McBrides

Mike and Mandy and Olivia and Joseph came to visit for a few days after Christmas. Sorry, no pictures of the adults. We were too busy playing Settlers of Catan.

I told you he likes this thing...

Catch-up

So I finally posted Christmas pictures, because I don't feel like I can do anything more recent until I get those done. They're backwards, so scroll way down to the picture of Nate by the Christmas tree with a pair of scissors and then work your way up.

Visit from the Veermans (and Forstroms and soon-to-be Johnsons)

Erik's family came (in waves) starting the day after Christmas and spent about a week with us. We had a great time being together and seeing some fun Atlanta sights.

Thanks everyone for doing all the traveling!

Christmas at Stone Mountain

Train ride around the Mountain

World of Coke

Meg was so excited to go ice skating with Mia (and Mia's new skating outfit). Unfortunately, the outdoor rink in Centennial park was closed due to unseasonably warm weather. We trespassed onto the ice just to snap a picture and were promptly scolded by the roaming police driving by on their golf cart. But we did get this cute photo. (And we did go back to skate last weekend.)

Lunch at the Varsity. If you go, get the onion rings!

Three cheers for Daddy and Grampy who spent the whole day
after Christmas building the swing set!

Christmas Day

Each kid got four things in his or her stocking and one present to unwrap (well, Caleb didn't get one to unwrap, but he doesn't know so don't tell him.) And then Erik and I and my parents got a swing set for all the kids together. Hooray!!! We hid the box in the greenhouse and then made a string trail which the kids had to follow all through the main house, basement, garage, etc. until they found the swing set. Lots of fun!

Ok, this picture is so strange! It's pretty cute of the kids (not strange), but I think Erik was playing around with the camera settings. Everything around the kids is blurry but it looks more like a cool photographic trick than an operator error. Plus, we did not have star-shaped lights on our tree. So whatever time lapse or light-bending feature he used created these effects. Or, as Erik said looking at it just now, "Wait, I think I see the Virgin Mary in one of the window panes."

Fun stocking stuffers.

Roller Skates!

Setting up a new hot wheels track

Next time you see Kate, ask her to show you what a Bumble Bee is like.

So excited about new clothes...

Christmas Productions

Meg's class in the Kindergarten Christmas Pageant.

Meg and Nate before the cherub choir program at church. Nate had a speaking part, "I am the prophet Isaiah," which he delivered superbly!

Sorry, no pictures of Meg's ballet performance. (The digital camera was in Israel. I think everyone in the family has already seen the video at least twice anyway.) It was quite impressive to see what the teacher taught a young class (most novices) in just two months. It was a real dance to a piece from the Nutcracker and Meg looked like a classic ballerina in her black leotard and pink romantic skirt.

Misc. Christmas Preparations

We had apples and pop corn for supper on Christmas eve. Then after church I let the kids eat as much of their gingerbread houses as they wanted. They mostly picked off the candy and pried off the cement-like frosting--which I'll admit is not bad, even after collecting dust on the kitchen shelf for two weeks. Hmmm, two drinks each. I guess all that sugar makes one thirsty.

We had the traditional make ahead egg and sausage casserole for Christmas breakfast. I delegated the bread-buttering to Nate. I think he licked the knife 2 or 3 times for every piece he buttered.

Meg was in charge of making the pigs-in-a-blanket for our kid-friendly Christmas lunch. (Dinner was a little more elegant, but not much. Such a relaxing day!)

Caleb spent the entire Christmas season at the hearth pushing the little red button that plays the Christmas story (interspersed with Christmas hymns and selections from the Messiah--thank you Aunt Bertha!) I fully expect his first words in the next few months to be either, "Now in those days a decree went out..." or the Hallelujah Chorus.

The perfect job for Nate: clipping the plastic net off of the Christmas tree. He made about ten times more cuts than necessary :)