Oh my goodness that baby is SO CUTE!

The girls were born early in the year, so by their second Christmas they were almost two, and sort of got into it.  James still has no idea.  :)

But he wore his Christmas jammies (handed down – THANK YOU!) last night, and I HAD to take some pics in front of the tree.  Unfortunately it was night and the darkest corner of my house.  Oh well!  (But know you know what all the funky settings are about on the camera.  I couldn’t make up my mind how to defeat the darkness.  With a flash or by bumping the ISO.  James certainly wasn’t holding still for me!)

Interestingly, I LOVE the very first one I took!

This one is soooo cute, but I turned on the flash while it was on the setting where I had the ISO way up to 800 or 1600.  So he’s pretty washed out.

Looking at Daddy…

I like how big and pretty the lights look on these pics without the flash.  But they’re just so dark and grainy.  I’m eternally lusting over a DSLR camera.

James loved posing for me.  :)

And Joanna wanted in on the action too!

I’m not sure where Natalie was at the time.

This is our big tree that has the bulk of our ornaments on it.  We have a medium tree that has all my Star Trek ornaments on it. :)  And a little tree that has Matt’s train ornaments.  This may be the last year for the medium tree; it’s looking very sad and Charlie Brownish, if you know what I mean.  I LOVE Christmas trees.  I love how pretty they are and how they light up the room.  And I love my Nativities… and our stockings and all the crafts the girls make and all the cards we get in the mail.  Ahhhh…  Christmas.  Now I need to go turn on some music!

Decking our Halls!

We spent some time Friday pulling things down from the attic and making our house beautiful!

This is James in a bucket:

The bucket is apparently where you put the baby when you are in the garage and you need your hands free.

Inside, Fashionista Natalie quickly got to work getting herself all decorated.

She knew exactly what those stockings were for!

I pulled out the Christmas cards we’d received last year, and the girls enjoyed going through them.  Here, Joanna is ringing her bell as she sings songs.

We love our Little People Natvity!  Here, James has it strategically placed to cover he after-bath nakedness.  He loves to push the button to play “Away in the Manger.”

Up next, the big tree decorated with the cutest baby ever in front!

It’s good to have a little brother

Especially if he will push you around on the rolling ottoman!

James is in that pre-walking stage, and he uses anything he can find as a walker.  He especially loves these ottomans because they really go.  The other day Joanna discovered he would push her around on it!

It was reeeeaaaalllyyy cute, but probably not the safest activity.  :)

The other Thanksgiving Dinner

We went to Matt’s brother Mark’s house Thanksgiving afternoon for a big ol’ family meal!  Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the food before it was partially eaten…  :)

Some deliciousness: green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sausage gravy, turkey, and zucchini pie.

And some more deliciousness: more turkey and oven potatoes.  Oven potatoes are the Pence family comfort food.  Matt makes his yummy noises when he eats this.  :)

And my rolls – they turned out great this time.  (I may have cheated a bit and thrown in some all purpose flour.)  I made 72 rolls, and we came home with 16.  Which are all gone by now.  :)

There was also lots of pie, brownies, and cheesecake.  Mmmm mmmm mmmm mmm mmmmmm…

And now for some blurry action shots of people eating!

I was playing with the settings on my camera, which is why pretty much every picture is bad, but in a different way.  :)

Thursday was also Mindy’s birthday (it was a big one!)  Here she is blowing out her candles with the help of my girlies. 

I’m not really sure why I took this picture, but I like it.  :)

I brought a few toys just in case, though mostly my children are entertained by their relatives.

James LOVES to put things in, take them out, stir them around, cover them up.  It’s amazing how much enjoyment he gets out of this little pot, a ball, and a spoon.

Natalie practiced her typing with Mindy’s phone.  Oh that child typed and typed and typed and typed!

Joanna got a little tickle torture from Uncle Steve.

I can’t remember exactly what was happening here, but Joanna was running back and forth between Mindy and Steve.  (You can see Natalie is still typing.)

Natalie LOVES this stuffed bobcat (I think that’s what it is?) of Uncle Mark’s.

There is also a deer head over the fireplace, and Natalie said, “When it gets low I can touch it.”  James said “uh oh.”

A couple of different people fell asleep, and when Joanna noticed, she would tiptoe around to everyone in the room and let them know to be quiet.  It was cute.

We had a FABULOUS day of much eating and time with family.  Yay Thanksgiving!

The First Thanksgiving!

Obviously the Pences weren’t at the first Thanksgiving, but we had our first Thanksgiving of this year yesterday!  We went to my Mom and David’s for a little pre-Thanksgiving practice feast.  Mom will be out of town on Thursday, and my side of the family isn’t doing a big hoopla this year, so Mom thought this might be fun.  And it was!  There are a few things I need in my Thanksgiving meal (that I don’t make), and we know Thanksgiving is all about me.  :)

Mom made Apple and Onion Stuffin’ Muffins (from Rachel Ray).  They were so cute and soooo yummy!  (Dressing/stuffing isn’t something I’m picky about.  I will happily eat and enjoy any kind you got.  These were kind of exceptional though.)

Aren’t we so cute?!  David was taking the picture, so he’s not in it.

