Late entry: Christmas Morning!

We had a wonderful Christmas morning! We opened presents with Mom Sites and Mormor/PopPaw watching via Skype. Everyone got lots of wonderful gifts. Thankful for the gifts of our Savior and of family.

One more picture...

I'm still getting used to my new camera that Jon got me for Christmas--but I think that even though I likely did not use the most ideal setting on the camera, the shot still turned out awesome. You can see the motion of the snowmachine going...but Kaden's face is not blurred and you can see his rosy cheeks. Happy mama, almost-famous photographer! Haha.

Snowmachine fun

Snowmachining at Grandma's house this evening-the kids had a blast. Took their helmets off so that I could get some photos with their expressions and rosy cheeks :)

Kaden loves to ride the most. Ellie loves to ride too. Noah has to be convinced every time that riding is a good idea.

Showing off his "stand up" move.

Taking sister for a slow ride and smiling for the camera.

Kaden does great with Ellie riding behind him. Usually they have helmets on...

A visit from Santa!

A family picture with Santa! We had a great visit with him this weekend. 

We are blessed to have gifts to share and for the gift of Jesus our Savior, good health, family & great friends!! 

Holiday fun!

Lots going on with the holidays these past few weeks. Finally time to share some pictures!!!

We had a fun Sunday Solstice visit with Grandma. 

Winter Solstice was today also, and we had just under four hours from sunrise to sunset. Winter Alaskan sunrises are the best!!

This is a photo card from the staff in the Education Dept, where I am the director (in addition to ICU). They are a great team!! 

Kaden with his kindergarten teacher, Ms Montag, at the school's Christmas program. Kaden sang with his class and even had a solo!! 

We went bowling with Andrea (our nanny) and Matt last weekend. Bowling with three kids is a whole different experience. But we had fun!!

Crafts that the kids made with Andrea this past week. Great looking Christmas trees from all of them! 

Ellie and Paul checking out the Christmas decorations at our friend, Dawn's holiday party this weekend. They were loving all the little pieces and especially the moving parts!! 

The holidays means extra time with special friends. Here is Ellie and her special buddy, Paul. 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday and Sunday. The kids had a blast hanging up "their ornaments" and they did great. Our house officially looks like Christmas has arrived :)

checking out their ornament boxes

decorating the tree--hard to find places on the tree for heavy ornaments

finished product! the kids were exhausted by this point, so we didn't get a great kiddo picture, but they were proud enough to pose for this picture. 

More holiday prep pictures to come!

Oh a christmas tree hunting we will go!

We had a great time on Saturday going to Salcha to find a Christmas tree. It was only -8 degrees out, which is much warmer than the last year that we cut down an Alaskan tree in 2010. Excited to post pictures of our adventures, which I took on my new Canon Rebel camera. Glad to have more than just a camera-phone to capture memories in 2015!!

the tree hunting gang

walking down the road in Salcha

the cabin in Salcha

cutting down the tree

the tree is down!!!

time to walk back to the van

even mom gets to help

our handsome helper, Kaden

love this picture. a daddy's love...nothing quite like it :)

my favorite cheesy smiler, Noah

first selfie with the new camera

snow indeed

love the snow when its thick on the branches

tree success! time to drive it home to Fairbanks

Time to decorate! More pictures to come soon!