Wiebe Christmas 2010

Another wonderful Christmas at the Wiebehaus has come and gone. We’re blessed for sure! We started off December with a really fun advent countdown. I and 23 other fun moms got together and each made an ornament to go along with a set of devotionals that my friend Carrie wrote. We made 24  versions of our assigned ornament and then had a little party to exchange them. They were all so cute, and it was so fun doing the devotionals each night. The girls both really got a lot out of the devotionals and will continue to do so for years to come. It really helped keep us grounded through all the craziness in the true reason for the season – Christ! I’m so happy to have them! The girls hung their ornaments on their little tree in their room, and here was the end result:

(The one I made was the Bethlehem cityscape with the sand on the bottom in the above photo.)

 

 

 

Here was the decor this year. Very similar to last year:

 

 

Kitchen cabinets with our cards!

Dining room table

 

Napkins embroidered with our W from my new sewing machine! :)

Living room

Presents!

Uncle Mark and Aunt Joci arrived on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, we prepped the pies and then joined my family and most of the Van Horn crew at El Fenix for our Christmas Eve dinner. It was yum!! (Side story: I took Emma to the bathroom, and while we were in there, the fire alarm went off. I was TERRIFIED Ellie had pulled it while I was away, and everyone at the table wondered if it was Emma. LOL! It wasn’t – both kids were accounted for, and there was no real fire.) Then we came back to our house and let the girls open their one Christmas Eve gift (which is always PJs, but those sweet little babies haven’t figured that out yet!). They were excited with their Disney princess PJs that will also work well when we go to Disney World next week!

 

 

Aunt Becka and Uncle Daniel  arrived right as the girls opened their gifts – how convenient! We then all piled into the Yukon and went to look at Christmas lights. Ellie stayed up with me to help make Santa’s cookies, and we put the carrots and the water out on the porch for the reindeer. She was super excited, but still fell asleep really quickly. We told the girls to stay in their room until we came to get them in the morning.

And on Christmas morning, James and I got up slightly before 8, and both kids were still in bed when we came out at 8:15! Pretty good, right? Uncle Bill went in to entertain them while we got ready and waited on Mom and Dad. By 9 am, we were all set, and I brought them down to see their gifts. Their Santa gifts were super hero capes (that Santa enlisted Momma’s help to make – new sewing machine, remember?), Ellie’s pink flute, a farm book for Emma and an Aquadoodle that they LOVE.

Then we started opening the rest of the presents. We were all blessed with lots of fun stuff! I got some cake pans that I wanted and some clothes. I also got a super cute apron from my sister. James got some Bible commentary books and a gun vault as well as a few decor items for his office at church. Here are a few highlights from the girls:

 

We had dinner late this year – around 6pm on Christmas Day. It was nice in that we had plenty of time to get the food ready, but we did note that then we couldn’t take naps as soon as we were done. :) We spent the evening watching James’ play that he did at church and then we watched Inception. The day after Christmas, we went to church and then had lunch with the Wiebe fam at Abuelo’s. Mark and Jocelyn headed on to Abilene from there, and Becka and Daniel were able to stay until Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, Becka and Daniel joined us on a road trip to go see Mamaw in College Station. Ellie is always SUPER excited to see Mamaw and wanted to write on our count down plate. Not bad!

Showing off her cape at Mamaw’s

Photo of Aunt Becka and Uncle Daniel (taken by Ellie)

Emma had a lot of fun with the trash can. :)

Uncle Charles is always a lot of fun!

Opening presents from Mamaw

Playing with cousin Jacob and his farm set

And how cute is THIS?! Jacob shared his headphones for his DS with Ellie, and they were super sweet together.

Group shot! So good to see everyone!

I think the best part of this Christmas has been the family time we’ve had. Ellie is really starting to notice how much we work, and she really loves it when we have time together. I, of course, love it too! So glad to get to celebrate the birth of our Savior with those I love the most!

New Posts!

Check them out:

Disney on Ice!

A Little More Christmas!

Crazy Hair Day

The Woodbury’s are Home!

First Happy Year with Santa

Twas the Night before the Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas

And I think we’re FINALLY ready. I’ve been working quite a bit and also trying hard to fit in some projects that are important to me this December. We have also been CRAZY over scheduled. It’s all been fun, but goodness have we been busy! I’m so excited that work is done for me until January 10! I decided to buy an “entry level” sewing and embroidery machine. I’m LOVING it! I made felt coasters for James’ coworkers at church and a few of our close friends. Here’s an example:

I also made some (seven, to be exact) super hero capes for my girls, my nephews and two of our sweet friends who had birthdays this month. They came out really cute, and thanks to my friend Jenny for helping me get started on them! I’ll save photos of those until after Christmas since they haven’t been “delivered” yet.

I’m having fun monogramming anything that makes sense. :) I did our Christmas napkins – check out our dining room table:

  

I also decided to design our Christmas cards again this year based on a design I liked on another website. Here’s how they came out:

And we finished up our Christmas shopping last night and today. Whew! I made James stay up with me until almost 2am last night wrapping all of the gifts. Here’s our tree – getting so full! We’re blessed for sure, and we even spent way less than normal due to our upcoming Disney World trip! We were grateful to find some really good deals for some fun items for the girls.

And, we managed to get the house decorated. Here’s the house this year – not dissimilar to last year:

We love getting those Christmas cards! Keep them coming, people! 

I’ll do another post on the advent countdown we’re doing with the girls. It’s been SO fun, and I love knowing that 23 other families are all talking about the same thing we are. The girls are getting a lot out of it, and it’s helping to keep us grounded in the reason for the season – Christ’s birth!

We’re really looking forward to an entire week as a family and with our more extended family. Then, one week from tomorrow, we’re off to Disney World with the Cornwells! Can’t wait!

First Happy Year with Santa

This year, we weren’t even sure we were going to see Santa. For the last two years, both girls have hated every second of visiting him. This year, we asked Ellie if she wanted to go see him, and at first she said no. Then she changed her mind, so we decided to give it a go. Both girls walked right up and sat in his lap and chatted with him like it was no problem. Yea! Ellie asked for a pink and purple flute, and Emma asked for the same. Haha! I’m just glad we had a year that wasn’t all tears and screaming. :) Here’s a reminder of last year.

 

Similar to last year, we did the message from Santa videos for both girls. They both LOVE them and ask to see them all the time. Both girls still talk to Santa as if it’s a live conversation – SO cute. I think Ellie knows it’s not, but she still plays along. :)

Ellie’s Message from Santa

Emma’s Message from Santa

The Woodbury’s are Home!

Our good friends the Woodbury’s have been living over in London since June. We’ve Skyped and stayed in touch, but we were all very excited to reconnect in person now that they’re home for Christmas. Shelley and the kids came in first, so we got together with them the first weekend they were back. I had our sugar cutouts done, so we let the kids decorate. (Truett was more of an observer…) Here are a couple of photos of the girls:

Then, the next weekend Shelley’s FABULOUS parents offered to watch ALL four kids while the adults went out for dinner. It was HEAVEN! So good to connect with Geoff and Shelley, and it’s almost unheard of for us to finish a conversation without a child interrupting. So nice! Good friends are the best. :)

Crazy Hair Day

The girls both attend a nearby preschool that has spirit days each month. December was Crazy Hair Day, and the girls had a lot of fun with it. Here are the photos!