A close-up of my Stuffin’ Muffin:

My plate: 

I live for ham on Thanksgiving.  I could take or leave turkey (dark meat only though)  The potatoes and gravy were also sooo good.  (simple mashed potatoes – cream and butter please!)  And I made rolls, but they weren’t great.  Methinks making yeast bread is too much while taking care of four children.  They were edible though.  (I do need a homemade roll; the store-bought ones just don’t do it for me.)  I must have taken the picture before I added the green bean casserole to my plate.  I made Pioneer Woman’s recipe, and it is SO GOOD.  (fresh green beans and from-scratch sauce – yum!)  Growing up I never liked green bean casserole, and I’m sure that’s because I also don’t like canned green beans.  Go figure.

And my absolute, hands down, favorite thing about Thanksgiving (food-wise anyway) is my grandmother’s pecan pie.  I should probably learn to make it, but I don’t want to.  :)  And it would lose it’s charm if I had to make it myself.  (right?!!)

Anyway… I’ve eaten two pieces so far today, and I’ll have another one once the kids go to bed.  Grandma made two pies and sent us home with the leftovers.  I sure do love that woman.

Sadly, the children love the pie too.  :)

James found a soccer ball after dinner and was CRAZY for it.  So cute!

The crew:

We didn’t get to stay long, mostly due to our little tired pumpkin:

This is what he did shortly after we got home.  He really wanted some milk, and I obliged.  He hasn’t fallen asleep on me in forever.  I wonder if this might have been the last time?  I held him as long as I could keep quiet enough.  It’s hard to yell at the other three two children when I’m holding a sleeping baby.  :)

I’m looking forward to another lovely meal with different lovely people tomorrow!  And hopefully, with the help of another adult and caring for one less child, I can make a decent batch of rolls!

Saturday

Saturday I needed to go to Wal-Mart, and we all decided to go, but we’d had a lazy morning, and it was really lunchtime by the time we headed over there.  (Gotta love a good run-on sentence.)  So we decided to avoid bringing hungry, grumpy children to the store by stopping for a little indulgence at McDonald’s.  Wahoo!  We had some coupons, and we really were all craving a little burger and fry action.

Joanna can and does eat more than a kid’s meal these days.  It is fortunate that her sister does not… yet.

Natalie really only wants the fries and chocolate milk which, by the way, is an amazingly healthy lunch.

James is a fry guy too, but he enjoyed taking bites of the burger!  He wouldn’t eat burger pieces though, it had to be attached.  :)

And because this is something we never do, my children had no idea there was a play place they were missing out on, and we went right to WalMart.  :)

To Quote Spock

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true." —Spock, Amok Time

So in the spirit of wanting, here’s my current wish list. 

I am a material girl.  :) 

And it helps me get the wanting out of my system.  After all, I have what I truly need… and then some.

• Scanner, like this one.  I’m pretty sure my scanner just died, and it took five minutes to scan one document anyway.  I really want to start archiving docs and pics around here.
• Digital SLR camera… probably this one, with
• this lens as well.
• A case for my Kindle, handmade but not by me.  :)  Maybe this one.
• Kindle Fire.  Oh yes.
• Toothbrush subscription.  Yes, I really just wrote that.  Check ‘em out – they’re made from recycled products and you send ‘em back to be recycled!
• Toaster.  Seriously!  I don’t know what kind though… probably one with four openings.  We’ll all want toast at the same time.  :)
• Long nap.
• Long backrub.
• Hair highlighted… regularly.
• Immersion blender.  I’m not sure, but I think it might change my life.
• New, small printer with wifi capability.  ‘Cause I want to be able to sit four feet from the printer but not actually have to walk over and plug the computer into it.  :)
• Nintendo Wii.  I think we’d get a kick out of it, and the girls are getting big enough to play too.
• Boots, tall ones… brown.  And some cold weather to wear them in.
• One of those name necklaces with my kiddos’ names on it.  Like this one.
• A pretty apron… or many pretty aprons.  :)

Wow, I feel so much better after all of my window shopping!

Maybe I’ll post some pictures of the cute children in a bit!

This is the Day

From the moment you become pregnant, there a few things you can’t wait to see your kids do, things you can envision for them.  (It’s not just me, right?)

One thing I have waited for is this day: Joanna’s first time to sing in church as part of the Children’s Choir!

You can tell from her smile that she was pretty ecstatic as well.  :)

Above with one of her buddies Riley.

Oh, that robe – isn’t she so cute?!!

And how about this – a hallway full of teaches putting robes on four and five year olds.  Bless them.

All together with the “big kids.”  They’re all just so cute!

We had some time to spare, so decided to go ahead and lead them into the service and let them sit for a few minutes.

Matt took pictures from the balcony.  I’m sure you can spot Joanna in the front with her wide opera mouth on.  She sings kind of with an affected voice.  It’s cute though.

And I didn’t see her at the time, but apparently Glenda the Good Witch made an appearance this morning.  :)

And there she is, leaving!

Ooohh ooohh – you can see me in this one… bottom right.  I have terrible posture.

In this song, they get to clap and stomp a bit – you can see Joanna mid-clap.

Those kids are just so stinkin’ cute!

Please excuse the zillion pictures of almost exactly the same scene.  You should see how many I didn’t post.  :)  I just couldn’t choose!  The choirs did so well, and I think the congregation loved hearing them sing!

This is the day that the Lord has made,
let us rejoice and be glad in it. 
This is the day that the Lord has made. 
Let us rejoice.  Let us rejoice. 
Let us rejoice, and be glad in it. 
This is the day that the Lord has made!