Merry Christmas!

We will leave tomorrow to go on our trip to NC so I will not be blogging for a while. I look forward to posting many pictures of the kids with all of their relatives when I return. Until then, Merry Christmas!

A White Wisconsin Christmas

We will not be enjoying a White Christmas in NC, but this is the beautiful snow we will leave behind. I think more is expected this weekend.

Advent at Church

The children in our church lead us in celebrating Christ's first coming each year. Nathan did it last year, and this year Madison joined him.

Advent

On Sunday nights during the month of December we spend time talking about the first coming of Christ. We do this by reading scriptures, singing Christmas carols, praying and reading stories that relate to the scriptures. We do this to remember that Jesus is the greatest gift that was ever given. We celebrated our last advent today.
We aren't the Vontrap family singers, but we praise God with our songs.

More "Christmas" pictures

An Early Christmas

Since we will be in North Carolina on Christmas day we celebrated Christmas at our house early. The kids are already enjoying their gifts and they were all very thankful. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Go Pack Go!

Sweet Kids

Our Christmas Tree

Little Reader

Nathan loves to read. Its fun to find him around the house just reading.

Christmas Musical

The kids performed their musical at church last week. Nathan and Madison sang the whole thing and Noah stood up there with them. I was proud of them all.

More Cookies

The kids love doing sugar cookies the best. If you have small children this can entertain them for at least an hour. Don't worry about the huge mess you have to clean up afterward.

Madison Jams to Wham

Madison is really a funny little girl. I thought you might enjoy her dance.

Cookie Day

In December we set aside one day to bake cookies. We went a little overboard this year and had to have two cookie days (and there are still a few I'd like to bake). The kids were really able to do a lot more this year. It was fun. The best part today was the snow falling outside while we listened to Christmas music and baked cookies.

Benjamin is 6 months old!

Last Friday Benjamin turned 6 months old. He weighs 17lbs and 10 oz. and is 28 inches tall. He might weigh more, but he refuses to eat baby food. He is crawling any place he wants to, he is even trying to get up the step in our kitchen. He loves to be held and is very comfortable being the center of attention. I call Nathan, Madison, and Noah his fan club because they gather around him and make so much of him. He really is sweet, but he does have a little temper (I guess all babies do).

Big Helpers

With the snow that has fallen in the past four days there has been a lot of shoveling. So far the total snowfall is around 12 inches with more on the way. We don't have to dream about a white Christmas this year. All of the kids helped out with the snow. Madison cracks me up!

Mommy and Madison

Body Surfing Wisconsin Style

We were blessed with 3-5 inches of snow and ice this weekend. The kids do have sleds, but opted to body sled down our hill.

Decorating the Tree

On Saturday after getting our tree I make a big pot of spaghetti and we listen to Christmas music and decorate our tree. Elvis and Steven Curtis Chapman are our favorite CD's.

We have a crawler!

So now we have four mobile children and just in time for Christmas! Benjamin loves our Christmas tree, I need to Google White Pines to make sure they are safe to eat (just joking). Benjamin crawled for the first time tonight. Its not on all fours all of the time, but he is definitely able to go wherever he wants to go. I apologize for my shrilly voice, you'd think I've never seen a child crawl before.