

'Tis the season for storytelling:

Katy is starting to become a little more vocal.  She is pretty soft spoken though but I love hearing her coo's anyway :) this Friday she will be 2 months already!

Everyone enjoying her "tummy time" :)

she actually doesn't get put down very often and the other day a week or two ago I put her down and she rolled over and I thought, "oh my, amazing what they can do when you put them down", ha ha- that's OK, I'll continue to hold her as much as I possibly can.
Also last week we had to get rid of the hamster Allie.  Joanna had figured out how to open her cage and kept letting her out.  The last time she did it we spent an hour turning the house upside down looking for Allie.  I'm not sure how long she had been out too but she had made a sort of nest in our pull out couch with all sorts of found crumbs and lots of hamster terds, it was disgusting.  So away she went back to the pet store.  The lady took her back without a fuss and I'm sure she'll just resell her.  It's kind of nice to have one less thing to worry about and the kids don't really miss her so it worked out I suppose.
Ricky had off work all last week for hunting season but was back to work as usual yesterday morning.  I feel so bad for him having to work in this bitter cold weather.  I wish he could spend everyday home with us, it was so nice having him home all last week.  He even cooked a delicious dinner one evening that I am still salivating over: Applewood bacon- wrapped venison loin with raspberry preserves! (thanks Grandma for the raspberry preserves).  We are already looking forward to the next time he can make it, it was sooooo good!