Recital, bowling, sheep and shepherds

Happy New Year's Eve!  I was hoping to be all caught up on my blog by the new year but it's just not going to happen folks.  I haven't even gotten to Christmas yet!

It was a real bummer the folks had to miss the LC Christmas program but they were able to go to Holly's violin recital the next day.  She played "O Holy Night" and it was beautiful.  My mom has a video on her blog if you want to hear it.

Saturday evening Cheryl planned a family bowling night for Sally's birthday.  I love to bowl but I am so bad at it.     

Katie was a hoot.  She insisted on having the correct finger placement in her ball.  Then she would run up to the lane, make a complete stop, transfer the ball so she was holding it in both hands, and then drop it. 

It took a long time for the ball to reach the end of the lane so she usually just made herself comfortable.





Sam is a good bowler. I think he would have done fine without the bumpers.  He even beat me in one game. 
The next morning after church I got a picture of the four Hiemstra boys. 

I also got this one of three of my favorite people!

Then I made Carissa put Baby Bradley in the manger.  Because I'm just that kind of girl.

Sunday night was Sam and Katie's church Christmas program.  Sam was a shepherd and had a lot of lines.  Katie was a sheep.  She had no lines but she looked really cute.





See, I told you she was cute.  I was in charge of costumes and props this year.  Lucky for me when my mom was here in October she helped me make all the sheep ears.  She is a handy lady to have around.

I LOVE our candlelight service!  There is nothing like a church full of people holding candles and singing "Silent Night" to help you remember what Christmas is all about.

Fa-mi-ly is coming to town (sung to the tune of "Santa Clause is Coming to Town")



Several years back, John and I were exiting the high school gymnasium after another wonderful "LC white cape, red crepe paper bow Christmas program" and he said, "I sure wish our folks could have seen that."  Over coffee and scones at the bakery afterwards we decided to invite both sets of parents out here when Sam was in fourth grade (his last year in the program) and Katie was in kindergarten (her first year in the program). 

This was the year!

After lots of planning, ticket buying, meal preparation, praying for good traveling weather, shopping, decorating, washing of sheets, and general excitement; both Grampas and Grammas were here!  John's folks had a very short lay-over in Minneapolis but they just made their connecting flight.  My folks decided to drive here and had great weather the whole trip.  Praise the Lord!

I had to take this picture of Mom and Dad Hiemstra to show everyone back in the Midwest that it doesn't always rain here.

My folks got here just in time to head over to Auntie Grace's to listen to the LC choir.  My sister-in-law ordered her a carol-o-gram and invited us all over to enjoy it.

 Holly before school one morning.  Doesn't she look so very Christmasy?

The choir came to sing at John's work too.  He had the day off but we all loaded in the car and drove over there to hear them again.  Here is John with three of his nurses.  They have all worked with him at one time or another.  Just so you know, it was ugly sweater day at the office, they aren't always so festive!

Here's the choir again.  My mom posted a video on her blog if you want to hear them.  They sounded beautiful!  I actually teared up when they sang "Silent Night" and it's never been one of my favorites.

Here's a close-up of a beautiful soprano.

Friday morning we woke up to this.  And that Christmas program that we wanted our folks to see so bad?  Cancelled.

We were all disappointed but the kids got over it pretty quickly when Grampa brought them outside to play.

Even my hubby and fellow snow-hater John joined in for awhile.  Yep, I stayed inside and pouted.  After everyone got their fill of the white stuff, we drowned our sorrows in pancakes and sausages. 

 The rest of the day was spent doing this...

 and this...

That night John cook prime rib.  He has always wanted to try it and a bunch of people to feed was a great excuse to buy a 14 pound hunk of meat.  It was delicious!

 I love my family!

 I need a bigger house!

TOLO 2013

TOLO is when the girl asks the guy out.  This year Holly decided not to ask a guy...she decided to ask three guys.  Her and two friends asked three guys they chum around with a lot but decided they didn't want to couple up so basically it was the six of them who always hang out together hanging out together all dressed up.  Get it? 

These three girls are not only beautiful but they are also thrifty so when one of the moms offered to serve them all dinner, they all agreed that was a great idea.  That mom also invited the parents of the six kids to come over before dinner for wine and appetizers and to take pictures.  I thought that was a great idea.  Unfortunately John couldn't make it since he was picking up his folks from the airport. 

Here are the girls getting ready.



Here are the boys "striking a pose".   

And here's the girls.  Holly wore the same dress she wore for last year's TOLO.  Like I said, beautiful but thrifty.



 

They were all such great sports.  They had lots of moms and dads there taking lots of pictures and making lots of comments and I don't think I saw one eye roll.

Holly and boy #1

Holly and boy #2

Holly and boy #3

Me and my girl.

