Christmas week

It was a lovely Christmas at home. The kids enjoyed it, we kept things simple and relaxed (baked potatoes for the main meal!), and friends came over for the evening which kept us from getting sick of each other. Speaking of, while it's always lovely to spend time as a family, it's even more lovely to get back to a normal schedule, which we get to (briefly) do tomorrow. This means: CLEANING DAY!!!! Yay, I do love Mondays! Making it even better, I got a steam mop for Christmas from Steve. Buh-bye germs. Yes, I'm a nurse and mom, How could you tell? ;)
So, here's the past week from the phone:

This was actually a while ago, but I looooooooove my pho. Sheffie gave us a date night and we pigged out :)

Quick brag, Is our church not the most gorgeous you've ever seen? And did we not do a fantastic job of decorating yet again (yes, everything was handmade. We are incredible DIYers. After 6 years, we ought to be!)?

Chores

Dance party. Hud's into heels right now

Making gingerbread men with Dad for the neighbors

Hudson helping to "decorate" them 

Oh, you know, just a gift from our fabulous neighbors. That was 70+ Lindt truffles, folks. They continue to sustain my holiday sugar high

Every girls dream, a horse for Christmas :) Hud got a turn too

New crayons and coloring book in the stockings

Hen's been either on this, or playing with the train set they got. Success on getting stuff they really liked!

The Christmas gang. This was well after bedtime but both kids were awake. Should have let Hen get up....

Jesus's birthday cake. Strawberry. Denser than a brick. I've taken a vow to never make a layer cake again. Anyway, Hen decorated it, and it's supposed to be a squirrel

Take a wild guess who won (all) the games(s)?

Hudson finally settling down

My mop!

They all have on their "cheese" face :)

Saturday was a freakishly gorgeous days so we went on two of our favorite walking paths. Here's a sampling of all the sticks Hudson insisted we keep (any stick on the path, roots included, he tried to collect).

Then we went to Barnes and Noble for some brief browsing

I think we have a few more photos on the camera, and then this week is packed with plans; most important? My birthday. Also a New Years Eve gathering, a full day with our favorite neighbors ever, and...oh yeah, Meg's wedding. Also steam mopping :D