Wishing you all a blessed Christmas & new year!

"Behold what manner of the love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God!" We have so much for which to be thankful.

Holly's "bracelets"

Steve had Friday - Tuesday off, which was wonderful! We spent Friday working outside; Steve burned a monstrous pile of branches (it's still smoking 5 days later, and I'm so relieved that it's gone because I know rats LOVE to make homes in that sort of thing). I worked on my rock-carving project; almost done now (below). This piece of granite is next to the entrance of our driveway (Steve's driveway placement had more than a little to do with the rock being there :) It's about 6'W x 5' tall and has a big flat face on it like there is supposed to be something written on it, so I put our house number on it.

On Saturday we opened some gifts... The funnest part was watching Holly... she didn't know what they were, and when we put a present in her lap she just looked at it, and it took a lot of demonstrating to get her to open it! After that she wanted to open EVERY present, which meant I had to re-wrap a few that she found and unwrapped later.

A gingerbread house made from scratch...

After church we joined the rest of Steve's family at his parent's house

Marie has been looking forward to her first cook book for a VERY long time! I'm afraid that's just the beginning of the work involved with this gift... already she has a whole bunch of things on my grocery list so she can make stuff

Margarita Madness

We discovered how much fun they are just recently :)

(Actually Steve says this is a Tequila Sunrise

but usually we have margaritas)

And we like to start our kids early... JK.

Jungle Playland

Yay! First day of Christmas vacation! The kids had lots of fun... thanks to Bobby for discovering it. And it was fun to visit with Jenn & Bobby while the kids played. Afterwards was a bit of an overkill when we went to the McDonald's Playplace :) The longer you're a parent, the easier it is to get delight from very simple outings...

Em, Steph & Beth

I guess they're not too old for slides yet :)

The ball room was a big hit for Holly, but she went completely under quite a few times... I was scared somebody was going to squish her or jump on her when she was not visible.

I like Sandy's face in the background :)

Sweet little Genevieve

Our baby turns 2

Hard to believe. I am beginning to dislike my kids' birthdays because it means they are growing up :( A good thing, I'm sure, but I really have to convince myself of that. We are thankful for God's faithfulness and many blessings to our family, and for a healthy, very vivacious 2-year old.

Roasting marshmallows in the house, something I never guessed we'd be doing!

Harvestfest 2007

Water and candy... makes Holly pretty happy

The best costumes were from the YPs... I didn't get a shot of all of them :(
It was a Wizard of Oz theme this year. Dave is the lion and those tin man pants you see are ALL duct tape!

Congrats Josh & Becky!

We're so happy for both of you.

We're back! and here's more pictures...

We are thankful for a safe and uneventful trip back from Ontario... uneventful is the best kind of trip to have, isn't it :) This was definitely one of our longest stays there, and Mom & Dad spoiled us with lots of special outings and doted on all of us. It was so nice to see family & friends again!

Here are some more of my parent's anniversary (a lot of these were taken by Sharon & Ralph)

Emily with Ralph & Sharon's baby Bethany

Emily played a song, "Red River Valley", for the anniversary program

My brothers Curt & Matt

My cousin Sharon & her husband Ralph

My dad and his sister Aunt Mary

My cousin Carole & her daughter Ashleigh

All of us siblings except Jonathan who is in Vietnam

Brother Jeremy and cousin Charlene

My sis Ruth with cousins Charlene & Louise... wow, they always look beautiful, and there are a lot of similar pics of this threesome since they are good friends. Cousins are a great blessing!

Cousin Steve and my youngest brother Matt

Aunt Tinie & Aunt Mary

Ha ha... I like this picture... it looks like my Mom is dancing with Mr. Ebbers (actually just saying goodbye)

Cousin Shida, me & sister-in-law Jen

Visiting Shida & meeting her new husband Jacko, who enjoys taxidermy and hunting as hobbies :)

A neat park in St. Catharines, complete with a petting zoo (was closed :( ), playground, picnic area, pond, trail, and Lake Ontario waterfront

Feeding the ducks

Another beautiful trail; my dad pointed out that amongst the carpet of fallen leaves are many bright red poison ivy leaves, since the poison ivy is so aggressive and uncontrolled here that it wraps thick wooden vines around trees and takes over, so that much of the foliage you see at the top of these trees belongs to the poison ivy! Poor Ruth has some recurring poison ivy from last year... nasty stuff.

Enjoying the jacuzzi!

We spent a very enjoyable day at the Niagara Aquarium near Buffalo

Yet another kooky face of my Dad :)

I didn't take any pictures at Steve & Amy's wedding... too busy enjoying it :) so hopefully Sharon doesn't mind if I post a few of her always excellent ones. We were surpised to see them at church on Sunday evening, and enjoyed visiting with them afterward. Not many honeymooners would oblige just 2 days after being married! It was wonderful to see them and get to know Amy a little bit.







We had to cancel a visit to Sharon's place with Carole & Aunt Tini because of sick kids, but we still were able to see them twice at the wedding & anniversary. I also didn't get many pics of Curt & Jen, but we enjoyed seeing them frequently since they have been living at my parents' house until they left for Michigan and Mexico last weekend. We hope and pray that their trip goes well and they return home safely.

I was surprised & delighted to find that while we were away, Steve had put up shelves and organized my pantry closet, which had been in a very sad state, overflowing with boxes.