December Candids

Jonas was the drummer boy in his class' Christmas pageant.  He did a great job memorizing all of his lines and telling about Jesus!  Bethany was an angel, and she did awesome, too.  Rebekah sang a song and was one of the extra shepherds.  Abby was going to sing "Go, Tell it on the Mountain" with the rest of the kids, but that was way too scary!  Maybe next year :-)

Helping Papa snowblow!

Hanging out with his buddy Josh at the school Christmas parties.

Trinity's Christmas Celebration

Jonas' class performed a skit for the Christmas program this year, and Jonas was - a zamboni driver!  They adapted the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett, and all tried to fit into a stocking.  He was so excited and kept it a secret from me all the way until he went on stage.  He did a great job!  Bethany crawled into the stocking to warm up from making snow angels!

Happy Birthday, Bransen!

Bransen turned 6 years old this week!  We celebrated with a Mario Kart cake, some play time outside, and of course, some time on the Wii.

Christmas in Gowanda

Duane and I took the family to the annual Christmas in Gowanda event on Saturday.  Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary, Hayden, and Grandma and Papa all came, too.  We went on a train ride, and Santa was there!  The adults enjoyed the scenery, and the kids enjoyed their doughnuts, and everyone was happy :-)

We visited Jesse's Toy Box (a really neat little toy store) and all the kids received a free bendable toy for participating in the event.  After that, we headed to the theater to see Frosty the Snowman.  When we got home, the kids played outside for an hour or so and had fun playing in and building forts.  It was a great, wintery, super cold day!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Jonas decorated our apartment almost all on his own this year.  Besides lugging up the bins from the basement, I could pretty much sit back and enjoy!  I love having a kid that's so big and helpful :-)

Snow Day!

We had a snow day on Wednesday, and Jonas and I took full advantage of it.  We spent several hours outside - making snow angels, having a snowball fight, following animal tracks, and making a snowman!  We even shoveled Papa's driveway and sidewalks!  I love days when Jonas and I can just hang out and spend time with each other.

7 Year Check Up

Jonas got his 7 year old physical done this week.  He is 47.75" tall (43rd percentile) and 55 lbs (67th percentile).  He is a healthy, growing boy, and he was excited that he was only 1/4" away from the big kid rides at all the amusement parks!

November Snapshots

Jonas' first ever sleepover (cousins not included).  He didn't even miss Mommy.

Hiding from the rain at Grandma and Papa's house

Hayden and Abby hanging out

Gabel Thanksgiving

Jonas and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with Duane's family.  It was a GORGEOUS day, and we spent lots of time outside working and playing.  (The adults worked, the kids played :-) )  And of course, we enjoyed a delicious dinner that Grandma Deb cooked for us.  Jonas especially liked the yummy pumpkin roll dessert!

Playing on the rope swing

Helping rake leaves - (which lasted exactly long enough to get a pile to jump in).

Brynn and Bransen have a really cool hideout that they like to play in in one of the trees in the backyard.  Jonas thought it was pretty awesome to climb so high up in a tree!

The boys :-)

We sure are blessed to have an amazing family.  We can't wait for many more Gabel Thanksgivings to come!

School Picture

I don't buy packages of Jonas' school pictures, but he is a pretty cute kid!

Fancy Rocks

For his birthday, Jonas received a rock polisher from Grandma and Papa.  He has been really into all things science, so he was excited to try it out and see what happened to the plain looking rocks that we had.

You begin with a set of unpolished rocks:

And after several cycles in the tumbler with different grits and polishes, the rocks turn out looking like this!

Jonas was pretty excited about how smooth and shiny they all were, and he plans to use some of them to make some jewelry as gifts for Christmas.  Thanks for the fun present, Grandma and Papa!

Happy Halloween!

We did a couple of fun things for Halloween this year.  

First, we had our church's annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday.  Jonas dressed up as the black Spiderman and walked around and around the gym and got tons of candy.  Then we heard a fun devotion led by Mr. Willert.

 On Thursday we headed to Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary's church for their Trunk or Treat, despite the windy rainy weather.  Jonas dressed up as a shark this time, and Duane dressed up too.  Apparently I was the party pooper with no costume :-)  There were no hot dogs as planned due to the rain, so all 12 of us went to Pizza Hut for some dinner.  Yum!

In keeping with our tradition, we graphed all of our candy.  Duane and Bransen helped us out, and the candy bars won by a long shot!

I hope you all had as much fun with your families as we did.  Happy Halloween!