Mrs. H set a beautiful table.  After supper the girls took the guys to a movie.  The boys thought they were going to see "The Hobbit" but the girls surprised them and took them to "Frozen" instead.  Yep, those boys are good sports.  After the movie they played games until the wee hours of the morning.  Apparently a good time was had by all.  I know I had a good time!

I am so thankful Holly has such good friends...and that her friends have such fun parents! :)

***edited to add***
I almost forgot, Holly and her friends wrote the boys a poem to let them know what their evening plans were.  It contains some inside jokes between the six of them but I thought it was pretty clever and cute.  I am pretty sure the boy's moms enjoyed it even more than the boys! 

Tolo 2013

So here we are! It's Tolo night,

I sure hope none of us get into a fight.

We have eaten our food and away we go,

But first there are a few things us girls want you to know.

 

Trevor oh Trevor what can we say,

as the oldest of our group, you think you have some say.

We consider your ideas, but even so,

Really it's us girls who run the show.

Alas the senior of our group,

We are so thankful that to us juniors you continually stoop.

 

Isaiah what do we say about you,

You are the biggest drama kid that we ever did knew.

In fact your whole life is devoted to that,

so much so that you're afraid of skating and going kerplat.

You claim it is what your mom said, but we all know,

You're just scared that you would skate much too slow.

You're looking pretty dapper tonight in your red and black,

we are sorry for cramping your style and holding you back.

 

And Sam, of you we are so proud,

for your complaints are not so very loud.

You're a real man, you suck up your fears,

you would never do anything that would drive us girls to tears,

You just flash that smile and nod your head,

if it weren't for you, us girls might be dead.

We can never imagine you as a wife beater,

and we sure hope you don't faint on the way to the theater.

 

Don't take offense to these words now,

this night will be fantastic this we vow.

We are thankful that you came with all of us,

even though some of you made quite a big fuss.

For this, your offenses will not be overlooked,

so I sure hope you thanked Mrs. Huleatt for the food that she cooked.

Now we are off but here's the thing,

something unexpected we will now spring.

For tonight's viewing pleasure you shall now see,

a princess movie that is filled with glee.

For we have decided the Hobbit is no more,

us girls thought it might be a major bore.

We will now watch the movie Frozen,

and during this movie if we catch you dozen',

To Sophia's house you will not tarry,

In fact we will send your little white butts off on a ferry.

But all joking aside, we thank you for your time.

you have surely kept us from committing crime.

This night will hopefully be full of fun,

we would appreciate it if from us you did not run.

You are the best, and in closing we would like to say,

 if you screw up our night you will surely pay.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Twas the days after Christmas, and Dee's blog was behind...

She has lots of company, so I know you won't mind...

Okay folks, I'm going way back to the beginning of December here when I decorated my house for Christmas.  I actually got a late start this year because we got new floors and then I had my carpets cleaned.  I borrowed my neighbor Becky's tree because I knew I'd have a lot of people in my living room over the holidays and my tree is so honking big.  The kids were not impressed at first but once we got our ornaments on, they were okay. 

We don't have one of those trees where all the decorations are a certain color or where all the ornaments match.  Our tree will never be featured in any magazine and I have yet to be asked to open up my home for a holiday tour but that's okay.  We think it's beautiful and it holds lots of special memories for our family.

The homemade ones (especially with pictures) are my favorite.

I like these backpacks that my mom bought for the kiddos when they start school too!  It seems like just yesterday Holly was this little!

I got the kids new stockings this year.  I've been looking for awhile now.  Holly thought they were ugly but once I told her if she felt that way then hers would be empty on Christmas, she changed her mind. :)

I got these Charlie Brown people too.  I love that movie.  These little guys make me smile.  Katie Kat had lots of fun playing with them this year.

I put up some garland and lights outside too but I didn't get a picture.  This is a chalkboard sign outside my door.

This guy is one of my favorite decorations too.  My Dad made it for me one year shortly after I got married.

These sweet girls don't have anything to do with Christmas decorations but aren't they cute?  They were on their way to a party. 

I love Christmas!

Traditions

This is the third Christmas that our friend Becky has bought the kids a gingerbread house to decorate.  They love it!  This year I invited her to come over and help us with it.  

Afterwards, we decorated the tree.  It's actually Becky's tree!  Ours is so big and with so many extra people in my house this year, I wanted something that took up less room. 

Please excuse my scarcely furnished living room.  We just had the carpets cleaned and we hadn't moved much back in yet.  I have decided that if we ever build a house it will have a "wrestling room" in it.  The kids LOVED having an empty room where Dad could wrestle without obstructions.  I loved that nothing could get broken...about a half of an hour after this picture was taken John and Sam broke one of my favorite ornaments.  Sam says his dad pushed him into the tree, John claims Sam lost his balance and fell into it.  Either way, mama wasn't happy.

Now I need to finish decorating.  I've never been this late!  Maybe it wasn't the smartest time to put in new flooring??!