Happy 8th Birthday, Rachel!

 How in the world is our firstborn 8 years old already!  She arrived here in the world very quickly on her birth day (I was actually at the hospital just over an hour before she was born) and she has been full speed ahead every day since that day! Her energy and enthusiasm for life are gifts and great reminders for me of what a gift from God this life is and how much there is to enjoy and be thankful for in this life!

 Mommy stayed up pretty late to sneak up to place streamers on the door to greet her as she woke up this morning. As quietly as I tiptoed up, guess who woke up and talked to me for a few minutes before she fell back asleep...I did finally get those streamers on that door! Her picture was taken first thing when she woke up this morning.

 I asked on Wednesday what she wanted for breakfast on Thursday morning for her birthday. Toaster Streudels...yep, Toaster Streudels for birthday breakfast it was, accompanied by a candle and the birthday song to start the morning!

 Here she is at exactly 11:17 am, which is the precise minute she was born. She counted the minutes all morning and thought it was great when she reached the actual time she was born!

 Rachel and her sisters spent some time drawing and doing art this morning. She has hoped for snow for Christmas but her big wish was to see snow on her birthday. Below is her snow portrait. This is what she says she would look like out in the snow. If you look closely, she drew her nose red and made sure to tell me that her nose was red in the picture because her nose would be cold while she was out in the snow. Oh, of course! Her creativity is the best!

 This was her birthday selfie!

 Though it was pretty surprising, she actually did get to see snow on her birthday!! I was so glad for her! I think the flurries must have been pretty isolated. Brent had to run an errand today and said it wasn't even flurrying 2 miles from our house. But flurry it did for about 2 hours around lunch at our house today and Rachel received one of her big wishes for her birthday. It barely stuck (there is the tiniest bit on the rail behind her) but it was snow AND on her birthday! She was a happy girl!

 She also asked for a dinosaur cake. Dinosaurs are one of her very favorite things to learn about right now. Her Daddy delivered on the dinosaur cake. He actually decorated a dinosaur cake for her all himself!

 She was thrilled. Look at that grin! I am not sure if she enjoyed the green icing or that chocolate cake more!

 Rachel helped me take down the Christmas tree today and she and her sisters had a ball "decorating" all of the den before we packed away all of the lights and garland until next year!

We had a family birthday supper and she opened her two small family gifts. As you can tell, she loves all kinds of arts and creativity, so she received an artist pallette charm for her charm bracelet from her dad and I.

 Her one other present request was a new watch. Yes, that is exactly what she asked for and no, it is not digital. Her new watch was given to her by her sisters and Rachel was thrilled!

She had one other early birthday gift: a solar system kit! She painted and textured all the planets completely by herself and had only a tiny bit of help from us to finish placing the planets on the model. Rachel did an excellent job and I was so proud of her!
Rachel did not want to travel on her birthday, so we spent a fun family day celebrating her at home. She does have one more birthday surprise tomorrow so that should be fun!
Rachel, we loved celebrating you and with you today. We are very proud of you, our 8 year old! Trust Jesus every day and have a fantastic 8 year old year this year! We love you!
Mommy, Daddy, Bekah, Bethany and Bitty

Nativity Night

 One of the other things the girls were most excited about this Christmas were putting out our new nativities out this year. My mother in law has a beautiful unbreakable nativity set that the girls have loved to play with for years. Last year for Christmas I asked her if she would begin to give us the pieces for a nativity set of our own. I received it after Christmas last year so this was the first year we were able to set it up. We set it up on the piano so the girls could enjoy it also.

 The other set we received last year was a surprise from my dad and his family. This was also our first year to put this nativity in place. We set this one up in our dining area so we could be reminded of Jesus's birth throughout our day.

 With both sets, we and the girls both thoroughly enjoyed getting out each piece and talking about each person's part in that first Christmas day. The girls loved getting to pick and carefully place each figure in the nativity.

This was the first year that we had taken a special, separate night to enjoy and take our time putting out our nativity sets. I think this is a special night we  may begin to do every year. It was a great reminder and way to focus on Jesus and that He is the greatest gift of all!

O Christmas Tree 2016

 We talked to our girls very specifically before the Christmas season started this year about our Christmas plans here in the mountains. We wanted to make the most of our time this Christmas season in the mountains and focus on Jesus's birth. We also wanted to make sure we kept the girls' favorite Christmas traditions. Their list was actually pretty short. One of the first things on their list to start off the Christmas season was to go and cut a real Christmas tree to decorate. We have gone to the same Christmas tree farm, Ralph's, for the past 8 or 9 years. Even when we lived in Richmond,  it was the Christmas tree farm we went to for getting our Christmas tree. We loved living just a few minutes away from our favorite place to get our Christmas tree the past few years!

This year, we nicknamed our tree. Meet "Frank the Fraser". This tree was the 3rd tree we looked at yhis year. The girls picked really quickly this year and were all ready to head back to decorate.
The girls did so well.

The big girls even helped put on the lights and garland this year.

Everyone had a favorite ornament this year.

Bethany informed me that this was Bitty ' s little ornament and she carried in her hand for quite awhile before she would hang it on the tree.

This big girl was tons of help decorating the tree this year.

Bekah loved hanging her ornament from the Sangers.

Brent and the girls were getting ready to hang our last family ornament on the tree.

We enjoyed every bit of decorating our tree this year. When we went to another Christmas event this year, we sang the song "O Christmas Tree." I know the first verse very well, but the song leader also has us sing verse 4. What a great reminder as we enjoyed decorating our tree of God's love and faithfulness towards us.

"O Christmas Tree "
"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree
How richly God has decked thee,
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
How richly God has decked thee.
Thought bidst us true and faithful be
 and trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree
How richly God has decked thee!"