It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

December 20th found us traveling up to Ashburn to begin our Christmas celebration with our families. The days leading up to Christmas were filled with errands, shopping, and just hanging out. 

One day we went to the Outlet Mall with George's parents. It was so warm the kids didn't need jackets. What is with the crazy Virginia weather?

Lance being creative with his snack.

We got to love on this sweet mastiff while we were there. Can you believe she's only 4 months old?

And of course the boys were excited they each got a special treat: their own sodas! It's a pretty big deal when their momma doesn't let them drink soda very often.

I had a doctor's appointment on the 23rd in Charlottesville, so George watched the boys in Ashburn while I drove down to Cville all by myself on Sunday, did Nursery for church, and then worked on quilts all night long. So close to being done! It was strange being home all by myself--I kept thinking I heard the boys waking up.

After getting about 3 hours of sleep, I went to my appointment and then ran some last-minute errands before traveling back to Ashburn. As much as I missed the boys and George, it was GREAT to have 24 hours to do everything I needed without distractions. You'd be amazed how much you can get done without three active boys dogging your steps. :)

Back in Ashburn, this is what Lance did most of the time when he was with Callie and Bryce. They're all obsessed with Minecraft and would spend hours sitting on the couch playing together. 

Jude's not too sure what to do with himself. :(

Christmas Eve, we drove over to my mom's house to do our annual Christmas program. This year we went "high tech" and used mom's iPad and AppleTV to play the songs and to watch some Christmas videos while we read the story of Christ's birth.

Cole was pretty distracted by the gifts under the tree...

Singing

And it wouldn't be a proper Christmas Eve without reading "The Night Before Christmas". This year Stephen did the honors.

(Cole still doesn't want to put the gift down.)

After stories, it was time for everyone to open one gift each.

Jude opened his gift from Uncle Stephen and got an awesome raccoon hat! 

Lance got a Minecraft set from Aunt Amy!

And I got a photography class from George! Woot!

The boys were in bed and asleep by 9:30. George and I had wrapped gifts the night before, so George went to bed (we'd all been feeling a bit under the weather that week) while I stayed up and finished those blasted quilts!

(Putting the bias tape around the edge of one of the Minecraft quilts.)

I think it was about 5 a.m. before I had officially finished all four. Here's a sneak-peek at the Mario one:

LOVE IT! 

I still made it to bed before Santa came (whew!) and got to sleep about an hour and a half before the boys were up and ready to celebrate. 

December wrap-up

So before I can even start thinking about blogging Christmas, I have to get the rest of December out of the way.

First, Lance got his Bobcat!

You're supposed to put the pin on upside down and only turn it over when he's done a "good turn". I thought this was a pretty hysterical way to do it.

He also earned a bead toward his Wolf badge.

Good job, Lance!


December in general was pretty dull. We mostly stayed inside with the weather being bipolar which afforded me a lot of time to work on the quilts I was making for the boys for Christmas (see that ironing board?). We did, however, have an unexpected visitor one day:

Yes, our door is open and yes, that squirrel really is climbing on our screen. They've done this before but this was the first time I captured it on camera. The little boys thought this was awesome.


In early December, I spent a couple days in sunny Miami when Chad graduated from Orthodontic residency and then came home to this:

Snow!

We were at George's parent's house and Jude insisted he wanted to play in the snow, even though we didn't come prepared with boots or gloves.

It didn't seem to bother him a bit!

Cole, on the other hand, really really wanted to play in the snow until he got outside and tried to pick it up. I think he cried for the entire ten minutes we were outside.

The one time I got him to smile. Next time we'll do gloves, okay Cole?


George gave me my Christmas gift early: a new camera lens! I am so excited to learn to use it. It's a fixed portrait lens, so now I have to learn all about the F-stop and appeture settings. I've only had this camera for 6 years--you'd think I'd now all this by now!

Here are some examples of the pictures George and I quickly snapped with the new lens:

I love the depth of field, but I'm quickly learning that it makes focusing MUCH more difficult. I'm excited to learn!


Okay, if you have a weak stomach, turn back now. I debated posting this picture for a while and finally decided that since it was part of Lance's life, I'd put it up, even if it isn't the most "tasteful" documentation.

Lance shot his first deer! He was out riding around with his dad when they spotted a herd, so Scott helped him set up the shot, handed him the gun and Lance fired the shot all by himself. He got it, first try. Got it right in the heart from about 125 yards. Not too shabby!

Lance and Scott had meant to take a picture earlier, but forgot until they were already a bit into the "processing" stage.

It's a bit morbid, but here it is!

We're excited for the venison that Lance and Scott are sharing with us--George already has big plans to make some jerky. Yum!


And it wouldn't be Christmas without decorating some Christmas cookies. We didn't go big this year--my friend Sarah came over one night and we baked some for her to decorate with some of her Med school friends, but she brought over the left-overs the next day and the little boys had a good time eating decorating them.

Don't you just love Jude's face here?



George started a research rotation during the last two weeks of December so we got to enjoy him being around a lot more.

The boys were in heaven! It's always better when daddy is home.


My brother Jason is serving a mission for our church right now and doesn't get to come home for Christmas, so we sent him and his companion a box full of goodies: a little Christmas tree covered in chocolate ornaments, some photo block ornaments for his real tree, snacks, little stockings, a letter for Lance and a couple wooden trees "decorated" for him by Jude and Cole.

They did a great job. :) I'm sure they will add color if nothing else to Jason's apartment for the holidays.

Now bring on Christmas!

It's a baby shower!

I have the best friends! Sarah, Kaycie and Melissa--these sweet girls got together in December and threw me a beautiful baby shower. Since this was my fourth baby (first girl!) we decided to make it more of a "girls' night out" instead of a traditional shower. I think it turned out perfect!

It was so fun to sit around and talk with the ladies while we did manicures and ate yummy food.

Allison, Kaycie, Brooke, Laura and Laura

Terumi, Melissa, me, and Sarah holding Grant (my sister's baby)

Hand scrub and lotion

This idea was so cute--everyone wrote an note on a diaper so I could have something fun to read during those midnight changes.

Sarah and baby Grant

Sisters!

Brooke, Melissa, Mom, me, Terumi, Allison, Amanda, Tatia, Sarah, Brianna, Kathrine, Laura, Rebecca, Kaycie and Laura--Love these girls!

It was so fun to open the gifts and see all the pink, purple and yellow after having three boys! I am so glad for good friends with cute fashion sense--I think I'm going to be a little lost trying to dress this baby.

Blessing booties from Grandma Brewer

Thank you so much to all you wonderful friends who made this night such a special one! You are what make Charlottesville feel like home!