Finally...it feels like winter break!

Sam's "Snow Dog"!

Merry Christmas!

We all had a very nice Christmas day, especially the kids who are all enjoying their new "stuff"!  Here is the amazing sign that our awesome brother and sister-in-law made for us ~ we love it and can't wait to be able to hang it outside by the front of the house. 

Here we are sitting down to a simple Christmas dinner.  As you can see, the kids didn't even get out of their jammies all day.

As predicted, Noah received coal for Christmas.  ;)

Here is Nicolas opening the boots he asked for.  He wore them all day.

The hot gifts for this year included lots of Legos (of course), Pillow Pets and video games.

The kids only got one main gift from Santa this year: Lego Rock Band with guitars and a microphone.  It's so fun to listen to them "Jam!"

 Here are the sweet, hand-made gifts the kids gave to us - candles, hot pads and bookmarks.

  



Christmas eve with the Bakes!

 

Getting in the Christmas spirit...

Today at church was the Christmas program, and it was a very nice way to begin the week leading up to Christmas day.  After church, we got out the Fisher Price Nativity, and the kids used the toy figurines to act out the Christmas story while Chris read the account from the scriptures.  After that our home teacher came by with his annual delivery of Mrs. Powell's giant cinnamon rolls...and the kids are in heaven!

The Day She's Been Waiting For...

Today my sweet 8 year old girl had her special day: she was baptized.  She is such a wonderful child, full of the most loving spirit I have ever known.  I could tell she was being very thoughtful and emotional throughout the day.  She loved having family and friends who took the time and made some small sacrifices in order to be here and help her celebrate this special occasion. 

Last night she was so excited, she was having the hardest time falling asleep.  She finally ended up crashing on the couch sometime after 10pm.

 I just love days like today, when we're together as a family, and we get to share in something momentous and meaningful, such as it was. Chris is such a good, loving daddy, and Sophie was glued to his side the whole time we were at the church.

Afterwards, we enjoyed an afternoon back at our house eating and visiting with family, while all the cousins played, and played and played. We ended the day with most of us (minus the littlest kids) watching the newly released Eclipse DVD. Great day! :)