December Catch Up

We began December with a mini-Christmas party. My sister Debbie invited us and my brother and his kids over to decorate gingerbread men. :)

In the midst of that extremely COLD stretch of weather at the beginning of December, we put up our Christmas lights and decorations. The kids had lots of fun helping.

My friend Kara who lives in Chehalis invited us to the Centralia Lighted Tractor Parade. We were right in the historic section of downtown Centralia and the setting was just PERFECT. It felt so festive and we had so much fun - I'm sure we'll be back next year! (sorry for the low-quality phone pics below!)

I was watching my nephew Aiden for the night, so he got to come along with us too. :)

Here Kevin is helping Jake with a bit of his "schoolwork." Ben was helping too, and has a bad habit of climbing and sitting anywhere on the table. :oP

While our cousins in Oregon got tons of snow in  mid-December, we only got a slight dusting, but it didn't stop these kiddos from getting out there and doing the best job they could to build a snowman. I love that they are old enough now that I can just send them into the backyard to play. Cold and me just don't go together. :)

Abby is wearing a full facemask at the order of her doctor because of a bad cough she had at the time.

The kids participated in our Sunday School Christmas program again this year. Jake stole the show for the first half. Somehow he got separated from his brother and sister when all the kids went up on stage, and he was at a loss without them. He ended sitting/standing/moving and eventually going down in front of the whole group and just hanging out all by himself. He brought lots of chuckles from the crowd during all his antics...and his mom was decently embarrassed the whole time. ;o) When he finally ended up next to Ben, he did fabulously - singing out with gusto and swaying to the beat. :)

We had our Villwock Family Christmas in Oregon several days before Christmas this year. For the first time, we held the entire celebration at my Grandma's nursing home in the chapel. We were initially concerned about how to do our potluck meal without a kitchen and how to keep all the children occupied in such close quarters, but it all turned out fine and was a huge success. And we were even blessed with a decently warm day for December so my brother brought all the big kids out on the lawn for some games of baseball and soccer.

On Christmas morning we celebrated with our little family. In the picture below, Ben is giving Daddy a massage with the new massager he gave him for Christmas while Kevin is lying on Jake's new sleeping bag that Abby gave Jake for Christmas. The kids really enjoy picking out presents for everyone and they come up with some pretty good ones! :)

We had invited Kevin's parents over for Christmas breakfast since we were spending Christmas day with the Gardners this year. Right before they left I asked Kevin's dad to take a quick picture of us. It sooooo did not work out. Jake is actually crying his eyes out and trying to pull me away from the picture. :)

Later that day the Gardner clan came over for Christmas dinner. My mom out-did herself on presents this year again, even though we opted to just do a gift exchange for the adults. She tends to forget what she's already purchased and ends up giving each person a lot more than she originally sets out to do! Not that every present pictured is from my parents, but it's definitely the majority. :) Since most of us have a problem with too much stuff as it is, we are brain-storming other ideas for next year (I'm rooting for a Hand's On Children's Museum membership for my kids). :)

Christmas stories with Grandma before opening presents.

The next day Kevin had to go back out to work on crab gear in Westport for several days. The kids are always sad to see Daddy go and the sight below is very common when Daddy heads out to the door for work. Sad but sweet.

We've been visiting the WET Science Center 1-2 times a month. It's a free museum put on by our city's waste water treatment center and they offer free crafts/activities/presentations every Saturday. The kids always have a good time, even though it doesn't even compare to the hugeness and awesomeness of the Hand's On Children's Museum next door...but, hey, you just can't beat free when you're on a tight budget. :) The time below, my nephew Solomon and niece Hannah joined us there. When we went a couple weeks ago, the kids got to make recycled paper - they LOVED doing that!

We celebrated the Marks Family Christmas the Sunday after Christmas out in Grayland. We went to my in-laws church and it was nice to see people we hadn't seen in several years and for them to catch up with our family. When we arrived at my in-laws house, an excavator happened to be driving down the street! My kids were so excited! What a welcome! :)

We tried again for a Christmas family picture and this time we succeeded. :)

Kevin's brother had given our family Zoo Light tickets and we had so much fun taking the kids there for the first time (well, actually, Abby had been there as a baby, but that doesn't really count!).

We went to the Capitol building in hopes of seeing the big Christmas tree in the rotunda, but apparently they took it down the day after Christmas instead of leaving it up until New Year's Eve like we assumed they would! Arg! But we made the best of it and toured the whole place on our own. My kids love stairs and corridors, and we ended up going into areas I'd never even seen before (like the loading dock?!)! My friend Leah and her husband had met us there too and laughed a lot at the crazy antics of my children. :)

Sitting in the Governor's chair!

This was a moment when Jake said, "Take a picture of me riding the horse with my backhoe-loader." I loved how he set the backhoe up right next to him (this is a toy he got for Christmas that he LOVES).

At the last second, we invited my parents and brother over for an impromptu New Year's Eve party. We had fun playing games and eating junk food together. :) Cousin Solomon ended up spending the night (Ben's first "friend" sleepover!) and Abby ended up going to Uncle Dave's to have a sleepover with cousin Hannah. It went well for everyone involved....even with all kids staying up until after midnight! :)

And that is the end of 2013. :)