Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:10-12

                                          
 
I finished wrapping presents a little after midnight and Baby Jesus made it to the manger to be there when the girls woke up this morning. We are feeling very blessed with our new little one this year and have thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Bethany's First Christmas with her!

Merry First Christmas, Bethany Joy!

 We didn't get an incredibly early start to the day (thankfully!) and we enjoyed a family breakfast before we started on the gift exchange. Brent cooked us some very tasty omelets to start the day!
Then there was reading the Christmas story with Daddy.

 This year we switched things around. We opened our wrapped gifts from each other first and then the girls got their surprise gifts from us. We have chosen not do Santa with our girls but they do get a couple of surprise gifts from Mom and Dad. Rachel has called Santa "the Christmas man" since she was small so this year's gifts came from "Daddy Christmas man" or "Daddy Claus". This year I also set out their surprise gifts and covered them up since I knew if they got up before we did they would be in the gifts likely and there would be no more surprises!

 I tried this year to do a keepsake gift, a clothing gift and their toy gifts. Bekah got a little dancer necklace since she takes dance and the little girl on the necklace looks like she is in first position for ballet. Bekah decided to go into first position while wearing her necklace.

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"

Bethany helped me unwrap my gifts including a beautiful handmade vase, bowl and star

 Bethany seemed to be a fan of her new prop mat which is great because she is not a big fan of tummy time at all!

 We started two new family traditions this year. One is a short family hike. It was much sunnier today than most of this week and we bundled everyone up in their snow suits and ski attire so they would stay plenty warm and headed out for a little family hike this afternoon.

The other new tradition was to have our bigger meal on Christmas evening and we all dressed up a little bit to make it special. We had a really yummy supper together and finished with the "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake and song for Jesus's Birthday.

 This has been a special day for us celebrating Jesus's Birth. As we were hiking, Rachel and I were walking on the trail together and talking about how awesome it was that Jesus, who made everything and had everything, was willing to give up everything for us and come be born in a cold and smelly stable in Bethlehem.

 How thankful we are that Jesus was willing to give up everything He rightly deserves to save us from everything we rightly deserve when we trust completely in Him! Thanking God for His indescribable love for us today on Christmas and everyday! Merry Christmas!!

 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of       God in Him.                 2 Corinthians 5:21

Christmas Eve

 Merry Christmas Eve!

Bethany Joy's first Christmas Eve

 Today we enjoyed a special time as a family on Christmas Eve together. We wrapped a few presents since I hadn't gotten to that yet! The girls wrapped their presents for each other ( More on this coming up...)

 Rachel read her Bible for awhile and we prepared for this evening's Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church

 We had a great service including lots of Scripture reading and carols

 Our family sang "Away in a Manger" as has become our tradition each Christmas Eve service. Bekah was just a little younger than Bethany the first time we did this and Rachel then in 2011 was close to the same age Bekah is now.

 Often we go outside at the end of the Christmas Eve service but this year all of the service was held inside. It was so beautiful to see and a blessing to hear our church family singing "Silent Night" in the candlelight. What a wonderful reminder of that first Christmas night !

 After the service we took time to get a few family pictures including baby in a manger. I have a picture of Bekah just like this as well. Bethany was her usual happy self  about this.

 We headed home to prepare Christmas Eve lasagna and take a few (dozen) pictures to get all the girls looking toward the camera!

 

 Then it was bedtime for the girls so Mom could finish wrapping their presents! They read their new Christmas books with their Daddy before we tucked them in

All ready for bed in their Christmas pajamas

 Our manger is all ready for Baby Jesus's arrival in the morning. We are so thankful for our Savior and looking forward to celebrating His Birthday!

"But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;  for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."   Luke 2:11

Meeting Baby Hannah

This past Friday, we had the joy of meeting this precious little one! This is Hannah Faith, the new little daughter of our great friends, the Sangers. She was born just before Thanksgiving, but this was the first chance we had to meet her! We were all so excited. Rachel was telling everyone she saw just before we went that we were going to "go meet Baby Hannah Faith!"

 

She is so sweet and such a good sleeper! 

The big girls enjoyed meeting Hannah too.This was as close as I let her big girl friends, Rachel and Bekah, get for now until she gets a little older and bigger.
The big girls also loved getting to see Mr. Randy and "Mrs. Lissa" as Bekah calls her.

I had found the babies matching sleepers and so we had to get a few pictures of them together. They are 4 and one half months to the day apart in age. We were not quite fast enough with the camera but when we first laid them down beside each other they intertwined arms and held hands for about 5 seconds. It was the sweetest thing. Can't wait to see as they get bigger how they hike and play together!

I really like the top picture because they are reaching towards each other.

Here is a picture of the moms and little ones. Bethany is watching her new friend, Hannah Faith, already!

           Merry Christmas, Sanger Family! Happy First Christmas, Hannah Faith! It was so good to meet Hannah Faith and see all of you! We are so thankful for the way God answers prayers and the blessing that Hannah is!!! Looking forward to many fun times ahead with our families getting together! We love you all!                          

                                                      

Rachel's Ballet Watch Day

 This past Wednesday, Rachel had Ballet Watch Day for her class as well. They are learning lots of correct terminology in French for a lot of the ballet moves. It was neat to see how much she and her class had learned  already so far this year.

 Rachel got to help out with Bekah's class and dance along for a bit and Bekah also got to help out during Rachel's class. Rachel and each of the dancers had to hold their arabesque for four seconds. Bekah was one of the counters to help them make sure they kept their position the entire count of 4.

 They also performed a special dance they had been practicing as well.

Rachel and Ms. Jessica

It is hard to believe Rachel is in her third year of dance already. She likes it so much and is always ready for Wednesday afternoon to get here!
We are very proud of you, Rachel, and we love you!

Bekah Ballerina's Ballet Watch Day

 This week was Parents Watch Week at The Studio, where the big girls take ballet. Bekah's class is on Tuesday, so it was her turn first.

 Ms. Kitty invited Rachel to join the class for part of the dances as well. Of course, Rachel was thrilled.

 Here is Bekah practicing her arabesque.

 They showed us how they leap into hoops and several other dances.

 Here is Bekah with her teacher, Ms. Kitty.

The dance year is flying by! It was so fun to see all Bekah is learning and how confident she is now as a little ballerina.
Bekah, we are very proud of you! We love you!