Raleigh's New Dress from Grammy

Santa Came!!

Here's a picture of the stockings Dionne is still working on (notice the pins still in the stockings) and all of the Santa gifts. Good thing Madeline prayed for Santa the night before: "Please bless Santa to be safe. Help him not to get cold. Give him a blanket."

As we were driving on Christmas Eve, Raleigh noticed that some people had to work that day. We told her that even Grandma had to work that day, and she exclaimed, "Oh my thousands!" (Usually she says, "Oh my hundreds!" so she must have been really shocked.

Christmas Eve at the Matthews'

We spent Christmas Eve at Ray and Lisa's this year. This is a picture of the mini-tree and all the presents. (They sold their house- yay!)
Raleigh, Madeline, and cousin Paige performed a little Christmas program for all of us. Paige dressed up as Mary, and Raleigh and Madeline were "angels." They sang Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and then Raleigh sang a solo called The Very Best Part of Christmastime (about giving gifts.)
Then Madeline recited a story about the nativity while Raleigh set up all of the pieces. (Notice the "Happy Birthday" sign she put in the tree.) Then we all sang Away in a Manger while Paige pretended to hold baby Jesus.
Here's Lisa with all of the big girls. We also ordered Dominos Pizza and ate lots of Christmas goodies and opened presents.

Raleigh and Her Littlest Sis

Every morning when Kensington wakes up, Raleigh runs in to hold her. Kensington knows her big sister and is all smiles, as usual!

Raleigh built a fort out of the kitchen table (it was her "apart-a-ment"), and lucky Choobs got to join her. Don't they both look so big?!

Pookie Comes to Alpine!

Last week Amy, Gilbert, Elizabeth (aka POOKIE), and Andrew came and spent an afternoon with us. They are such good people and great friends. We ate a GOOD lunch made by Dionne: fresh Greek salad with homemade croutons. SO DELICIOUS. The girls all went outside and sledded around the yard in the snow while the adults visited and the babies slept.

Puzzle Time!

We were excited that Kensington could join us in her BUMBO for some puzzles on the floor.

Getting Warm under a Pile of Laundry Fresh from the Dryer